the Dance of Autumn Leaves by Butters

Beginnings

the Dance of Autumn Leaves

1. Beginning

In 1982, at the Sunset Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, the Shikon Miko was born to a wayward seer and a taiyoukai disguised as a human businessman. In 1984, the taiyoukai and seer had a son, and in 1988, the taiyoukai died in an airplane crash, leaving the seer, their two children, and the seer's father with a large sum of money and Sunset Shrine. The seer, a twenty-four-year-old by the name of Aiyo, took up her maiden-name of Higurashi so that her children would not have to live up the expectations of two worlds.

In 1997, Aiyo's visions about her children came to past, as the Shikon Miko, named Kagome, and her brother, Souta, were pulled down the Bone Eater's Well by a centipede youkai...

Kagome and Souta had been trained since birth for the day when the Bone Eater's Well would open up for them to travel to the distant past, to where they would unite the world. Kagome had just turned 15, and Souta was 13, thought that meant little in the way of power. Kagome wielded a large broadsword named Liita, Souta preferred a long, thin sword named Saumon. Both weapons were concealed by spells except when being used.

"Look, there's the God tree!" Kagome smiled, and she and Souta moved forward, glad to see something familiar in the strange time. Upon reaching the tree, however, they both stopped.

"That's new." Souta paused, and Kagome nodded wordlessly.

The inuhanyou couldn't have been more than twenty, Kagome decided, though she could have been wrong. His aura was still very immature, even though it appeared as though the stasis spell had been on him for a good fifty years or so.

"Kagome," Souta frowned, "I don't think you should go near him. For one, your mere presence is undoing the stasis spell, and two, I think he's Inuyasha."

"The hanyou that fell in love with Kikyo-sama?"

"Probably. He's got it all, the white hair and dog ears that would've been brought on by the line of InuTaisho. And that would put us about smack-dab in the middle of the Sengoku Jidai - a time where even grandpa's tales are sketchy at best."

"Yay." Sighing, Kagome sneered up at the hanyou pinned to the tree. "Our destiny. So where do you think that centipede youkai vanished to?"

"Sis!"

But a shimmering blue barrier was alread around them just in time for six arrows to hiss out of existance as they hit the shield.

"Who be you?!"

"This land is forbidden!"

"Be you a stranger?"

Souta motioned for Kagome to get behind him, which she did so, dropping the barrier as quickly as it had come up. "We are peaceful," he called, and Kagome hid a snicker. "My sister and I, we search for holy help."

The ragged men carrying the bows and arrows paused. "There is a miko in our village, she can help you."

"Excellent." Kagome and Souta approached the men, who took a step back and raised their weapons again. Souta held up his hands. "Peace, what troubles you?"

"You are human?"

"Yes," Kagome spoke softly. She understood where the men were coming from. Kagome, though older than Souta, was only 5'5". Her silky black hair went down past her waist, and the thick red band holding it together rode half-way down her back. Souta stood at 6'1", which was tall for his age, and higher than most anyway. He was broadshouldered, and both of them had bright green eyes.

Reassured by the beautiful girl, even if she was dressed in such a short skirt and top, the men led them down through the forest, accross a river, to a village. The miko, Lady Kaede, was waiting for them. She led them to a hut surrounded by a healthy garden and a temple, and bade them enter. Once seated, she fixed her one eye on them.

"Who are you, and where do you come from?"

Souta spoke calmly as he handed Kagome a cup of tea. "My name is Souta Higurashi, and this is my sister, Kagome Higurashi."

"You are nobles, then?"

Souta smiled. "No. Where we come from, last names are common."

"And where do you come from?" Kaede asked again.

Souta did not twitch. "The year 1997. We were pulled through the Bone Eater's Well by a centipede youkai. You are Lady Kaede, Kikyo-sama's younger sister, correct?

"Yes. But why should I believe what you have to say?"

"Kagome," Souta smiled at Kaede, "is the Shikon Miko."

"The Shikon no Tama is gone," Kaede mumbled harshly. "Kikyo-sama and I rid the world of it when she passed on."

Kagome spoke. "No. While I am not Kikyo-sama's reincarnation, I do carry the Shikon no Tama within my body. Our mother was a seer, and knew that we would fall into the Bone Eater's Well, so that we could unite the world in the past. She trained us for it, as did our father before he died, and our grandfather, who is a priest. He knew the Shikon was inside of me, just as you would were I to show it to you."

Kaede frowned, and made to speak, but at that moment, Souta stood. "The Mistress Centipede is back."

"I will show you a little now," Kagome smiled at Kaede, and stood as well.

Outside, a crashing became apparent from the opposite side of the rice-fields past the village. Men were gathering spears and arrows, and women and children cried and ran to Kaede. Kagome stepped forward, as did Souta. "Gentle people," Souta called out in a loud voice, "fear not. My sister and I will take care of the Mistress Centipede."

The men paused, and Souta nodded to Kagome. At her nod back, they both removed the first illusion spell, revealing Liita and Saumon, as well as both of their thick sets of dragon-skin armor. Then Kagome leapt forth, speeding past the rice fields, letting her aura flare. Immediately, the oncomming youkai changed direction, following Kagome. Souta followed behind it, and soon they had come to the clearing where the hanyou was sealed to the God tree.

"Let me have it," the centipede youkai crooned, "let me have the jewel!"

"Not so much," smiled Kagome, and Liita glowed that faint cyan. Behind the youkai, Saumon glowed red, and then Souta and Kagome bore down on the youkai, splitting it in two.

Kagome's aura flared strong as she devoured the left over jaki and purified it, and Souta smiled.

"Fun."

"Impressive, Kikyo. I don't remember you being that powerful." And the voice that came from behind her had Souta slapping his face with his hand,and made Kagome stiffen.

"Nice going, Kagome, you woke up the hanyou," Souta deadpanned, and Kagome turned to stare into golden eyes.

"Kagome?" The hanyou looked confused.

"That would be me. Sorry, Kikyo-sama's dead. You are...?"

The hanyou's face fell, before masking itself with a happiness that did not reach the eyes. "Glad to hear the bitch finally kicked it. I am Inuyasha."

A gasp from the edge of the clearing about the God tree made all of them look. Lady Kaede looked somewhat upset. "Inuyasha, awake?! Just by this girl's mere presence? And you two, you two children, you defeated the youkai in a single stroke!"

Souta nodded. "It's the Shikon mixed with Kagome's aura, I'm sure of it. It's probably like a friggin' beacon. And don't worry," he added at Kaede's open mouth, reading her harried mind, "The sealant spell itself can't come undone unless Kagome actually unweaves it. Which I don't think we plan on doing."

"Oh, hell yes you are!" Inuyasha shouted from his place on the tree. "If that little bitch has the Shikon no Tama, she's definitely giving it to me!"

Raising an eyebrow, Kagome sighed. "Right. Not with that attitude, mister." She sneered at Inuyasha, and turned back towards the village. Souta giggled at Inuyasha, who was staring at Kagome's back stupidly, not believing that she was just going to leave him there, awake, unable to move.

"You are a very odd child, Lady Kagome," Kaede smiled, and lifted herself onto the horse that had brought her there, the small group of men and warrior-children making their way back to the village, leaving a hanyou yelling out curses behind them.

Back at the village, the women crowded around Souta and Kagome, showering them with praise. Souta blushed at first, but both he and Kagome had been trained as respectable warriors, especially when their father had still been alive to teach them the ways of the ancient youkai. "Thank you," Souta smiled easily, "for your kind attentions, but my sister and I must speak with Lady Kaede still about things."

The younger women tittered, and the older ones bowed respectfully and pulled them away.

"For young ones from another time," Kaede mumbled as they headed back towards her hut, "you sure are wise in the ways of the world, among other things."

Kagome nodded. "Our father taught us well."

Kaede looked thoughtful. "When the men first found you, they thought you to be noble youkai. What is your lineage?"

Kagome laughed, a pleasant sound. "In the time we come from, youkai are thought to be mere legends. The truth is that most of them are in hiding, and the wild, mindless ones are completely gone, save for a few spirits that are well-subdued. Our grandfather is a priest, of little power. His daughter, our mother, is not a priestess with holy powers, but a seer. She went against grandfather's rule at the age of 18, the age of majority for everybody in our time, and married the inutaiyoukai Mono. Mono was American, a continent far across the ocean."

Kaede's eyes are wide. "I sense no youkai in you though, yet that would make you at least hanyou... and yet I sense much holy power in both of you, and you," she gestured to Kagome, "hold within you the Shikon no Tama."

Kagome smiled. "We are full taiyoukai, both my brother and I. Mother's dormant holy powers from her lineage awakened within us, and yet the blood of the youkai runs deep within our veins as well. We do not know how the two coexist, yet they do. Whatever we are, none of it is human."

Kaede nodded, fully agreeing. "And what do you plan to do now?" She asked, curious.

Shrugging, Souta sighed. "It's hard to say. Mother's prophesy claimed that we were supposed to unite the world in the past. Perhaps we should travel some, meet up with the stronger human lords and the youkai of the various territories. Get alliances started, and such."

Nodding, Kagome agreed. "It would be for the best."

Kaede spoke, her gravely voice thoughtfull. "The Lord Korishma is traveling through the Greater West right now - we're in what is known as the Lesser West, which actually, by right, belongs to Inuyasha, I believe."

"Then the Greater West would belong to...?"

"His older half-brother. I do not know his name, but Inuyasha spoke of him once to Kikyo, that I overheard."

"We will pay a visit to this Lord Korishma, and hopefully the scent of us will travel through to the Youkai Lord of the Greater West. I'm assuming Korishma is a warlord?"

"Yes," Kaede nodded. "He stopped by to let two of his personal guard heal not four days before your arrival. He is not cowardly, by any means, nor is he stupid. But he is a disgusting man, all the same. His war brouhgt much pain to neighboring villages."

Kagome frowned. "Hmm. But he has much persuasion, many allies?"

"Oh yes," Kaede said. "He would be able to help you. But I would not mention that you are youkai - most of his generals despise youkai. Inuyasha is lucky he was in stasis when they saw him, it protected his hide."

Snickering, Souta and Kagome glanced at each other. "Very well, we should sleep now. We will sleep outside, across the rice-fields. I'm afraid that even supressed, the Shikon Jewel is felt by many youkai. We don't want to place the village in danger." Souta sighed at the thought, but followed Kagome out after bowing to Kaede.

End Chapter 1

(these things should get longer)

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