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Chapter Text

Midoriko stood in alert when she realized Kirara was growling at the sky. Their powers surfaced in an instant, completely in sync: the demon cat turning into her ferocious form and the miko letting her blade shimmer with reiki. Something big was coming.

When the dark clouds parted, Midoriko mounted Kirara and went to face head on this threat only to be met with the screaming face of the man she once loved surrounded by thousands of youkai forming a huge dragon. His eyes held no life, only hatred the miko knew to not be his.

The battle lasted days and no matter how many times she cleansed the souls that formed her enemy, more seemed to join in. Exhausted, she fled to a cave, knowing she’d be followed. She only had a few moments before she was overwhelmed, so she took a deep breath and turned to her companion.

Kirara looked her in the eye and bowed, a soft mew escaping her lips as she turned back to her small form and fled the scene. Midoriko could tell the cat was as exhausted as she was and it wasn’t fair for her to be caught in the crossfire of the miko’s plan.

The dragon made from thousands of youkai and a single human soul filled the cave in an instant, Midoriko’s sword the only thing keeping her from being devoured. She started chanting and focusing her reiki, drawing all of the dragon’s soul towards herself. Towards her heart. She knew she wouldn’t win, but she wouldn’t lose either.

And just like that, Midoriko was gone.

***

Kikyou held the jewel in her hands, trying to not let the darkness that encroached her vision take over just yet. Her arm was bloody and she was nauseous and breathing was hard and she wanted to cry and scream at the same time.

The man… The hanyou she loved had carved her heart out when his claws carved her torso open and she made sure he would never wake up again. He was stuck to Goshinboku, an arrow empowered by her reiki and her anger and her love was sure to kill him as she hit his heart. So why did she want to cry out for him? To hold him? To be held by him?

Her feet faltered. She would fall down soon, drained of strength and blood and life. She could hear the footsteps of the villagers now. Oh… Kaede would be all alone… She couldn’t die yet…

“Burn my body and the jewel with it.” she managed to choke out as her sister’s hands caught her as she fell. She was staining Kaede’s kimono… It would take so long to get it cleaned now… “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t want to admit, but her mind turned to the man she had just put an arrow through. She wanted to see him again.

And just like that, Kikyou was gone.

Chapter Text

Kagome got home after school with a smile. Her friends were talking about going to the movies on the weekend and she couldn’t wait to have a moment to enjoy herself without worrying over tests and grades. She greeted her mom and let her know she’d be taking a long bath to relax. It was Saturday and cram school had finished for the day.

She let her hair soak in the tub, the dark curls floating around her as she considered the best way to let her friends know she was not interested in Hojo. He was a boy in her grade, but not her class, and he had an obvious crush on her. Kagome honestly thought he was kinda boring, but her friends insisted they’d make a cute couple and she hadn’t found a way to let them know it was never gonna happen. Well, tomorrow it would all change.

When she came down for dinner, her grandpa was talking about new trinkets to sell in the shrine shop. Something about a Shikon no Tama and whatever legend was attached to it. Kagome yawned and tried to focus on her food.

“You should both be interested in this!” he admonished “It’s the history of the Higurashi shrine!”

“You tell so many stories about the shrine, jii-chan, how do you expect us to remember all of them?” Souta, her brother, laughed.

“The trinket’s cute, jii-chan” Kagome offered.

“Let’s just finish our food, shall we?” their mom put an end to the discussion.

After eating, Kagome was doing her homework when she heard Souta calling her from outside. She opened her window to hear better what he was saying.

“Buyo went into the well house!” she heard his brother say.

“Go get him, then!” was her reply.

“But it’s dark!”

“Ok, ok, I’m going…”

Kagome abandoned her homework and went downstairs. It was a windy day and she wished the cat would stop hiding and just run back inside so she could go back to her room. She couldn’t blame Souta for being scared though, the well house was forbidden and had been locked all her life. Also, her brother was only 12. She picked up the keys from her Jii-chan’s warehouse and headed to the well.

“How did Buyo get in?” she asked, as she got close to Souta.

“The door was open.” he said, scared.

And that was weird, the well house was always locked. A shiver went down her spine and she sighed. Well, they couldn’t leave Buyo there, so it was better to get it over with. Kagome went in, Souta close behind her. She climbed down the stairs towards the well, calling for her cat.

Buyo was a fat calico and, usually, he’d just lazy around the house. Why the hell did he decide to go inside the well house? At least he came when she called, jumping onto her arms. With a smile, she picked him up and turned around to look at her brother.

Souta was still on top of the stairs. Kagome heard him scream her name before she felt the energy that pulled her towards the well. Buyo jumped off and she was falling head first. This was a really dumb way to die, she thought, waiting for the dirt ground to hit. But it never came.

She was floating inside a weird glowy tunnel, a woman with the bottom half of a centipede staring at her, hungry.

“You have the Shikon no Tama!”

“What!”

The monstrous woman lunged and Kagome put her hands up as a shield. The pink glow that emerged from her palm surprised her at the same time it burned the centipede woman’s face and she disintegrated.

Out of breath, Kagome floated down to the dirt floor of the well. She was dizzy and nauseous. What the hell was going on? Stumbling to her feet, she looked around and saw what seemed to be rib bones all around her. The amount and position made her think of the centipede woman and she had to breathe deeply not to vomit. At least there was no smell.

Looking around, she saw no sign of the rope ladder she remembered to be on the well. There were vines though. Hoping they would hold her weight, she climbed out. And her home was not there.

Instead of the shrine, Kagome found herself in a forest. Looking around, she could see the stars through the canopy. With a sigh, she started walking towards where she thought her house should be, calling for Souta, Jii-chan and her mom.

A few paces from the well, she was met with Goshinboku. She’d recognize that tree anywhere, it was her favorite spot on the entire shrine grounds. A thick healthy tree with a barkless spot in the middle. Except this one didn’t have that spot. It had a boy pierced by an arrow. Long silver hair flew in the wind and he looked to be asleep. He was also clearly not human. Kagome noticed his dog ears atop his head.

This shouldn’t have been a priority, but she couldn’t let this chance escape her and she couldn’t control herself. Kagome walked close to the tree and stepped on the roots. She reached up and touched the ears, feeling the soft fur in her fingers. The boy was so pretty, she couldn’t help but wonder how he got stuck there.

She shook her head. Time to focus, she had to find out what was going on. Just as she was about to turn around, an arrow flew past her cheeks, hitting the tree.

“Turn around!” The order came from an old voice and as Kagome obeyed, she was face to face with an old woman on horseback wearing miko robes. She had a full head of gray hair and wore an eye patch.

“Ki-kyou?” The woman said, in surprise, upon seeing Kagome’s face.

“Who?” was the only thing the girl could think to reply.

“Follow me.”

And Kagome didn’t think she had a choice.

Chapter Text

The village was asleep when Kagome walked through its streets. This was where her shrine should be. The old lady led her to a stable, where she left her horse to rest before turning to the girl, indicating with her hands that she wanted Kagome to keep following.

They entered a hut that Kagome assumed belonged to the old miko. There was no one else there. The elder lit a fire and put some soup to heat up before she motioned for Kagome to sit, taking her place across from her.

“My name is Kaede.”

“I’m Higurashi Kagome.” Kagome replied.

“What were you doing in Inuyasha's forest?”

Inuyasha? Was that that boy’s name?

“I don’t know… I was home in my shrine and I was pulled into the well by a centipede woman… I just wanna go home.” Kagome confessed.

“Mukade Jurou! We killed her a couple days ago and threw her remains into the Bone-Eater Well.”

“What was she?”

“You don’t know what youkais are?” The Kaede woman was taken aback.

“Youkais are real?!”

“You really are not from here, then, child…”

“Do you know how I can get home?”

“No, I can’t say that I do…”

Kagome felt tears start to form. She didn’t know where she was nor how to go back home and despite Kaede being nice, she was still a stranger. Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion happening outside. It sounded like a battle was happening and some homes were being crushed by something huge.

Both Kaede and Kagome ran outside. The villagers were armed with bows trying to fend off the centipede woman that had dragged Kagome to the well, Mukade Jurou.

“GIVE ME THE JEWEL!” Jurou was screaming, as she threw villagers around like they were made of paper. “WHERE IS THE SHIKON JEWEL?”

“The Shikon Jewel?” Kaede looked at Kagome.

“Yeah, she was saying I have it but I don’t know what that is!”

When the centipede youkai spotted Kagome, it lunged. Kaede and Kagome barely had time to dodge.

The village was being destroyed and Kagome couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault. It was all a big nightmare and she’d wake up soon, right? It had to be. When the youkai lunged again, Kagome couldn’t dodge. It bit her in the abdomen, drawing blood.

“YES! I CAN FEEL THE POWER!” Mukade Jurou exclaimed as she began to transform. She got bigger and her teeth elongated and sharpened.

Kagome noticed that her dripping blood was solidifying into crystals. Whatever this jewel was, it seemed that her blood was connected somehow. She looked around at the villagers fighting. Kaede had joined in with her own bow. And yet, the youkai didn’t seem to be hurt by their arrows.

“It’s after me!” she shouted, getting Kaede’s attention “I’m gonna drive it to the well! It’s towards that glow in the forest, right?” and she didn’t wait for an answer.

She vaguely heard Kaede gasp and wonder how she could see the glow, but Kagome didn’t linger. This was her nightmare and she wasn’t gonna let people suffer because of her.

As she ran, she kept wishing someone would come and save her. There had to be someone out there capable enough to fight this thing off, right? And they would come, right? She wasn’t gonna die here, she had to get back! Her vision blurred as the tears escaped her eyes. Kagome only stopped running when she hit the boy’s torso. He was awake and had a smirk on his face. His eyes were amber and full of hatred.

“Gotten weak, did you, Kikyou?” he mocked.

“Who the hell is Kikyou?!” Kagome screamed and she’d have moved away had Mukade Jurou not wrapped herself around them, pinning her against the boy.

“Hm. Guess you aren’t her. You smell weak. If you want to live, release me.” The boy indicated the arrow that kept him in place.

Kagome couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Her stomach was hurt and bleeding, she was in pain. His words solidified that this may be a nightmare but it was also very real. She would die if nothing changed.

“I WILL HAVE THE SHIKON JEWEL!” The centipede tightened her hold and Kagome almost passed out.

She saw the boy look from their enemy to her, the hatred replaced by excitement. He was also after the jewel. But he was her only hope. Kagome held the arrow and it disintegrated instantly.

Kagome was pushed from the tree by the energy that breaking whatever seal that was released. The boy leaped and stretched his claws before coming down on the youkai, carving it in half in one fell swoop.

“Thanks.” Kagome said, weakly.

“Don’t thank me yet. If you have the Shikon no Tama, hand it over if you want to live.”

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS!”

She was tired, but he was running at her now and she was crying again. This couldn’t be what her life had become. She really really just wanted to go home.

Kaede came at them on her horse, chanting something. Beads flew from her hand to the boy’s neck, forming a necklace. He lunged at Kagome with his claws out and missed her by a hair when she tripped on a loose log.

“Inuyasha! Stop!” Kaede screamed, but he wasn’t deterred. “Kagome, shout an order at him!”

Kagome was stunned. Shout an order? What kind of order? She turned around without getting up, Inuyasha’s claws were extended and he was getting ready to lunge again. His ears were swiveling atop his head and Kagome shouted the only order she could think of:

“OSUWARI!”

Chapter Text

At Kagome’s Osuwari command, Inuyasha was pulled by the neck straight into the ground. Kaede dismounted and approached the girl, looking over her wounds. Kagome was still bleeding, though it was stopping. She noticed the blood caught in her shirt acted normal, but as soon as a single drop left her body, it crystalized.

“We need to see if there are any more of these crystals around.” The old miko pointed out.

“Why…”

“OI! Don’t ignore me!” Inuyasha was struggling to stand, the enchanted necklace still pulling him to the ground.

“Don’t fight it, Inuyasha. You can’t overpower the kotodama no matter how hard you try.” Kaede waved him off. “It’ll wear off eventually, but Kagome-sama can just use the command again, so don’t try nothing.”

“Quit babbling, old hag!”

He finally managed to get up and readied another lunge, only for Kagome to osuwari him again.

The old miko chuckled. Then she guided Kagome to sit down at a log. Kaede dressed the girl’s wounds. They heard Inuyasha grumble as he stood up again, but this time he did not attack, apparently accepting the fact that Kagome could just make him kiss the ground whenever.

Once Kaede was satisfied with Kagome’s bandages, she guided the makeshift party back towards Goshinboku, instructing the girl to keep her eyes out for blood shards. Following her lead, Kagome noticed that she could feel the aura of what she assumed were the shards. Slowly, they collected about ten shards along the path Kagome had run.

Back at Kaede’s, Inuyasha sat down with his back against a wall, staring intently at Kagome.

“What’s with you?” she asked.

“Keh.” Inuyasha pouted.

“I already told you I’m not Kikyou! My name is Kagome! Ka-go-me!”

“Whatever.”

If she was honest, she was exhausted and sore. There was still no clear way for her to go back home and she just seemed to have changed one pursuer for another, though this one she could manage thanks to Kaede.

The old miko sat beside the fire, across from Kagome and handed her the bowl of soup she had reheated for the second time that night. They ate in silence and Kagome tried to hide the tears that streamed down her cheeks.

“Kaede-sama, what is going on?” Kagome managed to ask after she composed herself. She had gathered that the Shikon no Tama was a powerful thing and connected to her somehow, but why was her blood turning to shards?

“I think you and the jewel are one, Kagome-sama.” The miko sighed. “My sister was the jewel’s guardian when she was alive and her dying wish was to take it with her so it wouldn’t cause anymore grief, so we burned it with her body. If you are indeed her reincarnation, the jewel lies within you.”

“So Kikyou died, huh.” Inuyasha chimed in “Serves her right. And you were that pipsqueak. How long…?”

“It’s been 50 years, Inuyasha.”

After they had eaten, Kaede set up a futon for Kagome to sleep in and shooed Inuyasha out the door. Kagome didn’t think she would be capable of sleeping, but she was not aware of how tired her body was. She fell asleep fast, though her sleep was not restful.

Inuyasha let the old miko throw him out and jumped into a nearby tree where he could watch Kagome through the open window. His mind took him back to that fateful day 50 years ago. If the old hag was right, getting the jewel would mean killing that girl. He was pretty sure he was developing a headache.

His youki stretched towards Kagome. If she was Kikyou’s reincarnation, she’d have spiritual powers that he’d be able to sense. As soon as he felt her reiki, a barrier sparked around her and he couldn’t help but be impressed. She had been able to break the spell that sealed him, but that had been the only indication she had any power, now though, things were getting interesting. He relaxed against the trunk of the tree, knowing no one would be able to get the jewel while the girl was asleep.

Morning came and Kagome stretched before feeling the sharp pain in her stomach. Right, she wasn’t home. This was really happening. She was the Shikon Jewel and youkai were after her. Also, Inuyasha was staring.

“What?” she asked, not really concerned with manners at this moment.

“I’m gonna find a way to get the jewel.”

“Are you saying you’re gonna kill me?” She wasn’t dumb, she had done the math last night.

Instead of answering, he left the hut. Kagome looked around, Kaede had already gotten up, she probably had things to do around the village. Kagome ate whatever was left in the pot as breakfast before walking out, expecting to find Inuyasha waiting to shadow her, but he seemed to be gone, so she went to find the old miko.

The village was in the midst of rebuilding after the Mukade Jurou’s attack. As Kagome walked, she could feel the curious gaze of the people on her, she could hear the whispers. They were all comparing her to Kikyou or commenting on her weird clothes. Another reason to want to go home, she gathered.

Kaede was tending a communal herb garden that was set up for the village’s use. As soon as she saw Kagome approach, the old miko stood up.

“I put the shards on this pouch, I feel you should keep them with you.” Kaede handed the blood shards to Kagome.

“Why?”

“They may not be the jewel, but as we saw yesterday, they clearly carry power that youkai are gonna want. They should be safest with you. Though it won’t be only youkai that will be after it…”

“What do you mean?”

“The Jewel can grant any wish. Though for youkai, the jewel usually increases their power, humans can also use it.”

Kagome considered all she heard. Looking around, she saw Inuyasha up on a rooftop, observing them while shooing some crows that had perched too close for his comfort.

“What about you? You’re clearly powerful, what do you want it for?” She asked him.

“None of ya business.” Was his reply.

“He’s hanyou. A half-demon.” Kaede started “He’d use it to become full youkai.”

“Shut up, hag.” He spit back.

And that’s when she noticed. All the villagers apart from Kaede were keeping their distance from Inuyasha. But that was because he was dangerous, right? It made sense. He did attack her as soon as he learned she was connected to the jewel. But he hadn’t attacked anyone else like that centipede youkai had…

“I should go home.” Kagome said.

“It would be best, yes.” Was Kaede’s reply.

“You’re not leaving until I get the jewel, woman!” Inuyasha leaped out of the roof and landed in front of her.

“Osuwari.” She said, and waited for him to drop to the ground before turning to Kaede “I came through the well, I’ll see if I can go back through there.” And off she went.

Inuyasha was left alone by the villagers until the kotodama’s effect ran off. Kaede had already gone back to her usual routine, leaving him completely alone in the middle of the road. The first thing he did was track that girl’s smell. She’d gone towards the forest and he’d be damned if he let her escape that easily.

Her trail led him away from the village, but a few paces inside the woods, he smelled corpses and cursed. He should’ve known those damn crows weren’t just harassing him for no reason. They were part of a Shibugarasu’s murder and they were bad bad news.

Leaping from tree to tree at incredible speed, Inuyasha followed the corpses’ scent that had mingled with the girl’s towards a clearing. He could hear her struggle as he got close. She was being held down by two humans for the big corpse he assumed was the boss to carve her with his knife. There were other corpses around them, but they were a problem for later. Right now, a weak crow youkai was about to get his jewel and he was not gonna let that happen.

Kagome was crying and trying to get away. The big dude had shouted at the others to hold her down and she could tell both her arms would be bruised later if she survived.

“Heart…” she heard the word fall out of her assailant with difficulty and had to close her eyes when he brought the knife up in preparation.

The stab never came though.

When she opened her eyes, Inuyasha had deflected the weapon with his arms, the sleeve of his haori undamaged. He punched the guys holding her down and helped her get up while the other men assumed position for a fight.

“Thanks” was all that she managed to say.

“Can’t let them get the Shikon no Tama.” Inuyasha barked back, refocusing on their enemies.

Kagome wanted to argue, but she was drained. She had been bitten, chased, crushed and now kidnapped and almost had her heart cut out of her in less than 24 hours. She couldn’t relax yet though. Inuyasha would handle these bandits, she was sure, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t gonna get hurt in the battle.

The other bandits were slow and walking weird, she noticed, when Inuyasha dodged the sword the big guy was now wielding.

“These are corpses, they are being controlled by crow youkai!” he shouted at her as he punched the guy in the face.

“How do we deal with the crows, then?”

There was nowhere for her to hide.

“Kikyou was good with a bow, one of the guys that was holding you was an archer. I drive them out and you shoot them!”

“I’M NOT KIKYOU! Dammit, I’ve never shot a bow!”

“Time to learn!”

The circle of corpses was closing in and the big guy Inuyasha was fighting was about to go down, which meant the crow would leave to find a new host in a second. Kagome had no choice, she had to try.

She picked up the bow and knocked an arrow. The Shibugarasu flew out of the hole that would’ve held the guy’s heart and Kagome shot at him.

“OI!” Inuyasha ducked to dodge the arrow that nearly decapitated him. The prickly sensation of reiki that had been infused in the arrow did not go unnoticed by the hanyou. “Are you trying to kill me ?”

“I told you I’ve never used a bow before!”

She would’ve knocked another arrow if the giant crow hadn’t flown straight at her. He smelled like death and had teeth inside his beak and was clearly going for her heart. Suddenly, she was being attacked by all the crows, their corpses lying abandoned on the ground.

Kagome could feel the scratches their claws were leaving on her skin and panicked. From her hands, a pink glow grew stronger until the smallest crows disintegrated and the bigger one was forced to fly away, burned. Inuyasha jumped and caught it with his claws, splitting it into three pieces.

“You are gonna need to get a lot better at all of this if you intend to survive.” He said, walking back to her.

He had come for her, even if his reasoning was to protect the Jewel, he had saved her. She chuckled as she realized she wanted to hug him. She didn’t have time though, as he jumped to the top of a tree and let her walk back to the village alone.

Chapter Text

Inuyasha wouldn’t admit it, but he shadowed Kagome all the way back to the village and kept following her until she retired to sleep. The Shibugarasu had been after her heart. It clearly wanted to eat it. If she was the Jewel, was that the way to get the Jewel’s powers? Somehow that didn’t sit right with him. If killing her was the only way to get the Shikon no Tama, would he? Inuyasha already knew the answer was no. He had plenty of opportunity the previous day to try and it wasn’t just the kotodama that was stopping him. Was it because she reminded him of Kikyou? He shook his head, that was not a line of thought he was ready to follow.

For now, he decided to stick around. He couldn’t really let anyone else get their hands on the Jewel before him, after all. So he’d observe and wait for either a plan to form or an opportunity to present itself. Inuyasha settled on a roof and watched as the girl slept and the reiki barrier formed around her.

Kagome woke up more rested. After breakfast with Kaede, the two of them went to the river. She had asked where would be a good place to bathe and the old miko was kind enough to accompany her.

After the bandit attack, Kagome had asked her about training her powers and Kaede told her how to stretch her senses to feel youki around her. She started practicing immediately and it wasn’t hard to notice Inuyasha’s youki always nearby. He was following her. If he thought he was about to be able to spy on her bathing, he had another thing coming.

“You better not follow me, Inuyasha!” she decided that a warning would be the kind thing to do.

When she finally got to the river, Kaede set up a small fire to help dry the clothes Kagome had been wearing and was planning on cleaning during the bath. The girl stripped and dove into the part of the river Kaede had pointed to her. It was deep enough for a good soak. She scrubbed her hair and her skin with the rudimentary soap Kaede had provided and got out of the river to dress in the kimono that had been laid out for her before tackling her laundry.

When she emerged, Kagome didn’t need to use her powers to notice Inuyasha, for he was peeking through the ledge of the small cliff by the river.

“OSUWARI!” she screamed “Don’t you know when to give a girl some privacy?!”

“I wasn’t spying on you!” he spat, face still very much on the ground.

Kaede simply chuckled and ignored him, while Kagome took her clothes to the river.

When the effects of the osuwari ran off, Inuyasha stood up shaking his head. That’s when he saw Kagome was wearing miko robes. She was washing her weird clothes in the river and the way her hair was framing her face… In those clothes…

“Undress” he said, flatly, hoping he was keeping his feelings concealed.

She glared at him for a second, before starting to say the command.

“Wait! I mean put on your weird kimono again!”

“Oh, I look too much like Kikyou, is it?”

“Whatever.”

And he leapt away, to the safety of the trees. She did look too much like Kikyou. A reminder of the betrayal and the reasons for him to get the damn Jewel already. He should really just kill her… And he wanted to kick himself for knowing that was something he would never be able to do.

After she showered, Kagome started practicing controlling her powers with Kaede. She managed to get consistent with feeling youki around her, Inuyasha’s presence a blessing in this case, as he helped her train unknowingly. The old miko also tried teaching her how to focus her reiki into arrows, though actually getting good with a bow would take time.

Once her clothes were dry, though, she turned to the old miko:

“I’m gonna try to reach the well again.” she said.

“Be careful, the bandits you fought yesterday may not be the only ones.”

Kagome nodded. She wasn’t looking forward to a repeat of the fight with the bandits and the Shibugarasu, but she knew the well was the only clue she had to how to get home, so she’d have to face the danger eventually.

The walk was surprisingly peaceful. Kagome kept her powers alert, feeling Inuyasha’s youki get further and further away. She half expected him to follow her and try to stop her from going back, but she was honestly relieved he wasn’t gonna interfere.

At the well, she stared at the bottom, seeing only dirt.

“Please, lead me home.”

She was about to jump in when her reiki flared in response to a new youki. When she turned, she felt something cut her cheek and the blood begin to pool on the cut. Looking around, she tried to pinpoint where this new enemy was while drying the blood with her kimono sleeve. The blood only turned to shard if it wasn’t absorbed before it was no longer touching her in any way, she had noticed.

“You’re the one with the Shikon no Tama, huh?” The voice came from above.

Kagome took a step back, directly into the side of the well.

This youkai was a woman with short hair, wearing a black kimono that Kagome thought was a very modern cut, revealing her legs and arms. The youkai had hair strands tied around her finger and the entire area was covered in a web made of hair. She was standing on a rope of hair above the trees.

“Who’s asking?” Kagome managed to reply.

“Name’s Yura. I’m gonna take your heart now.”

With a move of a single finger, Yura lifted a sword with her hairs and used it to attack without leaving her perch. Kagome tried backing away more and tumbled into the well, feeling hairs reach out around her and take the pouch with the blood shards before she was swallowed by the weird glowy tunnel from before.

Inuyasha would never admit it, but he felt sad when the weird girl’s smell disappeared. Guess she found her way home, wherever that was. And just like that, there was nothing holding him to this place anymore. He could just leave. He should just leave. And yet, Inuyasha felt that he couldn’t. So he stayed up on his perch, watching the clouds.

The smell of Kaede’s blood got him to move a couple hours later.

On his way to the village, several humans wielding simple weapons attacked him, floating above the ground and moving incredibly fast. The hanyou could dodge and punch them, but even knocked out they kept coming. Inuyasha’s only move was to run towards Kaede and hope she knew what the hell was going on.

At the village, the old woman was on the ground, surrounded by other villagers wielding their farming tools as weapons.

“What’s going on, obaa-san?” he asked, trying to jump into the midst.

“They are being controlled, you have to cut the hair!”

“What hair?”

“We need Kagome-chan, she can see it!”

“Well, she left.”

“You have to go after her then!”

As the words sank in, he felt something around his throat, trying to choke him and cut his head off at the same time. Grateful for the resistance his youki provided, he resisted, jumping away from where he felt was the source of the resistance until something gave out. All the villagers also dropped to the ground.

“What the hell!” He gasped “Get on, we need to leave.”

He offered his back and Kaede climbed on. As soon as he felt the old miko was relatively secure, he jumped to the trees. She was bleeding but seemed out of immediate danger, so he left her hidden close to the well.

“You need to go after Kagome!” she cried out after he had finished digging the hole for her to hide in and covered her up “And don’t forget to come back for me!”

“Yeah yeah!”

And he leapt away from Kaede and into the well.

Chapter Text

Kagome could hear her mother trying to calm her grandpa. They were inside the well house. She was home. Kagome started crying before she was out of the well, hugging her mom as soon as she saw her, pulling her grandpa into it a little later.

“Are you ok?” her mom asked, while jii-chan inspected her and pointed out every wound he could see.

“I don’t know?” she answered honestly.

“Come on, let me take care of you.”

Inside the house, her family doted on her, grandpa ran a bath while mom Higurashi cooked. Kagome felt all the stress of the past few days catch up to her as she sat in the water. The tears flew unimpeded now and all Kagome could think was that she was alive and she was home.

After she was cleaned and dressed, Souta came into her room and gave Kagome the tightest hug he had ever given her.

“I missed you too.” she said, a small smile on her lips.

They went down for dinner together and ate as a family for the first time in days.

With a full belly, Kagome sat in the living room with her mom so she could have her wounds properly dressed.

“Do you wanna talk about what happened?”

“I don’t even know where to start…” Kagome replied.

“Start with where you were.”

“I think it was the past? It was the same place… Just before the shrine existed. Goshinboku was already big…” And I know what caused the bald spot now…

“Oh. That sounds cool.” her mom tried to sound happy, putting on a front, Kagome could tell by the way her voice frayed when she spoke.

“There were youkai…”

“You must have been so sacred.”

“I was. But I wasn’t alone. There was this old lady, Kaede, she helped me get my bearings… And…” Should she tell her mom about Inuyasha? In some ways, he saved her. But he was also part of the danger she faced on the other side of the well…

Her decision was moot when the very hanyou burst into the house through the front door.

“What are you doing here?” Kagome blurted out.

“Who…” her mom started asking when Inuyasha stomped over and grabbed Kagome’s arm.

“You need to go back, Kaede said you can see the hairs.”

“How are you even here?”

He was dragging her away and Kagome was trying to make her head stop spinning when she noticed the hair on his shoulder. It was moving.

“Wait, what’s going on?” her mom asked and Inuyasha noticed for the first time that there were other people around.

“Ah…”

Kagome kinda wanted to laugh at how clueless he looked. This big strong hanyou couldn’t face her mother.

“A youkai is attacking the village that existed here before the shrine,” Kagome explained. “I think they need me because I can see her attacks and he can’t.”

“You don’t have to go.” Miss Higurashi said. “You don’t owe anybody anything.”

But Kagome saw the hair on Inuyasha. And the fact that Inuyasha was there too…

“I need to go. If Inuyasha is here, maybe other youkai can come through too. I can’t risk it.”

Miss Higurashi then grabbed his sleeve, her face serious:

“Protect my daughter.”

Inuyasha was so stunned by the request that Kagome was the one to pull him towards the door, waving goodbye to her mother before running towards the well.

As she feared, an enormous amount of hair was pouring out, almost filling the room. The youkai hair was sharp and reacted to her presence, strands moving together in a lance shape towards her. She barely dodged and it hit Inuyasha full force.

“What the hell!”

Even with this concentration, he still couldn’t see. Kagome moved to close the door of the well house, the hair couldn’t get out, no matter what. Every time the hair attacked, Kagome dodged, pushing Inuyasha away as well, until she saw a single taut strand barely out of the well.

“There! You have to cut there!” she instructed, pointing to the well.

Inuyasha flailed, unable to see his target and Kagome cursed. If he couldn’t see the hair, she’d help him. She moved towards the strand, dodging more attacks that now seemed to focus only on her, before grabbing the strand and letting her blood coat it. A single drop falling to the ground and crystalizing.

“Here!”

When Inuyasha cut the strand, all the other hair went inert.

She grabbed the blood shard and turned to him, just as he was placing his haori on her head. Was he protecting her? Or was it just because she was the jewel?

“You’re gonna need this more than me.”

They jumped into the well together.

Inuyasha was still stunned when he jumped out of the well with Kagome on his back. Her mom asked him to protect her daughter. She didn’t even know his name! How could she trust him like that? Was she insane? Couldn’t she see he wasn’t good?

Kagome said something about hair being all over the forest but he was moving just fine, so he ignored her. They stopped at where he had hid Kaede, he put Kagome down - she was riding on his back and it was weird, ok? - and proceeded to dig the old miko out.

“You found Kagome-chan!” Kaede said as he helped her climb out of the hole.

“Are you ok, Kaede-sama?” Kagome asked

“Yes, I’m mostly alright, just a few cuts.”

“Now, can we deal with whoever the hell is doing this?” Inuyasha was anxious to be able to do something.

“I need to see where the hair is coming from…” Kagome said, looking around, at the trees and then at him. And he knew what she was thinking, so he just motioned for her to climb on his back again.

Kagome waved Kaede goodbye as Inuyasha jumped high up enough to clear the treetops. As gravity began to drag them back down, Kagome pointed towards a direction and the hanyou was on the move.

“She has my blood shards.” Kagome said.

“What? When did she get them? When did you even meet her?”

“When she tried to kill me and I fell into the well.” Kagome answered, matter of fact.

Her mom’s words echoed in his mind as it dawned on him that Kagome was attacked first . The village and him were probably this youkai’s tantrum after losing her prey and he cursed under his breath.

They were back at ground level and Inuyasha started running towards the direction Kagome had pointed. He wasn’t gonna slow down, the fact that this youkai had attacked Kagome first meant she was probably after the jewel, meaning she knew Kagome was the jewel.

“Wait.” Kagome tapped his shoulder and jumped off as soon as he slowed a bit.

“What are you doing?”

They had stopped at what looked like a soldiers camp. The bonfire was just a pile of embers and the corpses had been decapitated. Why would this girl want to stop here?

Kagome fought the urge to vomit, the smell of decay strong and the scene… She was gonna have to get used to this, wasn’t she? In a few steps, she reached what she was after: the bow and quiver with a few arrows.

“You suck with that.” Inuyasha pointed out.

“I won’t get better if I don’t practice and I don’t wanna go face Yura without a way to defend myself.”

He shrugged and motioned for her to get back on his back. As soon as she was positioned, they were off.

Yura’s lair was a mess of hair floating above a cliffside not very far from the village. As soon as Inuyasha and Kagome were out of the treeline she popped out of it.

“Took you two long enough.” she taunted “Thanks for bringing the jewel to me.”

“I’m gonna cut your head off!” Inuyasha screamed before jumping up to attack, his claws out.

He was immediately hit by a thick tendril of hair and sent back flying towards the trees. Kagome readied her bow.

“How cute, you want to fight? As soon as I have your heart, the Shikon no Tama is mine, you don’t stand a chance!”

My heart? The crows were also after it, weren’t they?

“I’m not gonna let you win!” Kagome let her arrow fly.

It missed Yura, but hit her lair, causing a wave of hair to lose its shape and start falling to the ground, revealing the countless skulls inside.

“How about you shut up!” Yura sent a hair tendril towards Kagome and as soon as it made contact with her stomach, the youkai flared her youki to ignite the hair. Kagome’s scream echoed throughout the forest.

Inuyasha came running but it was too late, the girl was enveloped in the flames. Her mother’s words reverberated in his mind, a request turned into a curse and he attacked Yura with blind rage, carving her arm out.

The youkai didn’t even react to the loss of a limb, unsheathing her sword with her other arm and controlling it with a strand of hair, she stabbed Inuyasha through the shoulder. Her hair also took control of her lost arm and it started choking him, her long nails piercing his skin.

“I’m gonna keep your skull once we’re done, half-breed.”

Yura used more hair tendrils to hold Inuyasha in place, while her severed arm tried to rip his head from his body.

His blood stained his white undershirt but it also gave him an opportunity. He may have been tied by hair, but still had some movement. With one hand, he sliced through the arm, the chunks falling to the ground below, before he stabbed himself in the wounded shoulder, his fingers coated in blood.

“HIJINKESSOU!” He shouted. From his blood soaked hand, a powerful blade of blood was thrown against Yura, decapitating her.

He expected the battle to be over, but the hair that held him in place didn’t loosen up. From below, he heard her laugh. Her head was floating, held by a hair, and it moved until it reattached to the body.

“You are gonna have to…” Yura froze mid sentence, pulling her sword off of Inuyasha’s shoulder and throwing it to the side.

His gaze followed her attack and he saw Kagome. The girl was climbing a tendril of hair, going for the lair she had made visible with her arrow. Kagome was alive. Relief flooded his system.

“HOW ARE YOU NOT BURNED TO A CRISP?” Yura turned her attention to attack Kagome, moving the tendrils she was on to try and knock her off.

“Your fight is with me!” Inuyasha used Hijinkessou again, severing Yura’s other arm.

“We need to get the red skull!” Kagome shouted, still holding on to the hair.

His robe protected her. The Robe of the Fire Rat was armor empowered by his own youki and it had a considerable resistance to fire. Inuyasha had never tested it against fire created by youkai before, only natural fires, so the fact that it worked and she was alive? Amazing. Even so, he could smell burned flesh, so he knew she wasn’t completely unharmed, but the fact that she was alive and even moving? He was impressed.

He cut himself free of one of the tendrils holding him and used the other to facilitate his movements. His goal was to keep Yura’s focus on him while Kagome got to the skull.

And it worked. He was stabbed several more times, but she couldn’t stop to control her hair to attack Kagome and dodge Inuyasha’s blood blades at the same time.

When Kagome touched the skull, though, everything came crashing down. The hair cocoon that was Yura’s lair was unmade and the tendril holding Inuyasha loosened. He crashed against skulls and hair that piled on the ground and was about to stand up again when he felt Yura’s sword stab him through the stomach and into the ground, pinning him in place.

She was moving towards Kagome and he couldn’t get himself free.

“I’m gonna eat your heart now.” No sign of the cocky attitude Yura had up until now.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Kagome was holding an arrow and she brought it down on the red comb she had found inside the red skull. The comb from where all the hair originated. The comb cracked. Yura screamed and turned into dust.

She recovered the blood shards from the pieces of the comb, before standing up and walking towards Inuyasha. The weight she was putting on her burned legs made her eyes water, but he was in more trouble than she was right now.

“Pull the sword out.” He instructed.

“I don’t have my first kit here, you’ll bleed out if I do.”

“I’m not human, I’ll be fine, just pull it out so I can move properly.”

She nodded and pulled it out.

“I should bandage your wounds when we get back to the village…”

“You should stop trying to sound brave, I can tell you can barely walk.” He pointed at her legs “Take care of yourself first, Kagome.”

She looked at him stunned.

“What?”

“It’s the first time you call me by my name.”

“Keh. Let’s just get back.” He offered his back for her to climb on and she obliged.

Once back in Kaede’s hut, the old miko tended to Kagome’s burns. The girl wanted to patch Inuyasha’s wounds first, but he took off his undershirt for her to see that they were already closing on their own.

“She was after my heart, just like the crows.” Kagome explained. “She said it was the jewel.”

“If she had already heard of it, more youkai will come after you, dear.” Kaede replied.

“Kaede-sama, can you train me? I need to be able to protect myself.”

The two of them went on to talk miko training and archery and Inuyasha zoned out.

He had already accepted he wasn’t gonna kill Kagome over the jewel, but this had been the first time she actually almost died and it didn’t sit right with him either. So he wasn’t gonna kill her and he couldn’t let her just go and die. So how the hell was he to become a full youkai?

Chapter Text

For a few days, Kagome trained with Kaede and went back home to her time, to spend the night. Inuyasha would shadow her everywhere, even in her own home, though he refused to come inside when she was with her family, preferring the solitude of the roof.

She explained to her mom what was going on in the Sengoku Jidai, that she was the jewel, that she and Inuyasha weren’t the only ones able to cross the well and that she was training to be able to defend herself. Jii-chan and Souta knew the broad strokes of the situation, but Kagome only felt comfortable telling everything to her mom, with whom she could cry.

And she did cry, every night, when the nightmares began. The first one was being chased by the centipede lady and the second was being set on fire. They would take turns tormenting her. They were part of the reason she insisted on going home to sleep. Even if she was aware that Inuyasha could hear her with his enhanced senses, she didn’t want anyone else in Kaede’s village to worry.

During this time, they had a couple merchants come by and ask about rumors of the jewel being back, confirming Kaede’s suspicions that the word had spread and solidifying Kagome’s resolve to train enough to feel confident and then go somewhere where her presence wouldn’t endanger anyone, though she didn’t know where that was yet nor had she voiced this plan to anyone else.

She was considering bringing it up with Inuyasha. He had been more avoidant than usual since Yura, but Kagome could tell he was also less belligerent. Maybe he would consider going with her to wherever. That idea comforted her somewhat. She really didn’t want to be alone.

Kagome was packing to go home for the night when something shook the entire village. At first, she thought it was an earthquake, but as she and Kaede ran out of the hut, she saw a giant youkai approaching. For a moment, Kagome thought she was the target and instinctively searched for Inuyasha, only to find the hanyou looking horrified at their enemy. There was a woman clutched in its hands.

“Okaa-san!” Inuyasha screamed and readied a leap when the appearance of a humanoid youkai by the giant’s head stopped him.

“Aren’t you gonna thank your brother, Inuyasha? I got your mother out of hell for you.”

The smirk in this new youkai’s face, Inuyasha’s brother , made Kagome want to punch him.

He was taller than Inuyasha, with the same silver hair and golden eyes, but with elf-like ears instead. The older youkai had a purple crescent moon on his forehead and violet stripes on his cheeks. His kimono and armor resembled what Kagome would expect a noble of this time to wear and he had a fluffy scarf-like accessory over his right shoulder.

“Sesshoumaru, let her go!” Inuyasha screamed.

“I shall, as soon as you give me the location of our father’s grave.”

“I have no idea where that is.”

“If that is your answer, brother, then I cannot set her soul free.”

Sesshoumaru looked at the giant he was controlling and it squeezed its hands, making Inuyasha’s mom scream in pain. In a second, the hanyou jumped and cut off the giant’s arm with his claws, catching his mother before she fell.

“I cannot allow you to get your reward without giving me what I’m after.” Sesshoumaru said, calmly.

“Watch out!” Kagome was running towards the hanyou. She had been practicing more than bow and arrow. The giant was about to step on Inuyasha and if she could create a barrier, she could protect him and his mother.

Before any of that could happen, though, Inuyasha’s mom jumped in front of him and, with her hands, created an orb of light that enveloped Kagome’s vision. Everything went white.

Inuyasha was surprised to see himself by the lake that neighbored the mansion he and his mother lived in when he was a child. He was surprised to feel like a child. She was there. How did Sesshoumaru get her soul? Why would she have been in hell? She had been a good person! So many questions.

“You’ve grown.” his mother said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“How did you do that?”

“I have so many things to tell you and I’m sure you have many questions, but let’s enjoy this moment for a bit first.” With her arms stretched out, she invited him in for a hug.

Inuyasha felt himself run into her arms and bury in her scent. He didn’t remember much, but he’d never forget it. There was nothing to smell and it should’ve registered as weird to him, but his eyes felt heavy and her hug felt so warm…

Kagome opened her eyes to see Inuyasha and his mom sharing a hug on the other shore of a lake. She had never seen him so happy and unguarded. For a moment, she was happy for him, to be able to get a moment like this with a person he loved and lost.

But the place where it was all happening felt off. It was an idyllic landscape that shouldn’t be possible. There was no mansion this close to the village. Were they teleported somewhere? She made a motion to get up, but her limbs were stuck in place and wouldn’t move. Something was wrong.

Inuyasha!

She tried calling for him and no word came out. Desperate to understand what was going on, she searched every inch of the scene she could see. And that’s when she noticed. Inuyasha’s reflection wasn’t the man she knew but a child version of him. And his mom had no face!

This is a trap! That’s not your mom!

Her voice wasn’t coming out. She was paralyzed, but she needed to break him out of the spell. So she did what she had been training. She focused her reiki to feel for youki around her. Her power was immediately drawn to Inuyasha, a familiar feeling that gave her comfort and confidence. Then she felt the woman next to him. Definitely not human. Then she felt presences around her. And that’s when she was released from the spell.

There were tiny youkai holding her chained.

“Oh, no, you won’t!” She focused her power on the chains and burned her captors with them. “Inuyasha! You have to wake up!”

But no matter how much she screamed, he couldn’t listen. His face was almost entirely absorbed by the faceless woman-yokai.

“Tell me where it is, sweety.” Kagome heard her say.

“The black pearl…” Inuyasha’s voice was weak.

“Let him go!” Kagome grabbed his arm, but the more she pulled, the more he was absorbed.

He was gonna be completely absorbed if she didn’t find a solution. He would be gone and she’d be alone and… There was no way she was letting that happen! Looking around, she saw that the reflection on the water had not been an illusion like the rest of this woman-yokai’s spell. It was real. So Kagome stepped on it and stomped until the water was so disturbed no reflection could form.

Inuyasha was spat out.

“It was all a lie!” he was up and furious.

With his anger towards the faceless woman burning inside, he moved closer, his claws out, only to have her be torn to pieces by Sesshoumaru before either he or Kagome could move.

“I got what I needed.”

Sesshoumaru lifted Inuyasha by the throat, before plunging two fingers into his right eye and pulling a black pearl from it, leaving the hanyou bleeding on the ground.

“Leave it to father to hide his grave in such a convoluted manner. A place that cannot be seen and its own guardian can never look upon .”

He broke the pearl and a portal appeared. Without another word, Sesshoumaru stepped in, disappearing completely.

Chapter Text

“Are you coming?” Kagome was already half way into the portal when Inuyasha finished processing what happened. This had nothing to do with her or the jewel and yet she was jumping into danger without any second thought.

“What are you doing?!” Inuyasha jumped in the portal after her. Kagome had been the one to break him free of the faceless woman’s spell. Without her, he’d be gone by now. And here she was, ready to face Sesshoumaru of all people, with nothing in it for her. The hanyou was both impressed and worried she’d get herself killed because she was insane to the point of stupidity.

The other side of the portal was a pocket dimension with blue clouded skies and a giant bone statue of a dead inu-youkai. This was Inuyasha’s father. Or what was left of him. As the portal spit them out into the sky, Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and landed with her in what would’ve been his father’s stomach.

The place was filled with small bones of what appeared to be more dead youkai of various kinds, enough that it was a solid surface for them to stand on.

Sesshoumaru was already there, studying the two pillars that displayed a single sword each. One sword was pristine and had a straight blade, while the other looked old and corroded, with a slight curve to the blade. Sesshoumaru went for the old-looking one and a barrier prevented him from taking it.

“What were you thinking, Father?” Inuyasha heard him say before he picked up the other sword without issue.

“Hey! Sesshoumaru, you jerk!” As soon as the hanyou put her down, Kagome went straight towards his brother and slapped him in the face.

Sesshoumaru was stunned for a second. Just a second, though, for he simply hit her back, sending her flying towards one of the bony walls, that she hit with such force the sound echoed.

Inuyasha rushed to her side, still stunned that she had the balls to slap his full youkai older brother, but with her mother’s plea echoing in his mind. When Kagome stood up on her own, he let out a relieved sigh.

“I should’ve expected that.” she murmured, glaring at Sesshoumaru.

“What do you want?” Inuyasha asked his brother, not leaving Kagome’s side.

“These swords are Father’s inheritance. I’ve come for what should be my birthright, but Father likes to play games.”

“Father left you swords? Why would he hide his grave in my eye then?!”

“I do not know. But it appears Tenseiga was the only sword he left me. Useless.”

“Tenseiga?”

“You really know nothing. Tenseiga is the sword that can cut those from the underworld but will not harm the living. Tessaiga is the one that can cut a thousand youkais in a single swing. I expected to inherit both, I can’t figure out this shield around it, though.” Sesshoumaru was looking around, searching for a way to bypass the sword’s barrier.

“He had two sons, that sword is Inuyasha’s!” Kagome replied loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Inuyasha was taken aback. He had no memory of his father, no expectation to be given anything from him. The only parent he had ever known was his mother and she had been taken from him far too soon.

“Nonsense, Father wouldn’t have left anything for a half-breed…”

The arrow Kagome shot at Sesshoumaru missed by a hair. Inuyasha stared at her incredulously.

“Say that again and I promise I won’t miss.” Kagome’s face was pure anger. Inuyasha had never had someone fight for him like that. “Get your sword, Inuyasha.”

The hanyou approached Tessaiga’s pedestal and touched its hilt with no resistance. When he tried to pull it out, though, the sword wouldn’t budge.

“Guess you were wrong, human.” Sesshoumaru scoffed.

“I don’t need a sword to kick your ass!”

Inuyasha lunged forward, Tessaiga forgotten. His claws aimed at Sesshoumaru’s neck, but the youkai dodged easily and struck Inuyasha across the cheek with a glowing green whip that emerged from his hand, leaving a sizzling mark.

The two continued this dance, Inuyasha trying to hit Sesshoumaru and failing, only to be left open and taking blows from his brother’s whip.

Neither noticed when Kagome abandoned her bow and ran for Tessaiga. The sword came out of its pedestal with ease and the noise drew Sesshoumaru’s eyes to her. She ran back towards the wall, but the youkai was faster. His hand was glowing green when he shoved her into the bone wall, melting everything he touched.

“Kagome!” Inuyasha screamed but there was only a pile of goo where she stood.

She wasn’t a target this time. He was. And she still… He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and let anger take the place of grief, powering his attacks. His claws scratched Sesshoumaru’s cheek as the youkai retreated.

“Guess it makes sense that a useless human would be the one to pick Tessaiga up. Father really had a soft spot for them, so much so that he used Tessaiga to protect humans. As if that was worthy of him.” Sesshoumaru scoffed “How fitting that Father’s grave should be yours too, half-breed.”

Before Sesshoumaru could attack, Kagome emerged from the melted goo. The sword’s white barrier shimmering around her.

“That was… close.” She looked scared for the first time since they passed through the portal.

Inuyasha walked towards her slowly.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” he screamed at her, his body trembling.

“I was thinking this sword is yours and your brother is a big jerk!” she screamed back “Now take it!”

“What for?!”

“To fight him, obviously!”

Sesshoumaru snarls interrupted the quarrel of the two as they noticed he was transforming into a huge dog. He was assuming his true form.

“Get behind me, I’ll protect you.” Inuyasha said, stepping in front of Kagome.

As the words left his mouth, Tessaiga pulsed with youki. The sword transformed into a big fang-like blade with fur covering the guard.

Sesshoumaru attacked, but Inuyasha deflected him with Tessaiga so Kagome wasn’t hit. In a single move, the hanyou cut off Sesshoumaru’s left arm like butter. While the dog-youkai was down, Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and jumped the farthest away he could get from Sesshoumaru without leaving the ground they were standing on. They didn’t have to look too long for an exit, as the portal reappeared by Inuyasha.

“Time to go!”

He and Kagome jumped through and landed back at the village before the portal closed behind them. Kagome was visibly shaken. 

“Thanks for saying you’ll protect me.” Kagome said, her voice small. When Sesshoumaru tried to melt her, she couldn’t react fast enough to put up a barrier. If Tessaiga hadn’t protected her, she would’ve died.

“Keh.”

With a weak smile at his obvious avoidance, Kagome motioned for them to walk back to Kaede’s.

Inuyasha would never admit out loud, but those moments when he thought Kagome was dead because of him were the worst of his life. Worse than when she was set on fire by Yura. Every time before Sesshoumaru, she had been in danger because of what she was, because of the Jewel. Today, though, she had put herself in danger for him. Without hesitation.

They walked back to Kaede in silence, the old miko had been keeping an eye out for more youkai after the giant had left and they had disappeared into the portal. Inuyasha stayed quiet as Kagome told Kaede what had happened. After that, the hanyou walked Kagome to the well and they both crossed over.

That night, Inuyasha layed down on her roof by her bedroom window and heard her cry silently until she fell asleep. No matter how much she put on a strong face in front of others, almost dying so many times was taking a toll on her and Inuyasha felt powerless to help and he hated it.

Chapter Text

Being home was good. Kagome could process things with the help of her mom and not worry about being a target, so when she woke up after the whole Sesshoumaru situation, the first thing she did was go to her window:

“I’m not going back through the well just yet. You can go if you want.” She knew Inuyasha heard her, but he made no effort to reply, so she just shrugged.

He surprised her by entering her room for the first time since they met.

“What about your training?” he asked, his face angry.

“It can wait.” She didn’t know what stick was up his ass this morning, but she wouldn’t back down.

“No, it can’t! You almost died what? 3 times in the past week?!” He was furious and she could tell it wasn’t exactly directed at her, but that didn’t mean she would just let him take it out on her anyway.

“Yes, exactly! And that means I need to rest! You can either stay here and sulk or leave, I don’t particularly care, but I’m not going!” Her voice was getting higher as she got more pissed.

“So you’re just gonna sit and wait for the next attack?” He was matching her energy and the anger was not going anywhere.

“What’s it to you, anyway? I thought me dying was a good thing since all you care about is the jewel!” Now she was definitely screaming.

“You are impossible!”

“And you are a jerk!”

He moved so fast she only saw his red robes disappear into the well house before she left her room and went downstairs to grab breakfast.

Kagome was fuming but she tried to enjoy the meal with her family. As the time passed and her fight with Inuyasha grew more distant, she calmed down. He was probably worried… Still a jerk though. And despite the fight, she couldn’t get herself to act like her usual cheerful self nor join Souta in the sibling pass time of roasting each other. She was being honest when she said she needed rest precisely because of all the near death experiences. Inuyasha needed to understand that.

She let her family know she wasn’t really up for school that day even if she was home in the morning and her mom asked her simply to walk Souta to his school, which Kagome agreed to.

Once the table was clean, she and her brother went out the door and made their way to the stairs that led out of the shrine and into the street.

“Hey, Gome-nee-chan, what’s that woman doing?”

“Maybe she’s considering buying Grandpa’s trinkets when she visits? I don’t know.”

The woman was staring at the stairs and into the temple and Kagome felt a chill down her spine. She really didn’t want to deal with whatever this was about to be, so she urged Souta on.

After they passed the woman, Souta whispered:

“Her face was weird, like a noh mask.”

Kagome had forgotten about the weird woman by the time she made it back home.

Inuyasha wasn’t sure why he had gone back through the well after the fight. There was nothing for him there if his jewel was in the future with Kagome. But her time was safer, so there was nothing for him there either.

He felt stupid that his worry had fueled their argument. He was scared too and her training meant he could worry less. Her words were still ringing in his ears.

I thought me dying was a good thing .

All you care about is the jewel.

He had given her no reason to believe otherwise, so why did those words affect him so? Why did it bother him so much that she was in constant danger and he could do nothing about it? That night hadn’t been the first time he heard her cry or realized that she had nightmares, so why was it stuck in his head? If he closed his eyes, he saw her dissolving in acid… His fault. If she had died to Sesshoumaru, it would’ve been his fault. And worse, Sesshoumaru hadn’t even been after the jewel! Inuyasha stared at his new sword, Tessaiga. Something that was undeniably his. Something that he only had because of Kagome.

He should probably go back and apologize… Probably. Then again, going back might seem like he wanted her to come back to the past… Better to wait a day.

He swung by Kaede’s to let her know Kagome needed more time at home and wouldn’t be training that day and the look the old hag gave him had been enough to send him running back to the treetops. It had been a knowing look, like she was seeing something in him that hadn’t been there before and he wasn’t ready to face whatever that was.

Kagome needed space and he could give her space, right? But she was the Shikon Jewel and he wasn’t about to let her forget that, so tomorrow he’d go back through the well and… And do what? He knew he couldn’t get the jewel while she was alive and he knew he wouldn’t kill her… Her words hit him again. Would he just… stay? Had it really come to this?

Inuyasha shook his head, punched a tree and took off to hunt some game to eat and clear his head.

Kagome’s day went as chill as she could make it. She helped her grandpa around the shrine and helped her mom in the kitchen and when it was time, she even went to meet up with Souta at the end of the day so they could walk home together.

After dinner, she retired to her room and the dread settled in her stomach. Inuyasha’s angry worry was still playing on repeat in her mind. Maybe she should’ve been less combative? Maybe she should apologize when she went back to the past after she had processed the most recent events.

Kagome had talked to her mom about the more recent brush with death and realized that, unlike Yura and the other youkai that had attacked before, Sesshoumaru hadn’t tried to kill her to get the Shikon no Tama. He had tried to kill her because she was human first and because she was with Inuyasha second. His grudge had been personal and his hate… Tessaiga had protected her from the acid, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel like her skin had been melting off her bones. It had hurt so much and she had been afraid to scream and end up swallowing the acid.

On her desk, she saw the pile of homework her friends had been bringing in for her since she started spending most of her days on the other side of the well. Her grandpa had found a chronic illness that could explain her absence for long stretches of time and that was the story they were going with. She stared at the pile and sighed. At least that would keep her mind off of things. And she was in her last year of high school, she might as well finish it, right?

A few hours into her study session, Kagome felt eyes on her. With a gasp, she called out to Inuyasha on instinct, even if she knew he wasn’t there. Looking around, she confirmed she was alone in her room. It was past midnight and she had gotten through as much homework as she was gonna be able to that night, so she closed her books and got ready for bed. The feeling of being watched didn’t leave her completely, but being under the covers helped enough that she could fall asleep.

Kagome was surrounded by bones and Sesshoumaru was hovering over her, his face a distorted fusion of his human and dog looks. His hands reached to touch her, the green acid glow enveloping his fingers and she tried to run, but her feet were trapped. She had no bow and her hands wouldn’t obey. She tried to put up a barrier but Sesshoumaru melted it. She tried to scream, but had no voice.

Inuyasha was behind him, also trapped in bones, struggling to get free.

When Sesshoumaru’s acid hand finally grabbed her arm, his other hand pierced her stomach, her blood dripping to the ground and crystallizing. Sesshoumaru smiled and let her go, she’d bleed to death, there was no point in finishing her off.

The youkai picked up all the blood shards from the ground and swallowed them. His form changed, his eyes turned red, his ears became more dog-like and his snout grew longer and his teeth grew sharper. And his speed was so great, Kagome only realized he had attacked when she saw Inuyasha’s head roll off on the floor, his body limp in his prison.

Kagome woke up screaming. She felt like she was going to throw up, so she bolted to the bathroom. The nightmare, still fresh in her mind. All the pain she should be feeling from the wounds inflicted on her during the nightmare had been replaced with the horror of Inuyasha’s death. A death only possible because of her blood.

When she came out of the bathroom, shaking, her mom was waiting for her with a glass of water and a hug. Kagome let herself sink into her mother’s arms and cry. They didn’t need to talk, Kagome had no words to explain the situation anyway. Once she calmed down, she wished her mom goodnight and went back to her room.

For the first time that day, she was glad Inuyasha had gone back through the well. That nightmare, her scream… If he had heard that, would he have come in the room to check on her? Would that have helped at all? She was sure that if she saw him now, with the nightmare fresh in her mind, she’d cry more and in front of him this time and she wasn’t ready for that .

Through the open window, she heard the loud crash of a car accident. By how loud it felt, Kagome could only assume it happened right at the entrance of the shrine. The right thing to do would be to call emergency services, so she did, letting them know she only heard the crash and had no more details to give besides her address to guide them to a location.

Kagome could only fall asleep again after the sirens of the rescue team grew loud enough to drown out her nightmares and she noticed the feeling of being watched was gone.

Chapter Text

The next day, Kagome decided to go to school. She wasn’t feeling 100%, but better enough to want to try. There had been no more nightmares after the nasty one, though flashes of it would still catch her off guard after she woke up. Before she got out of her room to start the day, she listened to see if Inuyasha had come back during the night, but there was no sound coming from the roof.

She left home early so she could avoid the rush of students trying to get to class when the bell rang. On her way, she couldn’t help but feel the same sensation she had the previous night. Someone was watching her, though she could not find who it was. It was unnerving and made her walk faster towards her school in the hopes that inside she’d be free of this feeling. Nothing happened, though, so she decided not to worry too much about it, at least while in school.

She was already seated when her friends walked in. Eri, Yuka and Ayumi had been her best friends since middle school. The four of them were inseparable until Kagome was dragged into the well over a week ago. So when they noticed her sitting there, all three of them rushed over, excited.

“How are you feeling?” Ayumi asked after everyone had a chance to hug Kagome.

“Tired, mostly. My body aches a lot too, but I’m getting used to it.” She answered truthfully. Whatever illness her grandpa decided to go with, those symptoms would probably fit and were about to be as consistent as it would be expected of a chronic condition, since she knew her days going to the past were nowhere close to being over.

“Guess you’re not up to go grab a bite after school, are you?” Yuka asked.

Kagome considered it for a minute. She definitely needed to get her mind off of the Shikon no Tama and the whole thing going on in the past. So she smiled:

“I think I’m well enough to go.”

All her friends cheered.

School was uneventful but when the bell rang and they were on the streets on the way to get some fast food, Kagome felt watched again. The fact that this was still going was enough to signal to her that something was deeply wrong, so she expanded her reiki, trying to feel for any sign of youkai activity nearby. There was nothing. How was there nothing?

“Is everything ok?” Eri asked, when Kagome kept turning around to look behind her, which alarmed her friends.

“Don’t you guys feel like someone is watching us?”

“Now that you mention it…” Ayumi agreed.

All her friends started to look around as well, but there was nothing or no one suspicious anywhere, youkai or human.

They decided to eat fast and go to the shrine, where Eri’s parents could meet them to make sure they were safe on the way home, so no one would have to walk home alone.

The catching up was nice, though Kagome could only half pay attention to the conversation, her mind on both the nightmare and this feeling-watched thing that had been going on since yesterday, so when her friends got into the topic of boys, Kagome was caught off guard. They were still trying to set her up with Hojo and she managed to shut that down, at least, before the focus became Ayame and her new boyfriend. Out of the four girls, Ayame was now officially the first one to ever be in a relationship, so that was big news. Much like Kagome, Eri and Yuka had never shown interest in boys, but Ayame was always daydreaming about one crush or another, so they were all supportive of their friend.

Once it was time to leave, they walked quickly towards the shrine, the feeling of being watched had subsided but was getting stronger the closer they got to Kagome’s home. They all said goodbye at the shrine stairs when Eri’s parents showed up in their car and Kagome felt relieved her friends were safe, but the unnerving feeling didn’t go away until she was inside her home.

Her mom was making dinner for Souta and grandpa, so Kagome joined to help. Her brother would be home in about an hour and jii-san was occupied with the storage, again, so it was a good opportunity to talk.

Even though she had spent the entire day avoiding thinking about the nightmare and everything that was going on over on the other side of the well, being home meant facing reality. Her life wasn’t gonna get any better any time soon and if the weird feeling she had been feeling for two days now was any indication, maybe this time wasn’t exactly safe either.

“What do you think will happen if I can’t get the jewel out of me?” Kagome started, her voice breaking a little as tears formed in her eyes.

“Oh, baby…” her mom stopped what she was doing for a moment to hug her daughter “Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out, ok?”

“But what if this is a thing forever? What if you guys are in danger too?”

“Then we’ll find ways to protect ourselves. If youkai are real and you have miko powers, then we can find charms that actually work to protect us. Jii-san can ward the shrine, the charms we sell may not be powerful, but he knows some stuff.”

“That would help…”

Souta came home like a hurricane, interrupting the conversation. His face was scared and he was talking too fast:

“...they were killed in the park like they had been half eaten? And people are saying the killer is a woman with a Noh Mask for a face and it was like two blocks from here and me and onee-san saw a woman like that yesterday when she took me to school and do you think she’s gonna come here?”

“Wait, Souta, slow down…” their mom started saying, but Kagome got what he meant.

“When was this?” she asked, trying to summon her reiki to put up a barrier around the house.

“I don’t know? This afternoon?”

When I was out with my friends. The barrier was forming but not lasting more than a few seconds, so when the door caved in, Kagome screamed for Souta and her mom to flee.

“It’s after me!” She said, dodging when the lumbering mass of bodies melted together came through the door and the Noh Mask it had for a face extended towards her, trying to bite.

She kept dodging and steering it away from her family.

“I’ll draw it away! Someone go get Inuyasha!”

If only I had my bow… She still wasn’t a very good archer, but at least that would’ve meant she had a chance to fight back. The way things were, though, fleeing was her only option.

And as soon as she could, Kagome bolted out the door, running for her life, with that thing too close for comfort. For what it was, it seemed to move impossibly fast and while Kagome was managing to stay free from it, the lunges were hurting and, at one point, it managed to scratch her with one arm, drawing blood.

“Shit!” She had no time to stop to try and catch the shards she knew would form, which meant the youkai would get it. “Shit shit shit.”

Please, Inuyasha, hurry!

Inuyasha was lounging on Goshinboku watching the sunset and trying very very hard to keep from fidgeting in the endless boredom he felt. Even with his senses on alert, in case Kagome came back, he could tell there was literally nothing happening in that forest. Sure, the wildlife was, you know, living, but he had already hunted a meal. It was weird. To feel bored like that. He was used to being chased by every human and youkai he came across, especially when he was this close to a village, since either the humans would feel threatened by his presence or the youkai that claimed that village as his territory would feel entitled to his blood. Kaede’s village wasn’t hunting him, even if they clearly didn’t like him, so that was a plus… And Kagome… She had been scared of him, sure, he had given her reason to, but now… Now she seemed to accept his presence. Which was doubly weird. So Inuyasha didn’t know how to deal with boredom. At all.

He was starting to consider going to the village just to annoy Kaede when he caught a scent that shouldn’t be there. Jumping down from the tree, he went to check the well and, sure enough, there at the bottom was Kagome’s little brother. They had seen each other around the house even if Inuyasha stuck to the roofs, but hadn’t interacted much. When Souta looked up as Inuyasha called out to him, the smell of tears hit the hanyou in the face.

“The fuck happened?!”

“Kagome-onee-san is in danger!”

Inuyasha didn’t wait for more explanation before jumping down the well. In a flash, they were both going back to Kagome’s time.

Chapter Text

As soon as his feet touched the ground on Kagome’s side of the well, Inuyasha picked up Souta and jumped off. He could smell Kagome, her scent was strong and there was another scent alongside hers, wood and blood.

Her mother was outside the well house, waiting for them. As soon as she saw Inuyasha, she pointed in the direction Kagome’s scent went.

“I saw her running off that way! Hurry, that thing was big!”

She reached out to help Souta off Inuyasha’s back, but he shook his head:

“I’m going!”

Inuyasha needed to get going fast, so he took that as permission to leap to the trees and follow the Kagome’s trail, but he had the presence of mind to shout “I need him to tell me what’s going on and we need to go now” as an explanation to Kagome’s mother.

Souta clung to his back tightly and explained all he knew about the Noh Mask woman in the time it took them to catch up to Kagome.

She had fled towards a construction site that was empty this time of night. Somehow, she had thought she’d be safe, since she’d climbed a few floors and was looking out to the grotesque youkai on the ground. Kagome wasn’t safe though, the Noh Mask stretched her limbs and pulled herself up in a second and Inuyasha could tell it was boosted by Kagome’s blood shards already.

It was trying to bite at the young miko and, even when Kagome managed to dodge, it clearly scratched and hurt her enough to draw more blood and create more shards. If let to continue, the Noh Mask would get powerful enough to become a problem even to the hanyou.

Inuyasha set Souta on the floor and pulled Tessaiga out, activating the blade.

“Kagome, duck!” he screamed and the relief on her face was obvious when they made eye contact in the split second it took her to get out of his line of attack.

The sword cut the body in two, but the mask was intact, so the youkai started reforming around Inuyasha’s arm.

“Watch out!” Kagome screamed back at him.

Inuyasha’s only reaction was to use his claw to cut the mask in half, causing the entire youkai to fall inert.

As soon as the danger was over, Kagome ran over and hugged him, stunning the hanyou with the show of affection.

“Thank you!” She said, before breaking the hug and looking around.

“You were awesome!” Souta got out from his hiding place behind some construction materials and ran over to Inuyasha.

As the little boy fussed over him, Inuyasha kept an eye on Kagome. She was still bleeding, though her clothes were absorbing the blood, while she walked around collecting the shards that were in the youkai. When the last one was finally in her possession, the Noh Mask turned to dust.

“I wanna try something…” She said, looking at around 5 shards on her palm.

Both Souta and Inuyasha stopped to look at her and saw as the pink reiki collected on her palms, enveloping the shards until they were no more.

“Oh, good! That’s something I can…” Kagome passed out before she finished the sentence.

Inuyasha leapt from his place to catch her before she fell on the floor.

“Let’s get your sister to bed.” He said, motioning for Souta to climb on his back again, while he carried Kagome in his arms.

They got back to the shrine fast, Mrs. Higurashi was evaluating the damage to the wall of the living room with the old man when Inuyasha joined them. The entire way, Souta was praising the hanyou, calling him a superhero and all that and Inuyasha didn’t really know how to deal with that, so he stayed quiet and just let the kid talk.

As soon as they were back, Souta jumped out and started rambling to his mom and Inuyasha didn’t know what to do with himself, so he cleared his throat to draw attention to the girl passed out in his arms.

“Oh, is she ok?” Mrs. Higurashi was clearly concerned when she noticed the blood on Kagome’s clothes, though the fact that Souta wasn’t freaking out probably indicated to her that she was out of immediate danger.

“She has a few scratches and bruises, but I think she just passed out from using her spiritual powers.” the hanyou explained.

She nodded and guided him towards the upper floor and to Kagome’s bedroom, indicating for him to put her to bed. He gently put her in her bed and left the two of them alone, going back to the destroyed living room.

Souta was now rambling to his grandpa when Inuyasha got back. The old man looked worried but was nodding along to his grandchild’s tale.

“You should go to bed, Souta.” the old man said when the boy yawned.

When it was just Inuyasha and the old man, the silence was oppressive, so the hanyou just started cleaning the mess the youkai had left behind. Grandpa Higurashi just nodded and left him to it with a quick “good night”.

Inuyasha cleared most of the rubble by the time Mrs. Higurashi came back downstairs.

“Thank you.” She said.

“Keh.”

“And thank you for helping with the mess too.”

She sighed and watched him work for a while, until the living room was liveable again, even without a wall.

“You can use the couch to sleep if you want, Inuyasha.” Mrs. Higurashi said, saying good night.

He simply nodded. There was no way he was going to the roof when the house was exposed and he knew now there were youkai on this side of the well too.

For the first night in a while, he didn’t hear Kagome’s nightmare grunts and cries and he wondered if it was because she was exhausted enough to not dream. The thought that she had to completely burn herself out to have good rest didn’t sit right with him, but there was nothing he could do.

Kagome woke up sore. She felt more rested, there were no nightmares even after being literally attacked in her own home. There were youkais in her time. She felt the anxiety rising and she was about to start hyperventilating when someone knocked on her door.

“I’m awake.”

Her mom walked in, with a worried smile.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I took a beating, I guess?”

“Inuyasha is downstairs, are you feeling ok to come down for breakfast?”

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a sec.”

Kagome got changed and noticed that she was wearing her pajamas instead of the school clothes she’d been wearing last night. With a sigh, she walked out of her room. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she noticed the mess from yesterday had been cleaned as best as possible.

“Good morning.” she said, taking her seat.

It was only her, her mom, grandpa Higurashi and Inuyasha at the table, Souta was clearly still asleep. They ate in silence, but Kagome could feel her mom had something she wanted to say, so when they were all done, she wasn’t surprised when Mrs. Higurashi cleared her throat.

“I have to explain something to the both of you…” she started.

“Are you sure, Masako-san?”

“It’s time she knew, Jii-san.”

“What’s going on?” Kagome could not think of what this could possibly be about.

“We don’t know why the well house was unsealed that night, sweety, but I think you should know why it was sealed in the first place.”

Kagome waited. That fact the well house was sealed had always been a fact of life for her, she had never even considered questioning it before. Her mom sighed before continuing.

“You were four, I was pregnant with Souta, so I was resting on the couch and you were playing outside with your dad. I’m not sure what happened, but you ended up in the well house and you fell in, so he jumped after you. I don’t know how long you guys were gone, because we” she pointed to herself and grandpa Higurashi “only knew you were gone when your dad walked through the door covered in blood with you crying in his arms.”

“What?” Kagome was in shock.

“He was bleeding a lot and your grandpa called emergency services immediately, but it was already too late. He only told me that there was a portal in the well and youkai attacked you when you fell in. He passed out soon after and when the emergency services arrived, he was already gone…”

“Mom…” Kagome’s head was spinning. She had been to the past before… Her mom and grandpa knew about the portal in the well. Her dad died protecting her… She couldn’t breathe.

“I sealed the well that very day…” Grandpa Higurashi added.

Kagome got up and ran to the bathroom to try and get some privacy and calm down. Her mind was racing. If she wasn’t the jewel, she would never have gone to the past. Her dad would still be alive. Souta would have a dad. Her mom would never have lost her husband. Her grandpa would never have lost his son. It was all the jewel’s fault. She wanted to scream.

Chapter Text

When Kagome came out of the bathroom, she saw the concerned face of her mom. She hadn’t screamed, she had laughed like a madwoman, her mind had broken and she hated the jewel more than ever.

“I’m gonna find a way to get rid of this thing for good.”

“Kagome…”

Her mom tried to stop her, but she was already walking downstairs and calling Inuyasha so they both could go back to the past. The hanyou simply nodded and was by her side in an instant.

Mrs. Higurashi was clearly worried about her daughter, that now had an obsessive look on her face, so she hugged Kagome before speaking:

“Help your grandpa put up a barrier before you go. It’ll help you worry less about us, I’m sure.

Kagome simply nodded and prompted her grandfather to start immediately.

Between the two of them, they had a functioning barrier done that covered the entire shrine grounds after a couple of hours. Kagome was exhausted but even after her mom suggested she rest for another day, she refused.

That was the first indication something was up with her that Inuyasha noticed, his ears flicking towards her to hear the conversation better.

“Kagome, the last time you spent this much reiki that I know of, you passed out. That was yesterday!”

“I’m fine, mom. Yesterday I was also running from a youkai. And the barrier here took less reiki than purifying the shards, even if it is a huge barrier. Grandpa is the one that’s gonna maintain it, there will be no drain on me.”

“I still think you should stay another night…”

“I’ll come back to sleep here like I’ve been doing everyday, but I need to train, ok?”

And that’s the compromise her mom accepted, because everyone thought, Inuyasha included, that Kagome was planning on not coming back to the modern era anytime soon by the way she was acting. At least that point was settled.

With that, hanyou and miko said their goodbyes and headed for the well.

As soon as they were back in the past, Kagome ran for the village, looking for Kaede. She didn’t even wait for Inuyasha, leaving him behind with his thoughts. She was definitely off.

Kaede picked up the training right back up and Kagome didn’t take a break from shooting arrows until sundown, and she only stopped because she literally could no longer see the target. The training routine was back, she would train with Kaede and sleep in her time every night, but this time around, Inuyasha and the old miko had to drag Kagome whenever it was time to take a break. She wasn’t stopping to eat, shower or rest, her focus entirely on getting better with the bow and arrow and her powers.

It was getting to the point where she was sneaking out at night to train by the Goshinboku at her shrine. Inuyasha would follow, but he’d stay out of her way, mostly because he didn’t know what to do. She was almost obsessive.

One day, Kaede let Kagome train archery and pulled Inuyasha aside:

“She is struggling with all of this.”

“Tell me something new, will you?” He replied, his eyes on the miko from the future.

“Ah, so you did notice. I thought you still had your heart set on getting the jewel, Inuyasha.”

“Keh.”

“She’s gonna need your help. What she told me about her father, it affected her more than anything before.” Kagome had explained to Kaede what had happened in her past when she came back and asked to intensify the training. “She had focus before, now she is just hurt.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Inuyasha scoffed.

“I expect you to understand that you both need each other. She needs you to help her get through this and you need her… Well, I’m gonna let you figure that out for yourself. Just don’t take too long!”

And with that, Kaede left him with his thoughts and went back to instructing Kagome.

All of Kagome’s desperation came to a head when they were in Musashi, training in the forest, just her and Inuyasha and a group of snake youkai that were hunting nearby attacked them. They were lesser youkai, with no higher sentience, so it was obvious to the hanyou that they were only hunting for food, even if said food was humans. Of course, they still could not get Kagome’s blood or they could become a real problem.

He reacted faster than her, killing the first few snakes, but Kagome reacted harder. She saw the danger and lost control. Her powers went into overdrive and her reiki blasted off of her in waves so powerful, Inuyasha was knocked into a tree. When he thought he’d be purified for sure, the onslaught stopped.

All the snake youkai were dead and Kagome was kneeling down on the ground, crying but making no sound.

“Hey. Hey, you’re ok.” Inuyasha said, kneeling down by her side.

She didn’t react.

“They are gone, you killed all of them.”

“That wasn’t me.” Her voice was so low he barely heard her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I… For a second there, I…” I wanted to die, I wanted to let them kill me . But she didn’t say that. “I lost control…”

“Yeah, I got that part, but it was still your power, right?”

And that’s when it hit her that when she said it wasn’t her, he thought she was implying it had been the jewel. That thought horrified her.

“Yes! It was my power. But…” She took a deep breath and stopped crying. “For a second, I wanted to let them kill me. I thought that if I was gone, everyone would be safe.”

“That’s stupid. If you die, whoever killed you gets the jewel, and then no one is safe.” His voice was mocking, but he also sounded a little desperate. Kagome wasn’t even sure if he noticed that.

“Yeah…”

He stood up and offered her his hand, which she took. She still had an empty expression and that unsettled the hanyou to the point that he offered to take her home. She smiled at him then and he took her to the well so they could rest for the night.