InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ Churon ( Chapter 32 )

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

I'm hoping that I get out before school starts on the 21st!

Chapter 32: Churon

Last time: Inuyasha looked on mutely, wondering where Kagome went and hoped that she could defend herself if she did get into any trouble, which she undoubtedly would. At one time, Kagome had shown Inuyasha the use of the phone, but this `eah-male', whatever it was, he had no clue what it was. All he could do now was watch and wait.

This time: Kagome walked off the plane, seeing no purpose in staying in the claustrophobic contraption any longer. It wouldn't be like the subway, where she could ride until she came to the correct stop, or change cars to get there. It was one-way and nothing could stop that.

The crowds dispersed, the other passengers walking off tiredly after their long flight to find their relations and luggage. Kagome looked around, for all the good it did, and decided to try to follow the rest of the passengers. `What now?' she thought, sighing and smoothing her bandanna over her cramped ears.

There! A sign in Japanese that was taped to something that looked like a picket pulled straight out of the ground. `Higurashi.' Yep, that was her sign.

“Aunt Nat-“

“Hurry up, they are expecting you.”

“Who?” Kagome managed to get out as the bleach-blonde Japanese woman grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. Natasha was much stronger than any normal human should be, and she had the same tones her mother had the previous day. “Where are you taking me?!” Kagome asked in a panic, trying to free herself from the woman's grasp.

“Hurry up, they are expecting you.” She repeated, dragging her past the luggage carousal, not even bothering to stop as Kagome's bag rode right past them. Kagome looked around and strangely, not a single person looked their way or tried to stop the kidnapping in progress. It was disturbingly similar to Gin's driving the way that there was nothing stopping or blocking their movements.

Outside the doors, Kagome's skin prickled, and it was not only the heavy fog that covered the ground. “Hurry up, they are expecting you.” Kagome heard again as Natasha, or whoever this was, opened the back door of a wood-paneled Oldsmobile and threw her in. The world seemed trapped in silence as the car started and left the airport parking lot.

By the time Kagome had righted herself and buckled her belt, they had left London and was now traveling northward along the countryside. Once or twice Kagome tried to start up conversation, only to be met with the same `they are expecting you' response. Sighing, Kagome stared out at the murky whiteness that was broken occasionally by a swath of green from the fields or trees. Who were `they' and what did `they' want? As far as she knew, only Aunt Natasha lived here… unless it was somehow a plot for Naraku to get her out of the picture! But that would mean that he knew about the well, and how to cross it. Her family was in danger! Mama, Grandpa, Souta!

“The one you call Naraku does not know about the well.” What? Kagome's breathing slowed down slightly from slight hyperventilation. “They want to talk to you.” And silence. Aunt Natasha's voice hadn't changed from what her voice was like earlier.

“How do you know about Naraku?”

“… They are expecting you…” was the only response, like a robot.

“Who are `they'?” Kagome leaned forward to look into the rearview mirror at her aunt's eyes. They didn't move or blink either.

Kagome threw herself back into her seat with a groan. There was no way that she could escape now, even if she wanted to. She might as well get comfortable because she wouldn't be going anywhere soon if things were going the way that they had been. Kagome soon drifted off, only to be thrown from her seat in a sudden stop.

“Huh?” Kagome grunted, rubbing her head where it hit the glass.

“Get out.” Natasha said mechanically.

“What?” Natasha didn't turn as she repeated her previous statement.

“Get out.” The older woman's lifeless eyes turned to stare at Kagome through the rearview mirror. Kagome looked out the window, unsure which would be more hazardous: going out into the pea-soup fog, or staying with a controlled human that had already shown un-human strength. Taking a deep breath, Kagome decided she was better off in the fog. She had a nose, she could find human settlement if push came to shove… hopefully.

Inuyasha looked around the room in confusion. Why would Kagome leave, especially knowing that she only had a week in this time before the final battle. And with no way to get back to the feudal era without going though the well, there was no point in leaving this time period to just tell the others that he'd lost track of Kagome.

Gin finished putting away Kagome's clothes and straightening the room for her return. “Do you want any breakfast Inu-kun? I'm sure that wherever Kagome is, she'll contact us as soon as she can. So why don't you stop worrying so much and relax while you can, okay?” Inuyasha took another look around before nodding. At least Kagome took the shards with her, so they'd be safe from demons in this era at least.

Almost following Gin out the door, Inuyasha cringed slightly. It had become almost a courtesy rule in the house to dress appropriately in case visitors came to the shrine. Sighing, Inuyasha pivoted into the closet and went to where his clothes were. Surprisingly, he found an outfit that he had previously not seen before. It was the same bright red of his Fire-Rat haori, but it was the straight-leg and narrow-sleeve of a training Gi instead. Something that he was more accustomed to, Inuyasha chose to exchange his hakama for the narrower pants, and he kept his cream colored undershirt on instead of the stiff top.

In a passing moment, he looked into the mirror to make sure everything was straight. `I look like a miko!' he thought in slight humor as he dug out a hairbrush, that Gin had insisted on getting one time, and a small black tie to pull his hair back in a `modern' style. After brushing and tying back his hair with a red bandanna over top, he went down to breakfast.

Entering the kitchen, he saw only two places set. Intercepting his question, Gin patted a seat and gave a smile. “Grandpa is visiting one of his friends in the hospital, so it's only you and me this morning. Do you want anything-“

“Ra-“

“-aside from Ramen this morning?” Gin cut off, setting a `small' bowl down in front of Inuyasha. Within a few moments, the Chinese-style noodles were gone. Gin shook her head in amusement, showing a small smile. “I'm having an omelet and some pickled vegetables, would you like any?”

“The yellow crunchy ones!” Inuyasha nodded enthusiastically, adding a please after a moments hesitation.

“Radish? Just don't eat too many or you'll get sick, okay?” Inuyasha blushed slightly and looked around.

“… When's the brat going to come back?” he asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Gin took a shaking breath and braced herself on either side of the kitchen sink, trying to stop the tears that started welling up in her eyes. `Pull yourself together, it's not like Kagome's asked the same question' “I guess Kagome-chan doesn't talk about it too often, does she? Every summer Kashisu takes Souta for visitations. And brings him back just in time for school to start. You saw how well they get along, so I would suggest trying to avoid when they come back. You and Kagome visit often enough that I'll be able to warn you away before another encounter happens.” Gin turned to the omelet that had started to smoke slightly.

Arms snaked around Gin from the back, surprising her greatly. “Kagome loves her brother, and we're going to make sure that he is not brainwashed to be prejudiced against youkai and hanyou.” Gin nodded and smiled lightly.

“Don't tell me that you're attracted to me now, Inuyasha. Wouldn't want me to be accused of robbing the cradle now, would we?” Inuyasha wiped away a tear that had fallen down Gin's face and shrugged, stepping back.

“You're too young for me anyway.” Inuyasha commented with a waved of the hand and put the uneaten pickled radish into the refrigerator.

“So what's Kagome?” Gin asked back playfully.

“A pup. My pup-mate.” He shrugged, remembering perceptions were different. “Kagome's mine, I don't care how old she is compared to me. She grew up human, so she's mature enough to mate.”

Gin nodded in agreement and sat down with her own breakfast. “Are you going to stay here today? Kagome's cousin is going to get here in a little while and Kagome would like for you to meet.”

“…no point in going back right now. I could stay here for a while; I'll be in the tree.” Inuyasha commented neutrally. He was in no real hurry to meet this `Yusuke' person that Kagome had only commented about passing the previous night. On the other hand, he wasn't too fond of the Monk's staff and/or Hiraikotsu aimed for his head. Figuring the lesser of the two evils, he highly doubted that anyone would notice him in the Goshinboku anyway.

Looking around, it was a blanket of fog, just like her spirit plane that Miroku had taken her to once. “Okay, where am I?” as if someone had heard her, the fog bank thinned enough to see the shadowed outline of a hill in the distance. Kagome stepped forward in curiosity, but the hill never seemed to come any closer. Turning back, kagome gasped. Where her aunt's car was only moments ago, was a blanket of impenetrable white. The gooseflesh on her arms came back with a vengeance as kagome rubbed her suddenly-cold arms.

“Hello!?” she called out, not expecting to get a response.

“What do you want?” came a craggy voice from up ahead in the fog. Or was it behind her?

Kagome didn't know what to say as she looked around for a body to accompany the voice. The fog had completely surrounded her again, to the point where she could no longer even see her feet.

“Are you stupid? I asked what do you want?” Kagome jumped, the voice was directly in front of her. The fog thinned enough to see a very thin, tall person standing practically over her.

“I…I…”

The voice growled. Kagome jumped back in surprise, putting her hand to her heart in shock. Squich. Kagome looked down, did she step on something? At her feet, water swelled and ebbed with small waves. Looking up again, the tall person, a man she could see now, was really standing on the stern of a small barge that was floating in the water that Kagome was almost positive wasn't there before.

“I want to go back home!” kagome yelled it out, she was certain that this was all a bad dream by now.

“Don't we all,” The man rolled his eyes, “we've got ourselves another lost mortal here.” He mumbled to himself, poling the barge closer. “Come on and grab my hand, you'll just get lost otherwise.” Kagome nodded mutely and stepped into the barge, sitting down on one of the simple benches inside. Kagome hugged herself, looking around in curiosity. She couldn't smell anything and she hadn't noticed how much she had started to rely on her demonic senses. `This must be what Inuyasha feels like on his human night,' she mused.

“Name's Churon. Don't talk to me and I might just let you get back to the land of the living. Got it?” Kagome nodded hurriedly and eyed her host. He was indeed skinny, practically skin and bones, and only wore a loin-cloth that was dyed black. He also wore a set of chains loosely wrapped around his torso an shoulders.

“It's for the uncooperative spirits,” Churon commented, not turning away from where he was poling the barge. “Willingly or not, I get people across Styx when they die.”

“…!”

“No, you're not dead, just lost. Now stop thinking so loudly and sit still!” he growled out, shaking his chains as a threat. Kagome nodded her head furiously and looked out to the white expanse, with only the gray water beyond the boat.

After a moment, Churon sighed and slumped slightly, letting the barge drift downriver (of which kagome couldn't see the sides whatsoever) while he sat down opposite Kagome. “Sorry,” he bit out, “I'm tired. I've been doing this for over 2,000 years and it gets old after a while. You're not exactly human either, so you might understand what I'm talking about after a while. You're not human, but you're still a youngster, how old are you anyway?” Churon placed his bony fingers on her cheek and Kagome tried not to shudder.

“S-sixteen… sir.” At that, Churon burst out laughing.

“'Sir'? I haven't had anyone call me that in decades!” Kagome looked up; Churon's face was more like a skull than a living thing. He was pale as paper with his eyes sunk in so far, that they looked like black voids. His hair, what there was of it, was scraggily and stringy. Altogether, he was an intimidating sight.

At her stare, Churon looked down at himself, “what? Not much to look at, huh? Do you know how heavy that black robe is when it gets wet? And beside, I left that on shore, so you can't complain about my looks!”

Kagome looked away, embarrassed. “Sorry, I'm not really used to being around other ushers.”

“Where are you from, girl?” he asked, looking at her Asian features.

“Japan. And my name's Ka-go-me, not girl.”

“Well, Ka. Go. Me. You're a long way from home. What brought you this way?”

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows, “I don't really know. My mom and aunt were possessed and all that I found out is that `they are expecting me'.”

Churon nodded his head. “So you're the one. They told me to watch out for you, but I didn't think that you'd be so… young.” He struggled for the appropriate word, holding his hands palm-up in a helpless gesture.

“Who are `they'?” Kagome asked, getting a vague sense of Déjà vu.

“'they' are the All-Powerful. The Gods among Gods. The Crème de la Crème!”

“The what?” Kagome asked dryly.

“The Top Dogs. The Ultimate. The Creators. The All and One.”

Kagome sighed. So, apparently, this was a very important guy; or guys.

“It's got to be bad if they're calling you. What did you do?” can you say mood-swing much? One minute, he was all like `I'm gonna kill you' and the next, he's someone's annoying little brother!

Kagome shrugged. “If I knew, why would I tell you?”

Churon shrugged right back. “Good question.” He stood up and looked around, “and besides, we're almost there anyway.” Taking up his pole, he maneuvered the barge into some reeds and away from the main pull of the stream. There was a quiet thump and Churon reached out for a handle along the dock.

“Watch your step and don't look anyone directly in the face, got it?” he commented as he helped Kagome up onto the floating dock.

As Churon pulled away, kagome turned to ask one final question: “how do you get back upstream with that much of a current?”

“What do you mean upstream? Styx goes in a giant circle and you're the one on an island. Bye!” Churon called back, waving before the fog swallowed up his presence.

An island? Kagome sighed and turned toward the boardwalk that would lead her to, hopefully, solid ground. As if her nerves weren't enough already, she was alone with no way to escape yet again. What fate did `they' have in store once she finally met them?

Not too bad of a chapter, but I hope that I'll be able to understand soon, cause I'm just as confused as everyone else right now. Possess-ed fingers, beware! I have a new computer, so I'm still trying to figure out how everything works. Bye for now, dark.

Oh, and if you're wondering, Churon (or Huron) is the Ferrier of the river Styx to Hades. It'll all make sense later.