Shadows

Disclaimer : No, don't own Inuyasha


Chapter 4


Inuyasha crept through Kagome's window, and landed lightly in her room, closing the window as quietly as possible. She was at deskdesk, head on her crossed arms, sound asleep. Her hair was covering her face, so he reached out, and gently pulled the thick silk behind her ear, bathing her soft features in moonlight. He was struck again by her ethereal beauty, so much like Kikyo, yet so very different. She shifted slightly in her sleep, breaking his reverie. She looked very uncomfortable. He wondered how long she had slept like that. He padded silently to her bed and turned down the blanket. He lifted her sleeping form as smoothly as he could, trying not to wake her. He laid her gently on her bed, and pulled the blanket to her chin.

It had been a long night. He walked to the window, staring at the moon that hung low in the sky, thinking on the conclusion he'd come to earlier.

Kagome had practically shoved him out her window after she'd revealed what she wanted him to do. Try to track her scent down. He'd felt stupid he hadn't thought of it himself, but he tried like hell not to think or act like a dog, so it hadn't occured to him. She'd given him her backpack to 'sniff', and, with a few choice words, he'd complied. Arisa's scent was very unique, as was everyones, so it wouldn't be difficult to recognize it again. She'd also shown him one of her 'picture' things of Arisa. How could you miss her. He'd never seen hair that color on a human before in his life. 'What the hell's wrong with her hair?', he'd asked. 'Her mother's Irish.' Kagome said, like that explained everything. He'd then bounded off into the night, going from rooftop to rooftop, alley to alley, trying to find any hint of her whereabouts. He'd turned almost the entire city upside down searching, and hadn't found a thing. It was just as Kagome said. She'd completely disappeared.

Kagome said Arisa's backpack had been in the shrine building, right next to the well, so it seemed only logical to take a thorough look. There had to be a clue somewhere, and his almost all night search of the city had yielded nothing.

The second he entered the darkness of the shrine, he caught her scent. It was very weak, but there. Why hadn't he caught it when they first came out? Because he hadn't known her smell then. Damn. He could have saved himself alot of trouble. The almost pitch black of the shrine helped him concentrate more on just his nose, amplifying the scent slightly. It was definetly her, and the closer he got to the well, the stronger it got. He experimented a little bit, walking closer, and then farther away. It was quite a bit stronger next to the well. The biggest shock had been when he'd walked completely out of the shrine, hoping to get a fix on the direction she'd gone from the well. The second he'd stepped out the door, her scent was gone. He'd walked the grounds for a long while, trying to catch it again, but there was no trace of her beyond the shrine building. When he'd walked back in, he could smell her immediatly. Conclusion to this? She hadn't left the building. And where was the only place to disappear inside the shrine but down the well. They had to consider the possibility that she was somewhere in his era.

Inuyasha walked back over to Kagome's bed, and plopped down on the floor. The sun would soon be up, and he'd talk to her about his suspicions then. He crossed his arms on the edge of her bed, and laid his head down, exhaustion washing over him. He was immediatly fast asleep.

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I knew what had happened. It was the only conclusion that made any sense, but it was crazy. Completely looney, yet it made sense of all the events that had transpired since the 'well incident', the only piece that fit in this crazy puzzle.
I'd come back in time.
The well was some kind of time portal, but that was nuts, wasn't it? Time travel?

I'd woken with a splitting headache, my hands tied behind my back, up against a tree. It was dark, and all the men from earlier were sitting around a roaring bonfire. Some were cleaning their weapons, some talking and laughing, and to her utter horror, some were having sex with the women who'd been tied up at the end of the group. She could distinctly hear the sounds of flesh hitting flesh, and the soft sobs of the woman. It didn't sound consensual. Was that what they had planned for me? This had gone way beyond a battle recreation group. Everyone was acting like a real group of wandering samurai. The way they talked, such an archaic dialect. Their armor and swords, the details were too good to be copies. Even the womens kimonos looked ancient. Theust ust weren't enough authentic pieces left to put all this together. The only explanation? Everything was real. But how do you get a true group of samurai warriors to the twenty-first century? Simple answer. You don't.

The final piece of the puzzle came from a conversation I overheard. There was a group of six men sitting not twenty feet away, half drunk from a jug of sake they were passing around. I sat very quietly, listening. "Ahhh. Any warrior would have been proud to be a part of Ouchi Masahiro's army that day." The rest nodded in assent, sitting quietly for several minutes. "It is said that everyone took home an enemy head" "My great-grandfather was in Kyoto that day. He said it was a slaughter." They debated for a while, and I realized they were talking about the Onin War. It was the beginning of the Sengoku Jidai, a time of complete chaos. The different daimyo of the time fought for a hundred years before Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi came along. They were speaking of it like it was a recent event. And the more I listened, the more I realized that for them, it had been. They were true to life, honest to God, REAL 16th century samurai.

Suddenly, everything fell in place. Time travel. Crazy? Maybe, but the only explanation that fit. The city hadn't disappeared, it simply hadn't been built yet. A million questions suddenly flooded my m W Why me? What should I do now? Was there a way to get back? Did the well travel both ways? What if this was a one way ticket? And the worst possible question : What if I'm stuck here? I suddenly had a flashback of history class last year. Our teacher had asked us to write an essay titled My Favorite and Least Favorite Eras throughout Japanese History. My least favorite had been the Warring States Era. I remembered feeling sorry for the people who'd lived during that.......uh THIS time. Poverty was everywhere, and the greatest cause of death was an attack by your neighbors. I laughed softly to myself at the irony of my own situation. Of all the time periods to go to, I'd landed in the one I hated most. Someone above had a really queer sense of humor.

Well, alright, now that I understand what's going on, what am I going to do about it. Logic. I needed to think logically, but when I really thought about it, my situation didn't look good. Fact #1 : I had been captured by a group of wandering Samurai warriors, all of whom were well armed. Fact #2 : There were twenty-two of them. Fact #3 : Groups of samurai like this only kept women with them for two different reasons. As slaves, including sex, and for profit. They were probably planning to sell some of the women off to other slave holders, or brothels. Me, a slave? Ooohhh, I don't think so. I needed to escape.

I pulled on the ropes that bound my hands behind my back. They were too tight to wiggle out of. I didn't want to bring my hands in front of me for fear of someone noticing. If they thought I was trying to escape, then they'd really tie me up. I rubbed the rope against the tree bark a few times, and was surprised to feel the rope give a little. One small piece had broken. Could I really cut the rope by just rubbing it on tree bark? No way to know if I didn't try, so I set to work, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who glanced my way.

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The strong scent of a campfire invaded his senses. He lifted his regal head, trying to locate the direction of the source. Humans had crossed the river again, the boundry line of his territories. A hundred seasons ago, it would have mattered little, as long as they did not get too close to the hidden valley. Only then would they be dealt with. Lately though, it had been quite a different story. So much was happening in the demon world that nothing, not the smallest incursion, could be left uninvestigated. He doubted the humans woue goe going anywhere tonight, so he would take a look tomorrow.

Sesshoumaru glided over to Rin who had made her bed on Ah-Un's back, collapsing wherever she found herself when sleep took her. He saw her small form shiver. The campfire had died down to barely smoldering ash, letting the chill night air take presence around her. He reached carefully in the bag on Ah-Un's back, withdrawing a warm woolen blanket. He laid the blanket next to the sleeping pack animal, thenntlyntly, plucked her from its back. Laying her on the blanket, he tucked the edges securly around her so she wouldn't kick the blanket off in her sleep. He'd done the same for Seimei.......long ago......

Sesshoumaru mentally shook himself, stifling the memory before it could come all the way out. It was always harder to shut them off once they came too far into his conscious mind. He wandered to a nearby tree, taking off his armor as he went, and slid gracefully to the ground. His mind warred with itself for a minute more before he was able to take firm control, completely shutting off all but the present moment. He took a deep cleansing breath, held it for a minute, and let it out slowly. More and more lately, the memories had tried to come. Rin's presence was creating quite a stir in his mental state as of late. Thoughts and even hints of feeling he'd thought he'd buried over two-hundred summers ago came slithering out of his subconscious with absolutely no warning. If he'd known having Rin with him would create this kind of reaction, he would have left her where he'd found her. He needed iron control over the feelings the memories threatened to unleash once again. He didn't care for a repeat of last time. It had almost destroyed him.......