AN: Okay, here it is, the first and probably only ever AU I'll ever write!
I had this idea based off a strange dream I had. But I do wonder, what
would I do if I ever fell down the well. So I wrote this story, as if it
were me that all this was happening to. Does that sound weird? I hope you
like it anyway, I suck at summaries!!
For the evil lawyer youkai, I do not own Inuyasha and Co. in any way shape or form!!
Chapter 1
The hot summer sun beat down on my shoulders, making the backpack feel twenty times heavier. I stopped beneath a street sign and wiped my brow. Busy traffic flowed on the street before me, and the combination of heat and smoke made my mind spin.
I pulled my bottle of water from my bag and drank, cringing as the ice water I had left my hotel with this morning was now stale and hot but some water was better than nothing. I would have to look for a small food stand soon to grab a bite for lunch and some more water. Tokyo was huge, but I was determined to walk as much of it as I could manage in the one day I had.
Pushing my sunglasses back up on my nose and my water back in my bag, I pressed the crosswalk button and waited for the signal to change. A crowd began to gather around me, also waiting to cross, and unbidden their emotions brushed my skin like sandpaper. I'm an Empath, which means that I can feel the emotions of people. As a matter of courtesy, I try and block it out, because I respect the privacy of others, but I was so tired that my control was weakened. Stress, anger, annoyance, heartbreak, they all swirled around me in a dizzying cloud. I closed my eyes and took slow shallow breaths, pulling my control around my mind like a cloak, blocking out the emotional barrage.
I opened my eyes just as the light changed and I crossed with the rest of the crowd, my empathy back under control and silent. I hated when I lost a grip on my control, I felt like I had looked through the window of someone's house, and I was embarrassed. I paused on the opposite side of the street, waiting for the crowd to pass me by, and looked around.
You could call me foolish for traveling around Tokyo by myself with a limited Japanese vocabulary and no ability to read the language, but I was a foreigner who looked like a foreigner with long coppery brown hair that tickled my ribs when it brushed my back, despite being pulled back in a ponytail, and large soft brown eyes. My skin was moderately tan, thanks to my Italian heritage, but I was graced with my father's small Irish nose. I was also graced with his height, standing at 5'9, rather than my Italian mother's diminutive 5'2. I stuck out like a sore thumb, and while I politely tried to struggle with my "tourist" Japanese, everyone was very willing to help with their English and make my trials a lot easier.
I glanced down the sidewalk, looking for my next destination and spied a red structure rising out of the green foliage of the hillside. The archway of a shrine.
I smiled despite myself. As foolish as it seemed my limited Japanese came from several years of anime watching. My favorite was called Inuyasha, about a young girl from the present that finds a time slip in the well at her shrine home. She ends up 500 years in the past, and ends up on an adventure looking for the pieces of a magical jewel with a half demon, half- human man named Inuyasha. I know it sounds pathetic, but it was a great show, full of action and romance. I was sad when the story ended, happy for the outcome though. When I got a job teaching at the base in Yokohama, I was excited. Now I could actually see Japan for myself, rather than pseudo experiencing it through animation.
I walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. It didn't look too bad. I began my assent, and half way up realized that looks are very deceiving. I finished scaling the stairs and rested against the archway.
"And I actually thought I was in good shape, " I whispered to myself as I kneeled down, rubbing my calves till the ache died down. The wind blew gently through the treetops and I smiled, enjoying the otherworldly silence, away from the bustle of the city below.
"Hello," I heard a soft voice behind me and I jumped spinning around. A young man stood there, smiling gently. He looked no older than 18, with long black hair that just brushed the tips of his ears. Not as long as some would sport, but not the popular short cut that most men wore. He was dressed in the garb of a shrine tender, or at least from what I had seen from pictures on the Internet. He had a kind look in his eyes, which wiped away the worry I had first had that I had committed some huge dishonor by leaning on the archway. "Can I help you?" he said in accented English.
I smiled, "Just catching my breath, I didn't realize how many stairs there were."
"Good for the spirit," he said good naturely.
I laughed and adjusted the straps of my backpack and looked around. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, but I saw the shrine and just had to come see it."
"You are American?" he asked curiously.
"Yes, I just moved to Yokohama as a teacher, and I'm doing some site seeing before classes start."
He motioned towards the center part of the shrine, "Welcome to my home, I hope you are enjoying Tokyo."
"Oh yes, everyone has been great. It's such a beautiful city, even with all the modernity. I don't think I've enjoyed being in the city as much," I glanced around the compound, "It's beautiful here, and so peaceful. Much more than any church back home." I could feel his pleasure at my opinion like a ray of sunlight against my skin and I glanced at him, blinking quickly to brush the sensation from my mind.
"I'm sorry, I've been rude, my name is Fanton Francesca," I said, using the Japanese style of placing the surname first before the common name.
"Hirotomo Sato," he said.
"Do you really live here?" I said, still in awe of the beauty of the shrine. The only sound around was the gentle chirping of the birds in the trees, and the faint rustle of the wind through the leaves above.
"Yes, my family has owned this for several generations, and I only took over after my grandfather passed on last winter," he paused a moment, and I felt bad, bringing up a topic that would cause sorrow to pass in his thoughts. He quickly brightened.
"Come let me show you the grounds," he announced and lead the way into the center of the shrine. We were in the middle of the large courtyard when something caught my eye.
"Oh!" I whispered, staring at the massive tree rising up to the heavens, a chain of rope with small pieces of paper around its trunk, swaying lightly in the breeze.
"Yes, that is..." he began and I couldn't help but whisper, "Goshinboku."
He stopped and looked at me, startled and then began to laugh. "Oh, I see your interest in shrines now. I fear you will be sorely disappointed if you expect to see a white haired hanyou pop up anywhere."
My face lit aflame and I looked away, "I am so sorry if I have offended you!"
"Not at all," he said, his voice still light with laughter, "We received a good many people who thought the same things, though they have since forgotten about that story. Still, it is amusing to see someone who does remember. Is that really why you came?"
I shook my head feverently, "No, I wasn't looking to see a shrine, at least not today. I just saw the stairs and wanted to see for myself." I blushed, "But it did interest me a great deal in Japan, and its culture. Once I stared reading about this beautiful country, I wanted to come here more and more, and now I have."
He smiled, "Well, we are rich to have such a lovely sensei in our midst. Do you speak much Japanese?"
I shook my head, "I understand a few phrases, and know a few words, but that's about it. I know it is foolish to be traveling alone with such a limited knowledge, but I like being a little daring."
"Well, if the teacher wishes a teacher, I would be happy to help, perhaps this way I can improve my English?"
"You speak very well, Hirotomo-san," I said, "I'm afraid I wouldn't be much good to you."
"I think otherwise," he said and I suddenly felt embarrassed, "Come, it is time for meal, and my mother always makes extra. I am sure she would love to hear about America." I nodded, "Arigato," I said and began to follow him towards the house. Something caught my attention, a gentle pull on my mind, and paused, my eyes unfocusing at the sudden touch.
"Miss?" I heard Sato ask, and I felt my body turn of its own accord, following the pull.
"What was that," I whispered and he blinked. "I heard nothing," he replied. I blinked and felt my control return and looked straight towards where I was facing.
"Something's in there," I said, looking at him insistently. He looked into my eyes a moment and something there must have told him that I wasn't just a nut job, and he walked over the small wooden structure that lay before us. A large chain and lock hung on the door, preventing anyone from entering. Judging by the rust beginning to form on the chain, it was pretty obvious that it had been there for a while, and submitted to the elements.
"We had many who tried to jump down our well, so we must keep it locked all the time. At first we simply sealed the well with boards and seals, but vandals kept breaking off the wood as souvenirs and so we were left with no choice but this," he said, removing the chain with loud clangs. The door opened, and the stale hot air greeted us as we walked inside. I carefully walked down the stairs, my senses now open and looking. I could feel his confusion and apprehension as I approached the well.
"Don't worry, I won't jump in," I said softly and felt him relax somewhat. The feeling that pulled at me was gone, leaving a void of sense around me. I could see the remnants of nails and board along the surface of the well. He had mentioned seals as well. Why would they need seals?
"Are you alright, sensei," he said, his formality giving away his nervousness. "Hai, I'm fine, I just thought...oh nevermind," I said, turning to look up the stairs at him when something warm wrapped itself around my wrist. I yelped and looked back, but saw nothing, but the pressure increased and began to pull at me.
"Hirotomo-san," I whispered and he ran down the stairs towards me. Too late, I felt something large wrap itself around my waist, and pull me into the well. My eyes locked on his as I fell, and then I was enveloped in a bright light. Oddly enough, I wasn't afraid, but more curious because while I couldn't see anything, my senses were alive with this new sensation.
Sato froze, staring into the well in pure amazement. Of all the countless tourists who thought it would be funny to try jumping through the time slip into Feudal Japan, none of them had actually succeeded. He dashed out of the well house, and up to the family home crying, "Mama! It happened again!"
I remember falling through the well, with something pulling on me and then the sudden jolt as I hit the ground, knocking the all the air from my lungs. I lay there; staring up at the blue sky, the light shining along the all, accenting thick green vines that snaked their way along the blocks of stone that like the well. Wait a minute.
I slowly regained control of my body, taking deep painful breaths, feeling the angry response it was giving me at being pulled down a 15 ft well shaft. "Have I been out all this time?" I whispered and slowly rose to my feet, trying to ignore the aches and pains.
"Wait a second, I was in the well house," I thought and squinted up into the sunlight. My sunglasses lay at my feet and I picked them up, amazed that they hadn't been broken in the fall. I felt warm breezes touch my cheeks and that familiar fragrance filled my nose.
"Hello?" I called up,"Hirotomo-san?" I could only hear the chirping of the birds overhead. With a sigh, I pulled on my backpack, and began to carefully scale the wall using crevices in the stones for footholds and vines as ropes. They stung my hands with minuscule barbs, itching my skin, but I kept climbing. The sun above shined hot on my hair and shoulders, and I had just reared the surface when a shadow was cast over me.
"Nani?!" I heard exclaimed and a strong grip wrapped around my wrist and yanked me from the well effortlessly. I was flung through the air and made a rough and tumble landing for the second time in less than 10 minutes. My body cried out at the hard surface of the ground, and I grunted, landing on my back beneath the nearest tree. I stared upwards, once again breathless as a figure appeared over me, angry golden eyes stared down at me, snarling.
"Inuyasha?" I managed to whisper before shock pulled me to a safe place.
For the evil lawyer youkai, I do not own Inuyasha and Co. in any way shape or form!!
Chapter 1
The hot summer sun beat down on my shoulders, making the backpack feel twenty times heavier. I stopped beneath a street sign and wiped my brow. Busy traffic flowed on the street before me, and the combination of heat and smoke made my mind spin.
I pulled my bottle of water from my bag and drank, cringing as the ice water I had left my hotel with this morning was now stale and hot but some water was better than nothing. I would have to look for a small food stand soon to grab a bite for lunch and some more water. Tokyo was huge, but I was determined to walk as much of it as I could manage in the one day I had.
Pushing my sunglasses back up on my nose and my water back in my bag, I pressed the crosswalk button and waited for the signal to change. A crowd began to gather around me, also waiting to cross, and unbidden their emotions brushed my skin like sandpaper. I'm an Empath, which means that I can feel the emotions of people. As a matter of courtesy, I try and block it out, because I respect the privacy of others, but I was so tired that my control was weakened. Stress, anger, annoyance, heartbreak, they all swirled around me in a dizzying cloud. I closed my eyes and took slow shallow breaths, pulling my control around my mind like a cloak, blocking out the emotional barrage.
I opened my eyes just as the light changed and I crossed with the rest of the crowd, my empathy back under control and silent. I hated when I lost a grip on my control, I felt like I had looked through the window of someone's house, and I was embarrassed. I paused on the opposite side of the street, waiting for the crowd to pass me by, and looked around.
You could call me foolish for traveling around Tokyo by myself with a limited Japanese vocabulary and no ability to read the language, but I was a foreigner who looked like a foreigner with long coppery brown hair that tickled my ribs when it brushed my back, despite being pulled back in a ponytail, and large soft brown eyes. My skin was moderately tan, thanks to my Italian heritage, but I was graced with my father's small Irish nose. I was also graced with his height, standing at 5'9, rather than my Italian mother's diminutive 5'2. I stuck out like a sore thumb, and while I politely tried to struggle with my "tourist" Japanese, everyone was very willing to help with their English and make my trials a lot easier.
I glanced down the sidewalk, looking for my next destination and spied a red structure rising out of the green foliage of the hillside. The archway of a shrine.
I smiled despite myself. As foolish as it seemed my limited Japanese came from several years of anime watching. My favorite was called Inuyasha, about a young girl from the present that finds a time slip in the well at her shrine home. She ends up 500 years in the past, and ends up on an adventure looking for the pieces of a magical jewel with a half demon, half- human man named Inuyasha. I know it sounds pathetic, but it was a great show, full of action and romance. I was sad when the story ended, happy for the outcome though. When I got a job teaching at the base in Yokohama, I was excited. Now I could actually see Japan for myself, rather than pseudo experiencing it through animation.
I walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. It didn't look too bad. I began my assent, and half way up realized that looks are very deceiving. I finished scaling the stairs and rested against the archway.
"And I actually thought I was in good shape, " I whispered to myself as I kneeled down, rubbing my calves till the ache died down. The wind blew gently through the treetops and I smiled, enjoying the otherworldly silence, away from the bustle of the city below.
"Hello," I heard a soft voice behind me and I jumped spinning around. A young man stood there, smiling gently. He looked no older than 18, with long black hair that just brushed the tips of his ears. Not as long as some would sport, but not the popular short cut that most men wore. He was dressed in the garb of a shrine tender, or at least from what I had seen from pictures on the Internet. He had a kind look in his eyes, which wiped away the worry I had first had that I had committed some huge dishonor by leaning on the archway. "Can I help you?" he said in accented English.
I smiled, "Just catching my breath, I didn't realize how many stairs there were."
"Good for the spirit," he said good naturely.
I laughed and adjusted the straps of my backpack and looked around. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, but I saw the shrine and just had to come see it."
"You are American?" he asked curiously.
"Yes, I just moved to Yokohama as a teacher, and I'm doing some site seeing before classes start."
He motioned towards the center part of the shrine, "Welcome to my home, I hope you are enjoying Tokyo."
"Oh yes, everyone has been great. It's such a beautiful city, even with all the modernity. I don't think I've enjoyed being in the city as much," I glanced around the compound, "It's beautiful here, and so peaceful. Much more than any church back home." I could feel his pleasure at my opinion like a ray of sunlight against my skin and I glanced at him, blinking quickly to brush the sensation from my mind.
"I'm sorry, I've been rude, my name is Fanton Francesca," I said, using the Japanese style of placing the surname first before the common name.
"Hirotomo Sato," he said.
"Do you really live here?" I said, still in awe of the beauty of the shrine. The only sound around was the gentle chirping of the birds in the trees, and the faint rustle of the wind through the leaves above.
"Yes, my family has owned this for several generations, and I only took over after my grandfather passed on last winter," he paused a moment, and I felt bad, bringing up a topic that would cause sorrow to pass in his thoughts. He quickly brightened.
"Come let me show you the grounds," he announced and lead the way into the center of the shrine. We were in the middle of the large courtyard when something caught my eye.
"Oh!" I whispered, staring at the massive tree rising up to the heavens, a chain of rope with small pieces of paper around its trunk, swaying lightly in the breeze.
"Yes, that is..." he began and I couldn't help but whisper, "Goshinboku."
He stopped and looked at me, startled and then began to laugh. "Oh, I see your interest in shrines now. I fear you will be sorely disappointed if you expect to see a white haired hanyou pop up anywhere."
My face lit aflame and I looked away, "I am so sorry if I have offended you!"
"Not at all," he said, his voice still light with laughter, "We received a good many people who thought the same things, though they have since forgotten about that story. Still, it is amusing to see someone who does remember. Is that really why you came?"
I shook my head feverently, "No, I wasn't looking to see a shrine, at least not today. I just saw the stairs and wanted to see for myself." I blushed, "But it did interest me a great deal in Japan, and its culture. Once I stared reading about this beautiful country, I wanted to come here more and more, and now I have."
He smiled, "Well, we are rich to have such a lovely sensei in our midst. Do you speak much Japanese?"
I shook my head, "I understand a few phrases, and know a few words, but that's about it. I know it is foolish to be traveling alone with such a limited knowledge, but I like being a little daring."
"Well, if the teacher wishes a teacher, I would be happy to help, perhaps this way I can improve my English?"
"You speak very well, Hirotomo-san," I said, "I'm afraid I wouldn't be much good to you."
"I think otherwise," he said and I suddenly felt embarrassed, "Come, it is time for meal, and my mother always makes extra. I am sure she would love to hear about America." I nodded, "Arigato," I said and began to follow him towards the house. Something caught my attention, a gentle pull on my mind, and paused, my eyes unfocusing at the sudden touch.
"Miss?" I heard Sato ask, and I felt my body turn of its own accord, following the pull.
"What was that," I whispered and he blinked. "I heard nothing," he replied. I blinked and felt my control return and looked straight towards where I was facing.
"Something's in there," I said, looking at him insistently. He looked into my eyes a moment and something there must have told him that I wasn't just a nut job, and he walked over the small wooden structure that lay before us. A large chain and lock hung on the door, preventing anyone from entering. Judging by the rust beginning to form on the chain, it was pretty obvious that it had been there for a while, and submitted to the elements.
"We had many who tried to jump down our well, so we must keep it locked all the time. At first we simply sealed the well with boards and seals, but vandals kept breaking off the wood as souvenirs and so we were left with no choice but this," he said, removing the chain with loud clangs. The door opened, and the stale hot air greeted us as we walked inside. I carefully walked down the stairs, my senses now open and looking. I could feel his confusion and apprehension as I approached the well.
"Don't worry, I won't jump in," I said softly and felt him relax somewhat. The feeling that pulled at me was gone, leaving a void of sense around me. I could see the remnants of nails and board along the surface of the well. He had mentioned seals as well. Why would they need seals?
"Are you alright, sensei," he said, his formality giving away his nervousness. "Hai, I'm fine, I just thought...oh nevermind," I said, turning to look up the stairs at him when something warm wrapped itself around my wrist. I yelped and looked back, but saw nothing, but the pressure increased and began to pull at me.
"Hirotomo-san," I whispered and he ran down the stairs towards me. Too late, I felt something large wrap itself around my waist, and pull me into the well. My eyes locked on his as I fell, and then I was enveloped in a bright light. Oddly enough, I wasn't afraid, but more curious because while I couldn't see anything, my senses were alive with this new sensation.
Sato froze, staring into the well in pure amazement. Of all the countless tourists who thought it would be funny to try jumping through the time slip into Feudal Japan, none of them had actually succeeded. He dashed out of the well house, and up to the family home crying, "Mama! It happened again!"
I remember falling through the well, with something pulling on me and then the sudden jolt as I hit the ground, knocking the all the air from my lungs. I lay there; staring up at the blue sky, the light shining along the all, accenting thick green vines that snaked their way along the blocks of stone that like the well. Wait a minute.
I slowly regained control of my body, taking deep painful breaths, feeling the angry response it was giving me at being pulled down a 15 ft well shaft. "Have I been out all this time?" I whispered and slowly rose to my feet, trying to ignore the aches and pains.
"Wait a second, I was in the well house," I thought and squinted up into the sunlight. My sunglasses lay at my feet and I picked them up, amazed that they hadn't been broken in the fall. I felt warm breezes touch my cheeks and that familiar fragrance filled my nose.
"Hello?" I called up,"Hirotomo-san?" I could only hear the chirping of the birds overhead. With a sigh, I pulled on my backpack, and began to carefully scale the wall using crevices in the stones for footholds and vines as ropes. They stung my hands with minuscule barbs, itching my skin, but I kept climbing. The sun above shined hot on my hair and shoulders, and I had just reared the surface when a shadow was cast over me.
"Nani?!" I heard exclaimed and a strong grip wrapped around my wrist and yanked me from the well effortlessly. I was flung through the air and made a rough and tumble landing for the second time in less than 10 minutes. My body cried out at the hard surface of the ground, and I grunted, landing on my back beneath the nearest tree. I stared upwards, once again breathless as a figure appeared over me, angry golden eyes stared down at me, snarling.
"Inuyasha?" I managed to whisper before shock pulled me to a safe place.