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scriveynerTitle: My Immortal - 3 - Fragments
Fandom: Inuyasha
AU: crossing worlds
Characters/Pairing: Kage, Sango, Kaedo, Shippo
Rating: T
Length: 2311
Summary:
"Okay, okay, okay. Let me get this straight." Kageyasha had his head in his hands, trying to assimilate all of this information and failing. "When my mother was my age, she would travel back and forth between times in search of some sort of jewel. There was a dog-demon who tagged along with her named Inuyasha, and they spent most of their free time either collecting shards of this jewel, or battling some psycho-demon."
"That is correct," Kaede said calmly, taking a sip of her tea.
Kage blinked once, staring at the floorboards of Kaede's simple hut. If anyone had told him that this time yesterday, he would have laughed them out of Tokyo. Here, though, it was a little easier to believe. "So, you think that it's this jewel, which was never completely returned to its original state, that is making my mother sick?"
"It is a possibility," Kaede admitted. "Although I have yet to figure out how that would affect her so negatively."
"Well, there's a simple way to fix that," Kage said reasonably. "Find the bastard who has the majority of it, beat some sense into him and then dig up the remaining pieces of it."
Kaede and the other woman, whom Kaede had identified as Sango, glanced at each other sharply. "I ... do not know if that's such a good idea," Kaede started to say. "The one who holds the jewel right now is very powerful, and very dangerous."
"I think the kid's got the right idea," Sango said enthusiastically, for the first time not glaring at Kage. She rose out of her kneeling position smoothly "We can finally put that smug son of a bitch in his place!"
"Regardless of what happens next, Sango, I do not think you should go into battle," Kaede said gently, refocusing her attention on the younger woman.
The word 'battle' made Kage rather nervous. He was hoping to sneak around a lot, filch the jewel and get back without this demon ever realizing his presence. Obviously, that wasn't an option then. He didn't know the first thing about fighting unless you count the couple street fights he had gotten into since high school started, and he had never counted those previously because the only reason he escaped unharmed was the obvious strength difference.
Sango seated herself again, the old woman's caution not putting a damper on her spirit. "I have no doubt," Sango said, "that the young one can take care of it himself, but I can still be backup here in the village."
Kaede couldn't help but smile at the younger woman's excitement. It had been a long, long time since she had looked that way ... it was terribly sad that the only thing that brought out that side of her was the promise of retribution. "I still do not know that it's a good idea to send such a young one into the maw of that beast," she said. "Especially one who doesn't know his way around here. I am far too old to show you the way, and Sango cannot leave this village."
"Why not?" Kage couldn't help but ask. Sango shifted slightly, pulling back the sleeve of her left arm. But there was only sleeve, the arm had been severed cleanly at the shoulder. "Oh," Kage's voice was small.
"If you can deal some damage on the bastard who did this to me, I would much appreciate it," Sango said.
"So who is this demon that you fear and hate so much?" he asked, glancing back and forth from Sango to Kaede.
Kaede closed her eyes, a pained expression crossing her face. "Inuyasha," she said softly.
#
Kage munched on a fruit that one of the kind farmers had given him as he perched in a tree on the outskirts of the village. Well, this *was* a predicament he was in.
So this Inuyasha guy had the jewel that everyone was going nuts over, so what? He didn't understand why this made such a big difference to everyone ... he sighed, biting into the fruit again.
Sango and Kaede had decided that they weren't going to let him out of their sight until someone they knew could guide him around. Granted, he didn't know the area at all, but his nose had never led him wrong before. He didn't even know what sort of guide they were going to grab ... if it was some farmer or something he would be sorely displeased. That meant he'd have to not only take care of himself, but the guide as well!
As Kage mulled over the events, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "What ... the heck is that thing?"
A small pinkish bubble floated by. This wouldn't have disturbed Kage except it was solid pink, not translucent at all. He watched it go about its course, then vanish. Slightly intrigued, he finished off the fruit and stood lightly on the branch, peering around the tree where the bubble had floated off. There was nothing there.
Disappointed, Kage turned to sit back down and nearly leapt out of the tree in surprise. He wasn't alone! Seated further out on the branch was a demon like himself, although this demon had short, pointed ears in the normal spot for humans. He had, however, a huge bushy tail and paws instead of feet. He was glaring at Kage with the same malice Sango had exuded earlier.
"Who the heck are you?" he snapped at Kage, who was a little taken aback.
"I would think that should be my question, you're the one on my branch," he pointed out reasonably. "What sort of demon are you, anyway?"
That question certainly seemed to surprise him. "You've never seen a kitsune before?"
"Nope. At least, where I come from demons don't wander around where they can be seen, if they even still exist at all." Kage shrugged. "I'm Kage."
The kitsune seemed pacified. "So you're Kage, huh? My name is Shippo, I'm supposed to be your guide, then."
Kage shifted nervously on the branch. "Great ... I think. Um ... stupid question?"
Shippo blinked. "Huh?"
"Did you hear something just crack?" Kage looked down, because suddenly the branch wasn't there anymore. The two demons tumbled down to the ground, surprised. Kage landed hard on his back, but Shippo landed in a seated position. "...never mind," Kage wheezed.
"Not very good at this sort of thing, are you?" Shippo said rhetorically.
"Not used to having to share my branch is probably more accurate," Kage grumbled without moving.
"Kageyasha!" Sango shouted, trotting up the hill towards the tree. She had a basket on her arm and the cat-demon, which Kage had been informed, was Kirara, on her shoulder. She spotted the fox-demon and smiled widely. "Shippo! You're here already!"
The kitsune, still seated, shrugged. "It's not like I do much of anything but float around and cause mischief," he said.
Sango smiled, then turned to Kage, who was sitting up and rubbing his head, wincing at the impression he had left in the hillside. "I brought you some lunch," she said, thrusting the basket at him. "I only made enough for one," she added apologetically, glancing at Shippo.
Kage investigated the basket and whistled. "If that's your serving for one, I'd hate to see how much you make for everyone," he said. "Have some, Shippo. You too, Sango, if you're not busy. I can't possibly eat all this by myself, it's rude."
He realized that both Sango and Shippo were staring at him, and he glanced at them in turn, puzzled. "What?"
"That..." Shippo said, glancing at Sango, "is really disconcerting."
"I know!" Sango said, seating herself. "He's been like that since yesterday! I can't get over it!"
Kage raised an eyebrow. "Hello, person you are speaking about present here," he said. Kirara leapt down from Sango's shoulder and chased her tails for a second, before deciding she needed to perch on Kage's head again. Kage sighed as the cat-demon made a nest between his ears.
AND they were staring at him again, as if waiting for a reaction. When there was no apparent one, other than Kage starting in on some of the food, Shippo goggled even more.
"I'm really glad you called me in on this," he told Sango. "This is, like, legendary!" He rooted around in the basket before finding something he liked and stuffing it in his mouth, easily destroying the somewhat mature presence he had been putting forth.
Sango smiled. "I thought you'd be amused. Has Kaede filled you in on everything?"
Kirara got up, turned around again, then curled into a ball, purring. Kage resisted the urge to shake his head violently. "Are we ignoring me?" he asked rhetorically.
Shippo shook his head, more in response to Sango's query than Kage's. "'ot 'eally," he said, swallowing his mouthful. "I just got here." Shippo took another bite.
"Well, in that case let me tell you what we need you to do." Sango herself reached into the basket and pulled out a rice cake. "Kage here needs some help gathering the rest of the Shikon no Tama."
Shippo choked. Kage raised an eyebrow as the kitsune nearly turned a shade of blue, then managed to get the food down. "ARE YOU CRAZY?" he cried out, then rounded on Kage. "Have you gone completely mad? Do you know who has it?"
"Yup." Kage chewed his own bite and swallowed calmly. "My mom's sick. Dying. There's a chance that ...getting this entire jewel together will save her. A small chance, but better than anything I've heard yet."
"Your...mom?" Shippo turned to Sango.
"Kagome," Sango said quietly.
Shippo took a deep breath. Then he swiveled back to Kage. "Where is she? Why isn't she here?"
"Y'know, that's a good question," Kage said, taking another bite. "I pr'bably should ask her." He contemplated this for a moment, while Sango and Shippo exchanged glances. Then Kage swallowed. "I don't think I will, though. She's got way too much to deal with right now. Although that does remind me, I probably should go home and at least get a few things."
He stood up. "Kaede said I should be able to get back through the well, right? I should be able to go back and forth ... so I should run back now, maybe get a good night's sleep at home, reassure my uncle that I'm not roaming the streets of Tokyo at an ungodly hour ... " he thought about this for a moment. "...but I have school on Monday."
Sango and Shippo were really staring at him. "You go to school?" Shippo said slowly, remember vaguely the thing that Kagome always seemed stressed over.
Kage was busy doing some quick mental calculations. His mother's welfare was way more important to him than school, he didn't much get along with the people in his new district anyway. There wasn't that much that he needed to *get* from the house anyway, nothing that couldn't wait a few days. He chewed the inside of his mouth, then sat down abruptly. "Hell, that stuff can wait," he said. "I need to get used to this time, anyway, and I have no doubt that my uncle and mom are going to go ballistic on me. May as well wait until I actually deserve it, as opposed to just vanishing for half a day." He glanced at Shippo and Sango. "So...what's the plan then? How do we start this?"
"Well... locating the orb would be a good start," Sango said slowly. "But, I would assume Inu..." she trailed off, a pained expression on her face. "He has it, I would think."
"What about the shards? Any idea how many are left?" Kage asked.
"No more than ten, and three are accounted for," Shippo said. When Kage raised an eyebrow at this he clarified. "The leader of a pack of wolf-demons has them. Don't worry... he's ... well..."
Sango chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Not harmless, but he's not a bad guy, just antagonistic." She shrugged. "So we don't need to bother him until we've got the rest, and I don't doubt he'll surrender them if he hears Kagome's life is at stake."
Kage glanced at her. "Well, he kind of has an... infatuation with her," Shippo said, bemused.
"Or, at least, he did," Sango clarified. "I would think it holds over, even though he's likely got a litter of pups by now."
"Okay, depending on "if" factors makes me nervous," Kage said.
"There's not much more to go on," Sango said. "Kaede suggested that perhaps you two go on a wide-arc, maybe three or four day's travel around, to familiarize Kage with the area and to gather information. Maybe ..." Sango glanced at Kage's ears. "Maybe he'll hear about it and come to us."
Shippo made a face, obviously he found that option as unappealing as Kage. "Why didn't Kaede come out to join us?" he asked Sango.
"She's... resting." Sango's face grew grave. "She's getting worse, Shippo."
The kitsune nodded sagely. "She's old, especially by human standards." He sighed. "I just wish ..."
Sango nodded, not needing Shippo to finish his sentence. So many regrets...
Kage cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um ... perhaps, then, we should get provisioned and going? The sooner we leave, the quicker we get back and I can have a row with my uncle." Kage also pointed to his head, where Kirara was very obviously asleep because one of her back paws was twitching. "And your cat is dreaming because she just drove claws into my scalp."
Sango laughed at that and for the first time in a long while she felt like her old self. It was a feeling she had missed...
Fandom: Inuyasha
AU: crossing worlds
Characters/Pairing: Kage, Sango, Kaedo, Shippo
Rating: T
Length: 2311
Summary:
"Okay, okay, okay. Let me get this straight." Kageyasha had his head in his hands, trying to assimilate all of this information and failing. "When my mother was my age, she would travel back and forth between times in search of some sort of jewel. There was a dog-demon who tagged along with her named Inuyasha, and they spent most of their free time either collecting shards of this jewel, or battling some psycho-demon."
"That is correct," Kaede said calmly, taking a sip of her tea.
Kage blinked once, staring at the floorboards of Kaede's simple hut. If anyone had told him that this time yesterday, he would have laughed them out of Tokyo. Here, though, it was a little easier to believe. "So, you think that it's this jewel, which was never completely returned to its original state, that is making my mother sick?"
"It is a possibility," Kaede admitted. "Although I have yet to figure out how that would affect her so negatively."
"Well, there's a simple way to fix that," Kage said reasonably. "Find the bastard who has the majority of it, beat some sense into him and then dig up the remaining pieces of it."
Kaede and the other woman, whom Kaede had identified as Sango, glanced at each other sharply. "I ... do not know if that's such a good idea," Kaede started to say. "The one who holds the jewel right now is very powerful, and very dangerous."
"I think the kid's got the right idea," Sango said enthusiastically, for the first time not glaring at Kage. She rose out of her kneeling position smoothly "We can finally put that smug son of a bitch in his place!"
"Regardless of what happens next, Sango, I do not think you should go into battle," Kaede said gently, refocusing her attention on the younger woman.
The word 'battle' made Kage rather nervous. He was hoping to sneak around a lot, filch the jewel and get back without this demon ever realizing his presence. Obviously, that wasn't an option then. He didn't know the first thing about fighting unless you count the couple street fights he had gotten into since high school started, and he had never counted those previously because the only reason he escaped unharmed was the obvious strength difference.
Sango seated herself again, the old woman's caution not putting a damper on her spirit. "I have no doubt," Sango said, "that the young one can take care of it himself, but I can still be backup here in the village."
Kaede couldn't help but smile at the younger woman's excitement. It had been a long, long time since she had looked that way ... it was terribly sad that the only thing that brought out that side of her was the promise of retribution. "I still do not know that it's a good idea to send such a young one into the maw of that beast," she said. "Especially one who doesn't know his way around here. I am far too old to show you the way, and Sango cannot leave this village."
"Why not?" Kage couldn't help but ask. Sango shifted slightly, pulling back the sleeve of her left arm. But there was only sleeve, the arm had been severed cleanly at the shoulder. "Oh," Kage's voice was small.
"If you can deal some damage on the bastard who did this to me, I would much appreciate it," Sango said.
"So who is this demon that you fear and hate so much?" he asked, glancing back and forth from Sango to Kaede.
Kaede closed her eyes, a pained expression crossing her face. "Inuyasha," she said softly.
Kage munched on a fruit that one of the kind farmers had given him as he perched in a tree on the outskirts of the village. Well, this *was* a predicament he was in.
So this Inuyasha guy had the jewel that everyone was going nuts over, so what? He didn't understand why this made such a big difference to everyone ... he sighed, biting into the fruit again.
Sango and Kaede had decided that they weren't going to let him out of their sight until someone they knew could guide him around. Granted, he didn't know the area at all, but his nose had never led him wrong before. He didn't even know what sort of guide they were going to grab ... if it was some farmer or something he would be sorely displeased. That meant he'd have to not only take care of himself, but the guide as well!
As Kage mulled over the events, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "What ... the heck is that thing?"
A small pinkish bubble floated by. This wouldn't have disturbed Kage except it was solid pink, not translucent at all. He watched it go about its course, then vanish. Slightly intrigued, he finished off the fruit and stood lightly on the branch, peering around the tree where the bubble had floated off. There was nothing there.
Disappointed, Kage turned to sit back down and nearly leapt out of the tree in surprise. He wasn't alone! Seated further out on the branch was a demon like himself, although this demon had short, pointed ears in the normal spot for humans. He had, however, a huge bushy tail and paws instead of feet. He was glaring at Kage with the same malice Sango had exuded earlier.
"Who the heck are you?" he snapped at Kage, who was a little taken aback.
"I would think that should be my question, you're the one on my branch," he pointed out reasonably. "What sort of demon are you, anyway?"
That question certainly seemed to surprise him. "You've never seen a kitsune before?"
"Nope. At least, where I come from demons don't wander around where they can be seen, if they even still exist at all." Kage shrugged. "I'm Kage."
The kitsune seemed pacified. "So you're Kage, huh? My name is Shippo, I'm supposed to be your guide, then."
Kage shifted nervously on the branch. "Great ... I think. Um ... stupid question?"
Shippo blinked. "Huh?"
"Did you hear something just crack?" Kage looked down, because suddenly the branch wasn't there anymore. The two demons tumbled down to the ground, surprised. Kage landed hard on his back, but Shippo landed in a seated position. "...never mind," Kage wheezed.
"Not very good at this sort of thing, are you?" Shippo said rhetorically.
"Not used to having to share my branch is probably more accurate," Kage grumbled without moving.
"Kageyasha!" Sango shouted, trotting up the hill towards the tree. She had a basket on her arm and the cat-demon, which Kage had been informed, was Kirara, on her shoulder. She spotted the fox-demon and smiled widely. "Shippo! You're here already!"
The kitsune, still seated, shrugged. "It's not like I do much of anything but float around and cause mischief," he said.
Sango smiled, then turned to Kage, who was sitting up and rubbing his head, wincing at the impression he had left in the hillside. "I brought you some lunch," she said, thrusting the basket at him. "I only made enough for one," she added apologetically, glancing at Shippo.
Kage investigated the basket and whistled. "If that's your serving for one, I'd hate to see how much you make for everyone," he said. "Have some, Shippo. You too, Sango, if you're not busy. I can't possibly eat all this by myself, it's rude."
He realized that both Sango and Shippo were staring at him, and he glanced at them in turn, puzzled. "What?"
"That..." Shippo said, glancing at Sango, "is really disconcerting."
"I know!" Sango said, seating herself. "He's been like that since yesterday! I can't get over it!"
Kage raised an eyebrow. "Hello, person you are speaking about present here," he said. Kirara leapt down from Sango's shoulder and chased her tails for a second, before deciding she needed to perch on Kage's head again. Kage sighed as the cat-demon made a nest between his ears.
AND they were staring at him again, as if waiting for a reaction. When there was no apparent one, other than Kage starting in on some of the food, Shippo goggled even more.
"I'm really glad you called me in on this," he told Sango. "This is, like, legendary!" He rooted around in the basket before finding something he liked and stuffing it in his mouth, easily destroying the somewhat mature presence he had been putting forth.
Sango smiled. "I thought you'd be amused. Has Kaede filled you in on everything?"
Kirara got up, turned around again, then curled into a ball, purring. Kage resisted the urge to shake his head violently. "Are we ignoring me?" he asked rhetorically.
Shippo shook his head, more in response to Sango's query than Kage's. "'ot 'eally," he said, swallowing his mouthful. "I just got here." Shippo took another bite.
"Well, in that case let me tell you what we need you to do." Sango herself reached into the basket and pulled out a rice cake. "Kage here needs some help gathering the rest of the Shikon no Tama."
Shippo choked. Kage raised an eyebrow as the kitsune nearly turned a shade of blue, then managed to get the food down. "ARE YOU CRAZY?" he cried out, then rounded on Kage. "Have you gone completely mad? Do you know who has it?"
"Yup." Kage chewed his own bite and swallowed calmly. "My mom's sick. Dying. There's a chance that ...getting this entire jewel together will save her. A small chance, but better than anything I've heard yet."
"Your...mom?" Shippo turned to Sango.
"Kagome," Sango said quietly.
Shippo took a deep breath. Then he swiveled back to Kage. "Where is she? Why isn't she here?"
"Y'know, that's a good question," Kage said, taking another bite. "I pr'bably should ask her." He contemplated this for a moment, while Sango and Shippo exchanged glances. Then Kage swallowed. "I don't think I will, though. She's got way too much to deal with right now. Although that does remind me, I probably should go home and at least get a few things."
He stood up. "Kaede said I should be able to get back through the well, right? I should be able to go back and forth ... so I should run back now, maybe get a good night's sleep at home, reassure my uncle that I'm not roaming the streets of Tokyo at an ungodly hour ... " he thought about this for a moment. "...but I have school on Monday."
Sango and Shippo were really staring at him. "You go to school?" Shippo said slowly, remember vaguely the thing that Kagome always seemed stressed over.
Kage was busy doing some quick mental calculations. His mother's welfare was way more important to him than school, he didn't much get along with the people in his new district anyway. There wasn't that much that he needed to *get* from the house anyway, nothing that couldn't wait a few days. He chewed the inside of his mouth, then sat down abruptly. "Hell, that stuff can wait," he said. "I need to get used to this time, anyway, and I have no doubt that my uncle and mom are going to go ballistic on me. May as well wait until I actually deserve it, as opposed to just vanishing for half a day." He glanced at Shippo and Sango. "So...what's the plan then? How do we start this?"
"Well... locating the orb would be a good start," Sango said slowly. "But, I would assume Inu..." she trailed off, a pained expression on her face. "He has it, I would think."
"What about the shards? Any idea how many are left?" Kage asked.
"No more than ten, and three are accounted for," Shippo said. When Kage raised an eyebrow at this he clarified. "The leader of a pack of wolf-demons has them. Don't worry... he's ... well..."
Sango chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Not harmless, but he's not a bad guy, just antagonistic." She shrugged. "So we don't need to bother him until we've got the rest, and I don't doubt he'll surrender them if he hears Kagome's life is at stake."
Kage glanced at her. "Well, he kind of has an... infatuation with her," Shippo said, bemused.
"Or, at least, he did," Sango clarified. "I would think it holds over, even though he's likely got a litter of pups by now."
"Okay, depending on "if" factors makes me nervous," Kage said.
"There's not much more to go on," Sango said. "Kaede suggested that perhaps you two go on a wide-arc, maybe three or four day's travel around, to familiarize Kage with the area and to gather information. Maybe ..." Sango glanced at Kage's ears. "Maybe he'll hear about it and come to us."
Shippo made a face, obviously he found that option as unappealing as Kage. "Why didn't Kaede come out to join us?" he asked Sango.
"She's... resting." Sango's face grew grave. "She's getting worse, Shippo."
The kitsune nodded sagely. "She's old, especially by human standards." He sighed. "I just wish ..."
Sango nodded, not needing Shippo to finish his sentence. So many regrets...
Kage cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um ... perhaps, then, we should get provisioned and going? The sooner we leave, the quicker we get back and I can have a row with my uncle." Kage also pointed to his head, where Kirara was very obviously asleep because one of her back paws was twitching. "And your cat is dreaming because she just drove claws into my scalp."
Sango laughed at that and for the first time in a long while she felt like her old self. It was a feeling she had missed...
