Chapter Text
Ayana walked home from the dojo alone that evening. The sun had just dipped below the horizon and Tokyo was cast in a soft orange glow that she appreciated through her charcoal-gray eyes. It was a beautiful way to end the day.
Then again, any day when Ayana could avoid going home was a beautiful day. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was ten and she’d been sent to live with her aunt, her mother’s much older sister. Why the woman had agreed to take her, she had no idea – perhaps it was solely out of a sense of duty or because she was getting some money out of it or something, but her aunt largely ignored her when she first took her in.
If only it had stayed that way. Over the years, her aunt started drinking more and was generally intolerable to be around. Simply staying in her room and keeping to herself would be met with screaming and yelling about how useless she was and how grateful she should be that her aunt took her in. As a result, Ayana started taking on as many extracurriculars as she could to avoid being at home.
In high school, she got started in archery and loved it so much that she also took kyudo lessons at a nearby dojo. Paying for the lessons was the only thing she had ever asked of her aunt, and despite initially being told no, she fought for it to the point of yelling right back at her. Her aunt was taken aback enough by her behavior to give in, so she had been going three times a week for the last two years. Even if she wasn’t actively participating in shooting or receiving a lesson, there were other days that she still went just to watch or help with the beginners.
However, all of this was coming to an end. Ayana had graduated high school a couple weeks ago. Her aunt told her that she had until the end of the month to get out. Her kyudo lessons had been paid for through the end of this week, and her next lesson would be her last one. The dojo was sad to see her go, but they weren’t in a position to hire her as an instructor or let her continue attending for free.
Ayana had nowhere to go. She couldn’t afford university so she hadn’t even tried to apply. She had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, anyway. Kyudo had been the only thing she had really enjoyed. Part of her felt like she had been born in the wrong time. Archery skills had long been obsolete unless you were an instructor or a competitor, and she hadn’t been able to afford to take her skills to the next level.
She sighed and trudged on, taking her time walking in the hope that her aunt would either be in bed by the time she got home or would be inebriated enough that she wouldn’t notice her when she got there.
Walking up the hill, she came to the steps that led to the Higurashi shrine. She paused, then shrugged to herself and started to climb the steps. It was already a small shrine that didn’t get a huge amount of visitors, but there was almost never anyone there in the evenings. It was one of Ayana’s favorite places and she spent a lot of time there when she wasn’t in school or at the dojo. She considered the miko that ran the shrine to be a friend even though the woman was much older than her.
Higurashi had to be in her late thirties, maybe early forties, and she still looked the same as when she had first met her eight years ago. Her long black hair was streaked with a few strands of gray, but her blue eyes managed to look youthful yet contain the wisdom of someone who had lived decades more than she had. She was married, but her husband generally kept to himself. Ayana had only seen him a few times. He had black hair, and eyes a similar shade of gray as hers. He often wore an old-fashioned costume, a red suikan and hakama, probably to match his wife’s traditional miko outfit.
Ayana reached the top of the steps and made her way over to the Goshinboku. Just as she thought, there were no other visitors there and she had the place to herself. She bowed to the ancient tree, then heard the sound of footsteps coming her way. A smile spread across her face when she saw Higurashi making her way over to her.
“I had a feeling you’d be stopping by tonight,” Higurashi said in her usual cheerful voice.
Ayana returned her smile. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll be coming by this way much after Friday, so I figured I should visit while I can.”
“Oh, and what happens on Friday?”
“That’s my last kyudo lesson,” she said, “and I only have a couple days after that to get moved out of my aunt’s house.”
Concern crossed Higurashi’s features. “On such short notice?”
Ayana shrugged. “Yeah… she reminds me every day how many days are left on the countdown. The fact that her count is accurate even though she’s wasted tells me she’s serious, too.”
The older woman took a deep breath. “Well, I have an idea. After your lesson on Friday, come by again. Make sure you bring anything with you from your aunt’s that you don’t want left behind.”
Ayana’s eyes widened. “You’re… you’re going to let me stay here?”
Higurashi smiled, but there was a mischievous twinkle in her eye that Ayana wasn’t sure what to make of. “I have something even better in mind for you. I just need you to trust me, okay?”
Ayana spent most of Thursday looking through her things to see what she wanted to take with her. There really wasn’t much, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing in terms of ease of packing or if it was a bad thing - it made her feel pathetic to have almost nothing to her name. All she really had was her parents’ wedding rings that she wore on a silver chain around her neck, and a handful of pictures. She had a few that were in frames and a small album. Other than that, it was just her clothes, her paperwork (identification, diploma, etc.), and her cell phone that was about to become wifi-only since it was on her aunt’s plan.
She put her photos and documents in a backpack, stuffed her favorite clothes into a duffle bag, and found another empty duffle to empty out her locker at the dojo. Luckily her aunt was off somewhere all day and she was able to pack in peace.
Friday she wasn’t so lucky. Her aunt was home and started drinking early. Ayana stayed in her room and scrolled on her phone to try and avoid her, but she could hear her aunt’s footsteps becoming heavier and uneven as the day wore on. Her stomach started growling around lunchtime, but she didn’t dare go to the kitchen.
Soon Ayana’s chest grew tight at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall toward her room, and she flinched when her door flew open. Her aunt was still in her pajamas, hair not brushed, holding a glass of something. She glanced around the room. “I see you finally started packing,” she said as she gestured to her bags sitting on the floor.
Ayana only nodded. She learned a long time ago that the less you said, the less ammunition her aunt had to use against her. She kept her eyes up, but didn’t look directly at the woman. If you didn’t acknowledge her presence her aunt would accuse her of ignoring her and being disrespectful, but then would get just as upset at her for staring if she did look at her. Every interaction was a delicate balancing act.
Her aunt eyed her for a moment, then took another look around the room. “Well, it looks like you still have a lot more to go, so you’d better get to it. As far as I’m concerned you’ve already overstayed your welcome, so don’t expect me to give you any extra time.”
Ayana made sure to freeze her expression and not react, but she couldn’t help but look around the mostly-empty room. The walls were bare. The mattress that she was sitting on was bare other than a worn blanket and her pillow. Her closet only had a few things hanging in it, including her old school uniforms. The dresser had nothing on it and it was pretty much empty. Everything would barely fill a garbage bag. And she knew better than to think that her aunt would let her take the bed and dresser.
Normally, Ayana would assure her that there wasn’t much left to pack and point out how little there actually was, but today she found herself not caring to explain. There was nothing left to prove, nothing to fight for. Her aunt had no power over her and she was surprised at how indifferent she felt. She felt… free.
“Understood,” Ayana said quietly, masking her newfound confidence. Her aunt stood there awkwardly for a moment, her eyes flicking around as she seemingly tried to find something else to complain about.
Instead, she took a hasty sip of her drink and then muttered, “Good,” before spinning on her heel – and nearly stumbling – and heading back down the hall.
Later that afternoon, after the woman passed out, Ayana helped herself to a few yen from her purse – just enough to get a small dinner before she went to the dojo. Part of her felt guilty because it was stealing, but considering how much she had been neglected all these years, she got over it pretty quickly. The burger and fries from WacDonald’s tasted better than usual.
Her kyudo lesson was bittersweet. She was determined to end on a high note, and her performance was the best it had ever been. Her form was perfect and all of her shots hit the target. The dojo staff and instructors all said their good-byes and they let her keep her favorite bow and a few arrows as a parting gift. Opting to keep her uniform on, a white dogi and black hakama, she packed her spare uniform and her street clothes into the duffle and strapped her bow and arrows to the top. She left her dark brown hair tied up in a tight bun also.
With her backpack on and a duffle bag in each hand, Ayana made her way to the Higurashi shrine once again. Tears welled up in her eyes but she wouldn’t let them fall. This wasn’t the end. She never had to see her aunt again because she had a place to go now. Higurashi was a kind woman and would help her get on her feet. Higurashi had even told her in the past that she could train as a miko under her if she wanted, but Ayana hadn’t been interested. Maybe that offer was still open. No, this wasn’t the end – it was a new beginning.
When she arrived at the shrine, Higurashi was waiting for her by the Goshinboku. She held out a hand and took one of the duffles from her. Instead of walking towards the main house, Higurashi led her to one of the smaller buildings – the well house.
Higurashi had shown her the well a few different times over the last couple years, but other than the legends and stories that went along with it, there was nothing that Ayana found particularly interesting about the old thing. It was just a dark square-shaped hole in the ground, and there wasn’t anything else in the building with it. She didn’t understand why they were going there.
Higurashi slid the door open and put her bag down just inside the door, and motioned for Ayana to do the same. “I want you to go down to the well, and tell me if you sense anything – anything at all.”
Ayana was very confused, but Higurashi had already told her the other day that she needed her to trust her, so she descended the steps and walked over to the old well. She half-heartedly looked over the edge, not expecting to see anything.
Nothing but darkness greeted her eyes. But there was a breeze. How could there be a breeze? And voices… she could hear voices. She leaned over further and strained her ears to make out what was being said.
A male voice groaned. “How much longer do we have to wait? We’ve been here most of the day!”
“Enough, I don’t want to hear it. Leave if you want, but I’m staying,” another man’s voice coldly replied.
“Look, I get why you don’t want to give up yet,” a woman’s voice said, “but you haven’t had a vision in years, and never by yourself. How do you know it was real, Shinken?”
Higurashi walking down the steps pulled her attention away. Ayana looked at her and asked, “Who’s Shinken?”
The older woman gasped. “InuYasha! It’s time!” she called.
“InuYasha? ‘Dog demon?’”
Higurashi’s husband appeared in the doorway, and if Ayana didn’t know any better, it looked like he jumped down from something because he literally landed outside the door. He hurried in and started rifling through her bags. He picked up her bag from the dojo, sniffed it, then held it out for his wife to take. “That one’s okay, just clothes and her bow.”
Ayana was even more confused now. “Why are you smelling my things!?” she said as she walked to the base of the steps. Then she froze when she got a better look at him.
She could have sworn that Higurashi’s husband had black hair, but the man before her now had white hair. And she could clearly see a set of pointed dog ears poking up out of it.
Higurashi was half-way down the stairs, holding the bag that he’d given her. “Do you have anything in your pockets?”
Ayana was still staring at InuYasha, but robotically pulled out her phone. Higurashi grabbed it out of her hand and held it out to her husband. The man turned and took it from her, then crumbled it in one hand like it was a piece of paper. The pieces scattered over the floor.
“Hey! What are you- What exactly is going on, here!?” Ayana said.
InuYasha fished her photos out of one of the bags and handed them to his wife. “Those can go. The rest are more modern clothes and a bunch of papers and stuff.”
Higurashi nodded and tucked the photos into the end of the duffle she was holding. “We’ll hang on to those for her. Anything else on you, Ayana? A watch, any jewelry?”
“Just this…” she said as she pulled the necklace with her parents’ wedding rings out from under the collar of her dogi. “They were my parents’, but why are you going through my stuff!?”
Higurashi ignored her question. “The rings can stay, just tuck them back inside.” She walked down the rest of the steps and looped the long strap of the duffle over Ayana’s head so it hung cross-body style. Her husband came down the steps and stood next to them with his arms crossed, and Ayana found herself staring at his ears.
“I’ve never formally introduced my husband,” Hisurashi said in a bright voice. “Ayana, this is InuYasha – he’s an inuhanyou.”
Her eyes widened. “Half dog demon!? But… but those only exist in stories!”
InuYasha smirked at her, the expression causing the tip of a fang to poke out from under his lip. “Nope, very much real,” he said as he held up his claws to show her.
Exasperated, Ayana said, “Higurashi-sama, can you please tell me what’s going on?”
The miko gently took Ayana’s face in her hands. “Ayana, you once told me that you thought you were born in the wrong time.”
Ayana’s eyes searched hers. “I… I never told you that… I never told anyone that.”
Higurashi smiled. “Yes, you did – over four hundred years ago. But you need to go, now, before the portal closes.”
“Four hund- Hey!”
Ayana was cut short when InuYasha picked her up and dropped her into the well.