In the time before the beginning of time as we know it, when there was only an ever-changing now, several decisions were reached by powers beyond mortal ken. Atoms would consist of electrons, neutrons and protons; gravity would pull down; water would be wet; and there would be a small blue world orbiting a medially bright yellow star that would have all the ingredients necessary for a sentient form of carbon-based life. As these decisions were reached everything exploded: and time began, adding both a Past and a Future to the now. Generally, things went according to plan. Gravity pulled down, usually; Water was wet, except when it was frozen; and sentient carbon-based life evolved on that little blue planet, along with a fewà otherà things.
On earth, the humans and these other beings, called demons, began a deadly cycle of revenge, preying on and being preyed upon by large groups of one another. In China, during the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, one of the many claimants to the throne fell into disgrace, and fled with his warrior-women bodyguards to found a village at the base of the Byankala range, near a spring they named Jusenky? (springs of sorrow) in honor of their exile. They quickly gained a reputation as masterful demon slayers, and they were well paid in both gold and magical artifacts stolen from those they hunted. The bodies of the slain demons poisoned the spring, and it became known as cursed. This was as it should be.
Had things gone as they should, the amazons would have no bearing on the story for nearly 1500 years. Just less than a thousand years later in Japan, during the Sengoku Jidai (warring states period), a demon named Naraku would have instigated a confrontation between the powerful Miko (Shinto Priestess) Kiky? and her half-demon love Inu-Yasha. The result would have sealed the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of Four Souls), a powerful artifact, into Kiky?Æs soul to be reborn with her in the next incarnation. The half-demon Inu-Yasha would be sealed to the tree with a magic arrow, and would remain trapped for so long that the sacred tree he was pinned to would grow around him, burying him in its depths.
Inu-YashaÆs half-brother Sessh?maru would eventually learn of the fate of the hany?, and despair of ever finding the Tessaiga now that the last clue was dead. He would wander Japan for some time, eventually seeking out the legendary demon-smith T?t?sai and commissioning a new blade made from his own left fang. This blade, bearing great powers known only to Sessh?maru, would be named the Rokud? no Ken (Sword of Six Paths). His duties as Lord of the Western Lands would finally lead to conflict with Naraku, and both would be mortally wounded in the great battle between them, a battle that would decimate the number of demons for centuries to come, allowing humans to become the masters of Japan. The dying Sessh?maru would make his way to the Goshinboku his half-brother was sealed in, there to finally expire, leaving the Rokud? no Ken and the Tenseiga (Fang born out of Heaven) at the base of the tree.
Several hundred years would pass, and Kiky? would be reincarnated as Higurashi Kagome. A demon appearing at the Higurashi shrine in the Nerima ward of Tokyo would cause Higurashi to flee, directly into the path of the man fated to be her guardian: Saotome Ranma. Returning from a ten-year training voyage to China, he would quickly dispatch the demon. A friendship would grow from this initial meeting, and Ranma would often retreat to the shrine when the series of unfortunate coincidences and misunderstandings that made up his life became too much to handle. These visits would conveniently take place just as demons attacked, searching for either the Shikon no Tama or the Rokud? no Ken. Taking the role of a semi-official bodyguard, Ranma would eventually be wounded by a demon that had announced its desire for the Shikon no Tama. Kagome, enraged, would wish the jewel out of existence before it had even physically manifested. Their fates now bound by a red string, Ranma would choose to marry for love instead of duty, and the Saotome Shrine and Dojo would become a local landmark.
Things do not always go as they should.
It began with a simple mistake: an exiled Joketsuzoku maiden cursed at Jusenky? (Pool of Drowned Goldfish, very sad story) jinked left instead of right when fighting a demon south of the Imperial City of Heian-ky? in 912 CE. She tripped on a stone and fell into a small puddle just as she released a blast of her own spiritual energy infused with anger, a technique that had caused her exile. The ki blast struck the demon just as the Jusenky? energies were taking effect, and the the demonic aura enmeshing with the chaotic and angry energy produced what might be termed a ônegative reactionö if one were prone to understatement. All of the demon's blood turned into acid, resulting in a very gory death for the demon and a less than dignified end for the warrior-cum-goldfish, who died when the PH of the puddle became too high from the acid dripping into it. The acid corroded the demon's bones and burned a hole into the top of the hill. Rainwater collected in the basin, and when a few villagers came across it days later, they incorrectly assumed the waters had killed the demon. A well was dug to gain access to what they thought was a magic spring when the original water dried up. In a way, they were right: the water soaked into the ground, where it left the magic of the demon in contention with that of the now Pool of Twice-Drowned Goldfish (very, very sad story). In the hopes that they would be destroyed, the corpses of demons both dead and merely wounded were thrown into this ôBone-Eater's Well,ö where they accumulated for some time. At some undetermined point, the demonic energy reached a critical point, and in conjunction with the energy of something that had died twice, opened a portal to Hell. All of the accumulated corpses fell into the void, and it closed up, but would reopen whenever sufficient demonic energy from something dead built up.
This was not in any Plans made by any Powers, and so, as is doomed to happen whenever entities used to being right all of all time have to improvise, mistakes were made.
The first was when, in an attempt to have the portal to hell sealed, the Higurashi family, noted for their spiritual powers, were assigned its guardianship through a series of ôaccidentsö and ôcoincidences.ö Only the peculiar magic of the portal instead rejected any efforts to tame it, being a casual balance between evil and chaos energies. Well 1, PTB 0.
The second was when a demon fell out of the well. Hell, being a timeless realm, was necessarily of not times and of all times; so the demon was able to fall into Tokyo, Japan in 1997. Where the reincarnated Kikyo was able to fall in with the demon when it fell again, and establishing a link between the conflicting energies of purity and corruption in the Shikon no Tama and the conflicting energies of chaos and evil in the Bone-Eater's Well. Well 3, PTB 0.
When Higurashi Kagome pulled the arrow out of the Goshinboku and released Inuyasha, the Powers nearly tore their metaphorical hair out. When Kikyo was partially resurrected, they gave up. Final score: Well 5, PTB 0; a shutout. The Powers went off to pout, and the seeds were sown for two stories I am absolutely certain that one has already read, if one is reading fanfiction of them.
Until, of course, something went horribly, horribly, right.
//END: Wild Horse and Dog, º Prologue
A/N: This story came about when my room mate and I were discussing the Takahashi franchise. He complained that all the Inuyasha/Ranma crossovers were three chapters long: Two to set up the cast meeting, and then one for a fight between Ranma and Inuyasha, the winner being whoever the author liked best. We decided we could do better. Initial planning produced the plot of ôthe way things should have beenö you see above... which I then realized I had no desire to write, but made a very nice prologue. The actual fic will be Something Completely Different; but I am faced with a dilemma: when to set it in continuity. Should it be set at some indeterminate point in the Inuyasha cannon when they are still lackadaisically searching for Jewel shards, and Ranma has just defeated Herb? Or should it be Post-cannon both series (manga ending for both)?
The plot that follows is somewhat dependent on this. If we go with option one, we get two villains to work with (although not together). Option two is more original, but requires coming up with a good enemy that they would need to fight. I am officially petitioning ideas.
On earth, the humans and these other beings, called demons, began a deadly cycle of revenge, preying on and being preyed upon by large groups of one another. In China, during the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, one of the many claimants to the throne fell into disgrace, and fled with his warrior-women bodyguards to found a village at the base of the Byankala range, near a spring they named Jusenky? (springs of sorrow) in honor of their exile. They quickly gained a reputation as masterful demon slayers, and they were well paid in both gold and magical artifacts stolen from those they hunted. The bodies of the slain demons poisoned the spring, and it became known as cursed. This was as it should be.
Had things gone as they should, the amazons would have no bearing on the story for nearly 1500 years. Just less than a thousand years later in Japan, during the Sengoku Jidai (warring states period), a demon named Naraku would have instigated a confrontation between the powerful Miko (Shinto Priestess) Kiky? and her half-demon love Inu-Yasha. The result would have sealed the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of Four Souls), a powerful artifact, into Kiky?Æs soul to be reborn with her in the next incarnation. The half-demon Inu-Yasha would be sealed to the tree with a magic arrow, and would remain trapped for so long that the sacred tree he was pinned to would grow around him, burying him in its depths.
Inu-YashaÆs half-brother Sessh?maru would eventually learn of the fate of the hany?, and despair of ever finding the Tessaiga now that the last clue was dead. He would wander Japan for some time, eventually seeking out the legendary demon-smith T?t?sai and commissioning a new blade made from his own left fang. This blade, bearing great powers known only to Sessh?maru, would be named the Rokud? no Ken (Sword of Six Paths). His duties as Lord of the Western Lands would finally lead to conflict with Naraku, and both would be mortally wounded in the great battle between them, a battle that would decimate the number of demons for centuries to come, allowing humans to become the masters of Japan. The dying Sessh?maru would make his way to the Goshinboku his half-brother was sealed in, there to finally expire, leaving the Rokud? no Ken and the Tenseiga (Fang born out of Heaven) at the base of the tree.
Several hundred years would pass, and Kiky? would be reincarnated as Higurashi Kagome. A demon appearing at the Higurashi shrine in the Nerima ward of Tokyo would cause Higurashi to flee, directly into the path of the man fated to be her guardian: Saotome Ranma. Returning from a ten-year training voyage to China, he would quickly dispatch the demon. A friendship would grow from this initial meeting, and Ranma would often retreat to the shrine when the series of unfortunate coincidences and misunderstandings that made up his life became too much to handle. These visits would conveniently take place just as demons attacked, searching for either the Shikon no Tama or the Rokud? no Ken. Taking the role of a semi-official bodyguard, Ranma would eventually be wounded by a demon that had announced its desire for the Shikon no Tama. Kagome, enraged, would wish the jewel out of existence before it had even physically manifested. Their fates now bound by a red string, Ranma would choose to marry for love instead of duty, and the Saotome Shrine and Dojo would become a local landmark.
Things do not always go as they should.
It began with a simple mistake: an exiled Joketsuzoku maiden cursed at Jusenky? (Pool of Drowned Goldfish, very sad story) jinked left instead of right when fighting a demon south of the Imperial City of Heian-ky? in 912 CE. She tripped on a stone and fell into a small puddle just as she released a blast of her own spiritual energy infused with anger, a technique that had caused her exile. The ki blast struck the demon just as the Jusenky? energies were taking effect, and the the demonic aura enmeshing with the chaotic and angry energy produced what might be termed a ônegative reactionö if one were prone to understatement. All of the demon's blood turned into acid, resulting in a very gory death for the demon and a less than dignified end for the warrior-cum-goldfish, who died when the PH of the puddle became too high from the acid dripping into it. The acid corroded the demon's bones and burned a hole into the top of the hill. Rainwater collected in the basin, and when a few villagers came across it days later, they incorrectly assumed the waters had killed the demon. A well was dug to gain access to what they thought was a magic spring when the original water dried up. In a way, they were right: the water soaked into the ground, where it left the magic of the demon in contention with that of the now Pool of Twice-Drowned Goldfish (very, very sad story). In the hopes that they would be destroyed, the corpses of demons both dead and merely wounded were thrown into this ôBone-Eater's Well,ö where they accumulated for some time. At some undetermined point, the demonic energy reached a critical point, and in conjunction with the energy of something that had died twice, opened a portal to Hell. All of the accumulated corpses fell into the void, and it closed up, but would reopen whenever sufficient demonic energy from something dead built up.
This was not in any Plans made by any Powers, and so, as is doomed to happen whenever entities used to being right all of all time have to improvise, mistakes were made.
The first was when, in an attempt to have the portal to hell sealed, the Higurashi family, noted for their spiritual powers, were assigned its guardianship through a series of ôaccidentsö and ôcoincidences.ö Only the peculiar magic of the portal instead rejected any efforts to tame it, being a casual balance between evil and chaos energies. Well 1, PTB 0.
The second was when a demon fell out of the well. Hell, being a timeless realm, was necessarily of not times and of all times; so the demon was able to fall into Tokyo, Japan in 1997. Where the reincarnated Kikyo was able to fall in with the demon when it fell again, and establishing a link between the conflicting energies of purity and corruption in the Shikon no Tama and the conflicting energies of chaos and evil in the Bone-Eater's Well. Well 3, PTB 0.
When Higurashi Kagome pulled the arrow out of the Goshinboku and released Inuyasha, the Powers nearly tore their metaphorical hair out. When Kikyo was partially resurrected, they gave up. Final score: Well 5, PTB 0; a shutout. The Powers went off to pout, and the seeds were sown for two stories I am absolutely certain that one has already read, if one is reading fanfiction of them.
Until, of course, something went horribly, horribly, right.
//END: Wild Horse and Dog, º Prologue
A/N: This story came about when my room mate and I were discussing the Takahashi franchise. He complained that all the Inuyasha/Ranma crossovers were three chapters long: Two to set up the cast meeting, and then one for a fight between Ranma and Inuyasha, the winner being whoever the author liked best. We decided we could do better. Initial planning produced the plot of ôthe way things should have beenö you see above... which I then realized I had no desire to write, but made a very nice prologue. The actual fic will be Something Completely Different; but I am faced with a dilemma: when to set it in continuity. Should it be set at some indeterminate point in the Inuyasha cannon when they are still lackadaisically searching for Jewel shards, and Ranma has just defeated Herb? Or should it be Post-cannon both series (manga ending for both)?
The plot that follows is somewhat dependent on this. If we go with option one, we get two villains to work with (although not together). Option two is more original, but requires coming up with a good enemy that they would need to fight. I am officially petitioning ideas.
