Disclaimer: Don't own anything, don't sue
Note: in this chapter, bold means words heard over television
Kyone and Zack suddenly stopped, to the chagrin of the fast-moving pedestrians all around them. In the midst of a block full of rectangular, tall modern glass and concrete apartment buildings, that could just as well have been in New York or London or Berlin, they had found a plot of well-cared for greenery, with a classic Shinto shrine in the middle. At the front of the property stood a traditional gateway, with two 20-foot tall posts made of teak wood, with two cross beams at the top -- like a wooden version of the Greek letter pi with two lines instead of one at the top.
"Damn!" Kyone exclaimed. "How did that get here? Or rather, how did it ever survive? Have you ever seen this before, Kagome?"
"All my life," Kagome laughed in reply. "Welcome, to my home."
She led the way up a winding flagstone path, past dozens of bonsai trees, then up a long staircase of chiseled stone. Then they passed through another gate into the home/shrine itself.
A traditional wood and stone well-house stood to the right, a two-story main shrine building to the left, and an ancient cherry tree grew in the middle.
Zack chuckled awkwardly, "Did we go through some sort of a time portal? Are a bunch of ronin samurai going to come popping out from those bushes and chop us to shreds as demon invaders? Or are they going to recruit us to save a village from bandits and dragons? This is seriously weird, Kagome, very seriously weird."
"Well, the food and the DVDs are seriously unwierd. Get a move on, buddy."
The inside of the main 'shrine' building looked like a hybrid of an ordinary Japanese house and a western house. The room they entered first was a western-style kitchen, with a microwave, oven, electric stove, and a refrigerator. From there one opened paper sliding doors to enter the dining room, with a traditional Japanese low table surrounded by bamboo mats on which diners would sit. The paper walls were painted with serene water-color scenes of forests and mountains and streams.
Kagome paused in obvious shock, "My God! When did they redecorate?!? Those paper walls didn't have that on them this morning. Or is my memory blanking out on me? Spooky."
When Kagome opened the sliding door on the other side of the table, still another world appeared -- two walls covered with huge flat screens, and an assortment of related electronics scattered about on the floor -- DVD player, Xbox, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and two top-of-the-line desktop computers, apparently hooked up to the flat screens on the walls. A wooden staircase in the corner led to the bedrooms. On the other side of the room, a well-worn couch was positioned in front of an ordinary old-fashioned TV.
Kyone advanced toward the couch like a
sleep-walker in heaven while Zack turned back to explore the
contents of the refrigerator.
While Kagome was searching for the Lord of the Rings DVD's, Kyone was cable surfing and bashing whatever was on.
Freddie vs. Jason -- "Why won't you DIE?!?!"
"Because my warranty hasn't expired yet," Kyone responded.
Independence Day -- "Today we celebrate..."
"Bush's impeachment."
Terminator -- "I'll be back."
"For the sequel, if the price is right."
Casablanca -- "Round up the usual suspects."
"Okay, instead of 87, let's say there were 90 of them."
Kagome yelled, "Kyone, get Zack to take it easy on the food! Mom stocked up with enough snacks for a couple dozen teenagers, but Zack is something else. Is his stomach a black hole?"
Kyone replied, "His black hole is above his neck. Beware whenever he opens his mouth. That's a portal to the emptiest place in the world."
Then she flipped the television back on and continued her channel surfing commentary:
Local News -- "Eight honor-roll high school students were viciously attacked on their way home from school today."
That got Kyone's attention, "Hey, Zack. Eight brawled bastards. Get in here. I think our chumps of the day went to the cops and filed a report about us."
Zack ran in, with a hot-dog hanging from his mouth.
Local News -- "While it is unknown how many attacked, we do know one of them was a female who wore a uniform for a middle school not too far from the crime scene. The police are investigating the matter and hope to capture this new gang before more people suffer from their unprovoked attacks."
After Zack finished swallowing his hot-dog, he shook his head. "Who believes this bull..."
Kyone hit herself in the head, covering her right eye. "Seriously..."
"The parents insist their kids never deserved this beating. Model students, athletes, and scholars -- excellent candidates for the most competitive universities -- all are now in intensive care."
Kyone groaned. "Whose the liar with this story? The punks or the reporter?"
"Most likely, the reporter." Zack replied with a dead-pan voice.
Kagome, with the DVDs in hand, noted, "Wait, I know two of those guys. They flunked out of school last year, or were they expelled? Maybe both. Great students, yeah, sure."
"Maybe honor roll is martial arts?" Zack laughed.
"Hell, they could have black belts in tiddley winks," Kyone suggested.
Kagome suddenly noticed something in the window, and went slack-jawed. "Oh no...not today."
Reluctant to turn away from the TV screen with the creative 'news' report, Zack asked, "What 'not today'?"
"I, um, just remembered I have to visit my, um, cousin this afternoon." With frantic hand gestures, she tried to fend off any more questions. "I'm going to have to leave, which means you can stay for another three hours. Any longer and my family will arrive. We can do this another day, kay?"
"Why don't you have some food first here?" Zack pleaded, hoping to have a partner in eating this time.
"No, I tend to feel a little flushed on these trips."
"What's so bad about feeling 'flushed'?"
"Ask the toilet water." Kagome explained while dashing out of the room in evident distress.
Zack started heading back to the kitchen, but then halted in mid-step. "Hey wait, what about the DVD's?" He than dashed right after her, accidentally tripping over Kyone. When he got up, his belt buckle caught on Kyone's jeans, so he wound up pulling her along, protesting, as he ran.
"You idiot!" Kyone screamed, scrambling to stay on her feet.
The three ran towards the well house, each for different reasons. Kagome had a trip to make. Zack had DVD's to get. And Kyone just wanted to go back to the couch and crash. As it was all three would crash, in a different way.
Kagome grabbed an overstuffed yellow bag just before entering the well house, then she noticed her two "guests" were in hot pursuit. "Oops. You need the DVDs. My mistake. Not like I'll need them where I'm going."
Just as she turned to hand the DVDs to Zack, a clawed hand reached up from the well, grabbed her, and pulled her down.
Zack, on impulse, grabbed Kagome, instinctively trying to save her from unknown danger.
And Kyone grabbed Zack, to avoid having her jeans ripped off in his fall.
All of them tumbled down the deep, dry well.
Suddenly, in the fall, Kyone got hit with too many sensations at once for her body to handle. She felt like her left was dunked into icy water, but felt like her right was being burned. Her nose was sending smells of various flowers, oils, rotten fruits, and smog. What she heard though sounded like Zack puking...yet it was as if he was given a microphone and she had hearing aids. At the very moment she tried to scream, her tongue tasted dirt. All of this took less than half a second.
Barely conscious after an overload on
information and then the quick lack of information, she promptly
passed out.
"You IDIOT!!"
"WHAT!?"
"NOT ONLY DID YOU JUST DRAG ME DOWN THE WELL WITHOUT WARNING, BUT YOU ALSO DRAGGED THESE TWO WITH ME!!"
"NOT MY FALT THEY HELD ON SO TIGHTLY!!"
"THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!!"
"JUST SEND THEM BACK AND BE DONE WITH WITH IT!!"
"N...no. They would start asking questions about what happened to them and then just come back here."
"WELL, WHAT DO YA' SUGGEST!?"
"Having them on this side until they ask to return home."
"That's you plan?"
"Yes."
"WHO'S GOING TO EVEN CARE ABOUT THEM HERE ANYWAY!?"
"You will, or every hour I'll say it."
"Damn bitch."
"Just do it."
"Yea, yea......can you carry the guy up?"
"...why?"
"First, he stinks. Second, he puked on himself. You carry him, and nobody would notice."
"Oh......wait, are you saying I stink?"
"And look like shit."
"SIT!!!"
To be continued
Me: That's one way to end a chapter. Anyone who can't guess who was talking at the end and is a fan of Inuyasha is a sad soul indeed.
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