Written by: Giulia "Kagome".
Translated by: Djibril.
Beta-read by: Myst. *thank you*.

Legal Disclaimer:
Inuyasha doesn't belong to me, but to Rumiko Takahashi.
Inuyasha's manga © 1996 Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan.
Inuyasha's anime © 2000 Takahashi Rumiko, Sunrise, YTV.

Introduction:
The fic is placed in a random point of the series, after Kouga's appearance. Since the young Kagome is staying in the Future, both Kagome the girl and Kagome the woman will appear in the fic. To distinguish them, they are called differently. The older Kagome (the one who lives in the Future) is called "Kagome-sama", while the 15-year-old Kagome (the one who comes from our time) is called Kagome-chan, when they are in the same room. Otherwise, "Kagome" is always the 15-year-old girl from our time.

The sentences inside the parenthesis [Hello] are the thoughts, the others inside the quotes "Hello" are the speeches, and the parts in italics are the flashbacks.

"Why should I stay hidden?" asked Kagome. Miroku had led her back to the Higurashi shrine, to then hide her into the well's house.

"What would happen if the others see you, Kagome-chan? Kagome-sama left today for a mysterious visit ... she didn't want to tell anybody where she was going, but I have some suspicion." He stopped for a moment, looking thoughtful. Then, he gazed again at Kagome. "How do you think the others will react? Sango, Onigumo, Ki-chan...."

"Now that you mention it: who is she? What is she doing in my house?"

"Wait, Kagome-chan...."

"And Onigumo? Who the hell is he? It's not common as a name, here! Can it be that Naraku came back to life to deceive us?"

"Calm down, Kagome-chan...."

"No, I want to know!"

"Kagome-chan, don't you think a cup of tea would clear your mind?" Miroku seemed nervous. His gaze moved costantly around, as if he were looking for a way to escape. Kagome let him go to make some tea: she was tired because of her run and would've given anything for a drop of water.

Miroku went to home, thoughtful. [Kagome-chan, I know you're dying to know all that happened. I don't want to keep that from you, but I can't avoid it. I'm really sorry ...]

"I'm back!" he said entering the house. He removed his sandals and left them on the porch.

"Welcome back, Uncle Miroku(1)!" Kikyou's cheerful voice echoed in the house. The girl ran towards him, took his hands between hers and made him move in a frantic twirl. The monk was a bit confused when she finally let him go.

"Ki-chan, you'll never grow... How can you make fun of a poor monk?"

"Uncle Miroku, don't kid me. I know that if I gave you a hug like everyone else, and if I didn't hold your hands, you would've groped me..." His smile grew nervous--she knew him well.

"Hi, Pop."

"Hello, Onigumo...." Miroku suddenly scowled. [This boy always managed to behave in a disrespectful manner,] he thought and stretched a hand towards him, as if he were waiting for something, before addying, "Show me your report card."

Onigumo sighed. He didn't make him forget it was the delivery day, even by teasing him. He suddenly wore an afflicted expression and headed towards his bedroom. Soon after, he was back with a little portable computer.

His father opened it, trying to remember how that thing worked ... for one like him, used to the simplicity of the Sengoku Jidai, it had almost been a trauma to discover how technology influenced human beings in that era.

Onigumo started to hope that his father couldn't read his marks ... but Kikyou helped him, opening the digital PC and tapping the code. The boy glared at her and she showed him her tongue. When Miroku's eyes fell on him, Onigumo's legs melted.

"Da ... Fa-father ... I ... I can explain...."

"I'm 'Father' only when you need to, right? Onigumo, what's this 30 on 100 in History? And that 45 on 100 in Math?" Miroku's eyes threw flames at him. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop watching girls and go study?"

"Dad ... I'm not the lecherous one of the family. It's you the one who is always scolded by Mother..." Miroku's blood boiled, hearing the disrespectful way Onigumo was speaking to him. But, unfortunately, his son had said the truth: he was the true family pervert ... Sango always scolded him because, even after their marriage, he hadn't lost the habit to grope every beautiful maiden he met. *And I'm even lucky you don't ask them anymore to bear your child!* He couldn't help smiling, thinking of his wife usual exclamation. But he soon darkened again [When Sango comes back from the doujou, I'll have to speak with her about this dissolute boy...,] he decided.

"That's true. However, Onigumo, from now to the end of next term your Playstation 4 is sequestered ... you have to study hard, if you want to succeed in life, one day!"

"But Dad...."

"No buts! Shut up and go to your bedroom!"

While the boy walked sadly towards his bedroom, Miroku hurried towards the kitchen to boil the water for the tea.

"How come you're making tea, Uncle Miroku?"

"I'm having guests, Ki-chan."

"Is it the girl with the strange uniform? Who is she?" This assertion surprised him: Kikyou really was a particular girl. How had she understood that....

"Yes, who the hell is she? She had somehow ... a familiar look." Miroku turned to the new interlocutor, sighing. In that family, secrets couldn't be kept, indeed.

"I'm back!" Kagome's voice echoed into the house.

"Oh, well ... you're back, at last...." The young man in a white fighting robe looked at the woman from the door, annoyedly. He crossed his arms on his chest and leaned on the door, supporting his weight on a single foot.

"What a good way to say welcome, honey...." An older Kagome glared at him. The man suddenly removed his foot to let the fury who was running to her pass.

"Mum!" Kagome-sama smiled, snuggled into her daughter's tender hug.

"Hello, Ki-chan! At least someone welcomes me with joy." The sarcasm in her voice wasn't new to the one in question.

"Welcome home, Mum!" Kikyou gave her mother the computer with her notes. Kagome smiled at the thrill in her daughter's voice. She noticed with pleasure that this time she had got a good mark even in English. Her joy was probably due to that result.

"Very good, Kikyou. I'm glad." The girl's smile was like a gift. The woman took off her shoes and went to the kitchen. She had a strange wrapped thing in her hands that lured everyone's attention. But, for the moment, Kikyou decided she had more important things to say.

"You know, Mum, Uncle Miroku today has guests."

"Really? And who might be?"

"A girl. I think she has the same age than me. I heard her inside the sealed well's house." Kikyou saw a flash of warning pass through her mother's eyes. She suddenly darkened, but Miroku didn't leave her the time to ask other questions.

"Kagome-sama, I can explain."

"It isn't a youkai, right?"

"No, don't worry."

The woman sighed in relief. For a moment she had feared some youkai could've overcome the seal she and Miroku had put on the well seventeen years before.

"And so, who...?"

"You know, it's that...."

"Please, come in." Sango's kind voice echoed into the entrance. Miroku stood up, hoping that his wife hadn't brought some friend with her. But his eyes went huge when he saw Kagome-chan, who was politely removing her shoes at the entrance.

"Miroku...." Sango's look expressed a bit of blame, but not as much as she normally showed after her deadly pinches. "How could you make her stay outside, in the well's shrine? Kirara fortunately smelled her! We would've been very rude forbidding her to come in. After all, this is her house!" Miroku sighed. Kikyou stretched out from the kitchen's door and soon after followed her mother's head. Kagome-sama watched at her younger self with astonishment.

"So I had well understood.... Uncle Miroku, what are you doing? You bring your girlfriends in the well's shrine (2)?" The young girl glared at the monk; Miroku and Sango's face turned pink.

"What are you saying, Ki-chan?" he shouted. "How can you even think these strange things?" she added. "Eeeeeeh?" Kagome exclaimed, more flushed than both.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the man in the fighting robe shouted, parting from the door. He would've talked more, but the adult Kagome neared him and embraced his waist with her arms, whispering something in his ear.

"Honey, it's not polite to bother this girl with questions on the entrance door ... why don't you come in? You can sit down in the living room, if you want!" The woman guided her younger self through the new disposition of the rooms, up to the large living room. There, she gave Kagome-chan a pillow and made her sit on the tatami.

[Honey? That man ... is my husband?] Kagome-chan stared at the person with dark short hair. He looked somehow familiar ... but he was she couldn't make out. He wore a short white kimono and trousers of the same kind, outfit usually worn by martial artists. Indeed, he had a black belt around his waist.

He had an half annoyed and half angry expression, making him similar to Inuyasha. But ... even though he wasn't that nice, he didn't speak exactly like the hanyou. Then, how come he was human? And that Kikyou ... who was she? She had called Miroku her Uncle ... was she one of the monk's relatives? Or was she the same Kikyou of the past back to life? And if they had used the Shikon no Tama to resurrect her ... what had happened to Inuyasha?

Miroku, Ki-chan and Kagome sat beside her, on the living room pillows. The mysterious man was again plastered on the door's frame, with a foot on the opposite side. He removed it only to let Sango enter the room with the tea tray, then he put it again where it was.

"Well, now that we're all here, we can speak," Miroku began.

"But... Onigumo?" Sango asked, scrutinising the monk with curiosity. Miroku tossed to her a strange object, which Kagome-chan classified as an electronic notebook, or something like that.

Sango started the mechanism, helped by Ki-chan, and then her eyes went huge. "What are these bad marks?" she asked, angrily: probably it was a future report card.

"That's the same thing I asked him, but he couldn't give me a valid reason. I sent him to his bedroom to punish him, and he will stay there until new instructions." Sango nodded and Kikyou seemed to want say something to help her friend, but Miroku's glare stopped her words in their way.

"So, I was saying.... Now we're all here, and we can finally speak," Miroku said. "Today I was cleaning the garden and saw Kagome-chan slink away from the well's house window. I followed her and saved her from the troubles she had been in." The monk told them briefly about Kagome-chan's meeting with the school inspector. Then he saw that Kikyou was scrutinising her and remembered that, at the name 'Kagome-chan', she had gasped.

"Yes, Ki-chan. The girl before your eyes is your mother when she was about your age. I don't know how she managed to come, but now she's here and we have to help her."

"My mother?" the girl said dumbfounded, as her eyes passed rapidly from her mother to the strange girl with the old fashioned uniform. "My daughter?" Kagome-chan's eyes went huge. This was really unexpected. Her daughter? Kikyou?

"How can I have called my daughter with ... with her name?" she shouted and stood up, shocked. Her future self smiled.

"We'll explain, calmly. Now sit down again, Kagome-chan," she said. Kagome-chan blushed, ashamed by her behaviour. She couldn't look at Kikyou anymore ... her daughter of the future was staring at her, and she was bewildered.

"Kagome-chan, after the last battle Sango and I decided to come to the future. After all, Sango had no more living relatives, unfortunately, and I preferred to stay with you all than come back to my old master. We married and now we have a son, Onigumo."

"How come Onigumo?"

"I can't tell you this, Kagome-chan," he said after a moment of reflection. Sango eyed him puzzled, but immediately understood his reasons.

"But ... Onigumo was the thief who loved Kikyou and who had created Naraku ... wasn't he? Miroku-sama, you should hate that name ... your father and grandfather died because of him."

Miroku sighed. His thoughts travelled up to the past, at that day of eighteen years before that had signed their destiny.

They had finally managed to almost destroy Naraku. The new body he had built at Mt. Hakurei was very strong, but it didn't help him. It had put them in trouble, indeed, and he had caused a lot of problems. But in the end, the group's strength had prevailed.

Naraku looked at Kikyou who had, together with Kagome, created a barrier all around him to prevent him from escaping.

"You fool. Do you really think that you've defeated me? Last time you tried, you've nearly escaped from death."

"My only purpose in this world is to destroy you, Naraku. I can't leave peacefully until I kill you with my bare hands." The woman aimed his bow against him, ready to hurl at him the next spiritual arrow. From the opposite side, Kagome seemed her mirror. Shippou-chan was standing on Kagome's shoulders, trying to give her strength. The group had formed a circle around Naraku's torn body, and everyone was ready to attack him to give him the deathblow.

"Hehehehe. Kikyou, look at yourself. You can't even stay on your feet. The body that witch had built for you is almost totally broken. How can you even hope to destroy me in these conditions? Don't you think it will be better to surrender and obtain in exchange a more rapid dead?"

"Naraku, you bloody bastard. Kikyou won't die again because of you! I will avenge her, at all costs!" Inuyasha had reached his limit. He didn't notice how much his words had injured someone else, on the opposite end of their opponent. But they did, worse than everything Naraku could've done. He didn't even notice that Kikyou's bow had changed target. The hama-arrow, which passed at a few inches from his face, took him by surprise. He glanced bewilderedly at the miko.

"Kikyou... why..." he muttered.

"Inuyasha, I'm not letting you risk your own life for this revenge. Your life belongs to me. Only I can decide when you have to die," she replied. Her eyes were hard and cold, her voice icy, and the second arrow was ready to strike.

"As you wish...." The half-demon lowered his head. He decided to give Kikyou the possibility to take revenge on her own. But, if something was going to be wrong, he would never forgive himself.

"Hehehehe. Kikyou, what do you want to do, huh? Hit me with an arrow? You know that yours own no more a great power," he said, pretending a confidence that he didn't have, since he jumped when another one of Kikyou's arrow grazed him.

"Next time I won't fail, Naraku!" Kikyou's bow tensed again.Nobody had noticed that the priestess had staggered for a moment.

[Damn it ... this body is collapsing. I have lost all the souls that helped me to move, and even focusing is becoming difficult.] Her eyesight was misty. She had to focus all her purifying spirit in a single blow and try to pierce Naraku. [I don't want to die before having killed him! That's the goal I imposed myself when I kept on living ... and I want to make it! I need a single blow, only one....] The woman stuttered visibly. Naraku's glance of triumph was worse than a stab to her.

"Kikyou... you can't even almost walk, right? I feel your spiritual energy decreasing... You won't be able to kill me by hitting me!"

In that moment, Kikyou's bow hurled the last arrow. It stroke Naraku just in the middle of his chest and produced a blinding light. The priestess collapsed.

"Damn it! How could she still have that much power?" Naraku screamed; something in him was breaking. His half-demon's body seemed to open and, from his insides, exited a man with an arrow stuck in his heart. He wavered around, aiming at a precise point.

"Mus... no... Onigumo!" Inuyasha shouted. The man stumbled and then fell, and the arrow that had pierced his heart went more deeply into his body, coming out from his shoulders. But he stood up again, stubbornly, and kept on dragging himself towards the same precise point than before. Inuyasha turned around and saw Kikyou lying on the ground, where Onigumo was trying to go. "Kikyou!" he yelled, running towards the young woman's tortured body.

"Inu ... ya ... sha...," she stammered, while the hanyou bend to support her and looked at worriedly.

"Kikyou! You... you'll be alright, you won't die, right?"

"Inuyasha ... you're worrying about me or...." a groan of pain escaped from her throat. "Or maybe are you scared?"

"What are you talking about? Have I ever..."

"I'm dying Inuyasha. I'm dying ... and I read only worry in your eyes." The boy winced at her hardly whispered words.

"What are you bloody saying, Kikyou?"

"I'm dying and you're worried, you're not sad. I...." The woman raised her hand with enormous effort, touching Inuyasha's face in a light caress. "I' ... ve never seen you cry for me."

"What the hell does this matter, now?"

"Nothing Inuyasha, nothing...." The dieing priestess's hand went again on the ground. Meanwhile, Onigumo had arrived there and had collapsed near her.

"Kikyou. I ... I didn't want to kill you. I...," he wheezed. The priestess turned towards him and smiled, with remarkable effort.

"I know, Onigumo. Your feelings weren't pure, but I know you didn't want to kill me. Thanks to your will inside of Naraku's body, I could destroy him." She spoke in a very faint voice, as every single word she pronounced tired her more and more. Onigumo's body shuddered, then relaxed: Kikyou's arrow had completed his task.

"I'M NOT DEAD, YET!" roared a voice behind them.

Kikyou's eyes got wide. She felt an evil aura nearing them at incredible speed. She turned to look at Naraku and finally understood: the half-demon needed his adhesive. Even if he was dead, Onigumo was a necessary "piece" of that monster's body.

Even Kagome threw an arrow, which stopped, for a moment, their enemy run, severing his arm.

[I'm not going to let you near Onigumo!] The miko thought, and then created, with her last powers, a barrier in which she could protect the man, Inuyasha, and herself. Naraku tried to break through it, but he couldn't even graze it.

"Inuyasha... You have to finish him, please. I won't last long," the priestess said. It was as if she was pleading at him her last desire. Inuyasha put her down softly and then exited from her protective barrier.

"Naraku, you asshole. It's time for you to die. Now!" He looked down upon the being in front of him. His body, divided into two halves by Kikyou's arrow, was beginning to discompose in the many demons that had formed it. Inuyasha gulped--of course, this was the reason why Kikyou had created that barrier! Naraku still needed Onigumo! He could say everything he wanted, but he never would've been perfect.

"Yes, now it's the end for you!" Kagome finished Inuyasha's sentence, from behind the monster. The girl hurled another arrow that, this time, pierced the back part of the demons'agglomeration that had been Naraku. A cry of pain went through the monster.

Inuyasha sneered and unsheathed Tessaiga. Yes, he did get what Kagome wanted him to do. He concentrated on the energy waves that Naraku emanated. [I can see it! I can see his evil aura ... I can cut him now!] He concentrated for a moment, with his eyes shut.

"You won't defeat me so easily, Inuyasha!" The being rushed towards him, but it was already too late.

Tessaiga began to glow, and Inuyasha cast a single blow before shouting, "BAHURYUHA (19)!!" An enormous wave of energy passed through the sword and hit right through the mess of bodies that was rushing towards him. A freezing scream, a bolt ... then nothing else. On the ground there were only a few lifeless pieces of demon's flesh and bones.

The one who had ruined everyone's lives had been finally destroyed.

"Is he ... dead?" Inuyasha watched in front of him with an unbelieving look in his face, as Tessaiga slid away from his hands. The falling sword's clash made a sad echo to his words.

"He's ... really ... dead," confirmed Miroku, removing the seal on his hand, now freed from Naraku's curse.

"Yes! I don't feel his presence anymore!" Kagome was crying for the joy. She ran to Inuyasha and hugged him; the half-demon hugged her back, confused and relieved.

"Finally." A whisper came to Inuyasha's sensible ear. He turned towards the voice, and remembered that Kikyou was still there, on the ground, dying.

He parted from Kagome and ran to the priestess. He supported her yet another time and stared at her, that worried frown again spreading all over his face. Kikyou's lips turned up in a bitter sneer.

"Finally my task on this Earth is over, Inuyasha." The woman's eyes met the half-demon's anxious ones. "Even Onigumo is no more here ... and the time has come for me to return to the place from where I was summoned." The woman gasped painfully. She should've hurried up: every word sucked from her the little forces she still had.

"Yes, Kikyou. I...," stammered Inuyasha. His eyes were even more worried than before, and Kikyou's hand rested on his lips, closing them.

"Shhhhh. Don't say anything. I ... don't want you to die with me anymore." The flash she saw in his eyes was worse than a stab. "Inuyasha, through these months I have lived new experiences and I could meditate." The priestess's hand ran on his cheek and then fell on the ground again, tiredly. "On Mt. Hakurei the saint hermit died in my arms. He told me...." Again a wail shook her body, as a grimace of pain ruined her beautiful face. She had to hurry, her time was running out. "He told me things that made me think. I'm happy that you're willing to keep your promise until the end, but I ... I've understood.... My time is over, but yours is not. You have to keep on living also for me, Inuyasha. Live for me ... live with me."

Kikyou's eyes looked at Kagome, for an endless moment. Then they closed. A last quiver crossed her, and then something exited from that almost destroyed body, to rejoin with the schoolgirl.

A silent tear ran on Inuyasha's cheek: Kikyou ... his first love ... was dead. She had forgiven him, she had let him live.

He stared around blankly and saw that his friends had teary eyes. Deep inside, they had feared so much Kikyou ... but she had sacrificed herself to save everyone.

The silence lowered on the group, while the tears that the half-demon had never shed for the priestess were finally let free to flow. His sobs were the only sound breaking the peace of the forest, wounded by the battle that had just ended.

"Kagome-chan, there are many reasons that," said Miroku, trying to calm her down.

"And why don't you explain yourself, Miroku-sama? I can't find your reason out by myself!" The young Kagome's eyes were pleading him.

Suddenly, a clock in a corner of the living room tolled the hour: it was six o'clock.

Ki-chan turned to look at the door where her father was leaning on, thoughtfully. The man stirred too, as though he had felt something wrong.

Kikyou turned again, trying not to let the other notice, but her father didn't think the same. He waited angrily for a few seconds, and then slammed the door open. From the corridor, Onigumo froze.

"ONIGUMO! Where are you going?" Sango shouted icily. Her son shuddered like a five-year-old kid.

"Mother ... Dad ... err ... I...," he stammered, trying to hide something behind his back.

"Where did you want to go, Onigumo?" Miroku was even more annoyed. Not only he hadn't obeyed his order, but also he kept on speaking without giving him the due respect. Sango stood up and drew near the shivering boy, then she stayed glaring at him with crossed arms, tapping the toe of her right foot as if she were expecting something.

"Err ... Hishida-kun called me. His sister...." His mother's slap took him unprepared, making the helmet he had behind his back fall on the floor.

"Don't you dare make up excuses to disobey your father's orders!"

"I'm not making up anything," he shouted as a few tears felt shamelessly from his eyes. One of his cheeks was red from Sango's slap. "Shiori-chan had an accident, Hishida-kun asked me to go to the hospital!" Miroku and Sango shared a worried glance. They knew well the poor Shiori, and this news had left them astonished.

"Onigumo, you're still in chastisement. We're going to the hospital to see how Shiori-san is doing. You'll forgive us if we go there, right?"

Nobody protested. The one Kagome-sama had married offered to accompany the couple, and they gladly agreed. He probably had a faster car, Kagome-chan thought.

Kikyou too decided to follow them. After a few minutes the group left, and she stayed alone with her Future self and Onigumo.

"Tzk... Damn Dad! Why is he always this ... this...." A hand on his shoulder stopped him from muttering any further. He turned and saw for the first time Kagome-chan.

[He's worried for his friend's sister. He's not Naraku who came back to life, in the end. And then ... he's Miroku-sama's son. He can't be evil,] Kagome-chan thought, smiling sweetly.

The boy blushed and tore his glance from hers. [Who's this girl? She looks like Kikyou...,] he thought, as his heartbeat fastened.

"What d'you want?" he asked trying to sound blunt.

"Miroku-sama is a good person, Onigumo-kun. He worries for you." She was smiling. That smile was so damn similar to Kikyou's ... his heartbeat increased its pace.

"Why the hell do you care?" he spat up. His face had changed colour: she had called him 'Onigumo-kun'; Kikyou always treated him like a child. They were like siblings, that was true. But he....

"You're right, it doesn't matter." Kagome-chan seemed to darken, and Onigumo felt the ground collapse under his feet. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, damn it!

"N... no... it's that... well...." he was looking with much interest at his fingers; his face turned pink. Kagome-chan smiled again.

"Kagome-chan, I'm going out to buy something for dinner. Will you keep company to Onigumo? I see that you two are going well, together." Kagome-sama smiled at them with Kagome-chan's very smile. The girl nodded, and the woman went hastily to the stairs.

"W-wait," said Kagome-chan. Kagome-sama turned again towards her.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Be-before, Miroku-sama said that everyone was in this room. However...." Her look sank to the floor and her cheeks flamed. She wanted ... she needed to know! "However ... well ... someone's missing."

Kagome-sama's face darkened into a worried frown, and her eyes became so sad that Kagome-chan couldn't help but wince.

"What ... what happened to him? You have to tell me!" Her heart thumped madly in her chest. She didn't, she couldn't trust the bad omen she was having. Inuyasha ... was dead? And the man she had married. Kikyou's father. Who was he?

Author's Note:
Hi everyone :). Do you like how the fic is devellopping? I hope so. I know that this is a *really* evil cliffhanger, but I want to know your reactions. What do you think about the story? I will post a chapter every week, so please review and come back next Saturday to read chapter 3!

Dictionary:
(1) Uncle doesn't have to mean that Miroku is a relative of her. The Japanese girls often call that way (uncle, aunt, sister, brother) people who they know well. Just think at how Souta calls Inuyasha (Inu-no-niichan, which stands for Dog-brother)!
(2) It's common for Japanese adult males to have high school girls at their service. They're paid to entertain them in every way they want. Those girls are sometimes used as prostitutes. They do it mostly for money.
(3) Bahuryuha = blow Inuyasha can throw. When his enemy youki (spiritual power) is very high he can see it and throws the blow, because the sword's magic combines with that of the demon he's fighting, purifying it and destroying it from the inside. For this reason Kagome has hurled her arrow, so that Naraku's aura could be visible to Inuyasha.