Night Rain

First Meeting

My head hurt. Actually, practically my entire body was a little achy. With a groan, I lifted my hand to rub my head, but something poked at my bare side. I picked it up and blinked a few times.

It was a bone!

With a small shriek, I threw it to the side and stood up.

I stared at the four, wooden walls surrounding me, completely baffled. The wood strangely looked new, though, causing my stomach to churn.

Don’t worry, Amaya. When you look up, I’m sure you’ll see the shrine roof. You’re just overreacting.

I shut my eyes tight and tilted my head up. When I opened them, I groaned.

Sky. Nothing but blue sky.

With a gulp, I looked at my feet.

The ground was covered in bones of all sizes, including the bones of the creature I had slain earlier.

I leaned on the wooden walls, feeling light headed and nauseous.

Why? Why did I come here? Sota was never able to pass through the well, so why was I?

Birds started singing, bringing me out of the gush of questions in my head.

With a sigh, I grabbed hold of a thick, green vine and climbed up the wall. Luckily, the vine was strong enough to get me all the way out.

Unlike the village image that I had in my head, I was actually surrounded by forest, nothing but trees in my line of sight.

Finding Kagome would be difficult to say the least.

Using my arms, I pulled myself over the well’s and fell over the ledge gracefully, scraping my knees.

Of course. It wasn’t enough that both my upper arm and cheek were bleeding, no, someone just had to get my legs too.

With an irritated huff, I stood up, brushing off the dirt.

After only a few minutes of looking at the scenery, I heard a high-pitched scream.

My head whipped to the sound and I turned around, heading in the direction – senses alert.

A little girl, who looked no older than eight, was running as fast as she could. Her black hair was sticking to her face from sweat and her big brown eyes were closed in terror.

Behind her was a hog-looking animal chasing her, holding a large hammer above its head threateningly, “Come back!” It snorted, “You look so tasty!”

Suddenly, the little girl tripped over her pink kimono, desperately trying to crawl away from the strange monster.

Without much thought, I darted out of the woods, shielding the girl as well as I could.

The hammer rammed into my back, feeling as if it broke it.

I cried out, balling dirt into my fists to keep from crying.

The girl’s eyes widened as the blood dripped to the ground, “Are you okay?” She asked innocently, her brown eyes filled with horror.

“Fine.” I said shortly, trying to smile, “Are you okay?”

She nodded softly.

“Good.” I breathed.

The hog thing grabbed my left arm, yanking me around to face him, “Who are you, wench?” It demanded.

“I don’t see why that matters.” I growled, trying to take my arm back, “Let’s go!”

“Poison Claw!”

My eyes widened as the hog split into five, large pieces, falling to the ground like slop.

A man, who looked no older than nineteen, stood behind him, his hands seeming to glow a green color. As he straightened himself, my eyes widened further.

He was fairly tall, a good three or four inches taller than me, and lean-built, though I thought I could see definite muscles under his kimono. His hair glowed down to the back of his knees, yet his bangs were cropped short, matching perfectly with his light skin. Gorgeous, golden amber eyes stared at me, seeming to calculate my existence. A Prussian blue crescent was centered on his forehead, bringing out the two magenta stripes on each cheek, as well as the magenta stripes on his eyelids.

His attire was even stranger. A spiked pauldron covered his left shoulder, attaching to the upper section of his cuirass. Both his armor and his long, flowing sash looked more Chinese influenced compared to the Japanese armor and sash I had read about in history class. His Kimono was mostly white with a red chrysanthemum flower crest at the collar and sleeves, showing that he was of royal birth. He was wearing Sashinuki Hakama, (a type of traditional flowing Japanese pants), which were gathered at the ankles, producing the "ballooning" effect. His footwear consisted of flat pointed ankle-high boots (instead of sandals), reminiscent Mainland influence.

“Rin, are you alright?” He demanded, his voice cold and strong.

The little girl, Rin, nodded.

“Rin!” Another frantic voice yelled.

My gaze trailed to a small, frog-looking demon. His mouth – if you could even call it that – was pointed, two distinctive holes on the top, greatly resembling a docks beak, though it was an ugly, dark green color. The creature was also small, even shorter than Rin, wearing a small brown kimono that made his skin that much more unappealing.

“I told you not to run off like that!” The thing scolded, “How could you cause Lord Sesshomaru so much worry?”

As if it just noticed I was there, it turned to me, eyes narrowing slightly.

The guy, Sesshomaru, turned his scrutinizing gaze to me as I breathed deeply, holding my injured arm, “You, woman, what is your name?”

“Amaya.” I answered automatically.

He turned around, heading in the opposite direction, “If you ever cross my path again, I’ll be forced to kill you.”

I blinked, completely taken back.

He’ll what!?

“Come Rin. We are leaving.”

“Coming!” She said sweetly before bowing to me, “Thank you for saving me.”

I blinked a couple more times before smiling, “Any time.”

She returned the smile and turned around, following after the strange guy.

I collapsed on my butt, exhausted. Before I knew it, I fell backwards, everything fading black.

Oh, Sesshomaru, playing hard to get ;)

DISCLAIMER: Girls, if a guy says he's going to kill you, that's not really normal. It's just normal for out loving Sesshy here.