InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Trials of the Shikon Guardian ❯ Leaving Home ( Chapter 1 )

*I'll only say this once, Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takashi

~ <-- this thingy means the story is jumping to a different time

The Lost Ring

Kagome peered into the darkness, staring at an old deteriorating building. It had been built

hundreds and hundreds of years ago and it was falling apart. There were holes everywhere

and it slumped as if age had put a burden on its shoulders. Everybody left it alone for some

strange reason. Even the groups of unruly teens left it alone, never desecrating the structure.

It was ancient and looked as if it had survived everything, from thunderstorms to hurricanes.

But the feeling of it was not age, but something that was timeless.

"Go on, it's your dare." whispered Yuka.

Her friend gently pushed her towards the building. After going to a scary movie at the

theater, Kagome had bragged about being bored throughout the whole movie. Her friends,

being scared witless, decided to have her do a dare. Conveniantly, they were walking pass the

old house. She took a big gulp and entered the doorway after one last look at her friends.

*Maybe boasting about how brave I am wasn't the smart thing to do....* It was dark inside

with flickers of shadows that appeared to be some monster at every corner. She carefully tip-

toed in what appeared to be the main room. It was large with fallen roof beams cluttering the

ground. There was no moon tonight and the darkness of the room made shivers dance across

her skin. While she was picking her way to the other side something caught her eye. It

glittered just once but it was enough to make Kagome curious. She moved closer to where she

saw it and got down on her hands and knees to search for it. She skimmed her fingers across

the wooden boards till she felt something cold and hard underneath her fingertips. She picked

it up and held it close to her face. It was too dark to distinguish it but she could tell it was a

ring. She slipped it onto her ring finger and found that it fit perfectly. Then Kagome froze, she

could feel something pulling her. Not physically, but inside, she could feel something pulling

at her. A bright light flashed in the room, blinding her for several minutes. During that time

she felt like she was floating in midair with that pulling feeling still there. Then she fell onto

soft ground and it all stopped. She put her hands over her eyes for a while till she realized she

was laying on grass. *Grass? Kami, there wasn't any grass in the room!* She put her hands

down and opened her eyes cautiously. She was in a dense forest and there was the quiet

humming of the wind passing through. A bush shook at her right and she jumped to her feet,

ready to run. A small rabbit hopped out, making Kagome jump. Seeing the cute animal she

picked it up but nearly dropped it when she saw the rabbit's features. It was a bright red-

brown color with large green eyes staring back at her. And instead of a small tuff of hair in the

back, it bore a long fluffy one.

"You're a funny looking rab-"

Kagome stopped in the middle of the sentence, tilting her ear toward something in the

distance. She could hear trees crashing....something was coming towards them quickly. She

hugged the rabbit close to her and braced herself for the attack. It came soon and exploded

from a clump of trees. She shut her eyes tightly and hugged the rabbit even tighter.

Something grabbed the cute animal from her hands and she opened her eyes. In front of her

was a young man, near her age, who was holding the rabbit by the skin on it's neck. She

couldn't see him too clearly but he was wearing a red haori and it looked as if he was going to

beat the rabbit to a pulp. Fear disappeared into anger as she snatched the rabbit from his

hands.

"What are you doing?! Give him back!" he growled and tried to grab the rabbit but she kept it

out of his reach.

"Don't bully him! What did a rabbit ever do to you?"

Quick as lightning, he seized the rabbit and shook it hard.

"Change back you little-"

"Hey!" she tried to get him back but the man held it away from her. There was small pop and a

bit of green smoke coming from the rabbit. She pushed the man hard and made him fall on his

rump and grabbed the animal again. It wasn't a rabbit but...a fox boy?

"What are you?"

"A kitsune."

Her eyebrows raised a second and she just stared at him.

"Kawaii!!!!" she hugged the kitsune while the young man dropped his mouth.

"Kawaii? This little annoying thing?! Give him back, he needs to be punished!"

At that the fox boy buried his face into the crook of her arm.

"Don't let him beat me up! I'm just a helpless little kid."

"Why you little-"

Kagome held out an arm and stopped him from coming any closer.

"Don't even try it, you leave him alone!"

"You have absolutly no authority to tell me that. I'll toss you in the dungeon if you don't give

him back to me."

"Dungeon? Hah! A little old world, aren't we? I'll drag you straight to the cops!"

"Cops? What are you talking about? Did you hit your head or something?"

"You don't know what cops are? Maybe you hit your head!"

"That's it, you're going to the dungeon." he started to move and Kagome panicked. Suddenly, a

blue light exploded out of her hand and hit the man hard, making him crash into a tree.

Groaning, he got up and held his stomach.

"What the hell was that?"

Kagome looked down at her own hand.

"I-I don't know."

While she was looking down at her hand he used the distraction to move quickly behind her

and tap her shiatsu sleep spot. She dropped into his arms and he tossed her over his

shoulder. The kitsune started to back away from him, looking around for an escape.

"Hehehe, uh, I was just joking back there! Just a joke!"

Inuyasha glared menacingly down at him.

"You call dumping a statue on my head a joke? Hehehe, that's the best understatement I've

ever heard."

By the time he had ended the sentence he had knocked the kitsune out with a punch on it's

head. Holding his two captives he started his way back to the palace, his home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

Her eyes flickered open and was disturbed with what she saw. A dungeon. *What kind of guy

is he, to keep a dungeon around and put people in it! Where does he fit one anyway? Under

his house?* She groaned as she got up, her muscles aching from the biting cold floor. She

looked around and surveyed the place. It was dark except for a torch that lit a small corridor.

She could see that there were other dungeons about but couldn't tell if there were anybody

else in them. Her cell was made with hard stones and it was freezing.

"Are you awake?" said a small voice in the corner.

"Who are you?"

The little fox boy from the forest came out from the corner.

"It's me."

"Oh, come here, you must be freezing."

The boy scrambled to Kagome's lap and buried himself in her shirt.

"Just a little, my fur keeps most of the cold away."

"What's your name?"

"Shippo."

"How come that man put a little boy like you in the dungeon?"

"I played a joke on him, that idiot took it seriously."

"What did you do to him?"

"Errrr, dumped a statue on his head."

"What? But that would have killed him!"

"Oh no, not Inuyasha, his head is harder than a rock. The funny thing is that there isn't

anything inside of it."

"Inuyasha...that's the man who put us in here?"

"Yup, say, what's your name?"

"Kagome."

"Why did he put you in here? You're one of his kind."

"His kind? What are you talking about?"

Shippo gave a confused face.

"Aren't you one of those higher youkai?"

"Youkai? Youkai don't exist."

"Maybe Inuyasha is right, did you hit your head?"

"Youkai don't exist."

"Then what am I?"

*Come to think of it...Shippo doesn't look like a normal boy* She held up the kitsune and

tugged at his tail gently.

"Hey, don't do that."

"Sorry, just checking to see if you were wearing a costume."

"Costume? I'm 100% youkai. See?"

Shippo disappeared in a poof and in his place was a pinkish balloon.

"Is that you, Shippo?"

"Yup, I can change into things."

"But...but...that's impossible, youkai are just a legend. Where am I???"

"In the Inuyoukai's realm. This is the most powerful youkai kingdom in the world."

"Inuyoukai..."

Steps echoed in the corridor and Kagome stood up and went up to the iron bars. He was the

oddest looking person Kagome had ever seen. He was tall with four arms that held different

types of weapons and his skin color was a dark, dark blue.

"Ano, could you let me out? I haven't done anything at all."

"By his royal highness's decree, you are to come before the court." he said in a monotonous

tone. One of his arms held a key and it opened the cell door.

"Wait, what about Shippo?"

"The prince has ordered that the kitsune be left in here for a few decades till he apologizes for

being so foolish."

"Oy! He can't do that to me!"

Shippo jumped at the man but Kagome caught him before he could touch the guard.

"Shippo," she whispered, "can you change into something really small? Maybe I can fit you

into my pocket."

"Yeah, but, the guard will see the smoke."

"Excuse me, guard?"

Yes mistress."

Kagome ignored the mistress part.

"May I just have a few moments so I can part with Shippo?"

"I can give you two minutes."

He stepped out of the cell and moved several feet away. Shippo changed as quietly as he

could but the poof was still loud. Kagome coughed a few times to hide the sound. Shippo

changed into a red brown bracelet with green jewels. Kagome stepped out of the cell and the

guard silently led the way out. When he opened the door, Kagome expected to see a normal

room on the other side. But to her dismay it was another corridor that soon led to a pair of

shoji doors. He slid them open and waited for Kagome to go first. They were in a hallway that

was richly decorated and there were a few servants scurrying around. For some reason they

bowed in Kagome's presence. She just nodded her head, blushing. *Why are they bowing?

This guy must be rich to have this kind of old decor* Finally he came to a door that bore a

curious emblem. It was a formidable looking white dog with small purple jewels bordering it.

The guard opened the door for her and bowed as she stepped in. It was a large room, boasting

nearly a hundred people in it. They all appeared human but were dressed oddly. They were

all wearing clothes that looked as if it came from several hundred years ago. Kagome looked

down at her own modern clothing, a pair of blue jeans and a light blue sweater. Everybody

stared at her, just watching and scrutinizing her figure. A few of them even sniffed at her.

They parted to give her space to move to the front of the room. The front part of the room

was raised higher and on it were three people. One of them was the man from the forest, he

crossed his arms and looked gruffly at her. The other two were sitting down and were more

richly dressed than any other person in the room. The male wore white with silver and gold

on the edges. The woman wore a stunning 6 layer kimono with various colors, from red to

purple. The man motioned Kagome to come closer to the platform.

"Excuse me, sir, but it's against the law to imprison someone when they have done nothing at

all."

The room became dead quiet.

The man looked at Kagome more closely.

"Young lady, you have no authority to say that to your king."

*King?!! Nani?? What's going on here?*

"Um, your majesty, I wasn't aware that you were a king."

Several people in the room gasped. The king was about to say something but the woman

beside him touched his arm gently.

"Let me handle this dear. Now, from what family do you come from?"

"Higurashi."

"Higurashi? I do not know any high youkai's family by the name of Higurashi."

"I'm not youkai."

There were more gasps again. The queen raised a delicatly painted eyebrow.

"Not youkai?" The queen leaned over and whispered to her husband's ear. He nodded and

made a signal with his hands. At that signal everybody in the room began to file out and soon

it was empty, save the king and queen, Inuyasha, and Kagome.

"You say you are not youkai, then what are you? A goddess? Or, perhaps one of those ghosts?"

"I'm human, your majesty."

"Human? Impossible! There hasn't-" blurted out Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, calm yourself. I think what my son is saying is that there is only one known human

in this realm."

"Only one? What kind of world is this??"

The king stroked his chin in thought.

"What do you mean by world?"

"I'm saying that where I come from, none of this exists."

"You are from another world?"

"I..I think so. Nothing here is familiar."

"You are a witch then?"

"No, I just, something took me here."

"There are no witches here powerful enough to pull someone from another world. Are you

lying?"

"No, look! When I put this ring on, some light flashed and the next thing I know, I'm here."

"Come closer and let me look at this time ring."

Kagome came closer and put her hand out by the king. He took it and stared hard at the ring.

"Kami." he whispered. "It can't be."

"What is it dear?" sadi the queen.

"Young lady, can you take the ring off?"

Kagome tried to pull the ring off, it was stuck fast. She tried several times but ended up

yelping from her stretched skin.

"I see, then it must be true."

"Dear, what is it?" the queen asked again.

"The lost ring of Shikon."

*please review and tell me what you think of this story!!!!