Kagome was excited for today, it was her 17th birthday, two of her best friends, Yuka and Eri said they had something big planned for her. Although she was a little worried that it was just another setup with Hojo, they just couldn’t understand that she wasn’t interested in him. She was a normal teenager with all the teenager hormones but she wasn’t as boy-obsessed as her friends and she was starting to get a little tired of the fact that all their conversations revolved around them. She loved her friends but sometimes she just felt like she didn’t fit in with them.
Although, if she were being honest with herself, sometimes she felt like she didn’t fit in with anyone. The most comfortable she felt was when she was at home, she loved her family very much and they loved her in return. Even if her brother could get a little annoying sometimes, the pest. She had a good feeling about this year though, she had passed her high school entrance exams and was doing well so far. Yes, her 17th year was going to be her best year yet.
“Kagome, have you seen Buyo?” She heard her mother yell from the kitchen.
Kagome was outside, getting ready to leave for school when she looked at the well house that was on her property, where she saw her brother. He knew he wasn’t supposed to play in there. From legends, it’s a sacred well and there are a lot of stories behind it, she’s grown up on those stories but she took them all with a grain of salt. She didn’t believe in magic, or youki. Although, she had to admit to herself. The carving of that beautiful dog demon that was above the good house door was beautiful and almost enchanting. She’d spent a lot of time looking at it and wondering how it got there, or imagining the fantastical story behind it.
“What are you doing, Sota? You know you’re not supposed to play in there, it’s dangerous.”
“I’m not, it’s Buyo.” He said as he took a few steps into the well house. Kagome didn’t want him to get himself hurt so she put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him back so she could go in there first. It wasn’t like he was tall enough to get Buyo if he fell down the well. Then again, she wasn’t sure she was tall enough either.
Sota became frightened and jumped behind her when there was a scratching sound coming from under the cover of the well. “Ahh, something is down there!”
“Uhh yeah, the cat.” She said with as much sarcasm as she could muster. She sighed and then started to walk closer to the well.
Kagome screamed when Buyo purred and rubbed himself against her. She picked up the cat but couldn’t stop looking at the well, something was making a sound down there.
“Haha, now who’s the scaredy cat?” Souta taunted.
Kagome turned around to give him a piece of her mind when the cover of the well burst open and she felt many hands grab onto her. They pulled her back and down into the well. As she was falling down the well, she was almost in shock, she was pretty sure she was having a stroke or something, she had to be going crazy, there was no way a bunch of bodyless hands were grabbing her right now. After a few seconds of falling, she saw a blue sparkly light envelope her, and her fast fall turned into a gentle floating feeling. It was the strangest thing she’d ever felt or seen before. It took her a little while to realize they weren’t a bunch of unconnected hands, they were fifteen pairs of hands all connected to one woman who didn’t have legs, the bottom half of the woman was almost like one of those weird gross squiggly bugs she’d seen before.
The woman tried to grab her by the head but Kagome wasn’t having any of it, she tried to push the weird bug lady away by her head and when she did, a strange pink light emanated from her hand. She looked at her hand confused having never done anything like that before. Part of her thought she was dreaming because this was too fantastical to be real.
When she made it to the bottom of the well she somehow landed gently on her feet even though when she was falling. Her back was aimed at the ground. She was surprised when she looked up that she no longer saw the roof of the well house, instead, she saw the bright open skies. She didn’t know what was happening but she knew she wasn’t going to get any answers at the bottom of a well so she started her slow clumsy climb up using vines and rivets in the wood.
~~~~~~
Sesshomaru did not know what drew him to his half-brother’s forest but the feeling was strong. He had a feeling that something important was going to happen today. He stood in front of the half-breed and stared idly at him. His lip lifted in a sneer looking at the whelp, he held nothing but disgust for him, and not only because of his tainted blood. The only reason he didn’t cut him down right now is because he was more honorable than that. Oh, he would be the reason for his half-brother’s death one day but it’ll be when he can fight back in a fair fight.
He was about to force himself to leave, even though his blood and demon were demanding him to stay when he heard a noise. He inhaled deeply to figure out what was coming and he couldn’t tell. He knew whatever it was, was female but he didn’t know much more than that. It had traces of human but the scent was far too clean to be one. It also scent of power, and a lot of it, but had no trace of a demon. Inus were curious by nature and since his demon already wanted to stay he decided to jump up into the tree of his brother and wait to see what this creature was.
When she came through the bushes he thought she looked human, albeit dressed obscenely. Maybe she was a whore? That didn’t account for the power and her scent though. He decided to watch to see what she’d do. She walked right up to his half-brother. ‘Do they know each other? ‘If she is human, she’d be too young to know him, at least that’s how I thought human ages worked.’
She climbed up into the tree then reached for his ears, and seemed to play with them. “Good, now that I got that out of the way.”
“You there, back away from the demon!” A human man from the village yelled at the woman.
The people that followed the man that spoke looked angry, they all had weapons and looked like they were deciding if they wanted to use them on her. He had the insane urge to get her out of the line of fire. He chastised himself, this was none of his concern. He did not care what happened to the girl, at least, that’s what he kept telling himself, even though his beast was vehemently disagreeing. It was not easy but he kept himself in the tree when they tied her up and took her away. Again, he wanted to leave but something told him to stay.
It was not but a half hour later when the woman came running back towards him, this time with a centipede demon following her. With his enhanced hearing he could hear that the demon wanted the sacred jewel from her.
‘That had been burned with his half-brother’s miko, was it not? Is that where her power came from? No, it’s similar but her power is somehow more.’
Sesshomaru realized somehow, the whelp had awakened. He did not know it was possible and he had no interest in speaking to him. He decided to deal with him later, or not at all. It was not as if he could get down, the arrow was still keeping him stuck to the tree. When they finally burst through the bushes, the centipede was catching up on the woman fast. Almost without his conscious thought, he jumped out of the tree and scooped her up. She was frightened for a second before she sagged in relief and then held on for dear life. He thought it strange that she would feel so comfortable in his arms but decided to think about it later.
~~~~
Kagome was scared, it’s been one thing after another since she fell down the well, and she still wasn’t sure she wasn’t dreaming. She thought she was going to die, that weird bug lady was catching up to her fast and her legs were already moving as fast as she could make them. She was sure she was only seconds away from getting eaten or whatever that lady was planning on doing to her when the next thing she knew, she was no longer walking, she was being carried.
She was terrified it was the bug lady before she looked down and saw they were men’s arms. She relaxed immediately, she turned her head to see who her savior was and saw the most handsome man she’d ever seen in her life, or in her imagination for that matter. She held on for dear life when she realized they weren’t on the ground and this guy could literally fly. She was back to being terrified when he placed her at the highest branch of the highest tree she saw around and then left her.
‘That jerk!’ She thought irrationally.
~~~
Once he found a place high enough that the centipede could not reach, he placed her there and then turned back to take the demon out. Normally, he’d never kill another of his kind for a human but he never liked centipede demons and for some reason, something inside him was telling him to keep her safe. It was no hardship to cut the demon down. He turned around and then lifted off on his youki cloud to get the woman down. When he made it to her, he saw that she was angry.
“What was that about? Just leaving me up here like I’m some toy you can put down then pick back up whenever you want.”
“I do not own such things.”
“That’s not the point!”
“Hn.”
He put her safely on the ground and then turned around to walk away from her and her complaining.
“Hey, now you wait a minute, I think you owe me an apolo-ahh!” She ended in a scream when she was picked up again, this time by the centipede, she realized when she turned her head to look.
‘Wasn’t she just cut into a million yucky pieces?’
~~~~~
Sesshomaru turned his head when she screamed and cursed himself for forgetting their regenerating abilities. He seriously thought about just letting the demon eat the girl so it could rid him of this unexplainable want to keep her safe. Even though a big part of him wanted to do just that, he ran at the demon. Unfortunately, the demon was fast and she dug her teeth into the woman’s stomach. His eyes flashed red because of his beast’s anger and if it wasn’t for his centuries learned control, he would have lost control of his human form and transformed into his natural state, a great inu.
The centipede’s bite obviously hurt the woman, she let out a painful scream and that was enough for Sesshomaru to move faster than he’d ever had before. Later, he’d have to think about why the human made him react in such a way. For now, he had to focus on helping her. He sped forward and slashed her again with his claws. The problem was, that she swallowed something and grew in size. He assumed it was the sacred jewel. During her transformation, she dropped the woman, Sesshomaru dove for her and caught her just before she hit the ground.
He held her close with his arm and used his free hand to brush her bangs back to get a clear look at her face, she was clearly in pain and was barely holding onto consciousness. He placed her down as gently as he could then turned his attention back to the now giant centipede.
This time, instead of his claws, he used his whip to slash off as many parts of her as he could. Unfortunately, they were growing back as quickly as he was cutting them off. He decided to try cutting off her head.
“It’s in her stomach!” He heard the woman call.
‘What is in her stomach? Is it the jewel they were speaking of?’ In the end, he supposed it didn’t matter, he’d find out soon enough. So he used his claws with his poison to dig into her stomach. He grabbed a whole of the jewel and burned her stomach in the same attack. Thankfully, she did not heal fast when he pulled it out of her. She dove for the jewel and a Sesshomaru pulled it away the centipede rammed against him and knocked the jewel out of his hand and down to the ground. He saw the woman go for it so he turned his focus to ending this demon once and for all. When he cut her down again, just as quickly as he did the first time, she let his poison drip from his fingers onto her body to the point that it disintegrated. There was no way she was coming back from that.
The woman must not be too physically strong or have quick reflexes because a crow demon swooped down and took the jewel from her hands. He was making his way back to the woman when he saw the miko of the village hand her a bow and arrow. The miko was encouraging the woman to shoot the bow but she didn’t think she could make it that far. So again, he scooped her up and started to follow the crow hoping to catch up to it.
As they got closer to the crow the woman started to aim her bow even though she had absolutely no experience and let go. He was surprised that when she let go of the bow, it was filled with reiki.
‘So she is a miko, that makes her human then, and even though her power has lessened a little bit once the jewel came out of her, she is still very powerful, albeit untrained from the looks of it.’ Sesshomaru thought.
She hit the mark and the crow disintegrated. She started cheering and laughing happily at her success. To Sesshomaru’s surprise, in her happiness, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He stiffened but didn’t reprimand her, and he still couldn’t figure out why. If it were anyone else, they would be at the end of his claws for having the audacity to touch him in such a way. Then again, if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t have wasted the time or energy to save them in the first place. He forcefully put those thoughts away to think about later.
When they landed, she was still happy. That is, until she went to look for the jewel and only found a few scattered shards of it.
“Oh no, what did I do?” She asked with dismay.
“You broke the jewel that hundreds or maybe thousands of humans and demons alike lust over,” Sesshomaru stated the obvious.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious.” She said with an eye roll
“That is not my name, you may address this one as Sesshomaru-sama, or Lord Sesshomaru.”
Kagome wanted to roll her eyes again, if she wasn’t in such a rush to get home, she thought she’d have fun trying to ruffle this guy’s feathers. Then again, she just broke this apparently important jewel, honor dictates she had to stay here and fix it.
‘They couldn’t have gotten that far, right? Might take a few days to find them all but I can do it!” Kagome thought.
“You can call me Kagome, it’s nice to meet you, and thank you for coming to my rescue so many times today.”
“Hn.”
“You, demon, get away from her!” Kaede yelled while making her way over to them.
A lot of the village was behind her again, all holding weapons ranging from shovels to bows and arrows, aiming at Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru just quirked a brow at the humans who were foolish enough to think those puny weapons would hurt him. Kagome didn’t see that though because she was already facing the crowd and standing in front of Sesshomaru, trying to protect him.
That made those strong instincts that were telling him to stay, even stronger. He wasn’t even sure if he could go against his instincts now if he wanted to, which he didn’t. Not anymore, anyway, he stopped fighting them already.
Kagome, for her part, felt the same connection as Sesshomaru did and she was just as confused about it but she trusted her instincts so since they told her to stay close and trust this demon, that’s exactly what she’d do. That couldn’t happen if she let this mob of people try to kill him.
“Hey, everyone stop it! He’s not trying to hurt me, he just saved my life like five times in the last hour. He’s on my side! I trust him.”
“Than ye be a fool, child. He is a demon, not just any demon either. He’s the older brother of the demon I was telling you about earlier, the one attached to the tree. He is known for his cruelty and for his hatred of our kind. He is probably only being nice to you to lull you into a sense of safety so he can get the jewel.”
“I do not want that cursed thing. It only breeds false power, I need none of it.” Sesshomaru did not know why he bothered responding to the miko, it was not as if he cared about her thoughts on him.
“See, you heard him. And like I said, I trust him.” She put one hand behind her head, rubbed it slowly, and laughed awkwardly. “Anyway, who cares about that stupid jewel, it’s not as if it’s important. It wouldn’t matter if someone took it for themselves or, say, broke it into a thousand teeny tiny pieces, right?”
Sesshomaru felt the urge to chuckle at the little miko but held it in. He was shocked after that realization, he had not found anything amusing in years, possibly decades.
“Of course it matters, child. That is the sacred Shikon jewel. It is said to grant a wish to the one that has it. It must be kept safe so that no one with ill will can use it to grand a wish that will breed destruction on the land. As it was housed inside you, you are the Shikon miko and are destined to be the one to keep it safe, just as my sister, your precarnation, Kikyo spent her life doing, so must you.”
Kagome’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Yeah, I had a feeling you would say something like that. Well, I guess there’s something I should tell you. I might have, possibly, broken it.”
“What do ye mean ye broke it? Bring it here, let me see.” Kaede said.
Kagome held up the measly four shards she had on her.
Kaede sighed miserably “I know you are not from here, child but ye must bring the jewel back together, it is ye duty.”
“I have to figure out how to go home though, I have schooling and I’m sure my parents are worried about me.”
“Are ye the type to forsake your duty? To make a mess and leave others to clean it up?”
“What? No!”
“Then ye already know what you must do.”
Again, Sesshomaru was wondering what he was still doing here, near this human village. He had his quest to complete, he had to find his father’s resting grounds so that he might finally find the Tessaiga and have it for himself. He couldn’t walk away though, his beast was fighting with him for just thinking about it. He knew that she would not be able to take care of herself if she went about the lands collecting all the shards. She is untrained and does not look like she knows how to take care of herself if she were to travel.
It is not as if he couldn’t do both. He could travel with her, to keep her safe while she does her duty and also continue on his mission. But why is that what he wants to do? She is just a human miko, yes she’s attractive, yes she’s powerful, but he’d known plenty of beautiful or powerful women before, why was she special? He decided he would travel with her, at least until he figured out why he was drawn to her so. Once he finally had his answers, he’d be able to get away from her.
Kagome, for her part, knew what Kaede was saying was correct, she just didn’t know how to handle it. She was 99% sure she traveled through time and that she didn’t have a stroke, or go crazy. She stood up straight, she was Kagome Higurashi, and she was a strong, now 17-year-old adult, she could figure out how to complete her duty here and still keep up with her life back home.
Now, she just had to figure out how she could go about collecting the jewels. It’s not as if she knew how to survive out in the wilderness while traveling. She used to go camping with her Papa but that was completely different, she never had to hunt for her own food or protect herself from demons before. She looked hopefully back at the handsome lord who’d saved her life. She mentally shook her head, he didn’t know her and already spent a decent amount of time saving her life today, there’s no way he’d want to help her with this quest that was made because of her mess-up. Still, though, she had to find a way to survive out there, obviously, she had to go home, not only to talk to her mama but to get as many supplies as she could. Maybe, she could go on her computer and look up tips for hunting and surviving in the wilderness.
“You shall come with me, I will protect you on your journey.”
Kagome jumped in shock. That was much easier than she thought, and she’d be much more happy if she didn’t have to do this alone. Although, it begs the question, “That’s very nice of you Sesshomaru, but why would you do that for me?”
His eye twitched at the lack of honorifics but decided to bring that up with her later when they were alone. “I need no other reason than I wish to do so. Though if it’ll make you feel better, this one shall say that he does not need the chaos those shards will bring to his lands.”
“Wow, you’re like a real lord, with lands and everything. Where are you lord of?”
“You are standing on my ground right now. My lands are the largest of all the lords.”
“You’ll travel with me to help me collect the jewel? And you don’t want it for yourself?”
“This one does not like repeating himself. This one already stated he does not need them.”
Kagome had the urge to throw herself at him with a gigantic hug but she had a feeling he wouldn’t be open to such things so instead she smiled widely and bowed. “Thank you so much, Sesshomaru. It means a lot to me, I’ll find a way to repay the kindness.”
His eye twitched again because of how she addressed him but he was able to ignore it for now. He had a strange feeling that came over him when she called him kind, he had never heard someone speak of him thusly.
“It is fine, Miko. We shall depart now, I have no urge to stay in this village overnight.”
“Kagome, child, you cannot be seriously thinking of going with him. We have men here who will travel with you for protection. You needn’t put your safety in the hands of a demon. Especially one such as he.” Kaede said with disgust. Kagome was shocked at the vehemence in her voice.
“I’m very serious. I already told you I trust him.”
“If that is your choice, I want no part of it.”
“Fine then!” She huffed then crossed her arms, turned her back to the mob, and stomped her feet.
‘Is there a reason for so much hatred between the two or is this good old-fashioned racism?’ Kagome wondered.
She turned her attention back to Sesshomaru. “I need to speak with my mother and pack for the trip first. She must be worried about me.”
He stared at her for a long time, thinking over her request. “Hn. Let us go them.”
She laughed awkwardly. “You want to come with me?”
“Hn. I am now your protector. I shall go where you go, to make sure you’re safe.”
Kagome thought it over before deciding to let him come. It was one way to know for sure she wasn’t going crazy. If Mama, Gramps, and Sota saw Sesshomaru then she’d know it’s all real.
“Okay, come with me. There are some things I have to explain to you first.”
Kaede looked at Kagome disappointedly, and alarmedly, she could not believe that Kagome was not only going with Sesshomaru but trusting him with the knowledge of where she was from. As Kagome walked passed her, Kaede grabbed her arm to stop her then chanted something, and the next thing Kagome knew, there was a necklace around Sesshomaru’s neck and his eyes were read. He was furious and Kagome had no clue what happened.
“You must name a command, I put subjugation beads on him for if you ever feel unsafe. Give a command and he must follow it when you say the words.”
“Stop! I don’t want that! Take it off of him right this second!”
“Yes, stop is a good choice.”
“What? No, I didn’t mean to choose the word stop, I just wanted you to stop!” Kagome yelled at Kaede. Her yell turned into a scared scream when Sesshomaru used speed so fast she couldn’t see it with her eyes to move over to them and wrap his hand around Kaede’s neck.
“Take them off. Now.”
“I cannot.” She rasped out.
“You can, and you will. If you do not you will not live long enough to regret it.
“Only Kagome can.” He slowly took his hand off the older miko’s neck.
“How do I take them off? I don’t want to have control over him, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I trust him.”
“You must use your reiki to break the beads.”
She laughed awkwardly again. “And uh, how do I do that?”
“Focus child, you might be untrained but you are strong. Your power came to you when you needed it earlier today, did it not? Try to focus your energy on him.”
“I don’t want to hurt him. Doesn’t reiki kill demons?”
Sesshomaru scoffed. “You cannot hurt this one, I am too powerful for your reiki to do anything more than be a slight irritation to me.”
She huffed “Okay, I’ll try.”
She walked up to him, put her hand on the beads, and focussed, trying to draw her reiki out of her. After a full two minutes of nothing happening, she sagged in defeat. “I’m sorry, Sesshomaru, I don’t know how to do it. I never meant for this to happen to you, you have to believe me. I promise I’ll never use the word. I don’t want to subjugate you.”
“Hn. Reiki and youki are very similar. They are equal opposites, and because of this, I can use my experience with my youki to teach you how to use your reiki. We will practice every morning, it will not take long until you are in control of your power and you can take this off of me.”
“Okay! I promise I’m a fast learner. I’m sorry, again.”
“Hn. Let’s go.”
Kagome gave Kaede a dirty look as she was passing her. She blamed Kaede for messing with Sesshomaru. Kaede didn’t say anything else or try to stop her, so it did not take long until they were walking the path back to the well. At least, that’s what Kagome hoped, anyway. She was only about 75% sure she was going the right way. She decided it was now or never to tell Sesshomaru where they were headed.
“Um, do you know of a well around here?”
“Hn. The Bone Eaters Well. We are heading straight towards it.”
‘Oh good.’ She thought, then shivered in disgust at the well’s name. She sure hoped they weren’t being literal when they named it.
“Where is your home?” He did not want to waste time wondering, she obviously had no sense of direction, and he wanted to make sure they were going the right way.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy for what I’m about to tell you.” He didn’t verbally respond, he just quickly flicked his eyes to her, waiting for her to continue. He already figured out she was strange but she seemed to have all her faculties. “I’m not from here,” she hedged.
He scoffed as if he had not already figured that out. “Yes miko, this one is aware.”
She huffed. “Okay, okay, I get it, I’ll just tell you, you’re obviously not one to beat around the bush.”
He felt perplexed, why would someone beat around a bush? eat what? For what reason? Thankfully he did not have much time to think about it because she kept talking. “I’m from the future, from what I can tell and from what I’ve learned in history, probably about 500 years in the future. I didn’t mean to come here. I was minding my own business, excited to celebrate my birthday when the bug lady burst through my well, grabbed me, and dragged me here.”
She stopped to give him a chance to say something but he didn’t. He had no idea what to say, even for a being such as him and one who’s lived so long, he had never heard of anything like this before. He felt shocked, which was another thing he hadn’t felt in a long time. This one little miko was bringing out a lot of emotions in him and he didn’t know how to feel about it.
Once she realized he wasn’t going to say anything, she continued. “Things are a lot different there, so there's some rules you’re going to have to follow and I have a feeling that’s not something you normally do. But please for me, to keep everyone safe, just follow them.”
“And what are the rules of which you speak?”
“Hmm, let me think. Okay, number one, don’t attack anything unless I say to. There are going to be a lot of things there that you’ve never seen before, some might be a little shocking, maybe even scary but most likely, they put us in no danger. Two, don’t leave my house, at least, not without me. Demons aren’t really known there, I don’t know if they’re hidden or what but you’d scare a lot of people if you went walking around looking like you do. Three, uhh actually, that might be it. The rules are subject to change if I think of anything else though.”
He did not like the idea of taking orders from everyone, and he could not fathom a time when demons would not be out in the open and proud of their heritages. For those reasons, he wanted to say no, but his curiosity was getting the better of him and he was excited to see the changes five hundred years could bring, for that reason alone, he replied, “This one agrees to your terms.”
“Good,” Kagome said as she nodded her head. Then she smiled at him again.
It only took about another minute of walking before they were at the well. She looked down the well, a little worried, she just hoped this would actually get her home, she had no idea how to get there otherwise. She took a deep breath and climbed onto the wood of the well she saw Sesshomaru quirk an eyebrow at her.
“This is how I came here, I was minding my own business when the bug lady grabbed me, I’m hoping this is how I get home too.”
He looked down to the bottom of the well and decided that a human could hurt themselves if they jumped and hit the bottom and since he took his job as her new protector seriously, he once again grabbed her and then hopped into the well.