InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Falling ❯ chapter two ( Chapter 2 )

And here is the second chapter! Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha, not me. All other standard disclaimers apply. Thank you. ^_^

Falling

Chapter Two

By: Lazuli

lazulidreamer@yahoo.com

Inuyasha observed the girl quietly, noticing how frightened she still was. She at least smelled better-fresh of soap and the dirt smell was gone. And she was decently attired, if only in a nightgown. His eyes moved over her form, noting the darkness of her hair was natural, and not due to grime. It was a very deep black shade, and hung around her face in drying curls. Her gray blue eyes looked at his with worry, but she didn't scream or even try to run. He gave her points for the bravery that showed at least on the surface, if nowhere else.

"What is your name?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her, clearly expecting an answer. She froze for a moment, then nodded slightly to herself.

"Kagome." Her voice was soft, but it had the touch of an accent he wasn't aware of, slightly rough as if she had not had much of a use for it. He waited patiently for the rest of her name, and she just stared at him, not even speaking past that. She didn't look youkai, and they were usually the only ones that had only a first name. Maybe she just didn't want to say anything to him. That was fine-for now.

"Well, Kagome-you are in my home, and I would like to know how you arrived here, without any of my staff or myself knowing about this." Although he kept his tone casual, there was no mistaking that he demanded an answer from her. He didn't want to scare her at this point-he would feel guilty for scaring such an innocent looking girl. She looked fragile in the oversized nightgown, her eyes huge and shadowed with lack of sleep. Kaede wasn't looking too happy with him interrogating the girl, and made that known.

"Inuyasha-sama… you can very well wait until the girl has been fed and had a decent night's sleep. You can ask her questions in the morning. I admit that I'm curious myself, but the poor child doesn't need to go through this tonight." The woman was smiling gently at Kagome, and she blinked up in appreciation as her stomach rumbled. She hadn't really eaten anything for a few days, and the mention of food made her painfully aware of that.

Inuyasha's stomach grumbled along with hers and Kaede smiled at the both of them. "Let me have a meal sent up to you both. You can talk over dinner." She gave Kagome a critical look. "You need plenty to fill you out, but I think we'll start light for now. I don't want you to get a stomach ache from eating too much at once." She hurried out of the room, leaving Inuyasha and Kagome alone to stare at each other.

Inuyasha was the first to break the silence as he waited for Kaede to come back. He would only interrogate the girl this way when his housekeeper wasn't around. He would get reprimanded severely otherwise for his bad manners, and he sometimes wondered who was the one in charge. "Why were you in my bed?" He asked bluntly. "Coming into house, I don't really mind all that much. I would have fed you and sent you on your way again. But somehow-you came undetected into my home and sprawled out on my clean sheets. Tell me how." His gaze was piercing and it was obvious that he wasn't going to listen to any lies. The amber intensity alone pinned her to the spot and she wished that her frozen limbs would move so she could run and escape this … dream she was having. A dream. That's what this is. I can tell him the truth and he will think nothing of it. In my dream, all things make sense.

"I came through a hole that was in your bathroom wall." Her voice was steady and didn't shake as much as she thought it ought to. "It was raining outside and I was very cold, so I thought I would come in here to rest." She looked around at the opulence and smiled slightly. "It wasn't like this when I came in here. Everything was dirty and falling apart… there were several holes in the floor and ceilings… water spots." She ticked off the list of damages with a slender hand. "So I was going to stay here one night and then move on."

Inuyasha looked astonished as she told her story of how there were no other places to stay, that the her clothing made it impossible to go to any halfway house-those were for the ones that could afford such things, and they would take one look at her and dismiss her as a lost cause. So-she had taken to sleeping in abandoned houses-like his. At that point he protested.

"Now wait just a minute, little girl. This house obviously isn't abandoned-its being lived in, and well taken care of, too. Kaede would not appreciate hearing that you labeled her hard work as dirty and water spotted." He was confused, though at her words, because they held no lies. Everything she spoke seemed to be the honest truth and he wondered if she was delusional to think that she saw all that damage-but it still didn't explain how she got in. The window were too high for her to climb in, and locked heavily besides. Any one of his guards would have noticed an intruder and would have taken care of her without him even having to think about the problem.

"Well it was!" She snapped back. "I know what I saw, and I'm not crazy. I just want to know exactly what happened to this place. Did you come back to your home and revive it or something?" She fidgeted with the material of her nightgown, eyes still flicking everywhere in the room. "I didn't know things like this place still existed."

"I didn't do anything to this place." He said slowly, wondering if she was slow or sick in the head. "This place has been like this for several years-it hasn't ever fallen into ruin since it was built." He looked up as Kaede came in the room and put down two trays of something hot and steaming in front of them, shooting him a disapproving glance.

Kagome looked at the rice and thinly sliced meat gratefully and picked up the chopsticks at Kaede's encouraging look. "Eat up, child. We'll have you fed and taken care of in no time-tomorrow we'll get everything straightened out." She gave her a smile. "Now, once you finish that, we'll get you settled in another room-it wouldn't be right for you to stay in here."

Kagome blinked. Wasn't right? What type of place had she landed in? Nobody thought that way anymore. Nobody… it was all whoever that bunked down together. You didn't care if it was male, female-canine or feline. As long as it was a warm body. Not in that sense of course. It was like a blanket. You curled around it for warmth and hoped it was stolen in the morning.

"No, really.. it's okay. I should be going anyhow…" She started to make a protest but it died at the stern look she was receiving. It was the 'you will listen to me or else look.' The one that she remembered from staring hungrily at the kids playing in the school parks and the reprimanding looks the teachers would give the students. She never expected the look directed at her and she nearly sank into the floor. Damn. How come I never realized it was so intimidating before?

Kaede smiled at her. "Good, then it's all settled. We'll settle you down in one of our guest bedrooms for the night, get some decent clothing to outfit you." Here she paused and it was clear from her tone of voice that Kagome's previous clothing wasn't worth the cloth that it was made from. "And then we'll take it from there." Smiling even wider she almost dragged Kagome from the room, away from the inquisitive Inuyasha and what she deemed as her only escape route home.

**

Morning came too soon for Kagome-she realized that her surroundings and the events that had occurred last night were not a dream when she woke up surrounded by the smell of flowers and sunlight streaming away from her face-not being cold or wet or chased away. It was the first time that she had awoken naturally and not due to someone kicking her off 'their' turf. It was a luxury that she couldn't afford to let go to waste. Kaede and Inuyasha were probably going to kick her out of the house now that it was daylight. She stretched her arms out, just enjoying the moment for what it was-trying not to think about what it would turn into once she really woke up. Once she realized that this was the dreams and the cold and dark that awaited her was the reality.

There was a soft rapping on the door and Kagome nearly jumped out of the bed at the unexpected sound. It had been so quiet up until that point. She berated herself mentally for getting so wound up.

"Kagome, child? It is Kaede. I have some breakfast for you." Taking Kagome's silence as consent, the older woman pushed open the door and smiled at her. "I knew by looking at you that you would sleep for quite some time. Poor girl… you looked so worn out when you came in last night."

She was busy setting up the tray again and Kagome gaped at the amount of food that was on there-and just for breakfast. No one eats like this anymore. Not in my neighborhood, anyway. She knew that she was in her neighborhood, but at the same time-she wasn't. After she had slept all night and had time to think about her situation, the only thing she could come up with was that somehow the house was either restored-or she did something strange like falling back in time. The first suggestion (strangely enough) made more sense than the second. Time travel was only for fairy tales. Houses magically restoring themselves in the night-that was for the loony bin.

"What are you going to do about me today?" Kagome asked, quickly eating the food before it got cold. She looked up at Kaede for a brief moment before demolishing the bowl of rice. She didn't miss the slightly shocked expression on Kaede's face and she wondered if it was because of the rate she was packing away breakfast or the bluntness of the question. Given the time frame I'm 'supposedly' in, I'd say its an unhealthy combination of both.

"Well-I was going to take you shopping." Her eyes swept over her form, hidden by the folds of the nightdress. "We have one outfit here that might fit you-but not at all in the correct manner and you do need some decent clothing, child." It was clear that Kagome's wardrobe last night must have seriously shocked the poor woman. It didn't help the length of the skirt or the holes in the jacket… she knew she had been a mess. She was just insulted because that had been all she owned in the world and now it was probably being either burned or given such a scrubbing that the force of the wash would have torn it apart.

"Kaede!" Inuyasha tore in the bedroom and immediately blushed. So gone was the self assured lord from the night before. "I… sorry." He mumbled before turning to the old woman. "I need to talk to you, Kaede. I found a place for…" Their voices drifted off as Inuyasha insistently tugged on Kaede. Kagome sighed and finished of what remained of her breakfast.

**

Several hours later Kagome had to hold to the time travel theory. It wasn't as if she was new the concept. She had of course read about it in the few books she could get her hands on. She read avidly when she had the chance to-she wasn't a total simpleton and her mother had taught her how to read before things turned bad-for everyone that didn't own a piece of the town. But her supply was limited to the books she could grab in a library (when they would let her in) and those stories her mother had told her as a child. Legends of demons and those that fought them… good overcoming evil and her favorite---time travel. Stories that came from other countries. Of how the faeries would take someone away through the standing stones in faraway Europe to two hundred years before their birth. To be thrust into a world of utter confusion.

Kagome wondered if the faeries (if there were any Japanese ones) that had taken her were drunk to put her where she was. Although-she realized how much nicer things seemed. It was cleaner for one-the houses weren't dilapidated and no one was living in the alleyways between them. The air was fresher-more trees and grass than she had ever seen in her lifetime. The only bad thing about it-there wasn't many humans in this neighborhood. Kaede had explained to her that this was the youkai town-humans lived in their place and youkai in their. Occasionally humans from the orphanages or job agencies would apply for a job and the youkai would take them for menial labor.

Kagome was aghast at this and vented it quite forcefully to Kaede in hushed whispers as they went to the various dress shops. Kaede only laughed at her reactions. "It's the same thing over in the human town, Kagome. Only this-the youkai treat us better than they are treated over there. Things will get nasty one day if it keeps up, you mark my words." Kagome, with her all too fresh knowledge and experiences of the future, knew too well Kaede spoke the truth. The visions of the homeless and that destruction of this entire town-most of the cities stretching out far as she could walk or ride were testimony to a nightmare that could become all too real.

Kagome clung to the past with a vengeance.

**

Inuyasha was waiting for the both of them when the arrived back, servants laden down with packages that had been bought during the day. He shook his head slightly and looked directly at Kagome. "You have a choice, girl. You can either go out there and try your luck in the human town, or work here in this town." His gaze was level. "If you chose here, I'll be the first to offer you employment."

It seemed that it was supposed to be a fantastic offer-one that she should be on her knees, thanking him for. Kagome raised an eyebrow, not treating the gift like it was. "Are these the only two choices? To work for youkai or live with humans?" She tried to sound angry-knowing that it was the humans that caused all the problems that were occurring in her time. But… it wasn't his fault. It probably wouldn't happen for another century or so and she couldn't rightfully blame him.

He nodded slowly, eyeing her carefully. Kaede had made herself scarce, directing the floor of packages up to Kagome's room. "I wasn't going to take you on for employment-I don't have any idea about you-you could be a horrible worker, a thief-I already know that you're a poor bum."

Kagome made a sound of protest but he shook his head. "You are. You were dressed in rags, you were soaking wet-and you were in my bed. It was obvious that you have no other place to live. If you had a home in the human settlement, you would have gone home already. Claimed citizenship and been gone."

She blinked, confused at his words. Citizenship? The world wasn't like that-was it? She rolled her eyes at him. "You youkai do not control the citizenship. There is no such thing… we're free people, you moron." She realized belatedly that insulting a potential employer was not the best thing in the world to do and she winced as soon as she said it.

"Not anywhere else, no. But in this town…rules have been set. It's a magic over this place. Some of the youkai and humans don't really get along. It's to protect us all." He gave her a hard look. "Not only humans have this.. citizenship, Kagome. Youkai have to claim it, too. You do it at birth, like you do with a country. You can be a citizen of Japan, you can live in this town or that town-but you have it written down where you were born."

When he put it that way-it didn't sound so bad. And she realized that part of that tradition had still been carried into her day. Only it was slightly more twisted-serving the purposes of those that were higher up in the system. Those that must have been saved when the towns fell-those that grabbed the money, rebuilt or restored what had either been theirs or stolen from the one that rightfully owned it. Probably from some rich bastard that insulted a youkai or tried to kill one.

He nodded, seeing the confusion clear from her eyes and understanding dawn. She must be from out of town… although why she made her way here of all places… He noticed the various bruises decorating her skin last night and made a mental note to find her attacker-to figure out if she was running from a fiancée or boyfriend-husband, even by the look of her age. And once he found that person, then he would kill them. He looked at her determined, stubborn face and decided that it didn't hurt to ask. Could make the whole process a lot quicker, too.

Her gaze was startled. "A… husband?" The laughter bubbled up, surprising the both of them with the unexpected sound. "No, no…. It comes from living on the street. You have to fight for your space… places that are dry and at least relatively clean are big spots… it's hard to find one and keep one before you challenged for it."

Inuyasha looked shocked and angry but things like that couldn't be changed so easily. It had gone on centuries before now and would continue centuries into the future. He swore softly as he took a closer look at her. "Screw the humans, you're staying with me."

^^ And that's the end of that chapter. Gomen ne for taking so long, minna!! I got a job, and it cuts my creative time in half. There's no time for writing down story ideas when you have all these people in line… buying books. ^_^ I'm updating as fast as I can, and I'm frankly surprised that I got this chapter finished… o.o And the plot thickens.. dum dum dum….