Tales of the Shikon no Tama
Episode One:  The Boy in the Forest

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Chapter Five:

When I woke up, I thought I was alone.  But I wasn’t.  Siari was sleeping at the bottom of the mat.  I moved quietly so not to wake her.  My clothing was folded near the door, I was wearing a pair of red pants and a white kimono, much like Kaede’s.  The robes were loose around my torso so not to put too much pressure on the wounds I was sporting.  My entire chest and side was wound with bandages.  I felt like an ancient Egyptian mummy.  I got to my feet and walked outside.  Night had fallen, but I wasn’t sure how long I’d been sleeping.  The stars were so bright here without any man made light to obscure them.  The moon was high and full and lit the path at my feet in a soft glow.  The village was quiet and peaceful.  I almost let myself enjoy the sight.  But I was concerned on how I was going to get home.  If I came here through the well, can I go home the same way?  I missed my grandfather.   

My parents died when I was real little.  I didn’t even know I’d had any until my grandfather told me about them.  They’d been killed in a car crash while coming home from a party one night.  Gramps raised me for the last seventeen years.  He taught me about our heritage as shrine guardians.  He taught me what herbs healed and what didn’t.  I was starting to think he knew about this whole Shikon Jewel mess before I did.  I walked to the bridge again.  I was finding this part of the village particularly peaceful, to be sure.  I leaned my arms on the bridge’s railing.  

“I see you’re alive.”  Said a voice from above me.  I turned and looked up into the curled and twisted branches of a Japanese maple tree.  Inuyasha’s shadow was silhouetted against the moon.  He leapt down from the branches and crouched before me.  He had one knee on the ground, the other bent up and his arm resting on it.  

“I see you stuck around.”  I said, matching his tone.  “Can’t do much without me, huh?”

“I don’t like this anymore than you do, Priestess.”  Inuyasha told me, he stood and walked toward me.  I only came up to his chest.  His power against my skin was starting to become second nature and it didn’t scare me as much as it had before.  He walked up beside me and leaned on the bridge’s railing facing the river.  I looked at his profile, my back to the water running beneath the bridge.  

“Why do you hate me so much?  You don’t even know me.”  I asked.  

“You stink of the woman who trapped me to that tree.”  He replied.  “Her name was Kikyo.  She was a priestess fifty years ago.  I hear she’s dead now.”  I saw something pass behind his eyes.  Regret? Guilt, maybe? Loss?

“I know who she is.  I saw her.”  I said looking at my bare feet.  

“You saw her?”  Inuyasha asked me.

“Before that – whatever she was – took the jewel from me.  I was seeing things.  Visions, I guess.  I saw that time in my head, the day she trapped you to the tree.  I think it was a memory.  I also saw how she died.”  I said.  “I’m not sure why Kikyo’s memories are mine as well; and I doubt very much that I’ll get visions like that anymore now that the Jewel is broken.”

“You can’t be Kikyo.  She was smarter… prettier, too.”  Inuyasha smirked.

“Gee, thanks.”  I said sarcastically, a smile came to my lips anyway.  “Look, we’re in this together now, we may as well get used to being around each other.”  

“I’m not apologizing for the way I acted before.”  Inuyasha told me.

I blinked and shook my head.  “Stubborn son of a bitch, aren’t you?”  I said with a sigh.  “That’s fine.  Whatever.  I have to find a way to get home.”  

“You’re not leaving.”  He said.

“You wanna bet?”  I replied.  “I think I should at least explain to my grandfather where I’ve been.  Unlike you, I have family.”  His eyes widened in surprise that I said something like that.  Then they narrowed dangerously.  

“You’re really startin’ to get on my nerves, girl.”  He said.  “We have to find the Jewel Shards.  That means you have to stay here.”

I laughed, which surprised him.  “I’ll make a deal with you,” I said.  “You let me have a day or so to explain to my grandfather what’s going on.  After that I’ll come back and we can go looking for jewel shards.  Is that okay?”

“One day.”  He reasoned, turning to face me.  I’ll give him this much, he was mean, cruel and slightly cantankerous.  But he was definitely very handsome.  His gold eyes seemed to be hiding something behind them.  His silver hair blew in the wind and I had to avert my face from him to hide the blush rising in my cheeks.  

“Fine.”  I said.  “Just one day.”  I turned and headed toward the forest where I knew the well was.  I shook my head and walked on in silence, I knew he was behind me.  He was leaping from one tree branch to another making sure I wasn’t going to run off.  He was persistent.  

I smirked.  “Boy, that Inuyasha is such a jackass.”  I said, loud enough for him to hear me.  I reached the well and sat on the edge, my feet dangling into the darkness below.  I’m sure I’d look a sight to Gramps.  Dressed in miko robes and no sign of my regular clothing.  I took a deep breath and pushed off the side of the well.  As I fell, a purple-blue haze surrounded me, holding me in its wake until my feet touched the bottom of the well.  I looked up, the sky above the well was dark.  This meant that the building hadn’t been broken when Mistress Centipede captured me.  I climbed out of the well and left the well house.  I ran through the darkness of my time.  2009.  Cars rushed by me, people looked at me strangely.  I just ran.  

I was home.  
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End - For now.