Other Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome's Trial ❯ Chapter 4

For you people who read this, I'm sorry I didn't update earlier. I had to study for my physics exam over the weekend. It didn't help since I couldn't remember how to explain why the sky was blue. Now I know it's refraction, but it doesn't do me any good to remember after the test is over.

 

Anyway, does anyone even like this story? Some people have kept reading, but no one gives me any feedback. Does something bother you about this, or did I say something in a confusing way? Does it move too fast, too slow? Let me know, and I'll try to fix whatever mistake y'all can find.

 

~*~

 

Opening her eyes, the first thing Kagome thought of was why didn't her alarm clock go off. Once she woke up a bit more, she remembered that summer vacation had started yesterday when the exams ended, so she didn't have to set her alarm clock that night. Unfortunately, she didn't recognize her surroundings. This wasn't her bedroom, and since she was staying in a bed, she couldn't be in the Feudal Era. Where am I? This isn't right. Wait; there was a floating eye, a lot of stairs, strange people…Oh. That's right; I'm supposed to spend who knows how long in this place. I can't believe I'll still be learning in summer vacation. Foreign languages aren't my strong point; why couldn't it have just been something easy, like history or something?

 

A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts. Staggering over to the door, she opened it to reveal the woman that the blue-robed man spoke to yesterday. The woman said something and held up her arms, which were holding clothes. Stepping back, Kagome allowed the woman to enter the room. The woman put the clothes on the table next to the bed, said something Kagome couldn't understand, but by the gesturing of her hands, Kagome was able to figure out that the woman wanted her to change. When she walked over to the clothes and picked them up, the woman stepped out and closed the door.

 

Turning her attention to the clothes in her hands, she noticed right away that they weren't like her school uniform, but that was only to be expected. While walking through their village yesterday, she saw that none of the women were wearing green miniskirts; actually, none of them were wearing miniskirts. In addition, they weren't wearing white fukus. The clothes in her hands weren't bright like she was used to; these were more muted colors. The brown pants were a little too big, but the belt fixed that problem, and the tunic was a soft green. To her surprise, there were still clothes that she had to put on. She shrugged on the bluish-green vest and picked up the last item. It looked like it was some sort of…cape? Finding the top end, she put it around her shoulders and found the clasp that went around her neck. Looking in the full-length mirror, she examined herself. The cape thing had a hood and swept around her ankles, so she assumed it was for keeping rain off, like a poncho. All in all, the colors looked good on her.

 

There was another knock on the door, and when she opened it, she revealed the same woman. Looking at her, the woman smiled in satisfaction, entered the room, took up Kagome's old clothes and backpack over her protests, and motioned for Kagome to follow her. She led the younger girl back down the stairs and to the man Kagome first spoke with yesterday. Once again, Kagome was lost as the two traded words and the woman, after giving the man Kagome's old clothes and bag, made shooing motions with her hands and went back to her cash register. The man motioned for her to follow him and headed out the door. Obediently trailing the man since she wasn't about to let him just walk away with her things, they walked back up almost all those stairs she had taken the day before to the house on the water where she stopped to ask directions. This must be where he lives, Kagome thought to herself.

 

The redheaded woman from yesterday opened the door and greeted the man in their language. Once that was done, the woman turned her gaze to Kagome. She had kind eyes, but it seemed like she was taking Kagome's measure and was finding her lacking by her standards. Still, she stepped aside and allowed them both to enter the house. The woman took her clothes and bag from her husband and walked up the stairs. She looked over her shoulder and when she saw that Kagome wasn't following, motioned for her to follow. Feeling like she was a slave that trailed after whoever told her to, she climbed the stairs in the woman's wake and followed the woman into a room. Inside was what looked like a teenager's room. A vanity was against one of the walls, and a dresser was against a different wall. Two beds with their headboards against the wall adjacent to the door took up the most space, but it was still a larger room than Kagome had at her home in the Higurashi Shrine.

 

The woman set her bag on the bed farthest from the door and started for the door again with the clothes still in her hand.

 

“Wait,” Kagome called after her, afraid she was going to throw them away. “I need those!”

 

The woman seemed to understand what distressed her, and started making scrubbing motions with her hands on the fuku. At first Kagome didn't know what she was trying to do, but then she figured out that she was going to wash it. The woman smiled when she saw that Kagome understood and left.

 

Kagome meandered over to the bed her bag was dropped on and sat down. Well, this is good; I now know where I'm sleeping, but now what?

 

~*~

 

“That's not fair,” Garet shouted at Jenna as she reached Kraden's cottage first. “You got a head-start; that's cheating.”

 

Jenna stuck her tongue out at him. “You just weren't ready when I said `go'. I don't see how that's my fault.”

 

“You said it so fast I didn't know what you said until you were already ahead,” Garet pouted.

 

Jenna giggled. She loved making him mad; it was always entertaining. It was always good being around Garet; he was such a clown, but he was always there when you needed him.

 

By now Kraden, Isaac, and Felix had caught up to them. All three were talking about one thing or another. It was tough for Isaac to talk to strangers; he barely said three words to Kraden when they first started learning from him, but now he was as talkative with him as he was with the rest of them. Felix was naturally silent; he listened more than he spoke, but he opened up more to them than other people.

 

“Kraden, do we have anything else we need to do?” she asked, bouncing from one foot to the other. Please say no, please say no. That girl came today and I want to see her.

 

Laughing, the old alchemist shook his head. “No, Jenna, we don't. Why are you so antsy?”

 

“That stranger from yesterday is coming to our house to stay and she's staying in my room,” Jenna explained. “She should be there already, so I want to go see her.”

 

Garet's head snapped in her direction. “Can we come?” he pleaded. “We want to see the outsider, right, Isaac?” He looked at his best friend.

 

Isaac nodded. “I've never seen an outsider before,” he commented. “It would be interesting.”

 

Unfortunately, Felix shook his head. “Sorry, guys, but our parents said they don't want to overwhelm her with too many strangers at one time. Maybe when she can understand our language better.”

 

Kraden sighed. “I was hoping to speak with her about her culture,” the old alchemist said mournfully. “I heard that she came in the most outlandish clothes, so I assume that her culture would be different than anything I've ever heard of.”

 

Jenna patted him on the back sympathetically. “If I can ever understand her or she can understand us, I'll ask her for you,” she promised.

 

The old man smiled sadly. “Thank you, Jenna. It won't be the same as there are many questions that I wish to ask that you would never think of, but for the moment, it's enough.”

 

“Well, we have to go, so I'll see you all tomorrow. Bye,” she called as she practically dragged Felix down the path to their home. Of course, today of all days, Felix decided to walk extremely slow, and of course, this made Jenna mad. “Hurry up,” she shouted to him as he took his time strolling down the path. “Why are you walking so slow today?”

 

“I'm going as fast as I normally do; you're the one that's moving faster than normal,” he called back to her.

 

Tapping her foot impatiently, she crossed her arms and waited for him to catch up. He is so slow; why can't he hurry up? He's acting like this is just a regular day. Maybe he's just nervous. Poor Felix. Maybe he's just worried that she won't like him or he won't like her.

 

She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Felix catch up and pass her until he called over his shoulder, “I thought you were the one who wanted to rush home to meet the new person.”

 

Jenna shook her head to clear it and charged ahead again. “Yeah!”

 

~*~