Legends by offeringsurvival

Prologue

Discalimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Hey! Thanks for checking out my story ^_^.

**

Once again she was allowed passage through time.

Currents washed over her skin, tingling her to the depths of her soul. It had been so long since she had been to the in-between.

There it is, she could see the other side now. The light of the feudal era's sky beckoning her after three years of absence. When she reached it she could feel the tendrils of time slipping away from her, caressing her as they tossed her up--somehow conscious of the half demon ready to catch her.

"Inuyasha..." She felt the transition as the eddy placed her into the time plane. She landed in Inuyasha's arms and hugged him tightly, "Inuyasha!"

But he didn't move, not until she pulled back to see his confused expression. His hands grew tight and he pulled her off of him.

"Why did you come back?" His face curled in a sour frown.

"What?" She searched his face, "Is something wrong?"

 “It would be better if you stayed back there.”

Kagome reeled, "Inuyasha, what?"

He looked her over, his eyes filled with something long ago decided, "Don't you have better things to do? Or did you finally finish school?"

"Well... yes. But I don't have to go back anymore, Inuyasha," she smiled despite the tension, "Remember all those times we fought about me leaving? Well, we won't have to do that anymore because I.. I want to be here."

His back was to her now and she tried to see his expression.  Though no matter how many steps she took forward, she could not see his face.  A feeling of constriction began to wind up her spine.  Why couldn’t she see his face?

“Funny you mention it… I really did get angry about that.  Yet you never let up.  You just had to live your double life, had to go to school.”  She couldn’t move anymore.  “How ignorant… how stupid could you be?  The jewel’s shattering was your fault, the shards caused people to die, yet you had to go home and take your stupid tests!  Do you realize how many lives could have been saved if you weren’t so selfish?  Carrying those stupid books everywhere and leaving for weeks at a time, slowing us down.  If you had just put an ounce of the same effort into becoming a better miko…” he sighed, “You could have stayed in the future for all I care Kagome, you sacrificed enough to make a life there.”

A rush of blood filled her ears. Her vision was blurred by tears and something unreal. Something not right. Everything felt wrong, she couldn't breath. He grabbed her then and shoved her into the well.

Kagome vaulted into reality.

It took her a few tries to blink the blur of sleep from her eyes, and a few more to realize it was still dark out. A storm was thrashing against the walls, but it was comforting in its own way. She looked over and was glad to see Rin hadn't been disturbed by any outburts she might have had during her nightmare. She'd had nightmares often in the past three years. It had not been long since her return to the past, but she was starting to get the feeling being back would not end them. There were different variations but it was usually about the same thing. Her irresponsibility or, now that she was here, her family questioning why she left them for Inuyasha.

The epiphany she had when stuck in the future was sudden.  She realized how irresponsible she had been, too young and inexperienced to understand the responsibility dropped into her lap.  No clue came forth as to why she was brought to the past, but she often wondered the outcome had she been more mature.

Of course, she was the only one blaming herself.  None of her friends faulted her actions… it was over, they said, Naraku was dead and the quest was done.

She sighed.

It was strange now, without a great battle to be fought. No quests to be completed. Just day to day life. She hadn't quite thought through this part of coming back to the feudal era. All she could think of was seeing them again, but seeing them again only lasted so long... then there was the next line of business: having a life here.

Kaede had taken Kagome under her wing along with Rin.  She figured she would wriggle her way into Inuyasha and Miroku’s exorcism outings, even if it was their sort of “man time” to relax away from women and babies. Babies!  She had time with Sango and the children, at least.  Miroku and Sango’s twins were irresistible and the new born a delight.  She supposed playtime was a full time job, especially with Shippo better than ever at his pranks.  He stayed for longer than usual, according to Sango, to welcome her back. Though to her dismay she learned his visits were usually few and far between, as he favored sticking to his training clan. She couldn't fault him, he'd found a place to learn and grow.

She and Inuyasha hadn't yet discussed the future of their relationship, but the weight of their past romantic declarations was not totally ignored. It was only a matter of figuring out her place in this world, she thought, to be able to focus on the next chapter.

****

Kagome had thought to hang out with Rin that day but her roommate was wisked away by Jaken before she could ask.  As she walked through the streets towards the rice fields, she heard villagers mumbling… something about a white clad demon soaring into the village.

This was the first time Rin had a visit from Sesshoumaru since Kagome had come back. Sango had told her he came baring gifts every once and a while. She was not sure if she found the meetings odd or adorable.  Rin had always been by his side, but why was such a big, bad demon going out of his way to lavish a human girl with gifts?  She was not one to judge, but if Sesshoumaru had proven himself to be anything… it certainly had nothing to do with presenting small girls with flowery dresses.  She shrugged.  Guess this is one of those instances of not judging a book by its cover… or the first couple of chapters.

A red blur landed next her. 

Inuyasha stuffed his hands into his sleeves, glaring in the direction of Kaede's hut.. which just so happened to be where Sesshoumaru and Rin were located. She could see Kaede had bowed out to attend to something else.  Inuyasha seemed content to glare in silence until Kagome broke it.

“You know what, I’ll go with adorable!”

“Huh?”

“I think it’s cute he comes to visit her.” She nodded to herself.

“Keh, you would,” he paused with a frown, “but besides my hating him, it’s a problem because he's unsettlin' everyone.  Don’t think anyone could get used to having that bastard around.”

“Except Rin?”

“Yeah… the only reason he comes here is the only reason I don’t kick him out.  Yet.  They’re like family… which is weird, considering.”

“Maybe you could use this chance to get to know each other.” Her lip quirked.

 “I’d rather find another jewel and shatter it to smaller pieces.”  Kagome paled visibly, but Inuyasha’s attentions were drawn elsewhere as a white figure shot up into the sky.  She turned to see Sesshoumaru flying over the fields in their direction.  While the demon was vision to behold, she could not help but be oddly amused by Jaken flailing around on his fur.

He was approaching quickly and she saw Jaken mouth something to him.  His eyes moved in her direction.  He seemed annoyed or… disgusted... or some other moderately negative reaction when he saw her.  Before she could quell her sudden urge, “Onii-saan!” came blurting out of her mouth.  His face was priceless, “Ah, he made a really mean face at me,” she turned to Inuyasha, “Y-you too.”

“That had a really nasty ring to it.”

She laughed and watched Sesshoumaru disappear into the horizon.  

Suddenly, she heard their names being called by Rin who was waving them over to Kaede’s hut.

**

 “Did Sesshoumaru bring you something again?”  Kaede asked as she stirred a stew.

The girl nodded, “A new kimono.”  She unfolded it and held it up.

“I think this might be a new favorite!”  Kagome knelt next to Rin. It was a deep solid orange and with violet flowers strewn about the right shoulder.  Inuyasha rolled his eyes and would have snarked but Kaede handed him a bowl filled to the rim.  He chose food over insults.

They ate and laughed together, only touching on the subject of Sesshoumaru a few times.  Kagome and Rin knew they could talk about the demon in more detail once they were back in their own hut.  A few villagers knocked on the entrance and asked Inuyasha if he could help move a few trees that had fallen from the night's storm.

A few storms had blow through recently, signaling cold fronts and the approach of fall.  The people here knew the seasons by feel and the stars; she only remembered it by daylight and weather.  She would get the astrology thing down in a matter of time.. she often wished she had remembered to bring her sleeping bag or toothbrush, but cut off the thought.  She was mature enough to deal with the fact she would not have the comforts of the future with her anymore.  The well teased her, but she was not ready to test if she could make round trips.  Either way, if she wanted to live here permanently it would be unfair, if not a little rude, to live in a place where no one else had such comforts.

She and Rin stayed with Kaede mixing salves and tea for the villagers until the sun began to set.  Rin’s day of excitement took a toll on her energy and she drifted off while the others talked.  Rather than wake her, Kagome decided to let her stay the night with Kaede.  She stepped out to find Inuyasha perched on top of the hut.

“Hey, I want to show you something.”  Inuyasha landed next to her and kneeled down, signaling her to hop on.

It had been a long time since she had felt the air hit her face at this speed.  The browns and greens blurred together to a blissful mash up of nature and wind.  He was running through his forest, up an incline.  He skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff and let her down gently.  The view was stunning.  She could see the slight changes in the village’s layout and size from the last time she had looked down from this height.  It hit her, the amount of freedom she had in this time with these people.  She knew she and Inuyasha were bound to tomorrow… and yet..

No matter how much she loved this place, she could not help thinking…

Am I honestly meant to be here?