InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Messes ❯ Deep wells ( Chapter 1 )

 

 

 

 

The sky was beautiful as they walked along in silence. Relative silence, that is, for Misao and Yahiko bickered quietly under their breath about something or other before they were quieted by Kaoru. The fireworks had been beautiful, and as they gazed into the sky, the imprints burned into their memories were as vivid now as they had been an hour ago. None of them except Saito could remember a better New Years. There had been much argument between Sano and Kaoru as to whether they should invite Saito, but Kaoru had triumphed and, since Tokio (Saito's wife) was taking Eiji (adopted after Shishio thing) to Europe for a few months, and because Saito had been assigned to Tokyo for a while to help sort out several minor cases, he had surprised them all by agreeing to come.

The stillness of the night was suddenly broken by Misao's scream.

“A SNAKE! AIEEEEEE!” she screamed as the harmless garden snake came unwisely toward the screaming girl. Saito, standing a few feet away, snorted at her terror and swiftly decapitated it.

“Misao no baka!” yelled Yahiko. “And you're a chicken too!”

“Yahiko!” screamed Misao, taking off after the laughing boy, kunai drawn.

Aoshi sighed, when would she ever grow up?!? He watched as the two quickly left the path and shot through the trees. With no emotion in his voice, he volunteered,

“I'll go make sure they don't get lost. . .”

Kenshin nodded and Sano made a “tch” noise and rolled his eyes. Megumi yawned as the procession stopped to wait on them.

“I'm going to go on,” she said, stifling another yawn, “I've got to get back to the clinic. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Megumi.” chorused several different voices as Megumi walked off toward the city.

 

~~~~~

 

`Damn him! He thought he was so brave just because she was scared of snakes!' Thought Misao in anger. `He'll pay for that!'

Just as Misao was about to begin clobbering Yahiko, two things happened almost simultaneously. First, Aoshi yanked on both of their shirts, grinding them to a dead halt just as the apparently solid ground under their feet gave way and they toppled into a narrow pit.

After the initial shock of falling fifteen feet into the dark wore off, Aoshi thanked the Buddha that the well was dry, because it would have been near impossible to get these two out if he had had to swim.

“Owie” said Yahiko, rubbing his shoulder. “What the heck is this thing?”

“An abandoned well, I think.” said Aoshi.

“Hmph.” said Misao, starting to climb the wall with the stealth and ease that surprised Yahiko, who had thought of her as a clumsy moron.

They were soon out of the well, and Aoshi pushed them back through the forest the way they had come. He glanced around for second, not sure why he suddenly felt uneasy, until they reached were the path should have been. There was no longer a path there. Nor were Kenshin or any of the others there waiting for them.

“Huh?” Misao looked at Aoshi questioningly.

“Where are we?” asked Yahiko.

“I don't know. . .You two wait here. . .” and with that Aoshi wandered off.

“Great, Aoshi doesn't know Tokyo and he's lost!” fumed Yahiko.

“No he isn't!” defended Misao, “Aoshi-sama never gets lost!”

“Em. . .Excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt, but do either of you know the way back to the road to Edo?” They both stopped with their jaws dropped slightly as a man in a blue jacket stepped out of the trees. He smiled and the smile reminded both of them of someone. . .

“No. The dead fish got us lost!” accused Yahiko.

“Hey. . .that jacket. . .” Misao's lack of anger at the insult to Aoshi was a testament to her shock. She looked confused.“Isn't that. . .?”

Now that Yahiko looked at it. . .A blue jacket with white triangles on the sleeves. . . “Hey, that's a Shinsengumi uniform!”

Okita Soshi, Captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, smiled again and nodded.

“But they're all dead except Saito. . .I thought. . .” stammered Misao.

Okita's eyebrows shot up.

“Em? No. . .You two know Saito Hajime?” he looked slightly incredulous.

“Uh. . .Yeah, he works for the government now. . .Who are you?” said Misao, not particularly politely.

“Okita Soshi.”

“What!?!” yelled Yahiko and Misao in chorus.

“No way!. . he died!. . .” stuttered Yahiko.

“Em. . .I did?” Okita smiled *again*, looking indefinitely confused. (You would be, too.)

That brought around a long second of silence. Until, that is, Yahiko came around with his usual tactfulness, “Are you a ghost?”

“Em. . .I don't think so. . .I just fell into a well, but I didn't think I hurt myself. . .” said Okita, still smiling innocently.

“You fell in that gross well too!?!” interjected Misao.

“Em, yes.” he paused slightly.

“OH!” said Misao, catching the hint. “My name's Makamachi Misao, . . .The brat's Myojin Yahiko.”

“Pleased to meet you, Misao-chan,” he nodded. “Yahiko-kun.”

He wasn't aware that he had made a mistake until the two were on top of him. “Not Kun, not kun!” yelled Yahiko proudly. Misao, on the other hand, was taking it much more personally, “I'm not a kid! I'm a woman dammit!”

Oh my, how very familiar this was, thought Okita, smiling *Again*. “My apologies!”

“You smile like Seta Soujiro! Stop it! It's creepy!” Misao said, not quite done with her tantrum.

 

~~~~~

 

Aoshi wandered off back to the well to see if he could find the road again. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember everything that he had seen while chasing Misao and Yahiko. Unfortunately, that hadn't been much; he had been too busy with trying to catch two speeding children. . .Leading to one inevitable question; HOW ON EARTH DID THE FORMER OKASHIRA OF THE ONIWABANSHU GET STUCK BABYSITTING TWO LITTLE BRATS!?! The answer: One of the two little brats had taken out a member of the Juppon Gatana on his own, had a will stronger than most anyone he had ever seen, and really wasn't a kid anymore. The other of the children was even less of a child. He knew that, and yet he couldn't quite wrap his mind around the thought that the constantly cheerful Misao, now the self-proclaimed Okashira, was actually growing up. And neither Yahiko nor Misao could honestly be considered a brat. He sighed.

He stopped. There had been a sound, he was sure of it. . .Someone talking? Not quite. . .He walked toward the sound. It sounded like. . .someone praying. He walked around a tree and stopped. The monk didn't notice him, he was praying at a small shrine. Aoshi decided to keep searching on his own, it didn't seem right to disturb the monk now. . . He started to turn away.

“Don't move.” said the monk.

Aoshi stopped, and then he felt it. There was no sound, nothing to see. . .he just felt the presence behind him. Without warning, the demon attacked.

“Get out of the way!” yelled the monk. Not like he needed to. . .

Aoshi drew his kodachi in one fluid movement and whipped around to kill the monster, but he never got the chance. There was a dull roar, and the air was pulled mercilessly past him. It was all he could do to keep his feet under him. . .The demon flew by him, straight at the monk, and disappeared. Then it was over and the demon was completely gone, while the monk was fidgeting with the cloth around his hand.

“What on earth. . .” muttered Aoshi.

The monk smiled. “Hello, pleased to meet you, my names Miroku.”

“Uh. .Shinomori Aoshi. .pleased to meet you too.” said a stunned Aoshi with rather remarkable composure, given the situation. “I was just looking for the road to Tokyo. . do you know where that would be?”

“Tokyo? Now where have I heard that before. . .OH! Kagome's from there. . hmm. . but wouldn't that mean you were from. . .No way. . .Did you come through the well?” asked Miroku.

“Yes, I and two others fell through a well. . .” said Aoshi.

“Wait. .” said Miroku, smile gone.

He didn't need to say anything else, for it became quite obvious that they were surrounded at that moment. This time Aoshi was the first to attack, while Miroku watched in fascination, but a second later it became apparent that there were too many for the two of them to deal with, and they darted away through the trees, Aoshi slashing out every time one got to close.