Chapter 5 - the plot thickens

Rin and Momiji were getting along splendidly. So were Hatsaharu and Kagome. It was weird. It was almost as if… They were flirting with each other. But didn't Kagome love Inuyasha? It was strange. Speaking of Inuyasha, where was he? Sango hoped he had managed to rescue Kagome's cousin, Tohru.
She noticed the boy with the gray hair was sitting off by himself. He was so strange. Always so quiet, but kind and polite. He wasn't at all like the redhead, Kyou. Kyou actually reminded her of Inuyasha—with his explosive personality. The cat had wandered off some time ago, but no one was really very worried about him. Yuki seemed relieved he was gone, in fact.
Sango sat beside him. She was curious about these other people from Kagome's world, and Yuki seemed like the only one worth talking to. “Could you tell me about Tohru?” Sango asked. “I mean, we went to rescue her, but she's not a part of your family. What's your relationship to her?”
“Honda-san is a dear friend of mine… I'm very worried about her, Sango-san,” he said in his lovely soft voice.
Sango felt her cheeks heat. He was so polite, unlike a certain monk she knew. “I'm sorry that we couldn't rescue her. Inuyasha probably did, though, and maybe they're coming back now.” She wasn't so sure though, and Yuki, being the intuitive person he is, knew that.
He looked at her. Her heart began to pound, but she couldn't figure out why. There was just something about this boy that made a girl's heart melt. “It's all right, Sango-san. You don't have to feel guilty about what happened. You did all you could do.”
She really felt guilty now. It wasn't her friend out there, in Naraku's clutches. And he was comforting her. “I'm sorry, Yuki. But we'll get her back from Naraku.”
Yuki tried to remember how to smile, but failed. It was something about the strength and determination in her eyes. “Thank you.”
Sango turned away, her face coloring again. “Y-You're welcome.”
Rin and Momiji were running around the village, playing tag with a few other children. Rin was happy to be able to socialize with other children for a while, but was constantly looking for Sesshomaru. Though she did like Momiji. He was always so happy and fun… The game had switched to hide-and-seek. Rin ran to hide. Momiji took her hand, smiling. “Come hide with me, Rin-kun!” he said. Rin smiled back and ran with him, giggling.

*****

Inuyasha had slowed to a quick walk, breathing hard from the heavy use of Tessuiga, all the running around, and then running into the barrier. Damn! He would have to at least take a nap before they left. Besides, his ankle was killing him. He had landed on it when he had fallen, and was pushing himself pretty hard. He was probably only making it worse, so he had been forced to slow down. He hoped it wasn't too serious. Maybe a poultice or some of Kagome's medicine, and the swelling would go down anyway. He knew it wasn't broken.
He sniffed the air. It was that cat hanyou, just a few yards away. He stopped, lifting the wounded ankle so as not to put any unnecessary pressure on it. He couldn't stand to put pressure on it. At least it wasn't broken, though. He had that to be grateful for. If he had a broken bone, that would slow them all down, and Tohru might not have the time for that.
“Hey, did you come back with Tohru?” Kyou said, stepping toward him. He didn't see Tohru and almost started screaming at Inuyasha, before he noticed the swollen ankle, and the overall exhausted hanyou's expression. He sighed. “Well, you'll get her back, right?”
“Yeah,” Inuyasha said.
“Well, that's good. But you still let that bastard get away.”
Inuyasha ground his teeth and almost started screaming, but then didn't see the point. He realized something, then. Kyou was a lot like himself. He wasn't angry with Inuyasha, he was just concerned for Tohru and didn't know how to express it. Sort of like when he was worried about Kagome. “I'll get her back, jackass.”
“Well, ya better.” Kyou thought, This is a lot like having a conversation with myself. He looked back at Inuyasha. The dog was leaning against a tree, and looked to be in a lot of pain. Kyou sighed. “Let me help you walk.”
“I don't need help,” Inuyasha snapped.
The cat was undeterred. “You can't walk alone.” He put one of Inuyasha's arms around his shoulders. “Just use me as a crutch, okay? And don't argue about it. This'll be a lot faster than you limpin' along by yourself.”
Inuyasha almost argued, but the cat was right, and the sooner he had help, the better. He had to get to the village soon, after all. So he let Kyou help him. He had never known there were demons in Kagome's world, though. “Hey, why are there demons in Ka--your world? All the times I've been there, I've never seen `em.”
Kyou sighed. He had listened to Kagome and Haru talking about this, so he knew what to say. “Well, I'm not a demon. In my world, my family has a curse. I'm cursed with the spirit of the cat. But when I came here, the curse changed and turned me into a hanyou, but I dunno why.”
Inuyasha considered this. “Could the spirit be a cat demon?”
Kyou blinked. He had never once considered that, and it hadn't occurred to anyone else either. But now that he thought of it… “That could be.”

*****

Shigure was practically watching the clock. When an hour had passed and they still had not returned, he called Hatori. “Hatori-san, they're still not here!” he whined through the phone, not even giving the doctor time to say “hello.”
Hatori sighed. “I'll be right over.” He hung up. Shigure paced the floor. Something just wasn't right. Something was horribly, terribly wrong. He just couldn't think of what exactly. He heard a knock on the door. He rushed to it, but instead of seeing Hatori's scowling face, he saw Ayame's grinning one. After their greeting Ayame hauled him out of the house.
“Aya, what are you doing here? I'm waiting for Hatori-san!” Shigure cried, even as Aya drug him out the door, locked and shut it, then continued.
“I came along with Tori-chan. Akito came too,” Aya added as an after thought. Akito? Why? Ah, because if Tohru got his Yuki or Kyou into trouble… Well, that made sense anyway. Akito was just looking for a reason to have Tohru's memory erased. Shigure sighed. Well, if Akito was going to be there, it was a good thing he was there. He was the only one Akito ever bothered to listen to.
Akito and Hatori were waiting in the car. Shigure gave the address and directions to Hatori. Ayame and Shigure chattered, a bit nervously, with the Sohma god there anyway. Akito was silent as the grave, but he had a malicious glint in his eyes. They arrived at the shrine. Akito was the first one out, and, despite Hatori telling him to stay put or come with them, Akito wandered off. Hatori, Ayame, and Shigure went to the house.
Akito paused at the tree. There was something strange about it, but he couldn't name what. He quickly lost interest, though, and moved on. There was a door that was open. He wandered over to it and stepped inside. Hatori would have a fit. That delighted him, and he walked down the wooden steps. It was just an old, dried up well. Why the hell they would do something as stupid as build a shrine over it, he didn't know. Also, why was the door ajar?
He noticed something lying in the dirt. Candy. That was also strange. Considering the reverence this family seemed to have for an old well, they were leaving trash lying around in it. That made no sense at all. He peered over the edge of the well. He felt like… Like something was down there. He leaned in a bit farther, keeping his hands on the side of the well. Something was down there… He could definitely feel… something. He couldn't really explain it, but there was definitely something there. He swung a leg over the side. There were places like handholds along the edge of the well. He began the descent slowly and carefully, chuckling at the thought of how angry Hatori and Shigure would be. The smile was swept away as he cried out. His foot had slipped. He lost his grip on the wall of the well and plunged downward.

*****

After interrogating the girl (which had been extremely easy), Naraku decided to investigate this well for himself. He flew over to it and peered over the edge. Little did he know that it was his presence that had called out to Akito, their wicked hearts beckoning to each other through the rift in time.
He blinked. Where no one had been a second before, he now found himself looking at a human man. He sniffed the air. And at the same time… Not human at all. Something… more. Akito looked up at him and frowned. What the hell?
“What… did you do?” Naraku demanded.
Akito scowled. Had someone just demanded something of him? “Where did you come from?” Akito countered.
Had this human just sneered at him? A pathetic human? What insolence. He would kill him. He shot a tentacle down the well. It shattered. (Not the well, but the tentacle.) Akito was unharmed. Akito blinked. “What… are you?” Naraku growled.
Akito sneered again. “Are you going to help me out of this well, or try to talk to me from there?”
(They're so perfect for each other.) “Insolent human baka.”
Akito's anger flared. His power, acting on impulse, threw Naraku backwards and floated out of the well, landing primly on the ground. He narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what had happened, or where he was, or what was going on, but he certainly did like this new power, and he was definitely not going to question it. “Hm.”
Naraku frowned. No, this was no mere human indeed. This man… was a god. “Who are you?”
Akito tilted his head a bit, sizing up Naraku. His appearance was certainly odd, and that he was in a forest was even stranger. Still, though… This was interesting. Much more interesting than being confined inside all day like Hatori liked to keep him. And, besides… Akito felt healthy in this world. He had never felt healthy a day in his life. He was never going to give that up. He didn't feel like he was dying any more. He felt alive. For the first time… And he didn't want to return to a world where he was sickly and dying. “Sohma Akito,” he said. “What is this place?” He looked around again.
Naraku was a bit confused. What did he mean? “Explain yourself.”
Akito's eyes narrowed, but whatever this creature was, he seemed to not know what he meant. “Is this Japan?”
“Yes…”
Akito looked around again. His kimono was beginning to slip off of his shoulders. The air was pure. He looked upwards. No smog. Nothing at all, in fact. It was as if Japan had never seen modernization. Interesting. This was Japan, though. Logic told him that it was impossible, but logic also claimed that the Sohma curse didn't exist either. So, using this “logic,” Akito deduced that the well was a portal to the past, and that he was some time in Japan's past. It was an interesting concept, and one he would like to explore. But he could do that later, not now. “… I see,” he said. He pushed his kimono back onto his shoulders. “Who are you?”
Naraku regained himself. “Naraku.” Akito intrigued him. What was he? He sensed Inuyasha nearby. That damned idiot would probably attack him, and he didn't want to be interrupted at the moment. “Come with me.”
Akito cocked his head. Why not? Learning about this would be interesting, and he had no desire to go back. Might as well go with someone who seemed to be powerful and know their way around. “Of course… Naraku.”

*****

Inuyasha swung his head suddenly. “Naraku,” he snarled. He tried to run off, but Kyou hauled him backwards. Inuyasha kept trying to go after Naraku, but Kyou knew that the dog couldn't even run. Inuyasha, however, didn't seem to realize this. “Lemme go! I can't let him get away!'
“Idiot!” Kyou held on tightly and hauled Inuyasha back again with such force that Kyou fell onto his back. Inuyasha managed to turn halfway as he fell, landing on top of Kyou. The two of them looked at each other, wide-eyed and speechless for about twenty seconds, before they recovered. Kyou and Inuyasha started yelling at each other almost immediately after they recovered from their shock. Inuyasha struggled off of him. They both sat, backs to each other, blushes coloring their cheeks.
Kyou swallowed hard. Why was he so embarrassed? It was almost as though… No. That… couldn't be… He turned to look at Inuyasha, then swung his head forward abruptly, eyes wide. Oh, this was weird…
Inuyasha was in much the same predicament. He and Kyou had a lot of common ground, really, when he thought about it. From what Kyou had told him, Kyou seemed like an outcast, just as he was an outcast. Kyou just needed to find a way to kick @$$. They had been talking a lot while they were walking back. Kyou said that if he defeated Yuki, the rat, then he would be unofficially accepted in his family. Inuyasha was sure that he could teach him something that would help. But he couldn't figure out why he wanted to. He sighed inwardly. Maybe he should apologize for freaking out. Kyou had just been trying to help him.
Kyou looked down at the dirt. Perhaps he should apologize to Inuyasha. He had been sort of rough. He had probably just made everything worse. And then he had yelled at him. He started to turn, just Inuyasha turned. Somehow, they both moved with the same speed, moving in different directions. Their lips touched. They froze again, eyes widening again, but neither moved. It was as if time had stopped for this freakishly weird moment. They both spun back around, faces red once more.
“Er, well…” Inuyasha stammered.
“It was just an accident,” Kyou said.
“Right! `Cuz there's no way I'd kiss you.”
“Who would kiss you?” Kyou snapped back.
Inuyasha suddenly fell silent, listening. “Hey, listen.” Kyou's ear twitched and swiveled toward the voices. He could hear two voices. One was one that he did not recognize, but it still made his skin crawl. The other made his skin crawl, too, but for a different reason. That was Akito. Kyou gasped. How was Akito here? “You know that other guy?” he asked, looking at Kyou's reaction to it.
Kyou nodded, eyes narrowing. “Akito,” he said.
“Who is he?”
The cat rose to his feet and helped the injured dog up. “Akito is… the god of the zodiac. He's the one who bears the full brunt of the curse.”
Inuyasha froze. God? These cursed humans turned into half-demons in this world… If Akito assumed the role of “god of the zodiac” in that world… He actually would be a god in this world. And he was with Naraku! What if they teamed up? Inuyasha lunged forward, stumbling and limping as he ran for the clearing. He just couldn't let that happen. It would spell disaster for all of them. But by the time he burst into the clearing with the well, he could only see them flying away. He cursed and was about to pursue them, but his ankle protested and buckled. He caught himself as he fell and cursed again.
Kyou knelt beside him, looking at his ankle. “You really are an idiot, aren't you?” he demanded. He needed treatment for that ankle. It looked terrible. But the village wasn't too far off. “Can you get up?”
“Yeah,” Inuyasha said, his pride shining through in his voice. He stood up and immediately fell over.
Kyou grabbed a hold of him. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Sure ya can. C'mon. I've got ya.” They took a few steps, Inuyasha reluctantly leaning on Kyou, but Inuyasha just kept stumbling. Kyou ground his teeth and grabbed Inuyasha. He picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. The dog protested, but was really in no condition to do much about it right now. And there was no way that Kyou was going to leave the idiot here (he'd probably try to take off after Naraku and Akito) and carrying him in a more proper manner was sort of suggestive and bothered him, so Inuyasha would just have to deal with this for right now. “Hey, you can't walk for shoot, so I've gotta carry you.”
Inuyasha ground his teeth. “Okay, but once we get to the edge of the village, ya gotta put me down, all right?” he said, his tone threatening.
Kyou wasn't bothered by it. “Yeah, sure. Whatever. And I won't tell anyone either. So you better not.”
He was referring to the kiss. Inuyasha knew it. He nodded. “Yeah, I won't. But you better not say a damn word!”
“You can count on it.” They were quiet as Kyou hauled Inuyasha through the forest, as if the dog hanyou were a sack of potatoes instead of a sack of entrails, bone, and blood. Kyou dropped Inuyasha before the forest thinned. Inuyasha landed on all fours. He glared at Kyou.
“What the hell didja do that for!?” he yelled.
“There was somebody nearby.”
Inuyasha sniffed the air. He heard giggling. Kyou recognized the voices as being Momiji, and that girl Rin. Momiji suddenly ran by. Kyou reached out and grabbed him. Momiji kept laughing, trying to escape Kyou's grasp. “Kyou! You gotta let me go or she'll get me!” he cried.
Shippo ran past, and almost made it safely behind Kyou and Inuyasha, but Rin burst through the underbrush and tagged him. Who ever would have thought—a yaouki, a hanyou, and a ningen all playing together happily. And, despite the pressing urgency, and everything that had gone wrong, the world felt right. Like this was meant to be, and everything that wrong—like Tohru's capture—would soon be brought to right.

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