Chapter 2 - Two

The next morning, sounds from cars on the streets woke me up, and I panicked for a moment when I didn't recognise my room, but when I saw Sab walking into the room, brushing her teeth, I remembered we were in Japan.
`Get out of bed, it's already 11 o' clock. I thought you wanted to go see that shrine.'
`All right, I'll get up, keep your pants on.'
I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. After I'd pulled out some `decent' clothes from my suitcase, brushed my teeth and pulled my hair up in a high ponytail we went down for some breakfast and went out into the city.
As we started walking, we realised we had no idea whatsoever of where to go. Feeling pretty stupid, we see if we could find a souvenir shop wich would sell maps of some kind, preferably in English or something. We finally found one, and paid it a little doubtfully, with the yen and all. Anyway, when we stepped out on the streets again, we searched the map thoroughly.
`There! That must be it!'
`How do you know?'
`You doubt me after the Abunai! incident?'
`Yes.'
I sighed.
`Just trust me, will you? Look, here is our hotel...and if you trace down to here...there is a shrine. That must be the one we saw.'
`Okay, we'll go and see, it doesn't seem that far.'
But it was. When we finally dragged ourselves to the bottom of the stairs leading to the shrine, we were exhausted. I wearily looked up the flight of stairs, noticing the red arch perched on top. Sabrina was panting behind me, her tongue slightly sticking out of her mouth. Then again, so was mine.
`You...still...want to...go and see it?' she managed.
Out of nowhere, a girl came bounding down the stairs, throwing us both on or butts.
`Gomen naisai!' she screeched as she passed us.
`Brat...' I heard Sabrina mutter as we both picked ourselves up from the ground.
`Who does she think she is? Anyway, let's go!'
`Go where?'
`Up, ofcourse! I mean, we came this far, might as well climb the stairs too.'
`You've got to be kidding me...'
I feverishly shook my head, and immediately felt dizzy. But pushing it aside, I started to climb the stares bravely. Sabrina followed, though not in so good a mood as I was. Once we were on top, the sun was shinning brightly in the sky, and we were panting very badly. I even collapsed as soon as we had set foot on the final step, and a moment late Sabrina dropped to her knees beside me. We lay/sat there for about fifteen minutes, until a really old man came towards us, and asked something in Japanese. We stared at him with blank faces, obviously not having a clue as to what he was on about, and he repeated himself in broken English.
`How may I help you?'
I sat up and bowed to him, following Sabrina's lead.
`We came to see the shrine, we saw the arch from out hotel,' Sabrina explained.
The old man nodded, and beckoned us to follow him. He led us to a giant tree, a `Goshinboku' as he called it, and all the while he was explaining, we got more and more bored. He led us through the entire Shrine, but kept out of a small hut that we passed. As we entered the gift shop on the end of the `tour', we saw the girl from earlier bounding up the stairs, into the house, and out of it again, carrying a humongous backpack. I prodded Sabrina in the arm and pointed at the girl. The old man looked at her too, and called her over.
`Kagome!'
He then said something in Japanese, probably telling her to come her for a second and let her tell more boring stories about the shrine. When the man was done speaking, she turned to us and bowed, wich we returned.
`Pleased to meet you, my name is Kagome Higurashi.'
`I'm Sabrina Kool.'
`And I'm Mirthe Swets.'
`You two seem somewhat familiar, haven't we met before?'
`Yeah, earlier in the morning, we met on the bottom of the stairs,' Sabrina said sarcastically.
Kagome went beet-red, and bowed again, saying `gomen-naisai' over and over again. Sabrina and I looked at each other, and burst out laughing, she was just so stupid. Kagome and the old man stared at us as we almost rolled over the ground laughing. When we finally came round, they were looking at us as if we'd had too much crack or something, and Kagome was making to leave. The old man continued to lead us the gift shop and Kagome bounded of again. I gaped at all the small things supposed to give you `good fortune' as the man yelled over and over again, but Sabrina was looking out the window. When we exited the shop after thanking the man for everything, she pulled me to the little shack, and we stood still in front of it. I saw something lying on the ground and bent down to pick it up. It was a small glass jar with some fragments of something in it.
`What's wrong?' I asked, as I pocketed the small jar.
`She went in here.'
`Who?'
`Who do you think? That Kagome person!'
`But, didn't the man say it was haunted or something?'
`He did, so I wonder why she went in.'
`Well, it's obvious, isn't it?'
`Is it?'
`Yeah! Kagome's a ghost!'
Sabrina stared at me like I was an idiot, and shook her head.
`I really don't understand how I can put up with you,' she said sighing, and opened the door to the shack.
`Sab, no! We can't do this!'
`Why not?' she asked as she pulled me inside and closed the door again.
`Because, well, maybe, Kagome's a vengeful spirit, and she'll kill us!'
`You really are stupid, you know that?'
Sabrina stepped down the tiny set of stairs and looked around. It was pretty hard to do so, as the shack was almost completely dark.
`Strange, there's nothing in here,' I heard her say, and then some shuffling.
`Sab, let's get out of here, I've got a bad feeling about this...'
`Yeah, just a sec...there's something here...'
I heard some more shuffling, and then Sabrina sighed.
`It's just an old well...strange though, who would build a hut around a well? And...tie a ladder to it?'
`A ladder?'
`Yeah, there's a rope ladder tied to the well.'
`Hold on, I'm coming over.'
I stumbled down the stairs, and got over to Sabrina. I could see her pointing to the well, and squinted my eyes to see the ladder. Just as we bent over the edge together, I tripped, and we screamed as we plummeted into the darkness. Expecting to land hard, we braced ourselves, but we touched down gently, and looked up to the opening of the well. We both noticed that the roof of the hut was gone, and a lot light poured into the well.
`Okay...what just happened?' I heard Sabrina mutter beside me.
`Not a clue...but let's get out of here before we starve to death.'
`Don't tell me you're hungry again.'
`Ofcourse I am!'
I started to climb up, and gasped when I looked over the edge of the well.
`What is it?' Sabrina asked from the bottom of the well.
`Come and see for yourself.'
I was already straightened up and taking in the surroundings when she came up behind me and gasped herself.
`How...what...where...when...HUH?!'
`Yeah, my thoughts exactly.'
We both turned around when we heard voices behind us, seemingly having a fight.
`....back already, you've only been here a few minutes!'
`I told you, I forgot the jewel shards at home!'
`How could you be so stupid?!'
`I was sure I packed them, but I think I lost them on the way to the well!'
`Oh, yeah, it's such a long way from your house to the well!'
`SIT!'
There was a thud, and a moment later, Kagome emerged from the bushes, looking furious. When she spotted us, she froze.
`I'll get you for that!'
A boy stormed out of the bushes, also fuming, but he didn't pay attention to us. He marched right up to Kagome and started yelling at her. As he did so, Sabrina and I had the chance to take him in. He was wearing a flaming red haori, and had long white hair, plus some freaky ears on the top of his head. We stared at them for a while, until he noticed we were there.
`Who the hell are you two, and why are you staring at me?!'
Sabrina tsk-ed, and glared at him.
`Like we need to tell you who we are, you tell us first.'
`Feh. Like I would do that.'
`Well then, don't expect to hear from us either.'
I noticed Kagome totally spaced out beside the guy, and walked over to her.
`Kagome? Are you okay?'
I shook her gently, and she snapped out of it. The guy turned towards me and glared at me, as if I'd threatened his life or something, but before he could attack me, Kagome prevented it by saying `Sit!' and somehow, he crashed into the ground. I stared at him as Sabrina came closer and Kagome turned to us.
`What are you doing here, how did you get here?'
`We honestly have no idea, one moment, we were bending over the well, and the next moment, we were here!'
Kagome frowned, and suddenly look very happy.
`What do you have in your pocket?' she asked me.
I looked at her, and emptied my pocket, retrieving the glass jar from it. She looked very happy with it, and was about to snatch it from my hand when I pulled away.
`First tell us what we want to know, and then I'll thinking about giving it back, kay?'
`You'll give it back right now!'
A sword the size of a man was aimed at me, only just missing my nose. I froze completely, staring at the tip of it, afraid that if I'd move the guy would kill me.
`InuYasha, don't! Let's tell them what they want to hear, I'm sure they will give the shards back in the end.'
The guy, apparently called InuYasha, didn't seem to like that plan, but he sheathed his sword anyway and sat down in a huff. Kagome also sat down, and so did we. She started explaining about the Shikon Jewel, the Feudal Era, demons and such, and while she explained, Sabrina and I grew more and more convinced that she was a complete lunatic. When she was done, we both stared at her for a while, and then Sabrina spoke up.
`So, you're saying that we are stuck in Medieval Japan, with demons and what not on the loose, and you two are hunting for some broken jewel?'
`Yeah, that's it, basically.'
We both exchanged another look, and burst out laughing.
`Oh, that's a really good one, we have to remember to tip them for this part of the tour!' I managed through fits of laughter.
Sabrina calmed down before I did, and stood up. She walked over to InuYasha, and he glared up at her as he was still sitting on the ground.
`So, if you're telling the truth...'
She held her hands close to his ears, and I calmed down enough to watch what was going on.
`These should be real.'
She grabbed his ears and pulled on them. To both of our surprise, InuYasha yelled out in pain and fury, jumped up and unsheathed his sword, ready to kill Sabrina, but, once again, Kagome proved a worthy saviour and yelled `SIT!' are the top of her lungs. InuYasha once again plummeted to the ground, leaving Sabrina thoroughly shocked. She fell to her knees, and I stared at her as I heard her whisper.
`They're real...this is real...'
It took a little time for it to get through to me, but then I was able to grasp it myself.
`We're...not in our time anymore...oh man, nobody is going to believe this when we get home...'
InuYasha got up from the ground and glared at us before turning to Kagome as she spoke.
`We should get back to Kaede, the others will be worried,' she said.
`Not before those two give us the shards.'
`Ofcourse not, what do you take me for?!'
`Somebody with a surprisingly low amount of brains!'
They began fighting again, and I got over to Sabrina after the shock wore off a bit.
`Hey, Sab, I just had a great idea.'
`Oh yeah? What's that? Going to visit another shrine?'
`No...They want this jar, right?'
`Yeah...'
`And they won't let us get away with it, right?'
`No...'
`So, what if we tell them we'll only give it back if we can travel with them for a little time!'
`Are you NUTS?! Voluntarily living in Japan's middle-ages?!'
`Why not? It could be fun!'
`Honestly, you scare me sometimes...'
`But, wouldn't it be far more great than that lame tour we signed up for? I mean, everybody can do that, but this...this is something totally different!'
`You know, you could be right...Fine, but only for a week or so, than we'll still have one week in `normal' Japan.'
`YEAH!'
`What are you so excited about, wench?' InuYasha snarled at me as his fight with Kagome had cooled down.
`Don't call me wench, or you'll regret it.'
`Is that so?'
He smirked evilly, and I glared at him.
`Yeah, as a matter of facts it is.'
`How come?'
`Because, if you keep on insulting me or my friend, we'll keep this little jar with your precious `jewel shards', and you'll never see the jewel whole again.'
`Why you little-`
`Ah, ah, better watch you mouth. Now, we have a preposition to make.'
`And it is?' Kagome mingled into the conversation.
`We'll give you back the jewel shards, IF...'
`If what?'
I glanced at Sabrina, and she gave a thumbs up. I smiled, and turned back to Kagome and InuYasha.
`...If we can travel with you guys for a week.'
`WHAT?! No way! You'll only slow us down, you-`
`SIT!'
Once again, InuYasha found himself eating dirt, and Kagome looked at us, seemingly worried.
`But it's really dangerous in these times, with demons and all, and I told you about Naraku and others, and-`
`Yes, that's why we want to come with you, to make our holiday more interesting.'
`Are you NUTS?!' InuYasha yelled.
`Well, to be honest...yes, completely mental, the two of us,' Sabrina said, grinning sheepishly.
Kagome sighed, and pulled InuYasha closer to her, to prevent us from hearing what she said.
`InuYasha, I think it would be smart if we let them travel with us, it's just a week, and besides...'
`What?'
`I don't know, I've got a weird feeling about them...There's something about them that's...not human.'
`What do you mean?'
`Don't know, but something tells me we'd best keep them friendly. And anyway, they could prove to be useful-`
`If some demon would eat them and it will be distracted so that I can kill it.'
`Not what I was thinking, but...'
`You know, it's not polite to whisper in public,' I said in a slightly raised voice, and they both looked at us as if they had been caught stealing something.
Kagome cleared her throat and smiled at us.
`We've decided that you can come with us, for ONE week.'
Sabrina gave me a high five, and we smiled as well. InuYasha didn't seem at all happy, but whether he liked it or not, he was stuck with us.

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