Shadows

Disclaimer : No, I don't own Inu or any characters


Chapter 6

Everything was throbbing in agony. I tried to open my eyes, but it took too much of an effort. I was tired. So Tired. Sleep. I needed lots of sleep. But no...that didn't feel right. Something was wrong. My body didn't feel like it should. What happened? My mind felt so light. What's wrong with me? I couldn't seem to remember. I needed to move, but when I tried to flex my hands, nothing happened. I concentrated on my fingers, willing the muscles to do something. Nothing. I started to panic. I needed to see. My eyes opened with what little strength I had left, but everything was blurry. A fuzzy, man shaped image was walking away from me. 'Help me!' my mind screamed, but it only came out as an unintelligable groan. The noise must have gotten the person's attention because they turned and stared at me. I couldn't make out any detail, but those eyes. Like molten gold. I felt strangely warm and safe looking into those glowing orbs. A white halo surrounded his blurry form. An angel? Am I dead?

Yes. That sounded right. Whatever happened, I died. The eyes started moving back, going farther away. I was moving backwards down a dark tunnel, but the eyes weren't coming. They were moving farther away, faster and faster. Wait.....aren't angels supposed to stay with you? I suddenly felt cold and alone. 'Don't leave me!!!' I screamed. A blindingly bright light 'switched on' behind me. I turned my 'body' to see what it was. I gasped. It was beautiful. Everything good was contained in that light: love, hope, trust, freedom, empathy. I suddenly needed that light. I needed to be in it, surrounded by the overwhelming feeling of acceptance it radiated. I felt a presence call to me, urging me on faster.

A huge ripple of.....what? What was it? Whatever it was, it stopped my advance toward the loving light, and turned me bin tin the direction of the angel. I could see a pinpoint of dim light far off. Another pulse vibrated the atmosphere around me, twice as strong as the last one. Something started pulling me towards where the angel was. Pulling me away from my freedom. Pulling me faster, and faster. I was going so fast, I screamed, thinking I was going to hit the light. Then, my entire field of vision was filled, completely blinding me with a light so intense, there was nothing else.

After a few moments, the intense light began to dim. Shapes came in slowly around me. Colors came in dull at first, then more normal as my vision was restored. I could feel the grass beneath me, and see trees over my head. It was daytime, slight wisps of clouds floated against the bright blue background. I sat up slowly, looking around the clearing the men had used to make camp last night. What happened? Everything was a big blur. I couldn't anything beyond being tied up next to a tree.

I swiveled my head to look around the clearing, slowly. I could feel my body again, and my mind was clear. In fact, I hadn't felt this good since before I fell down the well. A slight movement behind me jerked my head around. I gasped, and sprang to my feet upon seeing a man standing but five meters away. I had a very intense vision fill my head suddenly. I'd just seen him, hadn't I? I'd thought he was an angel. A beautiful angel surrounded by a white halo, but.....he was real? 'Yeah...real bare.' I thought. He was nude from the waist up, just in the process of putting on his haori. His chest had to be the nicest I'd ever seen up close. Muscles rippled and flexed as he slid his arms through the sleeves. He was very well built, but not overly so, like those muscle bound idiots that couldn't even lower their arms anymore. He finished tucking in the bottom hem into his hakama, and picked up something huge off the grass beside him. I watched him slip the thing over his head with practiced ease, tightening a sash here, making a small adjustment there. It was a full chest plate of armor with wickedly sharp looking spikes off the shoulders and in front. He bent down and grabbed two huge swords, slipping them into the sash on his left hip. Finally, a white fluffy thing slid up over one shoulder, seemingly of its own accord. His entire personna changed. He didn't look so scrumptious anymore. He looked dangerous. Yeah, that was the word.....very dangerous.

He finally looked at me, making full eye contact. His golden irises were shifting and swirling around subtley. With everything being clear now, I could see that what I'd thought was a white halo, was actually his hair. Hair so long, it brushed the backs of his knees. White hair? No, not entirely white. The light glinted off of strands of pure silver, and what I can only describe as crystal. The same clear crystal you'd find in a geode. He had strange tattoos on his face and forehead, and what looked like make-up on his eyelids. I walked closer to get a better look, feeling a strangely heavy material brush the tops of my knees.

I looked down at myself, finding I was wearing a mans white haori in place of my own clothes. I could feel that I was completely naked underneath. Modesty flew across my face in the form of a raging blush. What the hell happened to my clothes? I looked at the man that was still staring at me.

"What happened to my clothes?" I croaked. I coughed a couple of times, trying to clear the frog in my parched throat.

"I found you with no clothing." His voice was deep and rich. I was naked when he found me?

"What happened?" I asked, softly, almost afraid of the answer.

"I do not know. I only came upon you moments ago." He seemed thoughtful for a moment. "You do not remember?"

I closed my eyes for a second, searching my thoughts. Nothing was coming after being tied up. It was a complete blank, except for the vision of him as an angel. It was nighttime in the last true memory I had, but now it was daytime. How long was the memory gap? I couldn't have been out here long, or I'd be starving or something, right?

"No." I said softly. "Are you...." I stammered. It felt ridiculous asking now, seeing him standing in front of me, as real as anything else, but I couldn't seem to shake the angel idea from my head. "Are you an angel?"

"How absurd." He looked at me for a long moment. "Go home.", then he turned, and just started walking off. I stared at his retreating back, too shocked to say anything. 'Go home?', I thought, 'What home?'

"Wait!" I called after him. I held the front of the haori closed, and jogged to catch up to him. I slowed to a walk right next to his side, matching him step for step. He was even taller then I'd thought, up this close. I turned my face towards him to ask for help, but the words froze in my throat when I got a good look at his ears. They were pointed. Like an.....

"Elf? Are you an Elf!?" He never slowed his pace, or turned to look at me.

"Ridiculous human.", he muttered over his shoulder. Then, he reiterated his earlier statement, more forcefully this time. "Go Home."

"I would if I could", I said, dryly, "but I don't have a home. Not in this time period anyway."

He did stop then, and turned his whole body to completely face me. He seemed to fill my entire field of vision, as if nothing else existed. He had a.....well a presence to him. His eyes were even more spectacular this close, the liquid gold sparkling and swirling, slowly, around and around. I felt myself being drawn in to that intense gaze, and had to mentally shake myself before I drowned completely. I took his silence as a hint to continue talking. It took me two tries before my voice would work.

"This may sound completely whacky, but I'm not from this time." I waited for his reaction, but I didn't get one. He simply stared, looking mildly bored, so I continued. "There's this well, like an old water well, on my friends property. I don't really know what happened, but when I climbed in it", I shrugged my shoulders, "....I don't know. I blacked out and woke up here, in the past. Sounds nuts, doesn't it?"

I watched him, waiting for him to say something, but he just turned his head away, staring into the sky. He seemed deep in thought, probably trying to decide how nuts I was. After a few moments, he turned back.

"Do you know how far back you have come?"

"I think about five hundred years."

"Years? I am not familiar with this term."

"Um..." I thought for a minute, trying to figure out how to explain what a year was. "From the beginning of one summer, all the way through the seasons, to the beginning of another summer is one full year. 364 and one quarter days." He nodded in understanding, but said nothing.

"You don't think I'm crazy?"

"I have heard of such things. Not many try to travel through time. Too dangerous. And never so great a distance.", he simply stated.

"I didn't try to do it. I didn't even know such a thing was possible. It just....happened." I said.

"You came this far back in time not of your own accord?" I nodded my head yes.

"Attempted time travel I have heard mentioned before, but by accident?" He stopped, thinking deeply. His calm deemener truely shocked me. He acted completely unfazed by any of this. Did strange situations like this happen everyday here? Seeming to come to a decision, he then turned, and headed in the direction he'd been going before I'd interrupted. "You may follow if you wish." he threw over his shoulder.

I watched him walk away, his hair gently swaying back and forth. Follow him where? He didn't even mention where he was going, but I suppose anywhere is better than here. I quickly picked up the pace, falling in step beside him.

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The walk back to his camp took nearly all day. I'd tried, on several occasions, to ask him for help, but all he'd said was 'Answers shall come soon.'. His silence started getting on my nerves, but just when I was going to say something, we walked out of the trees onto a clearing next to a river. It was a breathtakingly beautiful picture. The river was running along the base of a small mountain. It had gouged out a steep cliff on its opposite bank, and farther up stream, I could hear the unmistakable sound of a waterfall. Given the volume of the waterfall's sound, it was a big one. Trees had found purchase here and there on the cliff's face, along with a scattering of some beautiful purple flowers. It was a scene I'd only witnessed in pictures and paintings. By my time era, we'd destroyed most natural beauty like this. I was suddenly sad and angry at the same time. What idiotic person would come upon this, and think that a building would look better here? I was only assuming it was destroyed though, since I'd not heard mention of a place like this. I'd have to look this spot up if I ever got back to my time. Yeah.....IF. A shrill voice broke through my thoughts.

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru! Why were you gone so long?" The voice belonged to a small talking.....FROG!?! I stared, dumbfounded. The man looked down at the frog thing, and it was suddenly groveling at his feet, begging forgiveness for prying into the man's business. Then, a child of about eight or nine years old came running from the river's bank, calling out "Lord Sesshoumaru!" She stopped short when she saw me, staring warily. "Who's that woman?" she asked softly. The frog thing snapped his head up to look at me now, too. He looked shocked and confused, but didn't say anything.

"I trust you have kept yourself amused, Rin?" The man asked the little girl, completely ignoring her question. She looked back at him.

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru. Ah-Un and I played for a while, and after he fell asleep, I began collecting beautiful stones from the river's bottom." The child looked back at me again, clearly wanting to ask about me, but the frog spoke before she could.

"Have you rescued another human, my lord? Why? Isn't one weak human enough? I thought Rin was just an experiment? Have you taken a liking to humans, now?" The man kicked the frog across the river. He smacked into the cliff face, and slid into the water. I gasped, sure the frog was dead, but he came out of the water, sputtering, and made his way to the bank. He sat on the edge of the river, his back to us, grumbling to himself. The man must have heard what he was saying, because he picked up a large stone, and threw it at the frog. It hit the back of his head with a sharp crack, sending the frog face first into the water.

The little girl walked around the man to stand directly in front of me. She looked at me curiously for a minute before speaking.

"Will you be staying with us?" she asked.

"I don't know." I looked at the man, who'd turned toward us. "Will I?" He seemed to think for a moment before answering.

"Yes, until we find your purpose here."

"Do you think I'm here for a reason?" I asked. Was there some.....cosmic purpose to me being brought back here? I hadn't even considered something so farfetched. It sounded like a bad plot to one of those old black and white samurai movies from the 1950's. One of those 'you must fulfill your destiny' things.

"Something as extraordinary as your situation does not happen as a random incident." he stated. He then turned, and lept into the air, higher and higher. I watched, my jaw hanging on the ground, as he landed, gracefully, on the top of the five story tall cliff, disappearing from sight. It had seemed as effortless as jumping up a street curb. What the hell was that? I suddenly flashed back to our brief talks. He'd called me 'human', as if he wasn't including himself in that description. I looked at the frog thing thoughtfully. He, obviously, was not human. Even a severe birth defect wouldn't make a creature like that. But what about the man? His coloring was definetly strange, but I'd seen stranger at the couple of punk clubs I'd been to. If he wasn't human, then......

"What the hell is he?" I mumbled, more speaking to myself than anyone else, but the frog heard.

"Lord Sesshoumaru is the strongest demon alive, and you should be grateful he saved your pathetic human life." the toad piped up, indignantly.

"Of course I'm gratef.....HE'S A WHAT?" I yelled when the frog's words sunk in.

"A demon, of course! Have you never seen a demon before?"

"No, of course not! They're only fairy tales in the future." I said. I thought back to all the stories I'd been told about monsters and demons. They all portrayed demons as ugly, scaley creatures, with various extra appendages. If demons could look like this Lord Sesshoumaru, then I could understand the stories about people selling their souls for them. He was so gorgeous, it almost hurt to look on him.

"Fairy tales?" he said, totally disbelieving. "From where do you come where there are no demons?"

So, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening getting aquainted. He told me of himself, his name was Jaken, little Rin, and Lord Sesshoumaru. I told him about myself, how I got here, and a little bit about my time period. I wasn't sure how much to reveal about my time, that whole 'change the future' thing, so I tried to keep my answers as vague as possible. Time passed quickly while we talked. As darkness started to fall, we set up a camp by the river. Jaken caught some fish, and I helped him prepare and spit them for dinner. We ate in silence, each contemplating the others words. Rin fell asleep shortly after eating. Jaken walked into the woods a short distance away, and came out a second later leading a cow sized, double headed dragon. It shocked me at first, but Jaken assured me he was perfectly safe. He was a pack animal thatveleveled with them. He was even friendly. He walked right up to me, and nuzzled my hand. I was suddenly very tired. It was a lot to take in. Jaken pointed out Ah-Un's saddlebags, and that I'd find blankets in them. I made a bed for Rin, tucking the blanket around her, before making a bed for myself. As sleep began to suck me under, I had a thought as to where Lord Sesshoumaru was.

"Why hasn't Lord Sesshoumaru come back yet?" I asked, sleepily.

"He comes and goes. I'm sure he'll return soon." And with that last thought, I was fast asleep.



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Kagome was sitting under a tree next to Kaede's hut, staring out at the star speckled sky, deep in thought. Both she and Inuyasha were now positive Arisa had somehow come through the well to the Feudal Era. Inuyasha had immediatly caught her scent in and around the well as they'd come through this morning. They'd spent the entire morning searching around the well for any sign of her. As the morning had waned, Kagome's spirits had fallen. Her scent stopped about two meters from the well, so Inuyasha couldn't get a fix on which direction she'd gone. She was worried for her friend. Being a woman out wandering alone in this era was very dangerous.

"Kagome!! There you are! I've been worried about you! Why are you out here alone?" Shippou said all at once, jumping into her lap.

"Thanks for being concerned, Shippou, but I'm fine." Kagome answered with a sad smile on her face.

"Don't worry, Kagome. Inuyasha said we're leaving tomorrow morning at first light. He said we could look for your friend and the Jewel Shards at the same time." Shippou said excitedly, trying to cheer Kagome up. "How do you think she got through the well, anyway? I thought only you and Inuyasha could do that?"

"I don't know, Shippou. There's a lot we still don't understand about the well, so I suppose it's possible other people would have the ability to use it." Kagome answered. Shippou seemed deep in thought about this, when his eyes suddenly widened, and he smiled excitedly.

"Oh, Kagome! I almost forgot to show you what I found!" He could barely contain himself as he reached into the pocket inside his little vest. He started digging around with his tongue hanging out of the corner of his mouth, concentrating hard on what he was touching. After a few seconds, he broke out in a huge grin as he pulled his hand out. He held his prize up to the soft moonlight so Kagome could get a better look. She stared, her jaw hanging open before she reached out and took the bracelet from Shippou's fingers.

"Where did you find this?" Kagome whispered softly.

"I found it next to the well. Isn't it pretty?"

"When did you find it, Shippou?" Shippou looked up into the sky, his little claw scratching the side of his face as he tried to remember.

"The day you took Inuyasha back to help find your friend."

"Do you know what this is?" she said, turning the bracelet over in her hand. "This is my friends bracelet, Shippou." And there it was. Absolute, positive proof that Arisa was here somewhere. Not that she didn't trust Inuyasha's nose, but real, physical proof, that you could actually touch, was a whole different story.

Kagome stood up, still holding Shippou, and headed towards Kaede's hut to tell the others what Shippou had found.


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Nobody likes it? Ah well, I'm having fun writing it. Please review. Any suggestions?