InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shi-Bun-No-Ichi Yasha ❯ Hopping Through the Well ( Chapter 2 )

Shi-Bun-No-Ichi Yasha

Part 2

"You're all going over to Kagome's world?" Kaede looked up at the group with a surprised gaze.

"The only way to find out if this thing is passing through the well," explained Kagome. "Is to go to the other side and see if it's been there too."

"Will you come too, Kaede-san?" Shippo blinked.

"I can't." Kaede shook her head. "Someone needs to stay here and protect the village in case there is trouble."

Inu Yasha was about to say something rude, but he felt Kagome's eyes warning him to keep his mouth shut or he'd kiss the floor.

"This is so exciting!" Sango smiled. "Kagome's world has so many bizarre and interesting things! I wonder what it'll be like!"

"Hey taijiya," [taijiya = exterminator; Sango is a demon exterminator.] Inu Yasha gave the demon hunter an annoyed look. "We're not going there to see the sights. We're going to see if whatever's in the well has been to the other side of it."

"May I come along, Inu Yasha-sama?" came a tiny voice.

Inu Yasha winced at a tiny prick on his shoulder. He gave it a hard smack, and a flattened Myouga peeled off and flit to the ground like a leaf.

"Feh!" Inu Yasha muttered. "Why would you want to go, Myouga-jiji?"

"Ah," replied Myouga. "Don't you think this Myouga could lend you his advice should you need it?"

"What good would your advice be in Kagome's weird world?" the dog demon spat.

"For once, Inu Yasha is right." Sango said. "We've all seen what strange things Kagome has brought with her from her world. Who is to say that the customs there aren't just as foreign?"

"Plus," added Shippo. "You'd probably just get squished."

"Nah, he'd probably have run back to the well by then!" Inu Yasha smirked.

"Is my presence not appreciated in this group?" Myouga fumed.

"Myouga-san" Kaede spoke up. "Why not just stay here and keep me company, if nothing else?"

"Very well," the flea demon sighed. "I shall await thee here, Inu Yasha-sama."

"Is everyone prepared to leave?" Miroku jangled the rings on his staff. Everyone nodded. As the rest of the group headed toward the well once again, Kagome picked up Myouga for a word.

"Keep Kaede-bachan safe, Myouga-jiji." Kagome whispered. "You and Kirara are the only friendly demons that are staying behind, after all. I'm counting on you."

Myouga blinked at her as if shocked by her faith in him.

"You have my word, Kagome-sama." Myouga bowed to her in her hand. "If need be, I shall call upon the wolves guarding Inu Yasha-sama's father's shrine as well as Kirara to help."

"Arigatou, Myouga-jiji." Kagome smiled, set the flea demon down, and took off after the others.

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At the well, everyone split up into two groups. Shippo curled up tightly in Kagome's arms. Sango was holding Kagome's free hand. Reluctantly, Inu Yasha took Miroku's hand. Neither the hanyou nor the houshi wanted to hold the other's hand, though.

"We'll go first," said Kagome. "Since I've got two instead of one. Once we're through, Inu Yasha and Miroku can jump through. Is everybody ready?"

"Hai!" was the simultaneous reply.

"Then let's go!"

Gripping Sango and Shippo tightly, Kagome jumped into the well, praying to Kami-sama that they'd make it through. Just before hitting the bottom, the familiar blue light appeared and they disappeared into it.

"Ready, houshi?" Inu Yasha stepped up to the well.

"When you are, Inu Yasha." Miroku replied.

The boys leapt in and were likewise swallowed by the blue light.

Kagome and the others landed at the bottom of the well in the present day, but almost immediately, Shippo and Kagome sensed something amiss.

"It smells like that human-demon thing in here." Shippo remarked.

"Yeah, I feel it too." Kagome looked around, worried. "Come on, we'd better get out of here before the boys show up and it gets crammed in here."

"Are we in your world, Kagome?" Sango asked.

"Unless something really weird happened with the well all of a sudden," Kagome began to climb. "Yes, we are."

"So this is how you travel between the worlds…," Sango said as they started to climb out of the well. "I had always wondered how you could travel back and forth through a well."

"It took me a bit of time to learn myself," Kagome smiled. "Yura Sakasagami sort of… showed the way."

"Who?" Shippo and Sango asked simultaneously.

"A demon Inu Yasha and I faced before we met any of you." Kagome explained. "It wasn't until after that fight that Inu Yasha addressed me by my name for the first time."

"What had he called you before that?" Sango asked.

"Every rotten thing he could think of!" Kagome reached the top and hauled herself over. Sango and Shippo soon followed.

"Once a jerk, always a jerk!" Shippo grumbled. "Dog-breath doesn't deserve you being so nice to him!"

"I heard that, brat!" came Inu Yasha's voice from the bottom of the well. A moment later, Inu Yasha easily leapt out of well with Miroku on his back. The houshi slid off and straightened his robe.

"Well, it is true that you fail to treat Kagome, as well as the rest of us, with even the slightest of respect." Miroku said plainly. "Even a little bit from you would be much appreciated, you know."

"IS EVERYONE GONNA BE ON MY CASE TODAY?" Inu Yasha roared. "WE'VE GOT WORSE THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT THAN MY MANNERS!"

"Or lack thereof." Miroku grinned as he dodged another swipe from the dog demon.

"Come on," Kagome gestured. "If my family's home, I can introduce you guys to them."

"Ah, I've always wanted to meet your family." said Miroku. "From what you've told us, they are most kind indeed."

"Just hope today my ears don't get pulled." Inu Yasha grumbled.

There were a few snickers from the others, but for the most part, they kept quite so as to avoid the dog demon's wrath.

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"Ah! So these are the friends you speak of so often!" Grandpa Higurashi smiled. "Come! Come, please sit down! What brings you all here?"

"Grandpa," Kagome began. "Have you or Souta seen anything weird around the temple anywhere?"

"Apparently something else has been traveling through it and we need to find it before it causes any trouble in either world." said Sango.

Grandpa Higurashi tugged at his beard in deep thought. He had been away from the temple several times within the past few days and hadn't really noticed anything suspicious on the temple grounds. Nonetheless, if something was wandering about the temple, he was bound to have noticed at least something.

"I do recall seeing a young girl here the other day." he spoke up. "She was wearing a white baseball cap with ears on top like Inu Yasha's. It seemed as though she was waiting for someone or something, but after a while, she stopped by the old well briefly and left."

"Ears like Inu Yasha's?" Shippo blinked.

"I'm sure they must have been part of the hat or something." Grandpa continued. "No demon could've stepped onto the grounds unless they came up from the well as you have."

"Yeah, " muttered Inu Yasha. "Just like those stupid anti-evil tags kept me in the well, right?"

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome warned.

"What?" Inu Yasha blurted. "It's true! Aaahhh!!!!"

Inu Yasha was suddenly distracted when the feel of fingers on his sensitive white ears startled him. Souta had shown up and was facinated by the look and feel of Inu Yasha's fluffy dog ears. If it had been Kagome doing it, he probably wouldn't have minded it TOO much. (In fact, he wished Kagome would touch his ears once in awhile!) But since it was her little brother, a low growl thrummed in his throat.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." he muttered as politely as his short temper would allow.

"Sorry, big brother Inu Yasha," Souta smiled. "But they're just so cool to touch!"

When Inu Yasha didn't respond, the conversation continued.

"Why would you be concerned about something suspicious around the temple?" asked Grandpa. "Has something happened in the Sengoku Jidai?"

"Sengoku Jidai?" Shippo blinked.

"That is what we call your world and your time period." Grandpa smiled. "Just as we would refer to this time period as the modern day."

"Oh." Shippo replied, laying over the top of the couch as he would someone's shoulder.

"Actually," said Miroku. "It seems that a human-youkai creature has been in and around the well in our world as well, as if it's been passing back and forth through the well the same way Inu Yasha and Kagome have."

"We need to find it before it causes any trouble," Sango added. "So we passed through the well to see if it's been here too."

"And it's obviously been here!" Inu Yasha said. "Shippo and I picked up its scent in the well."

"Oh dear!" Grandpa gasped. "I dread to think what it could be!"

"Anyway, Jii-chan," Kagome continued. "Would it be alright if we checked the place out? And if we find it, we can easily take care of it."

"As long as you are careful, you have my permission." Grandpa reached within his robe and pulled out a handful of anti-evil tags.
"And while you're at it, Kagome, would you mind putting a few of these wherever you find anything?"

"Feh!" Inu Yasha snorted.

"Sure, Jii-chan." Kagome took the tags hesitantly. "I'll do that."

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