InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost World ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

<i><b> ;Lost World</i>< /b>

 

By: OtakuSailorV

 

<i>Chapter Nine - Human</i>

 

Rin looked back over her shoulder at the dog that was following so close to her curiously. He was adorable, a beautiful dog and she was very tempted to run her fingers through his fur or latch onto his neck and give him a big hug. She wondered if he smelled bad like the dogs did back in her world. Did youkai even smell bad? She was pretty sure he was a youkai, after all, she hadn't seen any regular people or animals since she had gotten to this world so chances were that he was a demon dog.

 

But why did a demon look so. . .beautiful and enchanting? He looked like a regular dog except his coat was extra glossy and there were no snarls either, every hair was in it's right place and shifted as his body did. As she thought of this, her mind wandered to the prince again and she felt her cheeks reddening. Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force the image of his face out.

 

She was being absolutely stupid; daydreaming about the prince while she was stuck here, a stranger in a new world that she had never heard of before. If anything, she should be daydreaming about how to get herself out of this pickle!

 

Sighing heavily, Rin leaned against a beam idly. The dog sat near her, but when she moved to pat his head he stepped away and sat farther off. Rin wrinkled her nose at him, disgruntled more with herself than with the dog. “Fine, be that way,” she grumbled disdainfully and folded her arms over her chest.

 

A noise drifted toward her, but she paid it no mind, too irritated with herself and her companion to notice it until it was nearly on top of her. Someone's feet slamming hard against the wooden floors, tearing down the hallway from the direction she was headed in.

 

Someone was coming! Rin panicked, wasting what little time there was left before she was discovered. Not that there was any time at all for her to run and hide now, for she had already been spotted by the person running.

 

She was young, younger than Rin even, Rin guessed she was maybe eleven or twelve. Rin could tell the young girl dressed in a traditional yukata was a youkai simply from the ears on top of her head and the bushy tail that waved back and forth as she ran. Her hair was a light sandy-brown and her eyes were dark brown.

 

Their eyes met and locked, the girl didn't even glance at the dog in her path as she approached and slowed until she was standing only a few feet away from Rin, the two staring at each other as if they had never seen another person before.

 

Rin felt her lips part to let out a shallow breath. She felt confused thoughts run through her mind in a panic as she hurriedly tried to figure out what she should do now. She had been discovered! Or had she…? Yes, that was right, there was no guarantee that the youkai girl knew who she was, even if she was a youkai. There was still a chance, wasn't there?

 

“Uh, hello,” Rin was able to say after a swift thought and bowed jerkily at the girl.

 

She bowed her head in acknowledgement and studied Rin carefully; Rin was fascinated with the twisting and turning of her large, furry youkai ears. “Good day,” the girl replied in an easier tone.

 

She was suspicious, Rin could tell, but she wasn't sure yet of what Rin was or what she was doing.

 

“Ah- I'm sorry, you must be in a hurry,” Rin said, stepping as far out of the girl's way as she could.

 

Obviously just remembering that she had somewhere to go, the girl's eyes widened in shock and she took a quick step forward before stopping and looking at Rin curiously again. Her ears swiveled as her brows knitted together. “What's your name?” she asked Rin curiously.

 

“Ah, uhm,” Rin fumbled for a name, any name at all, “. . .Ritsuko.”

 

“Ritsuko-san…?” the girl tried it out thoughtfully before starting off swiftly down the hallway. “I must be going, Ritsuko-san, good bye!”

 

Rin waved a hand at her retreating form relieved that she had not been found out. Or had she? She wasn't sure, the girl had accepted her name almost in a childishly trusting way, and she knew that not even a girl of eleven would fall for one of her flat-out lies. It had been so obvious too, what with her jerky speech, shifty eyes, stalled responses and strange clothes! Surely the girl had not-?

 

Rin looked to her canine companion thoughtfully. “What do you think, huh?”

 

The dog made a sound in the back of its throat that was half-growl half-bark in response. Rin took that as some sort of agreement and let out a sigh before taking off down the opposite hallway, fleeing as fast as she could.

 

* * *

 

Rin was soon out of breath, not being in the best of physical shape, and looked enviously at the dog that was loping along side of her effortlessly. He didn't look like he was enjoying himself, showing off that he so easily surpassed her in speed and endurance while rubbing it in by holding back to match her straggling pace. He was calm and had switched his gaze from her to whatever lay directly ahead. His proud muzzle held high with a sort of royal elegance as he bounded beside her. His footfalls, which should have been heavy for a dog his size, were noiseless, as if his every movement were muffled by some other force. Rin looked at his ethereal form with wide eyes for a moment, wanting to keep the image burned in her memory for later use in a drawing. Her eyes followed every movement of every muscle, studied the flow of every hair, the depth and color of his eyes until she was sure that she would remember exactly how the dog appeared as he ran.

 

Chest heaving with gasps for breath; Rin wiped sweat from her brow, but did not allow herself to slow very much. She was determined not to get caught yet, there was still far too much to see. They could catch her later if they wanted, but not now.

 

Suddenly suspicious, she glanced at the dog. Why had he started following her anyway, and why was he <i>still</i> following her? She had to admit it was nice having someone with her, even if he was a youkai dog, but she was suspicious of him nonetheless.

 

“Hmm,” she mumbled leaning sideways to get a better look at him. Why did she keep having this feeling that she knew the dog from somewhere too? It was simply too weird, and too much of coincidence that she had met up with him at such a time.

 

He didn't react, walking lazily alongside of her, acting oblivious to her keen stare, though she knew he was very well aware of what she was doing.

 

She could think of nothing though, and turned back away with a sigh, folding her hands behind her back and looking up at the wooden ceiling of the building.

 

Everything here was so foreign and yet felt so much like home at the same time; it was a strange feeling of peace and tranquility that Rin was not used to. Even the air was different here! It was so much fresher, so much cooler, so much more alive! Not even when she had gone camping in the wilderness with her family had the air been so. . .clean feeling. And the trees, they were covered in a kind of lichen that Rin had learned showed where air was the cleanest from root to leaf-stem. She could smell the scent of fresh cool water flowing not far away, and it was such a good feeling that she could nearly taste it as well. Despite herself, she smiled.

 

She liked this place; she liked it a lot. She could call this place home if she really wanted, she could stay here, couldn't she?

 

Her family's faces appeared almost immediately in front of her eyes, echoing in the deepest reaches of her mind and heart came an aching sadness and longing that mingled painfully with the sweet happiness that had filled that space not but a few moments before.

 

No, she couldn't stay here. This was a dream come true, the handsome prince, the nice people, the beautiful scenery, but dreams were just that, dreams. She would have to wake up sometime, no matter how much it hurt to face the blinding reality. She would have to learn to live with it, she knew that. For far too long she had been sleeping in her childish dreams, and in that time she had grown outwardly so that she was now what people would call an `adult.' She had responsibilities now, responsibilities that would require her to shed her childhood and take off into the real world.

 

The horrible thing was that Rin was quite aware that she was still living as a child when technically she was an adult and yet did not wish to alter herself. She was not oblivious to her duties as a “young Lady” now, but she liked her quiet little world, even if it was lonely. She liked writing, and drawing, and reading and everything else that she did when she was alone. Having someone else near her would only disrupt the gentle rhythm she had worked so hard to create and maintain through the years. Likewise having someone who was not her, and yet still her somehow suddenly appear would throw everything out of whack. Just the thought of “growing-up,” of letting herself change to suit the vision of those around her, of becoming someone she was not just to appease others made her cringe. She was frightened, yes, frightened, of growing-up. She was frightened of the changes that were sometimes demanded and that sometimes happened naturally. They scared her more than even the foreign world around her and she refused stubbornly to ever let go of her childhood.

 

She knew it was silly, maybe even bull-headed and stupid of her to be so selfish, but she didn't care. She hoped - even though she knew this too was silly - that somehow she could live in her quiet world, unchanging, even as she performed the duties of a young woman in her time. Treading a thin line between fantasy and reality.

 

Shaking herself from her sad reverie, she looked back at the dog again, which had been watching her thoughtfully when her eyes had glazed in deep thought and her pace had slowed significantly.

 

“Do you have a name?” Rin asked thoughtfully, trying to get her mind off of her own troubles and her family. It was stupid to worry about things like that right now, there was simply nothing she could do and to worry like that would make her forehead all wrinkly like that Jaken-youkai.

 

The dog's ears perked forward, and Rin took that as a `no.' “Well, if you're going to be following me around, you had better have a name so that I know what to call you. Calling you `dog' is…weird.”

 

The dog continued to stare straight ahead as she went into deep thought, wondering what name would be easiest for the youkai-dog to remember when he was called.

 

“How about…Inuzuki? You like that one?” she asked hopefully, but there was no reply. The dog kept walking along beside her silently.

 

“Ok,” she said. “How about Takashi then?”

 

Takashi was the name of a boy in her class; it was a popular and rather ordinary name for a boy, even though she had never seen many dogs with the name. The reply was the same as all the others before it. The dog acted as if he didn't hear a word she said, not even his gaze flickered from their position staring straight ahead.

 

“Akito? Hiroshi? Taro?” she ran off the names, ticking them off on her fingers as well.

 

Every name she could think of, though, met with the same response from the dog. She was beginning to grow annoyed and wondered if she should just pick a name and stick with it despite his qualms.

 

After some time of thought to her self, Rin decided that the best name she could come up with for the dog was `Jiro.' She wasn't sure there were many dogs in her world with that name either; but then again, she wasn't in her world any longer so it really didn't matter.

 

“I think I'll call you `Jiro,'” she informed him, musing to herself somewhat at the same time. “You kind of look like a Jiro to me anyway. So, do you like your new name, Jiro?”

 

She grinned softly and turned to look down at the mighty white dog only to find that he was no longer beside her. Startled, she stopped in mid-step and turned every which way in frenzy, her long hair flying crazily about her head. “Jiro?”

 

There was no reply; not even a tuft of white fur was seen. When had he gone, so suddenly and quietly? Surely she would have seen the dogs movements out of the corner of her eye? Panic gripped her, fearing for her new friend and herself at the same time. Her legs froze up immediately as she clutched at her heart with one clammy hand, thinking rapidly.

 

What if he was really spying on her and had gone back to report on her now? Why now though, she hadn't gotten into anything dangerous, had she?

 

Looking about, she saw that in her musings from before, she had not noticed that the walls had closed back in and there was no sign of the gardens from before at all any longer. So it wasn't likely he had taken off after a stray squirrel or rabbit and was running in the grass somewhere either.

 

“Jiro!!” she called loudly, no longer caring if she was heard. Besides, she had only seen a few people in this whole castle while she had been out, so what were the chances that she would be heard? “Jiro!”

 

Still there was no reply, not even a bark or whimper. Her mind was blank, she couldn't figure out what to do. Stay and find her companion, go on casually, or flee like the hounds of hell were at her heels.

 

Quickly she settled for the second choice, since neither the first nor the second made much sense. She had only just met Jiro; she couldn't expect him to stay with her the entire time, so why should she search for him now? And the thought of fleeing over such a small thing made her feel like a coward. She pictured a frightened, quivering rabbit in her head as she thought it over. Yes, she was definitely a rabbit.

 

A little jittery and confused, she forced herself to calm. It was silly over-reacting like that over something like the dog disappearing so suddenly. Yes, it was strange and maybe the call for alarm, but she shouldn't act so rashly all the time. She made a mental note to fix that problem as soon as possible.

 

It wasn't long before she heard some noise up ahead. It was muffled and distant, so she didn't stop right away, nor did she change course when she came to a fork in the road. Instead she felt drawn to the voices she heard and curiously continued in their direction, wondering what she would find up ahead. Maybe this was where everyone was at then! No wonder she hadn't seen very many people around before! They were all in this one area. Or so she guessed from the volume and mixed pitches of voices streaming down the hallways. What kind of gathering would this be though?

 

Poking her head around a corner, she could see a crowd of what looked to be servants up ahead. Some were doing washing and others had big baskets of things beside them. They all appeared to be women and children with a few men mixed in here and there. She wasn't close enough to get a good look at them though and crept forward carefully, hoping she wouldn't be seen.

 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .