Shadows

Shadows

Disclaimer: I do not own nor place any claim on any Inuyasha Characters.

A/N: This is my first attempt at writing anything in my whole life, fan fic or otherwise, so please don't flame me to death. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. I've made up my own female character as the lead, but the rest of the serie's characters will make appereances later on.

Chapter 1


It was hot. Too hot for this time of year. The Sakura blossoms had finished blooming about a week ago, and it was only mid-March. This summer was going to be a sweltering heatwave.

I was sitting under the God Tree, that fateful day, fanning myself furiously. Nobody was home at Kagome's house or I'd definetly be inside right now. I looked through my school bag again, almost positive I'd forgotten something. No, it was all there. I'd gone to all Kagome's classes for her today, picking up make-up work, extra books, and anything else I could think of to help her study. Poor Kagome had missed so much school lately with all her serious illnessess. She was behind in almost all her subjects, except history for some reason. I leaned back against the tree's massive trunk and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the sweat trickling down my spine.

I'd only known Kagome for about a year, but we'd fast become friends, even considering that I was in my third year of high school and she was just in her first. She was like a breath of fresh air in my otherwise dismal life. Her mother, Mrs. Higurashi, had become a second mother to me. Her little brother made me drawings in his art class, and her grandfather always went out of his way to make me laugh. Even her cat, Buyo, would come running to me whenever I came over, curling up in my lap and purring loudly.

I let my mind wander a bit, back to the past, when my family had been alive. On hot days like this, my mother would always be in the garden. My father would be in the shade of our huge porch, doing paperwork, talking on the phone, or anything else required to run the Imamura family business. My grandmother taught Ikebana in a side room that my father built especially for her classes. Grandmother had tried to get me interested in flower arranging since I could barely walk, and had been very disappointed that I'd never shown an interest. 'It is an art form that all young ladies should learn, my dear Arisa', my grandmother was so fond of saying. After turning over the running of the business to my father, my grandfather went back to the university to become a teacher. He helped me greatly when I was stuck with my schoolwork. I was spending the night at my friends house, that night three years ago, when our house had caught fire, taking my entire family from me. I lived in a group home for girls at the moment. The state hadn'en aen able to find any living relatives for me at all, and had stuck me in the first place with an opening. It was horrible. You had to guard you're stuff all the time, or it came up missing. There were fights, some ending with a death.

I snapped myself out of my reverie, not wanting to think about the blood that had streaked the hallway for almost a month after the last fight. Damn, it was hot! Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the shrine building that housed the old well. I'd only been in it a couple of times, it gave me the major creeps, but the temperature difference had been so extreme, it was like the building had air conditioning even though it wasn't wired for electricity. I was sure the cold had something to do with the presence of that old well. I'd felt a....well, a ' something' around me the two times I'd been in there, and it seemed to radiate out of the well itself. Yeah, it was creepy, but I just couldn't bring myself to care at the moment, as long as it was cooler in there then out here. I picked up my backpack and purse and headed towards it.

The old wooden doors creaked as I opened them. A blast of cold air blew the bits of hair that had freed themselves from my braid off of my face. Man, that felt good. I quickly slipped inside, closing the door behind me. The little light that squeezed in through gaps in the old wooden walls and roof, gave only a soft twilight to the interior. It was at least 20 degrees cooler in here. I sighed with relief, and made my way down the stairs. I walked all the way around the well, appreciating how truely old the building was, then settled myself on the ground, my back propped against the side of the well. I rifled through my backpack, pulling out the book I had to read for sociology, and settled in.

I didn't stop reading until I realized I was squinting from a lack of light. How long had I been ere?ere? I stood up, stretching the stiffness out of my joints. My butt was numb. I put away my book, and hefted the pack over my shoulder. It was definetly late. I could just make out the stairs by the door in the dying light. I made my way to the stairs and was just about to start up them................

..........when two frozen 'fingers' traced their way up the back of my arms, from elbows to shoulders.


My throat constricted, and I whirled arouny eny entire body breaking out in goosebumps so fast it almost hurt. There was no one there. I froze, not daring to move, or even breathe. I scanned the interior of the well, being careful to move nothing but my eyes. Time ticked slowly by, and still nothing else happened. I relaxed a little bit, swallowing the lump in my throat. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Nothing else seemed to be happening now, but I know I hadn't imagined it. Some 'presence' had actually touched me. I rubbed the backs of my arms, trying vainly to erase the feeling. Was this place haunted? The shrine was very old, like centuries old, and it had been built around the well, so that was even older. And ghosts liked really old places, so it was entirely possible that there would be a ghost or two hanging around. This would definetly be the last time I came in here. I was about to turn around and make a hasty exit, when a strange light flashed in the well. I turned back to face the well fully, but strangely, it didn't scare me this time. I just somehow knew that I wouldn't be harmed. Some'thing' touching me was too much, but the brief flash of light had been somehow.....soothing. The light flared to life again. It came directly out of the well, stronger this time, shimmering off of the shrines walls as if refracted off surfsurface of a diamond, only with a pinkish hue. The light again vanished, sucked back into the well itself. I crept up to the well, my curiosity suddenly overcoming my good sense. I gingerly placed my hands on the wells edge, as if I might get burned.

The well's interior was dark, except for one shaft of the evening sun that had found its way down the well. Something glinted in that thin beam of light, something way on the bottom. I walked around the well several times, trying to get a better angle in which to see. The something on the bottom was a pinkish color, so logically the source of the light I'd seen, but it seemed to be buried in the dirt. Wow! Maybe it was some ancient relic just now surfacing after hundreds of years, like dinosaur bones did. My overactive imagination came up with several scenarios of what it might actually be, and I knew I couldn't leave now until I found out.

I looked carefully at the inside walls of the well. There were several good hand and foot holds. It wouldn't be hard to climb back out once I got down there. I didn't even think twice about it. I dropped my backpack next to the well, pulled the purse strap over my head to lay diagonally across my chest, and swung my body over the side of the well. I made my way down carefully until I was positive I wouldn't break something if I jumped the rest of the way. The bottom was hard packed dirt, almost hard enough to be called cement. I looked around, trying to locate the pink glimmer......and found I couldn't move. My feet were absolutely stuck, like I really had landed in cement and it had hardened instantly around my shoes. I tried to look down at my feet, but found nothing could move. My entire body was frozen. Then, I did get scared again. I would have started panicking, if the pink light hadn't dictracted me. It rose from beneath me, becoming almost blindingly bright. Small stars twinkled around me, dancing in the thickening atmosphere. The walls around mre are almost completely hidden by the pinkish, purple haze. Then, I was falling, the ground having disappeared underneath my feet. Falling? No, more flying. Faster and faster, being pulled somewhere. Blackness started creeping in from the edges of my vision. I fought it, but too much was happening too fast. My last goofy thought before the blackness was complete was 'This would make a great amusement park ride', then everything went out.