InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strange Interlude ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

REVISED

 

Disclaimer: I own no one or no thing from InuYasha but all people or things that are not InuYasha are either owned or made up by me.

 

Strange Interlude

 

Chapter the First

 

In the year 2005 a group of American High School students participated in an exchange program with Japan. Among the few selected to go was a senior, Jennifer. She had black hair that came down past her shoulders, and dark brown eyes. She was a daydreamer, a romanticist, and a Catholic. But above all else she was a die-hard fan of anime, InuYasha being her favorite.

 

Having studied the language and culture of Japan for over 5 years, she finally was able to come to one of the greatest countries ever established. This great country, being second only to China has been a place Jennifer has wanted to visit since she was little. She was naturally excited about the opportunity and hoped that while in Japan, she could spend her time buying manga and art books. But as it turns out, Japan isn't all fun and anime.

 

"Shrine and temples serve a great purpose in Japan..." began a nasally Japanese voice. He was trying his best to speak perfect English for his foreign guests, but everyone knew except the poor man that he was far from perfect.

 

Jennifer rolled her eyes, "Oh great, once the tour guide starts talking, he won't shut up."

 

"Most Japanese family manage deir own shrines where dey practice the Shinto religion and sometime Buddhism."

 

Jennifer tuned out the lecture: "Why is this so boring? I thought we were going to go shopping and hang out with our host families."

 

"Dis is our next stop. As I say earlier, most shrines of the family are no longer in use except for tourism purposes and gift shops..."

 

Jennifer climbed out the tour bus with the rest of her "eager-eyed" group and looked to where the tour guide was directing them. She was greeted with a set of at least 300 steps up to the shrine.

 

Jennifer grudgingly trudged up the stairs while the tour guide droned on about the economical as well as spiritual importance of Shinto shrines. Too much time passed as Jennifer counted steps. 334 steps later they had reached the top. The whole group was exhausted from the trip, except for of course, Tattershall Sensei, their esteemed Chinese/Japanese instructor, whose physical fitness was unbridled. Her childlike nature, frizzy red hair, and her love of Star Trek made her a fanciful sight in both Japan and China. She tried to restore vigor into the group,

 

"C'mon guys, that was worth it! Look at all the history" This attempt got no response. Until...

 

"Welcome group, to the Shrine Higurashi. It is uncertain when the shrine was first established but..."

 

Jennifer became very alert after hearing this. "...Higurashi...but that's..."

 

Despite the fact Higurashi was a common enough last name, Jennifer couldn't help but think of her favorite series by Rumiko Takahashi. She had become suddenly engrossed in what the tour guide had to say, much to the praise of the Tatter-tart. But much to Jennifer's dismay, the middle-aged Japanese gentleman did not mention anything about a girl that fell through a well or the half-man, half-dog demon InuYasha.

 

Of course not!

 

But when passing the enclosing where the well was supposed to be, Jennifer felt inclined to satisfy her curiosity. So as the rest of the group wandered off to the gift shop, Jennifer lagged behind. "It's ridiculous, but I gotta at least try," she thought. "What other chance will I have to be at this shrine?"

 

She snuck around the building. "Besides" she mumbled to herself, "the worst that will happen is that I'll fall on my butt and make an ass out of myself."

 

She waited until no one was looking and ran into the roped off house where she found the mysterious Bone-Eater's Well, just where it was supposed to be.

 

"But wait," she thought. "Don't you need a Shikon shard to be able to pass through the well?"

 

()()()FLASHBACK()()()

 

"Ooh! Grandpa, where did you get that ring?"

 

A five-year-old Jennifer looked up into her grandfather's eyes awaiting the fabled story he had no doubt partially made up.

 

"Well sweetie, when I was in the war, I found this little jewel in a desert market in Japan. Or...was it Egypt? Anyway, I stumbled upon this little gem when I caught a guy cheating in a street game of 5 Card Stud."

 

The young, impressionable little girl knew not of Poker or of the 'deserts of Japan', but continued to take in all her wise grandfather had to say. She interrupted him at a boring part.

 

"It's really pretty. Can I have it?"

 

The kind old man smiled, "Of course, sweetie."

 

He placed the ring on her finger. He told her he had had it specially fitted just for her 5th birthday.

 

"Do you know what kind of gem that is?" he asked her.

 

"No," she said while musing at its glimmer. "Is it called 'Pink'?" she asked, her naivety shining through.

 

The grandfather had a nice little chuckle.

 

"No sweetie," he answered. "It's a very rare amethyst. It's worth lots of money, so hang on to it, ok"

 

"Ok! Ah-mee-thist. Amethyst"

 

He smiled and stroked her smooth, raven hair, before coughing a huge wheezing cough.

 

()()()END FLASHBACK()()()

 

Jennifer's grandfather had died that next year of lung cancer. It was very painful for her. She had lost her very best friend. But she still had the small ring in remembrance of him. She vowed to wear it everyday in his loving memory.

 

But, of course, as Jennifer got older, the tiny band would no longer fit. She still felt strongly about wearing her grandfather's keepsake, so she strung the ring on a silver chain and wore it around her neck. Several years ago, when she discovered the wide world of InuYasha, she took a second look at the ring. It seemed very similar it in color and to that of the Shikon jewel. Jennifer's imagination got the best of her, when she imagined to actually be a piece of the Jewel. In pitiful earnest, she went to a jeweler to find out what it really was. The jeweler had laughed at her. He revealed to her that it had the same consistency of a ring found in the little vending machines, probably worth less than a quarter.

 

But now that she was in the Land of the Rising Sun, anything seemed possible. "Please, let my imagination become reality," she silently prayed.

 

She pulled out the chain around her neck. It was hardly noticeable, but she could've sworn she saw the rounded gem, glow. Jennifer threw one of her legs over the wall of the well, straddling it like a horse, and then swung the other over. There was no ladder like in the real feudal fairytale but Jennifer made due by holding herself up by her elbows. She clutched the ring in one hand and let go of the wall, plunging into the Sacred Well of Higurashi Shrine.

 

It was a longer fall than she expected. Surely the Japanese government would've filled in all the dry wells, but it seemed that they had dug this one deeper, perhaps to find more water.

 

Anyway she was falling and felt that she would probably just keep on falling, until suddenly she hit bedrock. She landed squarely on her back, the wind immediately knocked out of her. Her head hit a rock, and she was knocked unconscious. The chained ring around her neck lay gently on her chest. Seconds later, the gemstone shone brightly.

***

 

The light from the jewel began to dim. Jennifer lay on her back still unconscious. Her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. The raven-haired teen sat up and grasped her head. She looked up and saw darkness. Had the well been capped off? Was there a cave-in while she was KOed? She could see nothing save several far away specks of light.

 

"Stars?" she pondered. "But since when is this an open shrine?"

 

She stood, looked up, and squinted into the darkness.

 

"I must've been out for a long time. It's night out."

 

She felt along the brick and dirt wall, and found a relatively strong vine. She grabbed onto it and began to climb the old well.

 

"Well that was a bust. God! I feel so stupid. I'll probably be expelled for ditching the group. I wonder why they didn't look for me. I can probably taxi to the ho-TEL"

 

Jennifer's foot slipped causing her to slide several feet down the side of the well. She caught her foot on one of the bricks, took a moment to recover, and then continued her climb.

 

She muttered, "As soon as I get out of this well, that is."

 

At long last, Jennifer reached the top and pulled herself out. Her eyes adjusted to the faint moonlight and she was able to take in her surroundings.

 

"I'm outside..." she wondered aloud. "But where's the shrine? What's with all the trees? Were there this many trees here before? I shouldn't be anywhere else...Unless..." her eyes widened, "IT WORKED!"

 

She continued in loud ecstasy, "I'M in the FEUDAL ERA"

 

CAAW! CAAW!

 

"Oops... I gotta remember there are monsters and demons here, and... InuYasha!

 

As the great name was spoken, a strong wind blew.

 

She shivered, "Maybe I should've brought a jacket."

 

Jennifer turned to look toward the wind and thought she saw a dark figure standing in the distance behind the shadow of the trees. Jennifer became quite inquisitive as to what was behind the tree line and crept, almost unnecessarily, toward the darkened path.

 

After traveling a ways into the woods, she came upon a small clearing. It was very dark except for a concentrated beam of moonlight that shone upon a low stone table. She approached it rather cautiously, and when she looked upon the table where the moonbeam shone, she found a simple carving of an eye.

 

Jennifer passed her hand over the stone to block the light from the moon. The pupil of the eye grew large. She moved her hand away and watched the indented stone return to a sliver. She then leaned over to peer more closely at the unusual drawing.

 

"This is strange" she said aloud. "What in the feudal era is this? If I'm where I think I am, I'm not sure this is supposed to exist."

 

She looked around. "Kaede's village is supposed to be nearby."

 

Jennifer thought about walking on to find it, but found herself gazing back at the unblinking eye.

 

"I wonder if InuYasha is nearby," she mused, touching the stone above its eyelid.

 

A brilliant gust of wind rose up almost knocking her over. Jennifer grasped the tabletop, upon feeling the vicious wind, and the gust partially subsided.

 

"Is it just me, or does the wind pickup when I mention InuYasha?"

 

The wind's force became uncontrollable and blasted Jennifer to the ground, sending her several feet away from the stone. The wind then came to an abrupt stop.

 

"That wind is definitely coming from the stone," Jennifer proclaimed. "It's reacting negatively to that name. Whatever it is, it must despise Inu-er...him. But who or what could that be?"

 

Flashbacks and fast forwards of the anime played in Jennifer's mind, but of all the people and demons who would have had a reason to dislike InuYasha had nothing to do with the strange stone pedestal.

 

She continued to ponder until she heard a low whisper rise up from the carved stone.

 

"...Basoni..."

 

Jennifer flinched at the sudden sound. She crawled on hands and knees back toward the stone. Standing, she could see the eyeball move very sporadically within its confines. Perplexed, the American stepped back and studied the entirety of the rocky column. Toward the bottom, the inquisitive youth found an inscription reading:

 

"Here lies a powerful demon, whose deadly claws might have slain many a
human.

 

"He hath here been sealed away so as to no longer wreak havoc upon the
world."

 

Intrigued, Jennifer ran to the other side of the strange rock, and on the other side of the table, saw a scratched out verse:

 

"Seal...the...eye
No...open
...if..lips..kiss.
This.. would be...

 

She read it aloud, or at least what she could read of it, anyway.

 

"That...does not make any sense...Curse the Japanese and their complicated grammar." But seriously, "The eye... 'Seal the eye'...How do I do that? 'If lips kiss'...Do they want me to kiss it? That's disgusting!"

 

However, the 1st grade grotesqueness faded fast. Her eyes softened and she said hauntingly, "But it's so beautiful."

 

Jennifer stroked around the eye with her finger. It watched her with a cold malicious glare, staring straight through her. Captivated as if under a spell, Jennifer leant forward toward the rock. She closed her eyes and gave it a quick kiss.

 

The ground began to shake. Jennifer was knocked out of her trance, and quickly took a couple steps back. In horror she stared at the stone pedestal. The faded verse on the stone's side now shone fiercely, and seconds later the rock seemed to shoot up from the ground, launching the defined verse to Jennifer's eye level.

 

"Sealed away the unblinking eye

 

No good soul would dare reopen

 

Only released if pure lips doth it touch

 

This world would be no more."

 

"...shit..." she whispered.

 

The rock continued to grow, and the air blew all around her. In no time at all, it towered over her, at least an entire foot above her head. The trees ached and moaned at the stress the wind was putting on their branches. Jennifer, however, was unaffected. A strange aura surrounded her, protecting her from the spontaneous windstorm.

 

Several seconds passed, and the jagged features of the rock began to take shape. The edges were smoothed and the cracks filled. Adding to its height, the stone creature began to resemble something human.

 

Jennifer couldn't figure out who or what it was. Not until she saw the formation of a long, furry cloak that rested upon the right shoulder on the creature could she determine the figure to resemble...

 

"Sesshomaru!" Jennifer gasped.

 

A wave of color came upon the statue as the stone turned to flesh. A great upheaval of wind blew around him like a twister, subsiding a moment later to reveal the grand demon, Sesshomaru. He raised a palm about a foot away from his face, and flexed his newly restored fingers and claws.

 

Jennifer stepped backward slowly, then tripped on a fallen branch and stumbled to the ground. Sesshomaru looked at her menacingly. He stepped down off his tiny stone prison, and walked toward where she sat.

 

Jennifer stared up at him in wonder and fright. A moment passed between them in silence, until he stuck out his right hand. Jennifer flinched but then saw Sesshomaru's outstretched palm and hesitantly took it. The great and powerful youkai helped up the fallen human.

 

"Th-thank you." she stammered.

 

His expression was unchanged.

 

Once she stood, Sesshomaru let go and thrust that same hand into the gracious human's shoulder. Poison claws tore at her flesh, and a stifled gasp escaped Jennifer's lips. He removed the large hand, and watched the human fall to the ground. Pants and tears emitted from her as she gazed upward at the villain.

 

Sesshomaru made the energy-whip with his hand and raised it high above his head to strike at her. With her right hand, Jennifer grasped her bleeding shoulder and struggled to stay conscious. She feared what was to come.

 

"I'm going to die..." Jennifer thought, her eyes filling with tears.

 

She watched in horror as the crackling whip of Sesshomaru came down.

 

"Don't!" she pleaded in Japanese. "Please stop."

 

The energy from the whip stopped only inches from her face. It was so close that Jennifer could feel the heat given off by the sword. Sesshomaru turned his head and painstakingly evaporated his weapon.

 

"What's going on?" Jennifer thought, "Why did he...?"

 

Sesshomaru knelt in front of the strange mortal and peered into her eyes, searching for a sign, some reason why he was not allowed to kill her.

 

"I...don't understand..." Jennifer managed to say through her pain, "Is it because I set you free that you can't kill me?"

 

The demon scoffed in contempt, "I, not able to kill a lowly mortal? Ridiculous." He stood and looked away.

 

"Lord Sesshomaru," spoke the weakening human, "May I be so bold as to ask you a question?"

 

This got his attention. How did the human know him? He looked down upon the worthless child.

 

She continued: "If you could've killed me, then why didn't you?"

 

Her vision had become blurry, yet Jennifer hung on to life if only to hear his answer.

 

Sesshomaru's face was emotionless and as hard as the stone he was set free from. He replied coldly, "You are not worth the bloodshed."

 

Sesshomaru maintained his icy stare. There was something he still didn't understand. Jennifer tried her hardest to focus on his face and his cool yellow eyes, but found it extremely difficult. She keep biting her lip to cancel the pain long enough to see those piercing eyes.

 

Sesshomaru noticed the girl's failings, and wanted to be on his way before she made some brilliant death scene, but some faint glint in her had caught his eye. As if discovering something, Sesshomaru's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed.

 

Jennifer blushed at his long stare, and turned her head aside. Determined to stand, she let her left arm hang limp, as she used her blood-drenched right hand to push herself shakily to her feet. She gathered the courage to look into the demon's eyes, but only saw emptiness.

 

What did he see? Was this even happening? Was she really in Warring States Era? It was all so overwhelming. And here she was, staring straight into the eyes of the devil himself; surely she was going to die.

 

Sesshomaru grunted and finally looked away. He took a small jump into the air and began to levitate higher and higher, turning away from the girl forever.

 

"Wait!" Jennifer screamed. She threw her right arm into the air, grasping for what she could not reach. Seconds later, he was gone, yet the injured girl's eyes lingered in the skies. Her shoulder was still bleeding profusely, and she'd soon have to find somebody or she'd faint from loss of blood, not to mention the giant hole in her shoulder.

 

Quickly trudging through the dark woods, Jennifer thought of nothing else except to find a village, any village, or any person who could save her. She did not want to die in this foreign land, by the hand of a person who should not have existed, but did.

 

But inevitably Jennifer's eyes became heavy, and her body became numb. Without notice to its mindless owner, Jennifer's body fell from under her. She collapsed onto the hard, damp ground, hitting her head on a conveniently placed boulder, and knocking herself unconscious.

 

***

 

A/N: Yay! Questions? Comments? C'mon people that's what reviewing is for!

 

Also thanks to my first few reviewers. I was going to wait for more reviews, but I decided that if I go ahead put up the first chapter because it has a deeper in look to my story than the Prologue alone. Hope you liked it!

 

REVISED ON FEBRUARY SIXTH, 2005