Through The Well

Chapter Nine





Inuyasha rose with the sun. It was only his second morning waking up in this strange yet familiar village, but experience had already taught him that he was in extreme danger at this time of day. Wasting no time, he rolled silently to his feet and grabbed his Tetsusaiga in a single movement, tiptoeing so as not to wake Kaede as he made his way over to the window and climbed out.



A single bound had him landing lightly on the roof with barely more than a rustle, and immediately he hunkered down, laying as flat as possible among the stone weights on the wood, his ears perked forward, straining for sound. He couldn't hear anything just yet, but that was certain to change very quickly.



Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, he heard the hurried sound of bare feet on packed dirt path. Cautious, he flattened himself even more, ears laying against his skull, lest they happen to look up and spot him. He could hear their voices now, hushed and excited whispers as they plotted the day's torture for him.



"Do you think he's awake yet?" one, the only male in the group, asked.



"Maybe," said a female voice, considering.



"But if he isn't, we can wake him up," said another, almost perfectly matched voice cheerfully. The identical twin sister. It was only his sensitive hearing that enabled him to tell them apart by voice alone.



"That's true!" said Rin, who he'd discovered was the ringleader of the group. He heard the distinct sound of the canvas door being pushed aside. "Inuy -- Where's he gone?"



"Uncle Inuyasha!" the twins shouted in unison together, setting about the search immediately like dogs on a scent. "Come out!"



The youngest boy lingered closer to Rin. "Rin, where's Uncle Inuyasha?"



"I don't know... but I bet if we look hard, we'll find him in no time." He could almost see her beaming bright as sunshine, even this early in the morning. "Let's go look. Come on, you two. He can't be far."



Well, she's right about that, Inuyasha thought as he cautiously lifted his head just enough to see the four of them heading deeper into the village. He let out a soft sigh of relief, the trouble averted for now.



He watched them disappear around a corner. Miroku and Sango's kids; six-year-old twin girls and a four-year-old boy. He'd had no idea they even existed until they'd all piled on top of him in a giggling, shrieking mass of excitement before he'd even opened his eyes yesterday morning. Apparently, his friends starting a family was old news and not even worth warning him about.



After the first attack, he hadn't been able to get away from them. They'd been relentless, constantly hanging off of him and asking him pointless, nonsensical questions. He couldn't even escape because he'd had at least one of them holding onto his sleeve or the leg of his hakama or a huge clump of his hair at all times. By the time they'd gone to bed, he'd been practically a nervous wreck and had decided then and there that there would be no repeats.



And to make it worse, Sesshomaru had laughed at him. Fucking laughed at him. He'd never even heard that happen before, but he certainly didn't appreciate it directed at him when he was in such obvious physical and mental distress. He hadn't even tried to help, not once. It turned out this Sesshomaru was still kind of a bastard.



Inuyasha rolled over onto his back and puffed out his cheeks. As he stared at the sky, still tinged pink with the fading dawn, he couldn't help but wonder what other huge surprises this world would throw at him today. He had a sinking feeling that a lot of days were going to knock him on his ass before he got used to how things had changed.



If not for... stuff... between him and Sesshomaru when he first arrived, this kid business might have been the most surprising thing he'd discovered so far. He'd expected Miroku and Sango to have kids eventually, yeah, but... hell, it seemed really damn soon to him that suddenly there were three running around. It was taking him a while to wrap his head around it.



And this "uncle" thing.



And the ear pulling.



And everything else.



Maybe he should just go live in the forest for a while. At least out there, he could be fairly certain the trees weren't going to throw him for a loop by suddenly changing colour or some shit.



However, before he could make a move one way or the other, he felt two youki heading in his direction that made him tense automatically before he willed himself to relax. That was taking some getting used to, as well. He was really trying to act like he was fine with the two of them being around, but he wasn't sure he was succeeding.



One small benefit to the kids mobbing him was that neither Sesshomaru or Koga had been able to get him alone. And judging by the looks on their faces at times, they'd certainly wanted to. If he avoided the kids today, he'd spend it dodging youkai, too. Torn, Inuyasha sat up and looked toward the trees.



He could certainly escape for a while. Spend a few days calming down. But how calm would it really be if he was constantly running from one or even both of them? It would most likely just be delaying the inevitable. But in all honesty, he really wanted to delay it.



Before he could make a choice one way or another, a shadow passed briefly overhead and then Koga dropped onto the roof in a crouch in front of him, leaning in close and blocking his view of the forest. Remembering what had happened when Sesshomaru got close, Inuyasha shoved a foot in the wolf's chest and scrambled back a bit. He would not be caught unprepared again.



"What the fuck are you doing?" Inuyasha snapped.



"You weren't thinking of trying to escape, were you, muttface?"



"Like fucking hell I was," the hanyou snorted, but he was worried by the sudden thought that maybe this Koga knew him better than the one from his world. He'd have to be careful... "You think I'm some kind of damn coward?"



Koga grinned toothily. "Good, 'cause we're gonna have a nice little chat. You ain't getting away from me again."



Inuyasha was opening his mouth to argue when he noticed Koga glance at Sesshomaru, standing in front of the hut, and his eyes naturally followed. He was just quick enough to see his brother (was he really his brother, if they were from different worlds? He hadn't worked that out yet, and it bugged him) hesitate, then give a barely perceptible nod. He turned back to find the wolf focused on him again. An agreement had been made, apparently.



So... Sesshomaru and Koga were close enough that they didn't need to talk to communicate. Right. He'd just acceept that. He had to learn to start taking this shit in stride or else he'd have a fucking breakdown before he got home.



"Inuyasha," Koga growled. "You better not be tryin' to think of some way out of this, you bastard. This is gonna --"



Inuyasha slapped a hand over the ookami's mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed. "Gods, you're fucking loud!" The hanyou's ears swivelled back and forth nervously, picking up the sound of the brats returning, lured by the commotion.



"Fucking hell. No peace and quiet here, ever," he muttered, then rounded on Sesshomaru, pointing at him. "You. If you're any kind of decent, you distract those brats, all right?"



For a moment, he could have sworn there was a glimmer of amusement in Sesshomaru's eyes, but it was gone with a blink. The daiyoukai inclined his head. "As you wish," he said simply, and turned to walk deeper into the village to meet the children.



Huffing out a breath of relief, the hanyou turned back to an increasingly impatient Koga. He sighed. "Ok, fine. Talking. But not here." He got to his feet and stretched. "Follow me."