A great combination of InuYasha and Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
the two demonic shows we thought couldn't mix. (Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com) Disclaimer: Don't own the shows, don't plan on trying to,
none use this fic without permission.
Author's Notes: This is an edited and
corrected version of the story originally posted to
Fanfiction.net January - March, 2004. The content is still
essentially the same as the first version, but I fixed some
consistency glitches, typos, and Japanese usage errors.
This story takes place after the second
Inuyasha film, "Castle Beyond the Looking Glass," (after Episode
74 in the series), and after the Buffy series finale. Contains
spoilers for events that happen in all seasons of Buffy, through
the beginning of the final season of Angel, Inuyasha episodes
1-74, and the second Inuyasha film.
Tokyo, the present day
Kagome dared to hope that the demon
infestation had finally ended when the American girl turned up,
but luck was not on her side.
At least she and Inuyasha had reinforcement
for killing the next three youkai who crawled, slithered, and
scuttled out of the Bone-eater's Well.
Buffy-san, holding her deadly naginata, moved
to the forefront when the next invader, a preying mantis youkai,
emerged.
Just call me Buffy, she had said, in
her casual American way, when Kagome tried to address her as
Summers-san, so Kagome had compromised on using her first name.
That way, she was less formal--after all, Buffy-san was perhaps
five or six years older than Kagome--but still being polite.
Kagome hoped that Inuyasha would take the
opportunity to rest a little and regain his strength, but,
scowling, he deliberately moved in front of Buffy-san to take
his place nearest to the well.
Kagome sighed. Silly hanyou boy, to worry
about losing face in front of a youkai-taijya at a time like
this! Still, Inuyasha was Inuyasha, and she knew it would
be useless to try and argue with him.
For the hundredth time that afternoon, she
drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it. Everything
hurt--her bleeding fingers, her wrists, her elbows, her
shoulders, her neck, her feet. How long would the youkai
invasion continue? Would she still be here at midnight? Would
she even be able to lift her bow, much less bend it, by then?
Do your best! she thought to herself,
fiercely. Everyone's counting on you.
By the time the maggot-youkai emerged, pale
and fat, but with a round mouth ringed by dozens of translucent
teeth, Buffy-san and Inuyasha were fighting together as smoothly
as paired dancers despite their enmity. Neither of them gave the
youkai a respite from an attack on both sides, and it was only a
minute before it lay, gashed and pulsing, deflating slightly as
clear ichor escaped from the deep gashes along the length of its
body.
The smell was indescribable, like garbage
fermenting under a hot summer sun, but a hundred times worse.
Kagome covered her nose, gagging a little, and
Inuyasha was looking distinctly green and glaze-eyed as the
stink assaulted his sensitive nose.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome stepped forward, ready to
catch him if he passed out from the stench.
He waved her away, then whirled around, and
stared in the direction of the torii that marked the entrance to
the shrine. Someone was coming!
He vanished abruptly, bounding away in a blur
of scarlet. Probably taking refuge in one of the sheds, thought
Kagome. She felt sorry for him, always having to hide his hanyou
nature, but it was safer this way.
A few moments later, Grandpa's scholar friend
Minamide Koji came into view, puffing from the steep stairs, and
dragging a large, wheeled suitcase behind him.
He caught sight of them and waved. "Good
evening!" he called. "Kagome-chan, is your grandfather at home?"
"Good evening, Minamide-sensei!" answered
Kagome. "Yes, he's here. Thank you for sending Buffy-san. We've
just been--"
Minamide-sensei stopped and blinked as the
stench from the maggot youkai hit him, then looked around
slowly, as if only now noticing the carnage in the shrine
precinct. "This is terrible, much worse that I'd feared!"
He turned to Buffy and asked her, in English:
"Are you all right, Miss Summers?"
"Fine," Buffy-san answered.
She looked around, obviously puzzled by
Inuyasha's sudden disappearance, but to Kagome's relief, she
didn't say anything.
Then Grandpa emerged from the house, shouting
greetings, and he and Minamide-sensei held a long consultation.
Luckily, no youkai emerged from the well during this time,
though Buffy kept her weapon at the ready, scanning the
well-house with wary intensity.
Finally, Grandpa looked over to Kagome.
"Kagome-chan, our visitor has kindly brought some extra-powerful
charms with which to seal the well. He and I are going to do it
now, so why don't you fetch Inuyasha from wherever he's hiding,
and go inside for dinner? I expect you must all be starving by
now," he added with a small smile. He bowed in Buffy's
direction, and said in his measured English: "Thank you very
much for your help, Miss Summers."
She blinked, and returned the bow, a little
awkwardly. "You're very welcome, Mr. Higurashi."
Kagome walked over to the nearest storehouse,
and called out, "Inuyasha! Dinner!"
She felt relieved that Minamide-sensei would
be helping to seal the well. She loved her Grandpa very much,
but his track record with wielding mystical powers was a bit
spotty. In fact, when she first met Inuyasha, he had broken
through Grandpa's magical seals with no difficulty.
Those seals hadn't stopped that Centipede
Woman, either, Kagome remembered with a tiny internal shudder.
Inuyasha appeared in front of her, and she
jumped a little. He moved so quietly!
"It's safe to be seen?" he murmured, his
strange golden eyes luminous in the deep shadow of the
storehouse wall.
She nodded. "Minamide-sensei is the one who
sent Buffy-san to help us."
"Eh, we were doing just fine against those
wimpy youkai," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes. Kagome pressed
her blistered fingertips against her palms, but didn't bother to
argue with him.
He followed her back out to the courtyard,
where she performed the introductions.
Minamide-sensei was clearly fascinated by
Inuyasha, and actually walked completely around him, looking at
him from all angles. Inuyasha put on his aloof expression,
tucked his hands into his sleeves, and bore the inspection with
uncharacteristic sufferance.
Finally, he stepped away. "What happened to
dinner?" he demanded of Kagome. "And is she going to stand guard
in case more youkai come while we're eating?"
Buffy looked at them, puzzled, clearly
understanding the word "youkai" but little or nothing else.
Grandpa stepped forward, clearing his throat.
"That will not be a problem," he declared proudly. "With
Minamide-sensei's assistance, I sealed the well."
"Keh!" said Inuyasha, rudely. "I hope you
didn't use the same crappy spells as last time. They didn't work
at all."
"I believe these ones will hold," interjected
Minamide-sensei. "But it's only a temporary solution, I fear."
"Do you think Naraku will find a way to break
the seals?" Kagome asked. Her stomach twisted in fear. She had
seen the terrible damage inflicted by rampaging youkai upon the
hapless villlages of feudal Japan. What if Mama got hurt? Or
Souta?
"It's only a matter of time, I'm afraid,"
admitted Minamide-sensei.
Inuyasha snorted. "Well, we'd better get
started on dinner, then. And eat fast."
Kagome saw that Buffy-san looked a little
lost, clearly unable to understand what was being discussed. She
smiled. "We shall be having dinner soon, Buffy-san," she said,
in English.
"There's one more thing," said Grandpa, as
they all began to walk back to the house. "As long as those
seals are in place, you and Inuyasha are trapped on this side of
the well."
Kagome shared a dismayed look with Inuyasha.
What would happen if they were unable to return to the Feudal
Era to continue their search for the fragments of the
Shikon-no-Tama?
Had that been Naraku's aim all along, to
strand them in modern-day Tokyo?
