InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Naraku's Expiriment ❯ Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One ~ Arrival

 

Autumn leaned against the airplane seat, silently cursing the fact that she was riding… coach. Coach was exactly what it sounded like: crowded, uncomfortable, and cramped. Lots of crammed in C-words with tight corners. There was that, and the fact that kid in front of her was being terribly rude, leaning back in his chair and crushing her legs.

 

Why am I doing this again? She wondered, trying to shift her legs around so she could kick the kid's chair and send the clearly needed message.

 

I'm going to visit Kagome…

 

Just to remind herself, she pulled some dog-eared papers out of her backpack and started reading through them. Her high school language department had decided that a good project would be to start a pen pal program with a Japanese high school. The other school had readily agreed and somehow, Autumn had been stuck with a reeeallly happy girl named Kagome.

 

Kagome was nice…almost irritatingly so. Autumn would have liked her better if she didn't act like such an airhead. Still, Kagome had problems of her own. From the letters, Autumn concluded that Kagome was seeing two guys. One of them was sweet, but a little dumb and rash. The other guy was…a jerk. What shocked Autumn was the fact that Kagome was sticking with the Jerk. He didn't seem to care for her at all, and was so…needy. Not only that, but the Jerk was cheating on Kagome with some Jerkette.

 

And I don't even have a boyfriend, Autumn thought glumly.

 

Then again, Autumn reasoned, Maybe I can help poor ol' Kagome straighten her life out. Someone obviously needs to. Who knows? Maybe I'll meet that special someone too.

 

With that settled in her mind, Autumn leaned as far back as her seat would allow and tried to ignore the blaring of the kid's walkman in front of her as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stupid airplane! Autumn thought, rubbing her sore back. Oh, well, at least I'm here now. She got out of the taxi with her suitcase and thanked the driver before walking to the house. Even after what Kagome had told her about it, Autumn was still amazed and stood still for a few moments to gaze at the house in awe. It was rustic-looking and old, right near a covered well. With the grass swaying lightly in the breeze it looked like the perfect setting for a book. Perhaps Little House on the Prairie.

 

“Hey there!”

 

Autumn looked up and smiled. A little boy was waving to her from the porch. “Hey, you must be Sota, right?”

 

The boy smiled and nodded, “You betcha! And you must be Autumn. Kagome was here just a moment ago, but she disappeared somewhere.” He rolled his eyes, “As usual.”

 

“Oh,” Autumn said, trying to conceal her disappointment.

 

“You wanna come see what me and grandpa are doing?” Sota asked, dragging her to the sunlit porch. Without waiting for an answer he said, “Grandpa imports all this weird junk from all over the world. And he has a `legend' for everything just to warn ya.”

 

“Is that so?” Autumn asked, puzzled.

 

“Ah, you must be Kagome's little American friend.”

 

Autumn saw an elderly man walking over to them. “Come, and see the wonders from all over the world.” She glanced over at Sota, but he just half-shrugged, so Autumn followed Kagome's grandfather to a cardboard box sitting on the very corner of the porch. After rooting through it for a moment, he produced a silver ring and said, “Now, according to this legend…”

 

Sota tugged his sleeve, “Uh…gramps? That's a mood ring, remember? You bought a whole bunch of them `for the kids' right?”

 

The old man snorted indignantly and said, “Yeah, what about this? This is a feather from the very wings of Pegasus who, according to legend, sprang from the head of Medusa when she was slain.”

 

“You'll have to do better than that,” Sota said, taking the feather. “It looks like a goose feather, gramps. You know what I think? I think you were gypped.”

 

Autumn, who had been waiting patiently until this point said, “Pardon me, but you wouldn't happen to know where Kagome is, would you?”

 

“Eh?” the man said, scratching his head. “Last time I checked she was down by that well again. I don't know what the interest is. The girl's practically obsessed with it.” He smiled, beaming with pride. “She gets it from her grandfather. Appreciation for the artifacts of ancient times must've skipped a generation in this family.”

 

“Um…okay…thanks,” Autumn said, turning around to go to the well entrance. They seemed nice. A little weird, but very nice.

 

“I can't wait to see what the fuss is about this well…” she muttered.