Time Traveler Katsumi

HI! I decided to try my hand at an Inuyasha fanfic! I've only seen the anime so far, but I've recently started to read the manga, so this will probably end up being a combination of both. I'm also warning you that I'll be using a weird combo of English and Japanese because I think some Japanese words, like honorifics, make more sens or show the nuances in relationships better. If you have any questions or get confused, feel free to ask. (^_^)

I do not own anything other than my OC.

Unless specified, the POV will be third person omniscient.

"Japanese Speech"

'thoughts'

"English speech"

'English thoughts'

∞∞∞∞ Scene and/or time transition

{Stage directions/ setting}

{Modern Tokyo, Japan}

=Katsumi's Pov=

"Are we there yet?" A sulking sixteen-year-old asked. The girl, Katsumi Dubois, had been riding in the car with her mother and father, Tsukihime and Steven Dubois, through Tokyo city looking for their new house.

"Almost." Her mother said cheerfully. "Isn't it exciting? I haven't been to Japan in ages!"

Normally, Katsumi would have been excited by the prospect of visiting a new place, but that was just the problem. This was not a visit. They were moving here permanently, despite Katsumi's protests. She had felt a special connection with her home in New Orleans, Louisiana. That city had become a part of her very soul, and it hurt to be apart from it. She didn't want to be ripped away from all of her old friends and family either. While it was true she was half-Japanese because here mother was pure Japanese, and this was her homeland, it was also true that she had no relatives here. Her mother didn't have any remaining family members in Japan as far as she knew. Also Katsumi was half-Cajun French on her father's side. She looked way more French than Japanese, and because of that, people had been staring at her and her father non-stop ever since they got off the plane. So she had blonde hair, pale skin, and hazel eyes—So what! That didn't mean people could stare at her like she was a freak show. Katsumi had to admit she was a little strange personality-wise, but those people hadn't even said one word to her before they started judging. She even heard some people speculating on whether she was a member of a female gang or not—just because her hair was blonde! They thought she didn't understand since she was a foreigner, but her mom had been teaching her to read and write in Japanese ever since she was a toddler. So she understood every irritating word.

"Are you sure this is the right road?" Her father asked. "This doesn't sound like the area the real-estate agent described."

"I know. It's nicer." Her mother said, laughing in a very lady-like manner. Despite her carefree attitude, Katsumi's mother had always been known for her grace. She had an air about her that just screamed nobility despite living in the 21st century. "Perhaps we should stop and ask for directions? Oh look, there's a shrine. Pull over!"

Katsumi raised an eyebrow. It really was an honest to goodness Shinto shrine. Well, they were in Japan. She and her mother climbed the stone steps with ease, and took the opportunity to look around while they waited for her dad. Despite being the same age, her mother had always been more spry than her dad, who was currently huffing and puffing his way up the stairs. The Shrine was just what you would expect, nothing abnormal about it… Katsumi blinked in confusion. Why did she have the feeling it should have been otherwise? She realized she had been expecting something extraordinary to happen. Katsumi had always had an almost super sense of intuition. Her dad had teased her that she was like a wild animal with the way she could sense danger. Katsumi hadn't realized how deep in thought she was until something grabbed her shoulder.

"Eeep!" She yelped in surprise. Her mother chuckled softly at her behavior.

"Oh, forgive me! I didn't mean to startle you, young lady. Welcome to the Higurashi Shrine." Katsumi's assailant greeted her. It was an old man wearing a white kimono and red hakama, and although he looked friendly, for some reason, he reminded her of a picture of an old youkai her mother had shown her before.

"Hello, sorry to bother you, but we think we might be lost. Would you mind giving us some directions?" Her mother asked politely. The old man squinted at her mother, as if sizing her up. Then he took a second look at Katsumi and pulled out a warding talisman.

"Demon be gone!" The old man shouted and slapped the piece of paper on both of their foreheads. A vein popped on Katsumi's forehead and her mother sweat dropped. As if it wasn't bad enough—Now someone's calling her a demon?

"Um… Did I miss something?" Her father asked, slightly chagrined at the site of his wife and daughter with ridiculous little bits of paper stuck to their foreheads.

"Demon be—!" The old man shouted as he tried to get her dad too.

"Grandpa!" A black-haired teenage girl yelled warningly. The old man froze on the spot and innocently tucked the talisman back into his sleeve. "Where you trying to exorcise visitors again?" The girl asked sternly. Katsumi noticed that the girl looked about her age, and she was wearing a white and green sailor-fuku. So she was probably attending a Japanese middle school.

"Sorry about that." The girl apologized. "Gramps is a little senile."

"I am not senile!" The old man huffed indignantly.

"It's perfectly all right." Katsumi's mother assured her as she removed the talisman. Katsumi ripped hers off as well.

"Kagome, is that you?" A woman called as she stepped out of the house that was on the shrine grounds. "Oh, it appears we have some guests! Would you care for something to drink? It's been unusually warm today." The woman said kindly.

"Thank you. We would be much obliged. Please pardon the intrusion." Katsumi's mother said, smiling back. Katsumi saw a flash of red out the corner of her eye and realized the other girl was gone. Weird.

"You're a life saver! I'm parched after that trek up the stairs." Her dad said cheerfully. "Are you coming, Katsumi?" Katsumi wasn't thirsty yet, and she was used to much hotter weather back in Louisiana, so she decided to explore instead.

"No thank you, I think I'll just have a look around. I've never actually been to a real shrine before." Katsumi said politely so that she wouldn't offend the nice lady.

"All right, feel free to change your mind." The lady told her. Katsumi nodded in appreciation and began walking around the shrine.

'I wonder where that other girl went… She seems alright, and if I'm gonna be stuck here, I might as well make some friends.' Katsumi thought. She heard yelling from what looked like a small shed. One of the voices sounded like the girl from earlier, so she decided to check it out since she's curious and nosy. She slid the doors open just as she heard the girl yell.

"Inuyasha, sit!" The girl yelled, and Katsumi watched in amazement as a golden-amber-eyed boy with long silver hair and dog-ears, wearing a red kimono and hakama slammed face first into the floor.

"Whoa…" Katsumi said, wide-eyed. The other girl's head whipped around to look at Katsumi. Her eyes widened too when she realized they weren't alone.

"Uh… um… this isn't what it looks like!" The girl said, waving her hands frantically as she started to panic.

"Um… so you didn't just use what looked like kotodama to make dog-boy over there 'sit'?" Katsumi asked, raising an eyebrow. She hadn't been at this shrine for more than two minutes, and now there was something fantastical and unreal happening? Maybe Japan wasn't so bad after all. The girl sweat dropped.

"… Well, you see—" The girl began to nervously try to explain the whole situation away when dog-boy jumped back up from where he had been eating dirt.

"What was that for, Kagome!" Dog-boy demanded angrily.

"You know exactly what it was for!" The girl yelled back. She huffed and crossed her arms, seemingly forgetting their witness in her irritation.

"So… your names Kagome? I'm Katsumi. I just moved here." Katsumi said, extending her as a sign of friendship. Kagome looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment, like she wasn't quite sure how to react to someone who was acting so normal after seeing something so strange. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what I just saw." Katsumi added. Kagome still looked a little wary of her, but she was obviously relieved to hear that.

"Yeah, I'm Kagome. Nice to meet you too, Katsumi-chan. That's Inuyasha." Kagome said, accepting Katsumi's hand in a handshake.

"Look out, Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled suddenly as he pushed Katsumi away from her.

"Hey!" Katsumi said hotly, annoyed at being shoved so rudely. She felt her back hit something hard. 'A well?' She thought in confusion. Katsumi felt herself fall backwards and flip into the well.

"Katsumi-Chaaan!" Kagome yelled after her as she fell down the well. Kagome stared down into the well. "No way!" She said in shock. At the bottom of the well, where Katsumi should have landed, was nothing. 'Here we go again.' Kagome thought. There was a new time-traveler on the block.