InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Frame of Mind ❯ One-Shot

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N:

This one-shot was inspired by and is loosely based upon an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation by the same name, and is dedicated to a fellow Inuyasha fanfic author also by the same name. This one's for you, FrameofMind!

Please note, this one-shot is 'loosely' based on the plot of that episode, as this is a Canon fic, not AU, and so obviously I had to tweak a few things to make it work. However, I have 'borrowed' some lines of dialog wherever I could make it work, so this is my disclaimer that it's not my intention to plagiarizer anybody. Those few select lines of dialog were copied on purpose, and I'm not pretending to be their creator. For those of you who've seen the Star Trek episode behind this one-shot, you'll know which lines I'm referring to, and you've also got a major spoiler as to the general concept of what's going on here, as regardless of my small tweaks the underlying premise is still the same. For those of you who have not seen that episode and have no idea what I'm talking about, well, you'll just have to read and find out, now won't you? ;-)

Enjoy the show!

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Running and breathing heavily, Kagome peered up into the sky, searching out her next target. Seeing it, she quickly raised up her bow and arrow, and with the arrow already notched she pulled the string taught and let it fly.

“Hit the mark!” she yelled, mentally cheering when it did just that.

The next aerial projectile didn't wait for her to finish her mental victory dance, coming at her hard and fast, but spotting it even before Sango's voice rang out in warning Kagome immediately let loose another arrow, striking that target as well. Large blobs of demonic slime fell to the earth all around her as she fired arrow after arrow, popping open like beachball-sized water balloons filled with pudding wherever they hit to cover the ground with their sludge. Glancing over her shoulder as she ran, Kagome's foot came into contact with a patch of slickened grass and down she went, Inuyasha's cry of alarm echoing loudly in her ear before suddenly, her downward momentum was halted, a pair of strong arms clad in fire-rat fur having prevented her from landing on her ass after her classic wipe-out had sent her feet flying right out from under her.

“Heh, clumsy...” he chuckled as he righted her on her feet.

“Sorry, Kagome.” Shippou chimed in with a hesitant tone, as his bird form landed and popped back into his standard appearance.

Kagome watched, relieved, as Inuyasha sent the kitsune a look that expressed he wasn't angry with the boy, this time at least, since training with the fox like that had actually been her idea.

“I ain't gonna knock ya for wantin' to train,” the hanyou told her then, turning back to look her way before adding, “but seriously, Kagome, you gotta watch your step, too. Shippou's slime might be worse than anything we'll face this time around, but some youkai guts are pretty slimy, too, and I don't wanna have to keep catchin' your ass during a real fight 'cause you can't look where you're shootin' and runnin' at the same time.”

“Sorry...” Kagome apologized a bit sheepishly, knowing he was right and appreciating that he hadn't yelled at her or called her an idiot for it. He was voicing a genuine concern and Kagome understood that; that was why she'd wanted to practice in the first place, because she knew she wasn't as experienced as her friends were when it came to battling youkai. Especially aerial youkai, where they would need her arrows the most.

Taking a moment to glance around the practice field, she sighed, but then squared her shoulders in determination, tightening her grip on her bow.

“Let's keep going.” Kagome stated then, glancing Sango's way. “The more practice the better, right?”

“Actually, I think we should take a break for a while.” the taijiya stated instead, sending the miko an understanding-looking smile from her place on the sidelines as she added, “I think you've made a lot of progress.”

“I still don't feel as confident as I know I should.” Kagome argued worriedly, biting her lower lip.

“There's such a thing as over training, Kagome-chan; you're going to be fine. We can pick it up again in a couple of hours, after you've had some time to rest. The last thing you want is to overexert yourself.”

Kagome sent the slayer a smile of her own at the older girl's words, nodding in understanding and gratitude. The future-born miko had asked Sango to assist her with her training as well, wanting whatever tips and pointers the warrior woman could give, and Kagome felt the youkai exterminator had done a great job of coaching all throughout her morning workout of firing at and dodging Shippou's magically conjured up clumps of goo. For her expertise and advice Kagome was extremely grateful.

Rising from his seat underneath the shade of a nearby tree, Miroku joined the conversation in that moment, stating with a serious look, “According to the local villagers, since the youkai we'll be facing off against is avian in nature, I definitely agree that honing your skills against such an enemy is a good idea, but I also agree with Sango; you don't want to over exert yourself and become unable to fight against the real thing due to fatigue.”

“Right.” Kagome agreed. They'd definitely have their hands full come tomorrow, so they all needed to be at their best. Making herself exhausted or sore was the last thing she wanted to do.

Stretching her limbs with some cool down exercises, then, the miko watched as Miroku went around with his shakujou and with a quick stab of its base into the ground at each point of impact he completely purified away Shippou's relatively harmless youki goop, thoroughly cleansing the ground as well as her intact fallen arrows, retrieving the latter one by one as he worked. She accepted them back from him with a smile, tucking them back into her quiver for later use.

Being absorbed into the slime balls, as Shippou had created said slime balls to do, actually protected the arrows from breaking as they fell to the earth, and they hadn't exploded on impact simply because Kagome hadn't put forth any effort to spiritually charge them. At least that part, she didn't need to practice, able to channel her powers into her arrows at will those days. It was only her aim that still needed a little work, and so since they wouldn't be heading out until tomorrow morning anyway she'd figured that taking advantage of the free time to get a little training in could only be a good thing. But arrows were not cheap, and so it had definitely made sense that her aerial target practice be done in a way that wouldn't damage them. It was the only way Inuyasha had agreed, in fact, stating he understood her desire to practice but also that he was not willing to let her waste any of her arrows in the process. The future-born miko had immediately agreed to his terms, of course, coming up with the solution with Shippou's help. The globs of gook, they were a little messy, but it was nothing a blast of purification from Miroku couldn't fix, and the holy man had volunteered his services in that regard when Shippou had suggested his use of fake shouki as a way of making Kagome's flying targets. If she missed a target, then that was where Inuyasha came in, the hanyou able to safely retrieve the wayward arrows before they disappeared, although she hadn't actually missed but once or twice. Her aim was definitely improving.

As the Inu-tachi headed back to the family compound of the village headman, where they were all staying for the time being, Kagome thought back to a few days prior, when a frantic traveler had shown up in Kaede's village, sent to seek the aid of the infamous shard hunters because rumors of their battle prowess had spread far and wide by that point. Apparently, a spot along the main road out, heading in the opposite direction from Kaede's village but leading to the nearest market town for the locals, was being guarded by a fearsome bird-man type of youkai; one that attacked any traveler attempting to head either two or from the local village along that particular section of road. Fortunately, with Kaede's village residing in the opposite direction, the locals had been able to send for help, and fortunately also, the Inu-tachi had just happened to be in town at the time. Kagome had been home trying to catch up on her schoolwork for a few days, but she'd put that aside without protest in the face of lives being at stake, when Inuyasha had shown up to get her and explain the situation. As far as she had been concerned they'd definitely needed to help these villagers; their road definitely needed to be made safe, that youkai dealt with. A few survivors, people who'd witnessed it attacking less fortunate travelers, had managed to high-tail it back to their home village, and so that was how the traveler seeking their aid had been able to give the Inu-tachi a fairly accurate physical description of the beast. Ordinarily, Kagome knew Inuyasha wouldn't have been too keen on the idea of taking even more time out from their search for Naraku and jewel shards to take care of some random village's random youkai problem, but after listening to the traveler's description of this particular youkai's power and abilities it was immediately agreed among the Inu-tachi that it was possible this youkai was in possession of a jewel shard, itself, which Kagome knew then made facing it in battle something Inuyasha definitely wanted to do.

And so three days later, here we are ... Kagome thought as they neared the headman's estate, going over their battle plans again in her mind.

They had arrived in town that morning, and had been invited to stay the day and night, to rest from their journey and eat well before going into battle the following morning, and Kagome planned on using the time to her best advantage, hence the training session. Even though a good deal of time had passed since the accidental shattering of the Shikon no Tama, she would never forget her failure back then, her inability to hit the shibugarasu under her own power leading to so much trouble, so much bloodshed.

I won't fail Inuyasha again, not this time ...

A few villagers greeted them as they walked by, mostly members of the headman's family, who praised the Inu-tachi for coming to help them. Offering those villagers small nods as they passed, the gang engaged in quiet conversation amongst themselves as they walked, which mostly consisted of Kagome talking with Sango about what all the taijiya had observed during her training session and what specific advice she could give to help her when she practiced again in a couple of hours.

“Like Inuyasha said, you need to be able to observe both your enemy as well as your overall  surroundings at the same time. You do that well when our fight is on the ground, but just because the enemy is in the air doesn't mean you suddenly don't have to be aware of what's happening on the ground around you. Don't get so caught up with looking up that you forget to look left and right as well as down.”

“You're right.” Kagome agreed without hesitation. “Maybe we should kick things up a notch, and while I'm trying to shoot at and dodge Shippou-chan's youki balls, maybe you should try coming at me a few times too when I least expect it.” she suggested, glancing sideways at the slayer walking beside her as they rounded a corner past an outbuilding.

The miko didn't see the man who was heading in the opposite direction until it was too late, bumping right into him with her hands instinctively raised and a quiet gasp of surprise escaping her throat.

“Excuse me...” she stated right away as she backed away a step, trying to mask her discomfiture at the undefinable look the man gave her before turning to leave, his appearance sending chills down her spine for some unknown reason.

She turned around to watch as he walked away, then turned back to look at her friends, a sheepish laugh escaping her lips to shake off her case of the willies.

“Guess I really do need to be more aware of my surroundings.” she joked, hoping to pass off her unease as normal embarrassment. Inuyasha chuckled.

“Come on...” Sango said then, amusement in her voice as well, “I don't know about you, but I'm ready for lunch.”

Kagome's stomach growled lightly at the mention of food.

“No argument here.”

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Finished with the meal provided to them by the headman's wife, the Inu-tachi sat in the same open field Kagome had used earlier for practice, discussing possible strategies and plans of attack.

“Even though your aim is improving tremendously, I recommend holding off until you know you have a shot.” Sango addressed Kagome while petting Kirara's head, the nekomata sitting in her mistress' lap in her kitten form. “Kirara and I will be in the air ourselves, facing off against this bird-man, so I'll try my best to create openings for you.”

“Don't worry, I won't accidentally shoot you instead.” Kagome joked, which earned a surprisingly strict look from the slayer.

“This is serious, Kagome-chan. You shouldn't joke of such things.”

“Sorry...” the miko apologized, feeling surprised by Sango's harsh tone but also guilty for having upset her. This was serious, after all.

“Might I suggest we get our second round of practice underway?” Miroku chimed in in that moment, earning a “Keh, fine with me.” from Inuyasha, who was currently sitting in the shade of the same tree Miroku had sat underneath before lunch.

“Right!” Shippou stated with an eager tone as he jumped up to his feet from his place sitting beside Kagome, reaching into his vest for a leaf that he quickly placed on his head, popping back into his bird form with a theatrical puff of smoke. “Bombs away!” he said as he took flight, using the expression Kagome herself had used when they'd started their first round of practice before lunch.

Kagome was ready to go without hesitation, the miko on her feet and running across the field, bow and arrow in hand, looking for an opportunity to strike. Reaching into the vest he still wore with a taloned foot, Shippou pulled out another one of his leaves, muttering something Kagome couldn't hear before letting it drop, the leaf immediately growing in size and shape as it fell, jiggling in the wind like the ball of slime it now was. Amused, Kagome thought it looked like falling jello. She fired, her aim true, her arrow slowing to an instant stop as it got stuck within the magical goo, just like last time. She continued to run, dodging the fake shouki bomb as it hit the ground and popped open with a splash, her slime-coated arrow remaining where it landed for the time being as she continued to fire new ones, Shippou's volant form quickly capturing her full attention once again. She almost didn't see the fist aimed for the side of her head until it was too late, but at the last moment she somehow managed to dodge Sango's surprise attack, and then Kagome found herself outnumbered two against one, trying to watch out for the blobs of slime Shippou was aiming directly for her while watching out for Sango at the same time. It only took a few seconds before the slayer landed a lucky hit across the younger girl's right temple.

“Oh, kami!” the slayer exclaimed, hand over her mouth, as Inuyasha rushed over to assist the dazed miko.

Kagome shook her head some, hand on her head, as Inuyasha steadied her on her feet.

“I'm so sorry, Kagome-chan, I didn't mean-”

“It's okay...” Kagome interrupted Sango, “Guess I really wasn't doing a good job of paying attention.”

“Come on, Wench, let's head back so you can take some of those pills in your bag.” Inuyasha suggested with a caring tone.

“Good idea.” Kagome agreed, already feeling a headache coming on. “We'll continue this later.” she stated, meeting the slayer's eyes. She wasn't angry with Sango, and still wanted to go over more battle plans with her friends, although granted it looked like the physical training was done for the time being.

As Inuyasha helped Kagome along, Sango and Kirara walking beside them, Miroku quickly purified the single spot of sludge on the ground and retrieved Kagome's arrow, catching up with the others and handing her the arrow as Shippou landed on his shoulder and popped back into his kitsune form.

Arriving back at the headman's main house, they decided to sit out on the veranda for the time being rather than continuing onward to the smaller house they would be staying in for the night, Kagome stating how the weather was so lovely and thinking that the fresh air might do her some good. The headman's wife offered to make her some tea for the pain, but she politely declined, not wanting to mix whatever those herbs were with her modern-day pain pills, just in case. Inuyasha plopped down beside the future-born miko after retrieving her backpack from where they'd left it, and offering him a murmured thanks she rifled through the bag for her bottle of aspirin and some water.

“Jeez, Wench, you'll do anything to get outta facin' this youkai,” the hanyou stated with a teasing tone after she took two pills, adding, “but you're gonna have to do somethin' better than this.”

Kagome chuckled a little at his joke, despite her headache, grateful to the hanyou for showing a rare sense of humor when she'd feared he was going to be angry with the slayer, or her, since the whole thing had been her idea in the first place. It had clearly been an accident, though, and what was done was done. Humor was a good way of dealing with it.

“Our battle's not until tomorrow morning. I've still got the rest of the day.” she joked in turn, then, earning another chuckle from the hanyou.

“Well don't go gettin' any ideas. We leave at dawn.”

Kagome nodded her consent, then immediately regretted the movement as she winced, raising her right fingertips up to her right temple, rubbing slowly.

“Mmm...still hurts...” she muttered, wishing it wouldn't take so long for the pain killers to kick in. Maybe she should have chosen the tea, instead.

“Come on, as hard headed as you are? That hit was nothing.” Inuyasha continued to joke, earning a laugh from the others when Kagome playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

The mood was shattered, however, when a group of frantically shouting villagers rushed over towards their location, carrying an injured man and screaming for the headman's wife, who was also the local healer, to come outside immediately.

“Ahh, it hurts!” the injured man cried out.

“What happened?!” the headman's wife asked as she raced past the Inu-tachi.

“It was the youkai!” one of the men exclaimed, stating quickly how the group of them, the injured man included, had hoped to see if there was possibly an opening to get past the beast as it came and went, and how the youkai had spotted them in their hiding place. The victim had been burned by a terrible blast of demonic energy, and it was only by some unknown miracle that he'd managed to escape with his life, his companions hurriedly carrying him all the way back to the village.

“Ah! It hurts, please!”

“Let me see his injuries.” Miroku stated as he rushed over to help. He immediately began praying over some of his ofuda before placing them over the man's burns like bandages, his spiritual powers removing the residual jyaki that would've prevented the wounds from healing, while the headman's wife ran back inside to fetch some of her special tea for the pain as well as a poultice for the burns.

As she watched, Kagome felt so sorry for the poor man, and almost rose to help Miroku with his purifying, but then suddenly, something in the way the man looked at her as their eyes unexpectedly locked gave the miko pause. He was glaring at her, directly at her, as if his injuries were somehow her fault, like she was directly responsible, directly to blame. She faltered, backing up a few paces, ignoring Inuyasha when he asked her what was wrong.

Why ...why is he looking at me like that...? Unable to handle it, she quickly turned and rushed around to the side of the house. She had to get away.

Inuyasha followed her, though, and she looked up at the sound of his footsteps, the crimson-clad hanyou remaining silent as he took a seat beside her. Kagome mentally thanked him for that, appreciating that he apparently knew not to push her, that she'd talk when she was ready. It only took her a few minutes to get her rattled nerves under control.

“We've been on a lot of youkai slaying missions...” she started, turning her head to meet Inuyasha's eyes. “I've seen a lot of people injured, but I've never been affected by anything like that before.”

She shifted her gaze away, staring into the distance.

“He was looking right at me,” she said, clearly disturbed, “as if he was blaming me, like it was my fault he got hurt.”

Turning back to meet Inuyasha's eyes again, she added, “As if he knew I was the one who'd shattered the jewel in the first place.”

“Baka...” Inuyasha muttered affectionately. “How could he know that? And besides, even if that youkai does turn out to have a jewel shard, you're certainly not the one who made him and his buddies stupidly think they could sneak past it.” He chuckled a little, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Anyway, you need to stop blaming yourself for shattering the jewel. I stopped blaming you long ago.”

“Thank you...” Kagome murmured tenderly, truly appreciative of his words. “I guess I've just been on edge ever since you came to get me, when that traveler showed up at Kaede-obaa-chan's begging for our help. For the last three days I've felt like he was looking at me funny, as we made our way here; I felt him staring at me when we made camp at night. And then when we arrived this morning, even though the headman's family greeted us warmly I've felt like the other villagers were staring at me funny, too, and talking about me behind my back. But...” she sighed, then chuckled a little, shaking her head, “I guess I can't really expect simple villagers from this time period to not stare at me funny; I know it took the people at Kaede-obaa-chan's village a little while to get used to my appearance.”

“Hell, took me a while, too. That flimsy excuse of a skirt is way too damn short.” the hanyou teased, earning a playful utterance of “Baka...” from the miko as she pulled out of his embrace and lightly punched his arm.

All playfulness came to a halt when she winced and raised her hand back up to her temple again. The pain had subsided but was suddenly back with a vengeance.

Closing her eyes against the pain, she turned her head and just happened to open her eyes again in time to see the same man she'd accidentally run into on their way to lunch. He was just standing there, staring at her, although as soon as her eyes met his he turned and walked casually out of sight, remaining expressionless all the while.

“What is it?” Inuyasha asked, glancing in the same direction she was looking in but not seeing anything.

“You just missed him.” Kagome said. “It was that same guy, the one I bumped into earlier. Is he part of the headman's family?” she asked, “Because I don't remember meeting him this morning when we first arrived.”

“I got no idea.” Inuyasha answered, shrugging it off. “Don't worry about it.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, can't really blame him for looking at me funny when I crashed right into the poor guy.” she said, trying and failing to ignore her unease. “Oh well, we better go see if Miroku-sama still needs any help treating that man's burns. I'm not going to let a little thing like the guy glaring at me stop me from treating him; I never let that stop me from treating your injuries.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” the hanyou replied, though with an amused grin gracing his features as he rose to his feet before offering her his hand to help her up as well. “Just don't overdo it. Remember, we leave at dawn, since it'll take us most of the morning to get to where this youkai's hanging out. We should all go to sleep early.”

“I agree.”

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Runni ng and breathing heavily, Kagome peered up into the sky, waiting for her next opening. Seeing it, she quickly raised up her bow and arrow, and with the arrow already notched she pulled the string taught and let it fly.

“Hit the mark!” she yelled, mentally cheering when it did just that.

“Good shot!” Inuyasha complimented, before yelling for Sango to get out of the way.

The taijiya and her nekomata steed quickly retreated to a safe distance and then Inuyasha let his Kaze no Kizu fly, the bird-man weakened tremendously and more than a little distracted by Kagome's arrow lodged in his thigh, enough so that he couldn't dodge in time and took the full hit from Inuyasha's sword. Kagome knew not to cheer in victory prematurely, though.

The youkai did indeed have a jewel shard, and this was the third time Inuyasha had 'destroyed' it.

As the dust settled, Kagome watched, feeling quite unsettled as the broken up pieces of the youkai's body hung eerily suspended in midair until suddenly, they all started flying back together again. Sango tried again to make a grab for the jewel shard, per Kagome's shouted directions regarding its location that time around, but she just wasn't fast enough, getting swiped at by the disconnected leg that had regenerated itself in time to slash at her with its taloned foot as she approached what was left of the head.

The Kaze no Kizu was so destructive that to be safe the taijiya had to pull Kirara back a good distance to avoid getting hit, themselves, and there simply wasn't enough time to close the gap again before enough of the youkai had reassembled itself to start fighting back. This was their third failed attempt, and despite having started off with a full quiver Kagome was already fearing she'd run out of arrows before they finished this if they didn't come up with a new strategy, and fast. There just didn't seem to be any way to make the beast land. Sango had already tried to chop a wing off with Hiraikotsu, but the shard in his forehead made the bird-man strong enough that the bone boomerang merely skimmed off a few feathers as it ricocheted in an uncontrolled direction; feathers which grew back almost instantly.

Kagome had tried to take out a wing with one of her arrows, but missed, the mutated looking humanoid bird able to flap his arm-wings fast enough that her arrow had sailed right past.

Kagome would call the youkai a 'he'...she was fairly certain the beast was male, although his featureless countenance made it rather difficult to be certain. But this wasn't the first faceless youkai they'd faced off against, and so despite no obvious eyes above the rather threatening looking beak-mouth that continually released ear-splitting screeches and squawks, she was quite certain that the thing could in fact see them.

Sometimes she really wished Miroku could just suck these monsters up in his kazaana and be done with it, but sucking up a jewel shard was unthinkable, and so that meant they had to do this the old fashioned way.

Quickly, while the youkai was still pulling itself back together, Kagome shouted at Sango to take Kirara back out of range again, and then she fired off another arrow, causing the slowly reassembling body parts to explode all over again – though they still didn't poof away into nothingness thanks to the power of his jewel shard.

Damn it ... she thought, worrying her lower lip, before her eyes widened in horror.

“Shippou-chan, look out!” she shouted, readying another arrow just in case as she watched, panicked, while Shippou in his bird form flew above the mass of floating and wriggling youkai pieces and dropped one of his fake shouki bomb-leaves.

It was a good idea, she'd give him that much, although unfortunately it didn't work, the idea clearly having been to engulf and make fall whatever pieces of the youkai's body Shippou's faux shouki could absorb. As it was, Shippou's harmless slime melted away with a hiss and trail of smoke as it came into contact with the bird-man's body parts, rather than absorbing any of them to make them drop from the sky, and the kitsune quickly scrambled out of the way after that before the youkai rejuvenated enough of himself to retaliate.  

“That was very brave, Shippou,” Miroku stated, adding, “but now it's time for you to find a safe place to hide and let us deal with it.” as he joined Sango on Kirara's back and flung a bunch of his ofuda towards the beast as they approached.

His barrier was the only thing that prevented them from getting burned like the villager from yesterday when the beak-mouth suddenly reformed on the blob of flesh that was the head and spat a massive fireball of jyaki in their direction, before then releasing several smaller blasts that took care of the monk's ofuda before any of them could make contact.

From her place on the ground, Kagome had to shield her eyes against the bright flash of light as the largest of the blasts came into contact with Miroku's barrier, sighing in relief when she saw that her friends were unscathed as Kirara quickly flew out of range of the youkai's energy blasts. Inuyasha then tried to use the youkai's moment of distraction to send another Kaze no Kizu his way, but that attack was intercepted as well, an even larger ball of jyaki spat out by the bird-man causing the Kaze no Kizu to explode prematurely, the bird-man's energy blast acting like a shield to protect him from the fallout. At least fortunately the bird-man apparently couldn't throw Inuyasha's own attack back at him the way the hanyou could do with the Bakuryuuha. Maybe, if they could get the youkai to send out one of his jyaki fireballs at Inuyasha, first, then the hanyou could retaliate with the Bakuryuuha; that would probably blast the bird-man apart into much smaller pieces than the Kaze no Kizu, allowing them much more time before he regenerated again.

Then we should have more time to get the shard, or if it's still too well guarded then maybe ...maybe if I give very clear instructions on where the shard is so that they can avoid it, Miroku-sama could use his kazaana to suck up some parts of the youkai without sucking up the jewel shard?

That would have to cripple the youkai in some way, wouldn't it?

Worrying her lower lip at the thought, but then deciding that despite the risk it was probably their best course of action, Kagome was just about to voice the possible plan of attack when Inuyasha's voice frantically calling out for her to look out rang in her ears. Looking up, Kagome's eyes widened in horror to see a ball of demonic energy headed right for her, and having had her next arrow already notched and ready she immediately let it fly, only to curse when, as that ball of jyaki disappeared, she saw that there was another one directly behind it, the youkai apparently having sent out two blasts one right after the other. Knowing she didn't have time to nock another arrow she tried to make a run for it, turning and heading for the nearby trees as fast as her feet would carry her. She paused, though, eyes widening in surprise and confusion, when she recognized that same strange villager from before, the one she'd accidentally run into, standing just within the tree line, staring at her with that same emotionless expression. She didn't have time to contemplate what his appearance could possibly mean.

The last thing she heard was Inuyasha shouting her name again in even more panic before searing pain erupted in her head and her entire world went dark.

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Kagome blinked her eyes open slowly, her lids feeling heavy, as if they were weighted down. A stark white ceiling was the first vision that greeted her, brightly lit, and she shut her eyes again, feeling a migraine coming on, her right temple throbbing badly. A steady, synthetic beeping sound rang in her ears, and she groaned, her throat feeling cracked and dry.

A gasp of alarm came from her right, and fighting to ignore her pounding headache she managed to tilt her head in that direction, straining against the bright, fluorescent lights, forcing her eyesight to come into focus. Her mother's tear-streaked but smiling face greeted her, and Kagome groaned again, but tried to offer her mother a smile all the same.

“H-hey...Mama...” she croaked, needing water.

Oh man, this one must have been really bad... she thought, as the memories of the youkai battle came rushing back to her. If she was waking up in a hospital...

Damn ...I really need to become a better fighter if I really almost died. Inuyasha always swears he'll protect me, but I know he can't be two places at once and he was trying to Kaze no Kizu the youkai again; it's not his fault. Good luck telling him that, though...

She could only imagine how frantic the poor hanyou had to have been when he'd brought her unconscious body back through the well. Probably ran so fast he made the entire three day journey in only a few short hours.

“Oh, Kagome! We were so worried about you. You gave us all quite the scare.” her mother exclaimed in that moment, pulling the miko from her thoughts. Her words were clearly ecstatic though it also sounded like she was trying to keep her voice soft and soothing, as if knowing how much her daughter's head hurt.

Kagome nodded her understanding the best she could, not wanting to move her head too much. “H-how l-long...?” she managed to ask, needing to know how long she'd been out.

“We found you at the bottom of the well almost three weeks ago.” her mother replied, and Kagome's eyes widened in shock.

“Th-three weeks...?” she asked, her voice cracking.

Apparently realizing her daughter's need, Mrs. Higurashi reached for and handed her a small plastic cup of water that was sitting nearby, and Kagome eagerly reached out to take it, careful not to snag the IV tube that was connected to her right hand as she took the cup of water and slowly brought it to her lips, sipping cautiously and mentally sighing in relief as she felt the soothing liquid do its job.

She tried to sit up a little more in the hospital bed, running her mother's words over and over again in her head. They'd found her at the bottom of the well? That couldn't be good. That could not be good. There was no conceivable reason she could think of for why Inuyasha would have just left her there, especially since she was so injured she'd been unconscious. No, the hanyou could have been on death's door himself, ragged and bleeding and two steps away from collapsing, and he would have still found a way to get Kagome to the house, not allowing himself to pass out until after seeing that her family had been made aware of her presence. The only thing that made any sense was if it hadn't been Inuyasha at all, but one of their other friends, who couldn't go through the well, but that still didn't really make any sense because even though yes, the medical technology of her time was better, there was obviously no guarantee that her family would find her at the bottom of the well in time to save her and so then in that case it would've been better to just leave her in Kaede's care, or even more logically, the local headman's wife, who was also a trained healer. Why they'd decided she was too far gone for a local healer of the time period to help her, and that her odds were better to be left alone in the well with a prayer for her family finding her in time, the future-born miko had no idea; Kagome didn't even want to think about what it meant that Inuyasha had not hand-delivered her. Just how badly had she been hurt? Had she been at a local healer first, who'd then told them there was nothing she could do and so sending her down the well with a prayer had then become their last resort? And what had happened to Inuyasha? Was he...? Just how long had it taken to kill that youkai? Had they killed that youkai? There were far too many questions, and it didn't look like she could immediately go running back to make sure everyone was okay, either. The not knowing hurt the worst, even more than her blasted headache.

“H-has Inuyasha been by at all?” Kagome asked then, terrified of the answer but needing to hear it all the same.

But her mother's expression didn't turn into one of reassurance or sympathetic condolence. Instead, Mrs. Higurashi's eyebrows furrowed in a look that appeared to Kagome like genuine confusion.

“Who?”

Now Kagome was confused, and starting to panic just a little bit.

Maybe I haven't woken up yet and this is just some weird dream ... she thought, in that kind of denial one can get when you know you're awake but even so you're praying that you're not.

“What do you mean 'who'?” Kagome asked, trying not to raise her voice. “Inuyasha.” she stated again, in case maybe she'd just mumbled his name incoherently the first time, though really, her mother should have known who she'd meant either way. “You know who Inuyasha is.” she added matter-of-factly, the look in her eyes growing more and more pleading as her mother continued to look confused.

“I'm sorry,” her mother apologized with a shake of her head, “is he a new friend from school?”

“New friend from...” Kagome started, sitting up even more and trying not to hyperventilate. The heart monitor started beeping faster. “Mama, you know who Inuyasha is...” she stressed. Lowering her voice some, so as not to be overheard by any possible doctor or nurse passing by, she added, “The inu-hanyou from five hundred years ago? The one helping me find the shards of the Shikon no Tama?”

Now it was Mrs. Higurashi's turn to look worried, as if Kagome's words made no sense to her at all. Kagome did not feel comforted by the expression, not even when her mother's eyes softened, becoming empathetic.

“Oh, Sweetheart, it sounds to me like you're just confused from some lingering coma dreams. The doctors said you had shown very high amounts of brain activity while unconscious, as if experiencing quite the dream state. Inu-hanyou? Honey, listen to yourself. The inu-hanyou and the Shikon no Tama are just parts of an old myth your Jii-chan told you a few times as a child. I'm not surprised you ended up dreaming about something so fantastic with the stories he used to tell.”

Tenderly, Mrs. Higurashi reached forward and ran feather light touches through Kagome's hair, as if so grateful to have her daughter back; she didn't seem to notice Kagome's absolutely horror-struck expression.

That ...that can't be right!

 Kagome wanted to protest, though even as she prepared to argue she had to admit her mother made a good point. Her grandfather had indeed told her the legend of the Shikon no Tama a few times, more than a few. Hell, he had Shikon no Tama key chains they sold in the shrine's gift shop! But even so...no, no it had to be real. The last few months of her life were not a dream!

“So when you said you found me at the bottom of the well...?” she asked, hesitant to hear what her mother had to say.

“I don't know what possessed you to get so close to that thing; we'd warned you so many times as a child how dangerous it was.” Mrs. Higurashi stated, still running her fingers through her daughter's hair, her tone of voice still gentle, as if she was simply so grateful to have her daughter back that she wouldn't dare be angry with her over disregarding her previous warnings. “But Souta said you were looking for Buyo.” she continued, explaining, “He came rushing back into the house, not even taking his shoes off, telling us how you'd fallen into the well, and we found you unconscious at the bottom and called the paramedics right away.” She offered Kagome a warm, loving smile. “Don't worry Sweetheart, you aren't in trouble. I just thank the kami you didn't get even more hurt than you did. ”

Kagome swallowed, nodding slowly, and then asked, “It...it was my fifteenth birthday, right?”

Her mother offered her another smile at that, stating, “I'm so relieved you don't have any memory loss. The doctors weren't sure if you would be suffering from a type of amnesia or not when you woke up.”

I'm not the one with the memory loss ... Kagome thought, although she chose to bite her tongue in that moment.  

Thinking of something after a moment of silence passed between them, she pulled the blanket aside and fiddled with her hospital gown until she revealed the scar on her side where Mistress Centipede had ripped out the sacred jewel.

“If...if I never traveled back into the Sengoku jidai through the Bone Eater's Well, then where did this scar come from?” she asked her mom, her lingering denial a tangible thing, much like the scar on her side. She was tremendously relieved to see it was still there. “This is where the centipede-youkai that dragged me down the well, into the past, ripped out the Shikon no Tama that had been hidden within my body since birth, because I am the reincarnation of Kikyou, the miko who sealed Inuyasha, the inu-hanyou, to the Goshinboku, creating its scar, because they were tricked into betraying each other by another hanyou named Naraku, who used to be a human bandit named Onigumo that Kikyou was tending to in secret, and who gave up his soul to a horde of youkai in order to gain the Shikon no Tama. I...I accidentally shattered it when I shot the shibugarasu who swallowed it with a purifying arrow, and Inuyasha and I then joined forces to collect all the shards and keep Naraku from completing the jewel.”

Sure, she'd left quite a few details out, but that was the gist of it.

“Oh, Honey, that sounds like quite the dream.” her mother cooed, looking at her with motherly understanding in her eyes. “Yes, your Jii-chan sure could spin a wild tale. I'm sure I've heard bits and pieces of that before, like the part about the hanyou who was sealed to the Goshinboku. They're all just stories, Dear.”

“But Jii-chan believes they are true stories that happened back in the past.” Kagome tried.

Mrs. Higurashi merely chuckled.

“Your Jii-chan does indeed believe the old legends are true, but that doesn't dispute the fact that you didn't travel anywhere when you fell down the well. And that scar on your side? You got it when you fell, too; you landed on a piece of sharp stone at the bottom that cut you pretty deeply, though like I said before, I thank the kami you weren't hurt even more severely than you were. No damage to any vital organs, and even though you were in a coma you responded to external stimuli and had plenty of brain activity. We knew you were still with us, just living in your own dreamworld for a time; I prayed everyday that you'd be able to find your way back to us, and finally you have, oh my precious baby...”

With those final words Mrs. Higurashi started crying, and leaning forward, she pulled Kagome into a tender but yet fierce embrace. The future-born miko could feel that her mother's grief was genuine.  What was worse, the more she thought about it, she almost could remember just losing her balance and falling down into the well, when she'd peered inside thinking she'd heard Buyo. But she still remembered Mistress Centipede grabbing her, too. And if she'd gotten that scar on her side from landing on a rock at the same moment she'd hit her head and fell unconscious, then how was it that she'd known about it? Precisely where it was and precisely what it looked like now that it was healed? Did her mother honestly expect her to believe that she'd somehow subconsciously felt it as the doctors stitched her up and had incorporated it into her dreamworld? She didn't feel like arguing anymore, though.

“When...when can I come home?”

``````

Remaining silent as her mother signed the final paperwork, Kagome sighed. Last night had been so hard on the miko, since she'd had to stay in the hospital one more night for observation. Now, hopefully, she could get some answers. Glancing around in curiosity while she waited, her eyes opened wide as a doctor that looked just like that mystery village man from her 'dream' walked past. She opened her mouth to say something, eyes following as the man glanced her way before exiting the room, but Mrs. Higurashi distracted her in that moment when she told her that they were ready to leave. Nodding then, and not wanting to add another layer of 'weird' on top of everything else, Kagome let it go as she leaned against her mother for support on their way out to the car.

It was a short, silent drive back to the shrine. Staring up into the branches of the Goshinboku as the ancient tree came into view, Kagome could so easily picture a silver-haired boy clad in fire-rat red waiting for her arrival up on the highest bough, but no such sight genuinely greeted her as her mother pulled over to park and then helped her out of the car, Kagome's legs a little weak from having lied motionless in bed for so long.

Gratefully leaning against her mother as the two of them made their way up the massive column of shrine steps, Kagome spared the Goshinboku a passing glance as they neared, mentally sighing in relief to see that it was exactly as she remembered it, Inuyasha's scar still there. Of course, she knew that didn't really mean anything, since her mother had already confirmed that it was a genuine 'legend' her grandfather had told her before as a child. Shaking it off, Kagome continued on into the house with her mother's assistance, heading up even more stairs until finally, she was in her own room. Her mother left her alone, then, and Kagome proceeded to plop herself down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

With as many times as Kagome had felt relief in the past to be greeted with the sight of her own bedroom for a day or two, when she'd had to barter with Inuyasha for some time off to go home, she would've really preferred being able to go back to the past in that moment, to prove her mother's heartbreaking words wrong, but she knew she couldn't even travel through the well without a jewel shard, anyway, and so she feared there was really no way to determine once and for all if it really had all been a dream, or if for some sick reason they had decided to try to convince her it was. Kagome couldn't think of any reason why her mother would so willingly lie to her like that, though, unless it had been Inuyasha, himself, who'd asked her to, not that that made any sense. Was he honestly so shaken up from nearly 'letting' her get killed, in his mind, that he'd made the executive decision that her life would be better off without him, and so he'd begged her family to convince her that it was all a dream so that she'd never return, and would therefore be 'safe'? Kagome knew he could be a bit impulsive at times, and he'd even tried to permanently send her back to her time once before, but this was ridiculous. Then again, if they really had just found her at the bottom of the well, like her mother had originally told her, if that part was true, then maybe...maybe she'd been found with a note tied to her unconscious body or something, a message explaining how everyone she knew and loved back in the past had been brutally slaughtered, and so then her family had decided that trying to convince her that it was all a dream was better than telling her that her friends were all dead; sparing her the pain of reality. Kagome still didn't want to think her mother would lie to her, even then, especially after the way she'd handled learning the truth of her own father's death when she was younger, but the only alternative, if her mother was not lying, was that she was telling the truth, which meant that it really had all been a dream.

While that thought was definitely distressing, the longer she thought about it, Kagome wondered if it wouldn't be better to believe that it had all just been a dream than to think that the people she'd grown so close to over the last few months really had met with some unthinkable fate. Although, on the other hand, if they really had been real, then despite the pain she'd want to know it so that she could mourn them properly. They deserved at least that much. She supposed one quick way to find out for sure what was what, was to determine what day it really was, since she knew she'd been traveling back and forth between the two worlds for a lot longer than three measly weeks. Computer calendars could be reset, though, and she still wouldn't be going back to school for a few days, doctor's orders, although...Kagome supposed...that didn't mean she couldn't call her school friends. Glancing at the clock, she knew they should be getting home from school about now. They'd probably be calling her before too much longer if she didn't call them first, anyway. The thought made her smile a little. They were good friends.

“Mama?” the miko called out then, getting her mother's attention. It didn't take long for Mrs. Higurashi to reappear in her daughter's doorway. “Can I call Yuka, Eri and Ayumi? I'm sure they've been worried sick.”

Kagome's mother smiled brightly at the request.

“I told their mothers the good news yesterday as soon as the doctors started running their tests to make sure you were ready to come home, but yes Dear, I'll bring you the phone. They knew you'd be coming home this afternoon so I'm sure they'd love to hear your voice.”

Kagome returned her mother's smile as Mrs. Higurashi turned and headed back downstairs to get the cordless phone. As soon as her mother was out of sight, though, Kagome started examining every inch of her room, looking for something, anything, that proved to her her time in the past had not been a dream. She desperately tried to ignore how much more and more ridiculous it started sounding to even her own ears, that she'd actually somehow magically traveled back and forth through time by leaping into the Bone Eater's Well. It was true because she remembered it, damn it, no matter how much those memories were starting to get a little fuzzy and...dream-like.

Finding her yellow backpack in the closet was disheartening when it showed none of the extensive signs of wear and tear she'd given it over the last few months, and its interior held only schoolwork. No ramen, no pocky, no extra clothes, and most importantly no bottle of jewel shards. Her mother came back in time to catch her going through the book bag but Mrs. Higurashi only assured her daughter that she didn't have to worry about her studies for a few more days yet; there would be plenty of time for her makeup homework later on, and so for right now she just wanted Kagome to concentrate on making a full recovery.

Mumbling her agreement, Kagome sat her backpack aside and accepted the cordless phone from her mother, calling Yuka first, who sounded ecstatic to receive her call. Kagome didn't even need to worry about how to tactfully go about getting the information she was after, because her schoolfriend immediately gushed her relief to hear that Kagome was okay, telling her how worried she'd been for the last three weeks and how they all planned on making her failed fifteenth birthday up to her with one hell of a 'welcome back' party as soon as she felt able. Eri told Kagome pretty much the same thing, adding only how worried Hojo had also been and how he'd definitely be at the party as well, which they were planning on throwing at WacDonald's. Ayumi was a little more subdued, but also expressed her tremendous relief to know that Kagome was all right, and promised to help her with her schoolwork. Not one of the girls mentioned a single thing about her 'jealous, two-timing boyfriend', and after hanging up with Ayumi it was all Kagome could do to not completely dissolve into a fit of tears.

I guess, maybe ...maybe it really was all a dream...

If it looked like a duck and quacked like a duck... Deciding not to worry about it anymore for the time being, since for one thing getting upset was making her head ache again, Kagome managed to change into some fresh clothes, feeling rather robotic as she went through the motions, before then dragging her butt downstairs to grab a little bite to eat. Very little. One thing she did believe regardless of the surrounding details was that she'd been in the hospital for three weeks; she'd lost a lot of weight and needed to reintroduce herself to solid foods slowly and carefully. A cup of ramen sounded absolutely perfect.

Heading outside with the steaming noodles in hand, she wandered over to the bench that sat across from the Goshinboku and just stared up into its branches, thinking. She longed to hear Inuyasha's voice demanding to know what she was doing wasting time just sitting around when there were jewel shards to be found.

“Am I going crazy?” she asked the ancient tree. A light breeze ruffled its leaves.

She sighed, and took a reluctant bite of her noodles, eating her meal slowly over the next few minutes. The tranquility of the afternoon was shattered a brief while later when an ecstatic-looking Souta joined her on the bench, the boy having just gotten home from school.

“Hey, Nee-chan! So glad you're all right.” Souta said, smiling brightly.

“Thanks, Squirt.”

Fidgeting for a minute, Souta looked like he wanted to say something else, and Kagome gave him a look that asked him silently what was on his mind.

“I...I'm sorry...” he said, and she blinked at him, taken aback.

“What for?”

“It's...it's my fault you got hurt, since I sent you looking for Buyo...”

Her eyes softened.

“Oh come on, it's not your fault I was dragged- I mean, that...I fell down the well.” she corrected mid-sentence, mentally cringing at the sour taste the words left in her mouth.

Souta's eyes widened.

“Did...did you just say you were dragged down the well?” he asked.

She sighed. She couldn't lie, but she couldn't tell him the truth, either. Mainly because she didn't really know which was which at the moment.

“I thought I was, but now Mama's telling me I dreamed it.” she decided for, asking him beseechingly, “What did you see, Souta?”

He furrowed his brow, as if in heavy thought, and Kagome couldn't decide if he was honestly trying to remember the details or if he was debating with himself on whether or not to keep up the pretense of their mother's story. Finally, he answered.

“I saw Buyo go into the well-house, and when I got you, you and I went in there and we heard a lot of scratching sounds. I was scared to go further but you went on ahead, saying it was just the cat. It sounded like it was coming from inside the well, and the old wood planks that Jii-chan had put over the well so that nothing would fall in were a little rotted, with a couple of holes in them, so when I heard you say that it sounded like the sounds were coming from inside the well I honestly thought Buyo was in there, just like you did; I thought he must have jumped up onto the well's cover and then fell in through one of the holes in the broken wood. You lifted off the cover to see, and then I don't know, you just fell in. It looked like you were leaning down, trying to see clearly, and lost your balance or something. I didn't see anything drag you. I ran to get Mama and Jii-chan, and when we all came back into the well-house Buyo was rubbing up against the outside of the well, meowing, like he was telling us where you were. No idea why it sounded like his scratching had come from inside the well before. I guess he was on the other side of it and we didn't notice him?”

Kagome sat quietly, not sure she fully believed her brother's story.

No ... she protested in her mind, knowing it didn't feel right. That it couldn't be right. Her instincts were screaming at her; something was off.

She wanted to scoff at the notion of stupidly falling into the well from losing her balance to begin with, but going out of her way to remove the cover first and then losing her balance and falling in?

Sure, Inuyasha's called me clumsy a few times, but that's ridiculous ... she thought, before immediately berating herself. She needed to stop thinking of him as a real person. Or did she?

Something wasn't adding up here.

Even assuming her 'dream' had started with Mistress Centipede as an alternative reality to what'd really happened, that shouldn't affect her memories of what had really happened, right? Hence why she kinda-sorta, maybe, vaguely remembered peering down into the well and falling into it.

Maybe.

But she did not remember removing the cover first, even though she remembered everything else from when Souta had first told her about Buyo running into the well-house. Of course, she was remembering two different versions, so which was right? She supposed it was possible her numerous trips back and forth were warping her memories in that sense, and since she had dived into the well head first on a few occasions when escaping an irate hanyou she knew what going into the well head first looked like, assuming it hadn't all been a dream. She supposed it was possible then that her mother's 'suggestion' was making her think she remembered something that hadn't actually happened. Maybe the pain killers from the hospital were to blame? They'd told her what'd happened while she was still all loopy so she'd believe it, like a form of brainwashing, maybe? Whatever the case, it wasn't happening with Souta's retelling in that moment. Maybe she'd fallen into the well, or maybe she hadn't, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to actually 'remember' what he was telling her. She might've been remembering two different versions of what'd happened, but in neither version did she remove the well's cover, and she said as much in that moment.

“What are you talking about? I didn't remove the well's cover.” she argued disbelievingly, standing up for herself and her memories.

“I'm afraid you did.” Souta countered, although his tone of voice was more conversational than argumentative. “We both heard the scratching, and then you said it was coming from inside the well. You lifted off the wooden cover and sat it aside, leaning it against the well, and then you leaned over and fell in.”

Are you serious?

How ditzy did her family honestly think she was?

“No...that can't be right.” Was she trying to convince Souta or herself?

“Yes it is.” the boy continued to argue. “But don't worry, Jii-chan said they're going to seal the well more permanently so that it'll never happen again.”

“Seal the...” Her eyes widened in panic. After all, what if it hadn't all been a dream? Just what if? “What do you mean, they're going to permanently seal the well?”

Souta just shrugged, as if he honestly didn't care one way or the other.

“I dunno, fill it in with concrete, maybe? He said he'd make sure you could never fall down it ever again.”

That sent up warning flares.

“No!” she shouted, bolting to her feet and making a beeline for the well-house.

“Nee-chan, don't!” Souta shouted after her, the boy hot on her heels.

Throwing the well-house door open, she saw the Bone Eater's Well as it'd always appeared to be since her journey began, without its cover; an open invitation. Pausing for a moment, she stared at it in relief to realize it hadn't already been filled in, while contemplating her options. She'd managed to get back once before when Inuyasha had thought he'd sent her away forever, so maybe she could do it again. Maybe she didn't need a jewel shard if she thought about it hard enough, used her own miko powers to blaze her trail. After all, Inuyasha didn't need a jewel shard, so why should she? It was just a power boost, but she was powerful all on her own. Concentrating, she thought she could even feel her miko aura crackling to life.

Souta grabbing her arm pulled her from her thoughts, but also got her butt in gear.

“Let go!” she shouted, jerking her arm out of his grasp. “I've got to know!”

She ran down the short flight of steps and jumped into the well before Souta could stop her, his shout of “Nee-chan!” the last thing she heard as the bottom of the well rushed up on her hard and fast.

`````````````````````````````````````

Kagome bolted awake in a cold sweat, a faint shriek escaping her lips that earned the attention of everyone else sleeping around the firepit in the small house they were using for the night.

“Kagome!” Inuyasha was by her side in an instant. “Are you hurt? What's wrong?”

It was ...a dream? she realized slowly, as she glanced around the room and into everyone's concerned gazes.

“Oh thank kami!” Kagome gushed, throwing herself into Inuyasha's embrace and wrapping her arms around him before he had a chance to get away, the hanyou's cheeks tinting pink at her brazen move.

“K-Kagome?”

With a shaky breath, she told everyone about her dream, about how she'd been injured during the fight with the bird-man and had woken up in her time, in a hospital, only to be told that her life with them had all been the dream.

Inuyasha started growling quietly in the back of his throat at the mention of her getting injured, a sound that got even louder as she got to the part about waking up in her time in a hospital – she'd explained to him before what one was – but when she got to the part about how her entire family had been trying to tell her that she'd dreamt all of them he stopped his growling and actually returned her embrace, wrapping his arms around her despite the shocked expressions Sango, Miroku, Shippou and even Kirara all wore at the maneuver.

“I...we're real, Kagome.” he murmured softly before pulling away, and she got the distinct impression he'd been about to express something a tad more personal before remembering they weren't alone. Either way, the gesture was greatly appreciated.  

“Thank you.”

Since it was almost time to get up, anyway, everyone agreed that they might as well get that much earlier of a start on their day, rather than trying to go back to bed after such an upset. Kagome didn't honestly think she could go back to sleep even if she wanted to, and she also wasn't entirely sure she even wanted to. Packing up, they headed over to the main house to say a quick goodbye to the headman's wife, who was already awake and doing breakfast preparations. She sent them off with a few previsions she'd had set aside for them to take, and then once they exited the headman's family compound they wasted no time getting on the main road out of town.

“You said that in your dream we had already engaged this youkai in battle?” Miroku asked once they exited the village. “How did it go?”

Kagome relayed all that she could remember, including the fact that it hadn't actually been going very well, and that despite all their time spent in preparation they hadn't thought of every variable because they'd been unable to fell the beast.

“Maybe you had that dream for a reason, then, or at least the first part. Second part doesn't make any sense.” Shippou chimed in, and Sango readily agreed with the kit, that the part of her dream about the youkai battle could be taken as a lesson they needed to learn from.

Discussing all possible strategies during the walk, they worked out a scenario for what to do if it became like her dream, in that the Kaze no Kizu wasn't enough to take it out. Everyone agreed that trying to get it to preemptively fire its energy blast at Inuyasha so that he could use the Bakuryuuha instead was a good idea, as was Miroku trying to see if he had an opening to suck up some parts of the youkai while avoiding the jewel shard if it did get blasted to bits as it'd done in her dream. Kagome also knew to stay closer to Inuyasha so that in the event of the youkai sending a blast her way that she couldn't deflect with an arrow she'd be within hanyou-rescuing distance, and she'd also made him promise that if she got hurt and he had to take her back to her family that he would not leave her time until she woke up, no matter how long it took. Even if they chased him away and wouldn't let him go to the hospital with them he was not to travel through the well back into the past even temporarily, staying hidden somewhere in the small patch of forest behind their shrine house until Kagome came back home, just on the off chance that they might seal the well up while he was gone. Ordinarily he would have scoffed at such a bizarre, demanding request, insisting that she was being paranoid and that her family wouldn't react so harshly, but maybe it was the severity of her nightmare, and how utterly terrified she obviously was, that made Inuyasha agree to her request without protest. Kagome sighed in relief.

When they arrived on scene the youkai didn't give them very much warning. They were just walking up the road, starting to wonder where exactly the area was that this youkai guarded, when all of a sudden a horrible screeching sound from up above had everyone scrambling for cover before the giant, faceless bird-man was swooping down on them, his energy blast charring the spot of earth where everyone had been standing moments prior.

He ...he looks just like how he did in my dream! Kagome realized with widening eyes as she got her barrings, not that she had very much time to contemplate what that could mean as she quickly drew and notched an arrow, letting it fly at her first opportunity before then immediately grabbing and readying another shot. Maybe the others were right, and that part of her dream had been a message, a warning, and as such it was also a premonition. A vision of what could happen if they didn't get this right. It would make sense then that she'd seen in her psychic vision what the bird-man actually looked like, right? Maybe it was a latent miko power she hadn't known she possessed.

 It was a good enough explanation for the time being, while staying alive was the most important thought on the miko's mind.

“It does have a shard!” she shouted then, not thinking about why she hadn't sensed it beforehand. “In its forehead!”

“Right!” Sango acknowledged, quickly taking to the skies atop Kirara, doing her best to herd the thing with Hiraikotsu so that it'd stay directly overhead and an easier target for her comrades on the ground.

Like a well oiled machine, everyone fell into line.

Running and breathing heavily, Kagome peered up into the sky, waiting for her next opening. Seeing it, she quickly raised up her bow and arrow, and with the arrow already notched she pulled the string taught and let it fly.

“Hit the mark!” she yelled, mentally cheering when it did just that.

“Good shot!” Inuyasha complimented, before yelling for Sango to get out of the way.

The taijiya and her nekomata steed quickly retreated to a safe distance and then Inuyasha let his Kaze no Kizu fly, the bird-man weakened tremendously and more than a little distracted by Kagome's arrow lodged in his thigh, enough so that he couldn't dodge in time and took the full hit from Inuyasha's sword. Kagome knew not to cheer in victory prematurely, though. Not with the warnings of her nightmare still buzzing around in her head.

As predicted, the jewel shard in its forehead protected the youkai from the full force of Inuyasha's blast, causing its body parts to hang eerily suspended midair for a moment before flying back together again. Some things were different this time around, though, like Kagome didn't bother trying to tell Sango where the jewel shard was located, nor did the slayer ask her for its location, because of their discussion that morning where Kagome explained her belief that Sango wouldn't have time to retrieve it in such a case. How quickly the youkai reassembled itself revealed that she'd been correct in that assumption. Immediately drawing and notching another arrow, the miko aimed for the largest collection of body parts and let her missile fly, Sango and Kirara still keeping a safe distance. The rapidly regenerating bird-man was immediately blasted apart again, but it was only temporary.  

Following the plan they'd discussed that morning for such a contingency, Sango immediately swooped down and collected Miroku, the monk preparing his barrier and ofuda as they approached the mass of suspended youkai bits. Flinging his ofuda at the clump of flesh containing the jewel shard they almost made it in time, almost, but the beak appeared just in time to spit out a small fireball and destroy the ofuda before it could make contact. As more body parts flew towards the head, the beak opened back up again and spat out a much larger energy blast, but thankfully, just as Kagome had predicted, Miroku's barrier was sufficient to shield them from the attack.

Shielding her eyes against the bright flash of light, Kagome waited for Miroku to fling out several more ofuda, knowing they would be the distraction she needed, and then as the bird-man destroyed each and every sutra that came his way she let another arrow fly, her training definitely having come in handy as her aim was true, hitting the youkai squarely in his newly reassembled chest. He blasted apart again.

Turning to speak to Inuyasha, to make sure he was ready to intervene with a Bakuryuuha in the event that the youkai spat a fireball her way, Kagome faltered, her eyes traveling up beyond Inuyasha's head, when she noticed the Goshinboku peaking out from above the forest canopy that stood behind the hanyou.

“Kagome?” he asked, drawing her attention, his voice laced with concern. “Are you okay? What's wrong?”

Blinking in confusion, the miko shook her head as her eyes locked with those of her hanyou companion, and then glancing behind him again, the tree line looked like how it was supposed to.

“Uh...get ready, Inuyasha.” she said then, drawing and nocking another arrow while shaking her head one last time and shrugging off what she decided must have been a trick of light and shadow.

Squaring his shoulders, Inuyasha held Tessaiga at the ready.

“Right.” he said, nodding.

Above them, Sango flung Hiraikotsu at the flying body parts trying to reattach themselves to the youkai, the bone boomerang able to do more damage, and pass harmlessly through Miroku's barrier, thanks to the monk's shakujou strapped to its surface. Aiming for the regenerated head would probably mean Hiraikotsu taking a direct hit, but the bird-man wasn't fast enough in his current state to hit the boomerang as it flew all around him, his jyaki fireballs missing their target as Hiraikotsu zipped past.

“Kagome!” Mrs. Higurashi's voice cried out.

The miko turned all around, eyes wide, completely disoriented. Mama...?

“What's the matter with you, Wench?” Inuyasha asked, giving her a concerned look. “They need you to take out the head again.” he said, nodding in an upward gesture toward their friends.

“Kagome-chan, now!” Sango shouted, sounding desperate, and the miko quickly shoved all confusion out of her mind because she had a job to do.

“Hit the mark!” she cried as she let her arrow fly, pumping a fist in triumph as her arrow struck true, the bird-man's head disintegrating into tiny pieces. Hopefully now the monk and slayer would have time to get the shard before the beak could reform again.

No such luck, though, as Miroku made a grab for the shard in that moment only to get repelled by a jolt of energy that almost knocked him off Kirara. Without even the entire head regenerated yet, the beak reformed all by itself, floating a few inches below the suspended jewel shard, and it immediately sent a blast at the trio that Kirara couldn't dodge at such close range. Miroku's barrier prevented them from turning into crispy critters.

Kagome looked away at the explosion, shutting her eyes against the blinding flash of light, and then upon blinking her eyes back open again they immediately opened wider in shock and disbelief, mixed with determination, when she spotted that same village man again, the one who'd also cameoed as a doctor in her dream. He was watching their battle from the tree line again. That could not be a coincidence.

“It's you!” she cried out in surprise, making a beeline for the forest and ignoring Inuyasha's frantic shout of her name followed by the demand that she stay by his side as they'd discussed.

Up on Kirara, Miroku tried to distract the rapidly reforming bird-man by flinging out even more ofuda towards the head while Sango continued to prevent some of the pieces from merging with the main body by well-timed swings of Hiraikotsu, but it was no use, as the youkai still spat out a large blast of energy straight for the retreating miko, not that Kagome was worried about it, knowing that Inuyasha was hot on her heels and prepared to protect her no matter what. She nodded in satisfaction when she heard the hanyou's battle cry of “Bakuryuuha!”

As soon as the youkai fired its blast at Kagome, Sango and Miroku hightailed it out of there, since Inuyasha being ready for the possibility of such an attack by the youkai and being prepared to counter with the Bakuryuuha was another one of the maneuvers they'd discussed that morning. As Kagome had stormed away, towards the tree line, Inuyasha had ran after her, and so as the severed bird-man's head spat out its energy blast at Kagome just like in her dream he had been in a position to do something about it. The taijiya, houshi and nekomata were safely out of range when Inuyasha's massive attack struck true, not that it was really possible to miss with an attack that large. Fortunately, being aimed skyward meant that none of the surrounding landscape suffered any collateral damage, either.

Everything worked according to plan as the pieces of the bird-man were all but obliterated, although Kagome using herself as bait was not something they had discussed.

“What the hell were you thinking, Wench?!”

Ignoring him, Kagome had already realized she'd unthinkingly turned her back on the enemy yet again in her distraction, although thankfully things had worked out differently from her dream thanks to said dream providing a warning. A warning that had included the appearance of this mystery villager, whose eyes widened as Kagome marched right up to him in that moment and, slinging her bow across her back, grabbed his robes with both hands.

“You're involved in this somehow, aren't you?” she asked with an accusing tone, wondering if maybe he was secretly the youkai's master. “Who are you?!”

“M-my name is Shun!” the man replied, both sounding and looking terrified.

“Kagome, what's the matter with you?” Inuyasha asked, his tone making her feel uneasy, as she released the poor villager with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I...uh...”

“Kagome, are you all right?” Shippou asked as he appeared from his hiding spot.

“N-no uhh...yes...” She looked around, shaking her head, disoriented. “I don't know.”

Sango and Miroku dismounted Kirara nearby, sending her concerned looks. Miroku approached, and handed Kagome the jewel shard they were finally able to retrieve, proof that the bird-man would not be regenerating again.

“Come on, Wench, let's get you back to the village.” Inuyasha said then, squatting for her to climb up onto his back. Shakily, she complied, remaining silent during the journey.

``````

“Well, you don't smell sick and you don't got a fever.” Inuyasha said as Kagome slowly sipped the special medicinal tea for rattled nerves she'd accepted from the headman's wife. “But your heart sounds like it's tryin' to break outta your chest, and you look exhausted. Maybe you trained too hard yesterday and then didn't get a good enough rest 'cause of that stupid dream.” he suggested.

“This is not a case of simple fatigue.” she argued quietly, sipping her tea with a troubled expression. Honestly, she didn't know what to think.

“Kagome-sama, perhaps Inuyasha is correct. The mind can conjure up all sorts of things in cases of extreme stress, and I would definitely say that nightmare qualifies.” Miroku chimed in from his place sitting on the other side of the firepit, nodding in thanks to the headman's wife as he accepted the cup of regular tea she handed him.

Kagome bit her lower lip for a moment, then met Miroku's eyes as she asked, “Are you sure that youkai wasn't exuding any type of miasma that could've affected me somehow?”

“None that I could sense, and none that affected either Sango or myself, and we were much closer to the youkai than you were from your position.”

She bit her lip again, nodding her reluctant agreement with that before taking another sip of her tea.

“And none of you guys saw or heard anything strange happen during the battle?”

“Nope.” Inuyasha answered, waving his hand to decline their hostess' offer of tea before sending a serious look Sango's way and adding, “Maybe Sango hit ya harder than we thought.”

The slayer adopted a guilty expression at Inuyasha's words, declining the offer of tea as well. Kagome chimed in before she had a chance to apologize again for what the miko knew had been an accident and wasn't angry about.

“I don't think that was it.” she said reassuringly, sending the taijiya a forgiving smile before sighing and meeting their hostess' eyes. “How's Shun-san?” she asked.

“A little shaken but all right.” the headman's wife replied reassuringly with a polite expression.

It'd been explained that the village man in question had been lingering in the tree line simply because he had wanted to watch as the Inu-tachi took out the troublesome youkai.

Kagome hung her head and groaned. “I feel like such an idiot.”

“It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Kagome-chan.” Sango spoke up then. “I would have been suspicious of him too if his presence had been a part of my dream.”

“Still...I feel like I've alienated myself from the people here even more than I already was.” the miko stated with a dejected tone. She glanced their hostess' way and the headman's wife sent her a sympathetic look but remained silent.

“Who cares what they think? We're your friends; we all know the stress you've been under.” Shippou chimed in then.

“Thanks, Shippou-chan.” Kagome answered, offering the kit a warm smile before sipping the last of her tea and handing the empty cup back to the headman's wife, who left the Inu-tachi alone for the time being to go wash the cup and put it away. “If it really is plain ol' exhaustion then I think I'd better get a little rest, clear my mind a little.” the miko added then, stretching a bit before rising to her feet, planning on heading out to the small house they were borrowing for the time being to take a nap.

Miroku nodded in agreement to the idea.

“Perhaps it would behoove you to engage in some of the relaxation techniques I've shown you in the past, as well.” he stated. “Remember the ones I showed you a few months ago?”

“They never seem to work for me.” the miko replied with an appreciative glance in the houshi's direction as she turned to exit the room.

“Kagome, Dear, do you know where you are?” Mrs. Higurashi asked.

“Wha...?” The miko paused in her retreat, glancing back at her friends, who were all giving her equally confused looks in return.

“What's wrong?” Sango asked, looking concerned.

“Nothing...” the miko stated slowly, growing defensive at the disbelieving looks her friends were giving her. “Nothing.” she repeated more assertively, almost believing it herself.

“Wench, I want you to get some sleep.” Inuyasha said then, his tone leaving no room for argument. “We'll head out tomorrow.”

Feeling too exhausted to argue, Kagome just murmured a softly spoken “Okay.” along with a small nod and then slipped on her shoes before exiting the house, feeling her friends' eyes on her back as the reed door mat closed behind her.

Shuffling slowly around the side of the headman's main house and towards the smaller building they had slept in last night, Kagome paused as she rounded the corner, her eyes going wide, as the forest tree line she could see in the background behind the rows of houses and storage buildings featured one very tall, very dominating tree. A sacred tree that was over three days' travel away from their current location.

Startled, she closed her eyes, willing the hallucination away.

“It's not real...it's not real...” she repeated to herself, opening her eyes to note with relief that the Goshinboku had disappeared again, the local forest again looking like how it was supposed to for that village.

Shaken but trying not to show it, she continued walking towards her destination, nodding a silent hello to a random villager she passed along the way, but then entering the small house that'd been given to their group she stopped dead in the doorway, going pale like she'd seen a ghost.

“Nee-chan, what's the matter with you?” Souta asked, the boy standing in the middle of the room with an expression of confusion and concern.

Spooked, she turned and bolted, racing back to the headman's main house and the security of her friends, but as she ran inside, not even bothering to take her shoes off, the reed mat swinging closed behind her gave the sound of a modern-day door, and twirling around in surprise at the sound her eyes widened in horror to see that it was the backdoor to her family's kitchen. “No!” she shouted, pounding on the door with her fists. Turning back around, she found herself standing in the kitchen of her home in the future, her mother standing in front of her with a very concerned look in her eyes, and losing it, Kagome slid down the door until she crumpled onto the floor, crying hysterically. “Help me!” she sobbed. “Help me...”

`````````````````````````````````````

“ ;...But it was so real. I was there...” Kagome said, distressed, as she sat with her mother in Doctor Saigou's office. It had been explained to the psychiatrist by Mrs. Higurashi how Kagome had appeared to go into some kind of waking dream state after climbing back out of the well, trapped in the delusional world of what had previously been her coma dream.

Dr. Saigou offered the fifteen-year-old a warm, understanding smile.

“Sometimes the mind can become so attached to a particular fantasy, a particular wish or desire, that it manifests aspects of that dreamworld into our waking lives.” he said, looking over his notes for the last hour. “You said you became agitated when your brother told you your family was going to permanently seal the well?”

Kagome snorted. “That's putting it mildly.”

He grinned.

“It seems to me that that incident triggered an extreme anxiety attack; at the threat of having your fantasy world permanently taken away from you your unconscious mind rebelled, fooling your conscious mind into believing its reassurance that your dream was in fact reality. So desperate were you to cling onto the possibility of this dream that the part of your mind that distinguishes between fantasy and reality turned itself off. You were, in a sense, sleep walking, able to interact with people and things in the real world but seeing them through the fog of your hallucination, instead. It's called transposition, projecting elements of your delusion onto events that really happen. Except in extreme cases of mental illness these waking dreams usually only last for temporary intervals at a time, which is why you started to hear and see bits and pieces of the real world slipping through, until finally the illusion was shattered. It's more severe, but basically the same principle as hearing a sound of some kind that incorporates itself into a normal dream instead of that sound causing you to wake up. Finally though, the external stimuli became too intense to ignore, when your family realized what was happening and started trying to get you to snap out of it.”

Turning to Mrs. Higurashi, he added, “There's nothing to worry about. Your daughter is perfectly healthy but merely needs to come to terms with the fact that her dreamworld was in fact a dream.”

Kagome's mother gave her daughter an expectant look at the doctor's words.

The miko sighed.

“I need help,” she admitted; “if it really was all a dream then I don't want to be at the mercy of those hallucinations anymore.”

“So you're ready to accept that you never really traveled back in time?” Dr. Saigou asked, sounding pleased with her response. “That it was all a dream while you were in a coma?”

“All I know is that when I jumped into the well, I didn't travel through it back in time like I was expecting, as if it'd really all been real and my family was just lying to me. Instead, I woke up in that village, as if waking up here from my coma had been the dream. But reality started to break apart; nothing made sense, and now it's all fading away in my mind, like a...well, like a dream.” She took a deep breath, then added, “But now...everything here seems real, and I remember everything that happens here.”

“What about what your brother told you, that first triggered your increased denial and anxiety?” the doctor prodded.

Kagome looked down at her clasped hands.

“Maybe I really did remove the well cover, I don't know. But I did hit my head, so maybe for some reason I just don't remember that part. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.”

She met the doctor's eyes, smiling just a little when he grinned.

“I'm glad to hear you say that.” he said, setting his note pad and pen aside and scooting forward a little in his chair. “With cases like yours, most of the time it's an isolated incident, and if you can come to accept the truth of reality then you won't be plagued by the hallucinations any longer.”

She nodded her understanding and glanced down at her hands again, biting her lower lip.

“You still have some doubts, though, don't you?” he asked with an understanding tone, and her eyes snapped back up to meet his gaze.

“Honestly?” she asked, chuckling darkly. “I'm not sure what to believe.”

“Well at least you're being honest, and not just telling me what I want to hear.” the doctor stated then. “I think I can help you.” he added, glancing back and forth between Kagome and her mother. “We can try a form hypnosis called reflection therapy, a technique used to remove that last shred of doubt in your mind by delving deep into your genuine memories, allowing you to separate them from your fantasies and finally, fully believe the truth of reality around you. According to your medical doctor you aren't suffering from any genuine brain damage after your incident, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be successful.”

Kagome wasn't sure how she felt about being hypnotized. Sure, it sounded legit, but couldn't he just as easily plant false memories in her mind?

“Is there an alternative?” she asked.

The doctor sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“I could prescribe an antipsychotic.” he said.

Kagome liked the idea of being drugged up even less. Glancing sideways, she locked eyes with her mother, and Mrs. Higurashi gave her an encouraging nod.

“Let's try the hypnosis.”

``````

“Close your eyes,” Dr. Saigou said; “try to relax.”

Nodding, Kagome closed her eyes as instructed, settling back into her chair.

“Clear your mind.” he stated then, and she did her best to put herself into the meditative state Miroku had tried to show her in the past.

Thoughts like that aren't going to help matters ... she scolded herself, trying to wipe all thoughts of the fictional monk from her mind as well.   

“Now, I want you to listen to the sound of my voice, and block out everything else from the outside world; all that exists to you is the sound of my voice...”

Kagome gave an almost imperceptible nod as she allowed the doctor to put her into a trance.

“Now, think back, to before you fell down the well, but don't try to remember specific incidents just yet; concentrate on how you felt.”

“I...was happy. It was my fifteenth birthday...” Kagome said slowly, the way people reciting events while under hypnosis tended to speak.

“Yes, that's right, it was your fifteenth birthday, and you were leaving for school...” the doctor stated, already having been told those details. “And then your brother got your attention, didn't he? What did he do or say? What happened and how did you react?”

“Souta was in the doorway to the well-house, calling for me. I...told him he shouldn't play in the shrine, but then he told me our cat Buyo was inside. He went inside calling Buyo's name, and I followed.”

“Good, good... Then what happened?”

“Souta said he thought Buyo was down near the well, and I told him to go get him, but Souta didn't want to. He said the place felt creepy. I said 'What are you scared of? Aren't you a man?'”

The doctor nodded; Mrs. Higurashi remained silent in her corner of the room, observing.

“And then?”

“And then...a loud scratching sound came from inside the room. It frightened Souta. I thought it was the cat. I went down the steps.”

“How did you feel?” the doctor asked.

“I felt...amused.”

“Why?”

“Because Souta was being a scaredy-cat.”

“So you went down the steps into the well-house...then what happened?”

“I approached the well, and there was another loud scratching sound; it was coming from inside the well...”

“You mean you thought it was coming from inside the well, right?”

Kagome furrowed her brow, delving deeper into the memory.

“It...sounded like it was coming from inside the well. I thought it was coming from inside the well.”

“And how did you feel?”

“Puzzled...and then frightened.”

The doctor sat up a little straighter in his chair. He glanced Mrs. Higurashi's way, but she merely shrugged, remaining silent as instructed.

“Why frightened?” he asked Kagome.

“Buyo rubbed against my leg right after the scratching sound; he startled me.”

“And what happened next?”

“I screamed.”

“That's not-” Mrs. Higurashi started to say, but she closed her mouth as the doctor turned and gave her a look.

“So you found Buyo before removing the lid off the well?” he asked Kagome, sounding surprised.

She furrowed her brow again.

“...Before...what?”

“Never mind... Buyo rubbed against your leg and you screamed. Then what happened? How did you feel after realizing it was just the cat?”

“I felt...embarrassed, for being a scaredy-cat like Souta. He scolded me for screaming; said I scared him. I felt...irked. I did his dirty work, retrieving the cat for him. Then...”

Scrunching up her face, Kagome winced, as if in pain.

“What's wrong?” the doctor asked.

“My...my head hurts.”

“Maybe we should-” Mrs. Higurashi whispered, but the doctor shushed her with a wave of his hand.

“What happened after Souta scolded you for scaring him?”

“I picked Buyo up... Souta...his eyes widened... There was a sound like creaking wood coming from the well behind me, and then...”

Kagome gasped, her eyes snapping wide open, but she was still in a trance.

“I can feel my powers returning...how wonderful...” she said in a voice wholly not her own. “You have it don't you? My body is growing back...”

“Kagome, what do you see? What's going on?” the doctor asked, his tone becoming frantic.

The miko cringed, turning her face away.

“That's disgusting! Le...let go of me!”

She thrust her hand out as if to strike at someone and Doctor Saigou caught it, and then the miko collapsed in the chair, still asleep. Carefully, he let go of her hand, allowing it to fall in her lap, her head tilting to the side.

He sat back in his chair.

“She's even more engulfed in her delusionary world than I thought...” he muttered.

“What does that mean?” Mrs. Higurashi asked him quietly.

He glanced her way.

“It means a larger part of her subconscious honestly thinks her dream really happened than I had originally anticipated.”

Kagome slowly blinked her eyes open, kind of half hearing their conversation. She caught the absolutely distraught look on her mother's face, and realized in that moment that the elder Higurashi woman wasn't lying to her. She'd had a really vivid dream while in her coma, apparently, but the whole fact about it being a coma, and not the medically induced kind, meant that something had been wrong with her brain, didn't it? So it stood to reason that a dream while in such a coma, from hitting her head, could be more realistic, then, didn't it? Not that getting dragged through a magical well five hundred years into the past by a resurrected centipede youkai was really all that realistic, when you thought about it that way. And more importantly, the more she thought about it in that moment, the more Kagome realized that the rest of what'd happened back then from after the moment where she'd snapped out of the doctor's trance was rapidly starting to fade. She could still remember Mistress Centipede dragging her into the well easily enough, but the rest of it was quickly becoming one big blur. Climbing back out of the well, seeing Inuyasha pinned, getting captured by the villagers and meeting Kaede, getting captured by those bandits, shattering the jewel, how the entire mission got started... It was all starting to slip away between her fingers. She could still remember a few key points, like meeting Shippou, Miroku and Sango, but a lot of the details were fading away into obscurity.

Like trying to remember a dream ... she realized.

“For some reason, the hypnosis made me remember the coma dream instead of what really happened, I guess.” she said suddenly, earning two sets of eyes on her.

“So you accept that what you remembered just now during this session was really a dream?” Dr. Saigou asked, sounding hopeful.

Kagome nodded.

“It has to be, right? I mean, what I said before is still true, that when I tried to jump into the well after Souta said they were going to seal it I didn't transport back in time, I 'woke up' in that village, as if this world was the dream, but as I sit here now, in this moment, I know I'm not dreaming, ya know?” she asked rhetorically. “When you're asleep, you think you're awake, but when you're really awake, you know you're awake.”

Dr. Saigou smiled at her words, clasping his hands together. Kagome continued.

“I guess what I didn't realize before is just that the dream hadn't started with Mistress Centipede. It started with me waking up the morning of my fifteenth birthday, and that's why I can remember two different versions of events. I can still remember going into the well-house and not finding Buyo, I can still remember peering into the well and somehow falling in it. I just don't remember removing the lid, but that part's not important anymore. Everything I just said happened, it was all the dream, it had to be, which is why it didn't match up with Souta's version of events when he told Mama and Jii-chan what'd happened.”

“And your friends from your dream?” Mrs. Higurashi spoke up questioningly. “What about this Inuyasha boy that seemed so very important to you? Do you really believe that I could ever lie to you about something so important? Oh Sweetheart, if he really were real, no matter what the circumstance I'd never try to make you think otherwise.”

Kagome nodded. “I realize that, now.”

Smiling at her mother, Kagome glanced the other way, her eyes opening wide as she noticed a framed photograph on the doctor's desk. It was of himself and another man...a man she instantly recognized.

“Who is that...?” she asked hesitantly, pointing to the photo. “He...he was also in my dream, near the end, as a strange villager I kept bumping into before the battle with the bird-youkai right before I woke up. But I also saw him in real life when I was leaving the hospital; I never understood that part.”

Dr. Saigou turned and glanced at the photo in question, his expression unconcerned.

“Oh, that's Dr. Sakai. We went to medical school together before I decided to specialize in psychiatry, and we're still close friends. I'm not surprised you recognize him; he was your surgeon at Tokyo Medical and the doctor who referred your mother to my office.”

Kagome nodded, absorbing that bit of information, before asking, “What about...him appearing in my dream?”

“I was told that although you were incoherent you were briefly in and out of consciousness a few times when you first arrived, so most likely you caught a glimpse of his face as he was examining you and if you knew on a subconscious level that he was a doctor tending to your injuries, then that would explain why he appeared as a predominant player in your dream.”

Kagome supposed that could make sense. Even though her dream had lasted three weeks, and had taken her through a few months worth of time within the fantasy, she'd started to incorporate her doctor into her dream right before snapping out of it and waking up. It could have been her unconscious mind trying to remind her about the real world. It was a good enough explanation, so she wouldn't worry about it anymore; she just wanted to put those fantasies behind her and get on with her life, and she said as much in that moment.

Dr. Saigou stood up from his chair sitting across from the miko at Kagome's words, and gazed down at her with a look of satisfaction.

“You've taken a big step today.” he said. “By admitting this fantasy world of yours was only a dream, you should no longer be plagued by waking delusions.”

Kagome met his eyes, the look in her chocolate orbs hesitantly grateful.

He glanced at the clock on the wall.

“We'll continue later.” he said then, looking Mrs. Higurashi's way. “I would definitely like to see her again, to make sure her recovery progresses steadily.”

“Certainly, Doctor.”

`````````````````````````````````````

Usin g their lunch break to go over the notes Yuka, Eri and Ayumi had given her that morning, Kagome sighed as she thought about how much makeup work she had to do. Granted, her teachers were going easy on her, considering she'd been in a coma for three weeks and out of school for another four days after that to 'recuperate', but it was still a lot of pressure. She felt like she'd forgotten half the stuff she was supposed to have already learned.

At least it's not as bad as it was in my dream, where I was missing school all over the place and failing all my tests ...

Thinking about a rouge memory of arguing with Inuyasha over needing to return home to study for an upcoming test she smiled whimsically. He truly was a marvelous character; maybe she'd honor his memory by writing a manga about him and their jewel quest. She probably wouldn't be the first writer who'd taken inspiration straight from a bizarre dream.

Putting thoughts of her dream about the legendary hanyou out of her mind for the time being, though, she knew she had a very real test coming up that she'd better study for. She didn't have any fantastical excuses for failing. Nose in her books, it took her a moment before that feeling one gets when you know you're being watched started to creep up on her, and suddenly feeling rather uneasy, she glanced up towards the classroom window, eyes going wide at the sight of the white-haired boy wearing a bright red kimono and a baseball cap, sword on his hip.

Closing her eyes, she rubbed her fingers over her eyelids, as if trying to wipe away the imaginary vision.

“It's not real...” she said quietly to herself.

Inuyasha didn't appear to hear her as he slid the window open and silently stepped inside the otherwise empty classroom. Kagome responded by staring face down into her schoolbook again, trying hard not to glance up at him through her bangs.

“Kagome...” he started softly, not sounding angry at her for dawdling in her time as what would've usually been the case. “Do you know who I am?” he asked instead.

That earned a quick glance, as she locked eyes with his for the briefest of seconds before looking back down again.

“Do you know what happened to you?” he asked her then, not getting a response that time. He continued. “We were fighting a bird-youkai, and you got injured, hit by a strong blast of jyaki. Your miko aura protected you from getting burned, but it knocked you out, and I raced you back to your mother. It took a few hours at my top speed, and you didn't wake up the whole time. I was so scared.”

He took a deep breath, as if waiting for her response, but she didn't look up, continuing to pretend to read the words on the pages in front of her.

“If you can't answer, just listen...” he said then. “Your mother was so nice and understanding at first, said they had to take you to that hospital place, and that I couldn't go too 'cause they'd be able to tell I ain't human. I hated that, but it made sense, so I let them take you, and I waited in your room. Your scent calmed me down. But when your family got back home they were different; your mom had changed, ordered me outta the house and said I was never allowed to see you again, that if you ever woke up – and kami that part scared me when she said that – that you'd never be allowed to come through the well again. At first I didn't even blame her for being pissed off; I mean hell, Kagome, I almost got you killed! I kept comin' back, just to check on you, and Souta kept tellin' me you were still asleep in the hospital. Finally though, they told me you were awake, and I just wanted to see you one last time, say a proper goodbye, ya know? Then they told me what they'd done, telling you it was all a dream, making you believe it'd all been a dream. I got so scared. I know a thing or two about illusions and thinkin' one thing's right when it's really another way. It wasn't a dream, Kagome, it wasn't. I'm real.” he stressed.

Dr . Saigou said I wouldn't have any more hallucinations, so much for accepting what's real and what isn't... the miko thought, mentally sighing, trying and failing to will the hanyou away. She peaked up at him again.

“Kagome...” Inuyasha continued then, meeting her eyes, “I think something must be wrong with your family; I can feel a dark aura at your house, but I ain't as good as the bouzu when it comes to tellin' what's what with that kinda stuff. Maybe the jyaki you'd been hit with infected them somehow, warped their minds. I can't let you stay there until I know what's goin' on. Your mom's got every right to hate me for what almost happened to you, but tryin' to scramble your memories and thoughts don't make no sense. They should just be tellin' you you ain't never allowed to go back again, not that you dreamt it all. Hang in there, Wench, I'm gonna get you outta there.”

With that said, Inuyasha made his way back over to the window, and after glancing around outside, as if to make sure the coast was clear, he slipped out, silently sliding the glass closed behind him.

Kagome sighed, and raised her fingers back up to her eyes again, trying to ward off the headache she could feel approaching.

“Not real.” she murmured quietly, trying to make herself believe it.

``````

Lying restless in bed, Kagome stared up at the ceiling, replaying that day's events over and over. She'd been thinking about Inuyasha, even though she'd admitted to herself that he wasn't real, just a character she'd made up in her dream. Whimsically, she'd been thinking about writing a manga about him just for the heck of it, and then suddenly there he was, climbing through the window and trying to convince her that he was real after all. She was really losing it.

Am ...am I going crazy...? she wondered not for the first time, worrying her lip.

A noise sounding like it came from the roof drew her attention to her bedroom window in that moment, her eyes widening in shock as the glass plane slid open and a very familiar fire-rat clad individual stepped silently into her room.

“Kagome...” he said quietly, approaching her prone form.

“Get away from me.” she ground out as she shifted away from him, trying to order the hallucination to leave her alone. Damn it all, she'd done it again, thinking about him and then conjuring him up. Maybe she needed to go on meds, after all.

“Kagome, you gotta come with me, it ain't safe here.” the hanyou stated assertively.

“No!” she cried out.

“Quiet!” he hissed, reaching for her squirming body and scooping her up into his arms against her will.

Turning, he jumped out the window, and Kagome had to admit it sure felt like she was falling, though if she'd actually fallen out of her window then how come she didn't get hurt when suddenly she was standing in the yard, Inuyasha standing beside her with a firm grip on her upper arm after righting her on her feet? She didn't know what to think. He tried to drag her along, then, the two of them heading swiftly towards the well-house, and panicking, she feigned a fainting spell, collapsing to her hands and knees.

“Kagome! Are you okay?” Inuyasha asked in a hushed tone.

Getting out of his hold, Kagome bolted to her feet and ran straight for the house, shouting “Help me!” at the top of her lungs.

It didn't take long for her grandfather, mother and brother to all come running outside, and even though Inuyasha had quickly caught up with Kagome and grabbed her again, when he froze at her family's appearance she easily yanked her arm back out of his grasp and ran to her mother's side.

Mrs. Higurashi stared Inuyasha down, her expression not unlike a protective mother confronting her child's attacker.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

Inuyasha remained silent, narrowing his eyes.

“Get out of here, you hooligan, before I call the police!” Mrs. Higurashi stated then, and before Kagome could wonder at her mother's ability to see Inuyasha the hanyou turned, feigning compliance, before swiftly whirling back around, sprinting towards them all and leaping over their heads to land directly behind Kagome. Wrapping his arms around her he launched the two of them back into the air, the shocked and silent pajama-clad miko flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he made a mad dash towards and down the well, the blue lights of time engulfing them.

``````

Kagome sat motionless on the raised wooden floor of Kaede's hut as Miroku sat in front of her, his brow furrowed in concentration with eyes closed, his hand extended towards her head in order to better read her aura.

“Her ki is completely out of balance.” the monk stated, opening his eyes. “Her aura feels tainted by some kind of darkness, perhaps a result of that bird-man's jyaki, perhaps something else, but either way, it's going to take her a while to fully recover.”

Kagome remained silent, feeling confused and anxious, her eyes darting around the room as the others spoke about her.

“They were lyin' to her, tellin' her that her life here was all a dream, and I think they had some kind of healer from her time do a mind trick to help her believe them.” Inuyasha said, sounding worried.

“Kagome?” Shippou voiced, touching the miko's arm. She jumped a little, startled by the kit's touch, as she jerked her arm away while turning her head to stare in his direction, and Shippou backed away at her frightened expression, biting his lower lip with a worried look in his eyes. “Is she gonna be all right?” he asked the others.

“Kagome-chan is strong.” Sango stated, sounding confident. “She's a fighter.”

Kagome met Sango's eyes, and then winced, raising her right hand up to her temple, where the slayer had accidentally punched her before. But that had been nearly four weeks ago...hadn't it?

“My head still hurts...” she murmured softly, meeting Sango's eyes uncertainly.

“A minor injury; do not fret over it, Child.” Kaede stated, handing her a cup of tea for treating headaches, which she immediately started drinking.

“We were able to successfully slay the bird-man.” Miroku stated then, as if figuring Kagome would want to be filled in on what'd happened after she'd been knocked out. “It turned out one of the villagers was actually responsible; that man you saw watching from the tree line, he was the one who'd summoned the youkai in the first place.”

Kagome nodded. “Shun...” she stated, as if the name left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Miroku nodded. “As Inuyasha ran to where you'd collapsed, Shun made a gesture and the bird-man spat out another blast of jyaki, but that was poor planning on his part because our friend here used it to send a Bakuryuuha towards the fowl.”

“He didn't stand a chance.” Sango chimed in.

“Inuyasha didn't wait around after that, quickly scooping you up and heading for the well, but Sango and I were easily able to claim the beast's jewel shard in the aftermath of Tessaiga's ultimate attack.”

“Keh, I knew you could handle it.” the hanyou said.

“Speaking of...” Miroku added, reaching into his robes. “Here,” he said, handing Kagome her little bottle of jewel shards, “I can't purify them as well as you can.”

Kagome took the little bottle with her free hand, staring at the shards held within as the one that was a slightly darker purplish pink than the others brightened to the same level of almost-white as soon as her fingers made contact. Closing her hand around it, gripping the little bottle in a fist, she cringed as the throbbing pain in her temple intensified.

“My headache's getting worse...” she said, addressing Kaede and raising the half empty teacup she held in gesture. “I thought this stuff was supposed to work pretty fast.”

“It depends on what's ailing you, Child, relax.” the elderly miko stated in a soothing voice.

“Your head probably still hurts 'cause of whatever dark aura is tryin' to warp your mind.” Inuyasha stated, and Kagome nodded at that, figuring it made sense as she sat the teacup down and then opened her other hand to glance at the jewel shards again.

She was surprised to see that the one they'd acquired from the bird-youkai was tainted purplish pink again.

“It's corrupted again... Why?! I just purified I!”

“Kagome-sama, try to calm down...” Miroku stressed, waving his opened hands up and down slowly in a placating gesture.

As Kagome stared in confusion at the little glass bottle of jewel shards she realized she could sense nothing from them. That sensation she always felt whenever a jewel shard was nearby, tainted or otherwise, was completely absent. Glancing around the room, everyone was giving her strange looks, like they thought she was crazy. Maybe she was, or maybe she was the only sane one left.

“This isn't real...” she said suddenly, dropping the shards as she jumped to her feet and ran towards the back wall where her bow and arrows were resting. Grabbing a single arrow from the quiver, she quickly armed herself, aiming for the hanyou.

Everyone else quickly rose to their feet.

“What are you doing, Kagome?” Inuyasha asked, sounding cautious.

“If I'm right, you're not really here...” the miko stated, holding the bowstring taught. “This isn't a real bow and arrow; it's all a fantasy...and I'm going to end it no matter what it takes.”

“But what if it isn't a fantasy?” he asked, meeting her eyes with a pleading look. “Are you willing to take that chance?”

Kagome's eyes softened marginally, remembering the love she'd thought she felt for the hanyou she'd thought she knew.

“You're right...I won't...” she conceded, releasing the tension in her bow and lowering her arms.

Letting her left hand clutching the bow drop to her side, she gripped the arrow tightly with her right and aimed the arrowhead at her own chest, charging the arrow with purifying energy so that it glowed a brilliant blue.

“But I'm going to find out what's real and what's not.” she added matter-of-factly, earning Inuyasha's frantic cry of “Kagome don't do it!” before she plunged the purifying arrow into her chest with all her might, a bright flash of light blinding her for a fraction of a second.

Surprised to feel no pain, she looked around in confusion to realize the room around her had suddenly changed; she was no longer in Kaede's hut but the well-house, and she was alone. Glancing down at the arrowhead pressed firmly against her chest but not piercing, drawing no blood, she moved the arrow into her left hand, gripping both it and the bow in that hand while sliding the well-house door open with her right and stepping outside into the daylight. Her family was gathered by the well-house door, watching her, as were Dr. Saigou and Dr. Sakai. She looked at them all in confusion.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Doctor.” Mrs. Higurashi said to the psychiatrist.

“Not at all.” Dr. Saigou replied, turning to greet his companion as he added, “Thank you for meeting me here, as well.”  

“My pleasure.” Dr. Sakai replied.

“How's she progressing?” Dr. Saigou asked Mrs. Higurashi then.

“She's not accepting that her fantasy world was just a dream. Her delusions are growing more elaborate.” Kagome's mother stated.

“We found her running around outside last night claiming that the hanyou had come to take her back to the past.” Jii-chan elaborated.

Dr. Saigou sighed. “Then I see no other choice, she'll have to start a strict regime of antipsychotics and therapy sessions.”

Dr. Sakai nodded his agreement.

Kagome was only half paying attention, still puzzling over what had just happened.

“I still have my bow and arrow... Why do I still have my bow and arrow?” she asked no one in particular.

It was Souta who answered, looking just as confused as she did at the question.

“That's not a bow and arrow, just a branch and twig from the Goshinboku. You picked them up while you were running around in your hallucination.” he answered.

“Give them to me...” Dr. Sakai immediately chimed in, stepping forward a bit with an outstretched hand. “We don't want you to hurt yourself.”

As if on cue, Kagome grimaced as her headache roared back to life again, raising her right hand up to press against her throbbing temple. After just a second, though, she lowered her hand from her head, glanced at the bow and arrow still gripped in her other hand, and looked back up at her family and the two doctors.

“I don't believe you...” she stated warily, nocking the arrow and aiming it at Dr. Saigou.

He visibly hesitated, sporting a nervous expression.

The miko darted her eyes at her mother for a moment, just long enough to notice her worried expression as well, before glancing Dr. Sakai's way, the majority of her attention focused fully on her target. “If these are just sticks then why is he afraid?” she asked Dr. Sakai sarcastically, kicking it up a notch by allowing the arrow to blaze with her purifying energies once again. Dr. Saigou's eyes widened even further.

Mrs. Higurashi was the one to answer. “It's very complicated.” she stated in an agitated tone as she stepped forward a few paces as well. “I'll answer all your questions, but first I want you to put that down.” she demanded.

Unfazed, Kagome adjusted her aim, pointing the arrow at her mother.

“No.” she argued. “If this is a real bow and arrow then I was in the past...”

Both Kagome and her mother glanced down at the glowing arrow aimed right for the elder Higurashi woman's heart.

“But...I stabbed myself in the chest...so I should be dead...” Kagome added slowly in realization. “None of this is real...” she stated with dawning.

Glancing back at Dr. Saigou, he remained eerily silent. Shouldn't he have more to say if she were wrong? Her brother and grandfather were being noticeably quiet, too, as was Dr. Sakai, although he was the only one not wearing a nervous expression. He seemed more disinterested in the whole thing than anything else, his expression bland. She filed that away to deal with in a moment.

Locking eyes with her mother, then, she gave the elder Higurashi woman a determined look before shifting her aim once again and letting her miko powers blaze to their fullest, the blue glow around the arrow getting even larger and brighter.

“I'm going to shoot out the kitchen window over there.” she stated, gesturing with a nod of her head in the direction the arrow was now aimed. “With the amount of energy I've got pumped into this thing the glass should totally shatter, unless of course this isn't a real bow and arrow.” she finished sardonically.

Letting her missile fly, Kagome smiled triumphantly at the loud crash of exploding glass, and even more than that, the noticeable flinches everyone minus Dr. Sakai made at the sound. There was no way they were going to tell her she'd imagined it.

Although, on the other hand, she actually had...

Marching right up to Dr. Sakai, then, she ignored the glare her mother gave her, and everyone else was remaining silent so she let them just slip away into the background in her mind, her attention focused solely on the surgeon who bore that villager's face. Leaning in to read his name tag, she chuckled humorlessly to see it read Shun Sakai.

“It's all about you, isn't it?” she accused then. “You're the only constant, the only person in both places.”

“There's a lot more going on here than you realize.” he replied, looking faintly smug.

“This isn't real...” she said quietly, half talking to herself, as she glanced behind herself to glimpse the way the rest of her family and her psychiatrist were all just standing there staring back at her with blank expressions. “What's happening to me?” she wondered aloud, glancing all around herself.

“Listen to me,” Dr. Sakai spoke up then, sounding agitated; “we can still save you, but you must stop fighting us.”

Whatever retort the miko would've had got lost as she gasped in pain, tilting her head to the side a bit as she raised her right hand back up to her temple again, eyes closed. As soon as the wave of pain was over she glanced back up at Dr. Sakai through her bangs, determination in her eyes.

“You're lying.” she all but whispered.

He adopted a patronizing smile. “Let us help you.” he beseeched.

“No!” she yelled in his face.

“I'm warning you...” he started threateningly, eyes narrowed.

“No!” she shouted again, giving him a shove for good measure.

The action drew her attention to the bow still clutched in her left hand; she tightened her grip like it was a club. The doctor moved forward a step and that was all she needed; she swung, hitting him squarely across the side of his head with the bow, which flared brightly with her miko powers on impact. The flash of light was so bright in fact that Kagome had to turn her head away and close her eyes as the light seemed to completely engulf her, her world going white as her body became weightless.

`````````````````````````````````````

Kagome blinked her eyes open slowly, her lids feeling heavy, as if they were weighted down. A stark white shimmering energy field was the first vision that greeted her, shining brightly, and she shut her eyes again, feeling a migraine coming on, her right temple throbbing badly. The sounds of battle began ringing in her ears, her friends' frantic voices crying out in either warning or command, and that realization quickly earned her attention. Their words were muffled at first, but gradually became clearer, and she groaned as she tried to move, cracking her eyes back open again. She had to put her own discomfort aside; her friends were in danger, and that was all that mattered.

“You bastard!” she heard Inuyasha shout. “What are you doing to Kagome?!”

“Fuss all you want, she's mine now!” the bird-youkai answered triumphantly, laughing maniacally before his eyes suddenly went wide. “No...she's conscious!”

All eyes on the battlefield turned to the opaque glowing white sphere lying on the grass at his words.

From within said sphere, Kagome quickly assessed the situation. She was lying on her side, encased within a barrier of demonic energy, a tendril of that energy flowing down from the wall and pressing against her temple with invasive force. The memory of all that'd happened flooded her mind and her eyes snapped wide open before narrowing in anger, her grip on her bow tightening, the weapon still clutched firmly in her left hand. In a sudden flurry of movement she sat up and swung out with her bow, crying out with the movement as she gave it all she had. As the glowing wood struck against the barrier the demonic energy flickered for a brief moment in resistance before dispersing, and Kagome immediately jumped to her feet.

“Kagome!” Inuyasha was by her side in an instant. “Are you okay!?” he asked frantically, searching her up and down for injuries.

Thank the kami she's all right ... he thought, relief washing through him.

When that energy blast had hit her and encased her in that damn barrier he'd about lost his mind. Especially when even the Red Tessaiga had been unable to break it. He and the others had been at a complete loss for what to do, the bird-man able to either dodge or deflect their every attack.

“I'm fine.” Kagome answered in a rushed manner as she reached for and nocked an arrow, the sensation of her quiver on her back bringing her great comfort. “Let's end this.” she added quickly, meeting Inuyasha's eyes with a meaningful expression. Her arrow held no energy.

He locked eyes with the miko for only an instant and immediately understood her plan. “Right.” he agreed, readying Tessaiga.

Kagome let her arrow fly, and just like every other arrow she'd sent at the bird-man, who now bore Shun Sakai's human countenance rather than a beak with no eyes, he immediately spat out a large blast of energy, intent on intercepting and destroying her latest missile. His blast of jyaki destroyed her arrow all right, only this time, with her arrow containing no reiki, it didn't also neutralize his attack in an explosion of energies. Instead, the ball of demonic ki kept right on going, straight towards the waiting hanyou who had sensed that Kagome's arrow was benign and did not already fire a Kaze no Kizu in another attempt to merge their own energies together. They'd already tried that maneuver, and it had failed as well.

This one wouldn't.

“Bakuryuuha!” the hanyou shouted as he swung, the youki that shot forth from Tessaiga quickly merging with the bird-man's attack before growing in strength tenfold, sending a wave of energy back towards the avian youkai far greater than anything he could ever hope to either repel or avoid.

The bird-man's eyes opened wide in shocked horror moments before the blast hit him, rending him to pieces no larger than the jewel shard they needed to collect before said pieces eventually began pulling themselves back together again.

Having known to get out of the way the moment they'd seen the ball of jyaki headed straight for their canine companion, Sango and Miroku emerged upon Kirara from their shelter in that moment and quickly made a beeline for the suspended jewel shard. Retrieving it, the floating pieces of body parts began raining down all around them, and for once Kagome didn't complain about becoming covered in youkai guts.

“You sure you're all right?” Inuyasha asked, confused by her joyous expression as she laughed quietly while the bits and pieces of blood and gore continued to land all around and on them.

“More than all right.” she replied, glancing his way with a warm smile as she swung her bow onto her back. “Don't know about you, but I could use a bath.”

``````

“So he had been trying to shatter my mind in order to use me to help him find more jewel shards?” Kagome asked, sipping her tea as she snuggled into the yukata she'd borrowed after her bath as she sat with her friends by the firepit in the village headman's main house.

“That's what he'd boasted.” Sango confirmed, as they explained to Kagome what all the bird-youkai had stated during the half hour or so that she'd been trapped within that bubble of jyaki.

“Bastard had said that once you were 'ready' you wouldn't know dream from reality, that you'd be living in a fantasy while unknowingly doing his bidding.”

Kagome nodded her understanding, muttering darkly, “It's always about the jewel shards.”

Taking a deep breath, she explained to her friends what all she'd experienced while trapped in that monster's illusion, of how it had paralleled real life but with subtle changes, which had then become increasingly less subtle as time went on. She remembered the truth, now, of course. She remembered how Inuyasha really had come to get her when that traveler had shown up in Kaede's village begging for help, but there had been no strange villager giving her funny looks when they'd arrived, no burn victim who'd glared at her as if his injuries were her responsibility, Sango had not accidentally hit her during their training session, and most importantly, the bird-youkai had not been faceless. He really had been a bird-man, just like the villagers' descriptions, possessing a fairly human-looking head and face with human-like hands emerging from the tips of his wings. His appearance had been the main difference in her dream, the beginning of the fight having happened pretty much the same way she remembered it. They really had been trying everything to take him out, and his jewel shard really had made him damn near impossible to kill, and she really had been caught by surprise by a blast of energy headed her way and had tried to make a run for it, but it'd caught her, and from that point on she'd been trapped within a looping dream of her most recent memories, all the while her mind had been trying to get her to realize how something wasn't right, how it wasn't real. As they continued their discussion, the group decided that the fake future world in which they had been telling her she'd dreamt traveling back in time was the bird-youkai's doing, but it had been Kagome's mind resisting his spell that had caused her to go back and forth, to question what was real and to have her doubts. Deep down inside, she knew she really had traveled back in time, and that part of her subconscious mind had been screaming at her to listen.

“Finally, I realized that the whole entire thing was all one giant illusion, that neither world was real and I was trapped in something else entirely.” she explained, telling them how she'd managed to snap out of it and wake up within the barrier.

“An accomplishment for which we are tremendously relieved and grateful.” Miroku replied.

“You said it!” Shippou agreed, looking Kagome's way with said relief and gratitude shining in his eyes.

Kagome was about to say something to the kit, but was stopped by a gaping yawn that had her belatedly covering her mouth; Inuyasha smirked, and pretended not to notice as Shippou, Sango and Miroku hid their own smaller yawns as a result.

“Get some rest, Kagome. You've earned it, fighting off that bastard's spell.”

“I agree.” Sango stated then, sending the miko a relieved smile of her own. They had all been very worried for their friend during this ordeal.

“No argument here...” Kagome agreed, standing up and preparing to head out to the smaller house they'd stayed the night in last night, and would be spending this night in as well. Meeting Inuyasha's eyes, she added, “But when we head out tomorrow morning I need to go home before we do anything else. I...I just have to see it for myself.”

“Of course.” the hanyou stated in compliance, not about to argue with her over her need to go home under these particular circumstances. “I'll take you.”

`````````````````````````````````````

Kagome unconsciously held her breath as the blue lights of time engulfed them. Inuyasha noticed, but chose not to say anything, as he jumped back out of the well in her time and released her, steadying her on her feet.

“You ready?” he asked quietly, planning on staying by her side every step of the way. He knew, under the circumstances, that she had no intention of sending him away.

“As ready as I'll ever be.”

Nodding, Inuyasha moved in front of her and slid open the well-house door. So far everything seemed normal, nobody in sight, so together they made their way across the yard and up to the main house. Kagome couldn't help but check the kitchen window as they passed, mentally noting it was intact, as it should have been. She probably would've freaked out if it'd been shattered.

Slipping through the front door and slipping off her shoes, Kagome called out “Tadaima!” as she passed beyond the genkan and into the main part of the house.

Mrs. Higurashi emerged from the direction of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a small towel.

“Oh, Kagome! Welcome home, Dear. And hello, Inuyasha.” she greeted. “Will you be staying long?” she asked her daughter.

Sighing in tremendous relief that did not go unnoticed by the hanyou, although its significance was lost on Kagome's mother, Inuyasha spoke up before the miko could answer, and said, “Keh, she can stay for a few days, try to get caught back up on some lessons since I had to pull her out before. You guys don't mind me hangin' around?”

Kagome looked Inuyasha's way with both surprise and gratitude, having figured he'd want her back right away. She'd only wanted to double-check that her future world was how she'd left it, and maybe restock on some supplies while they were there. That he'd also asked her mother if he could stay, that part meant the most to her. She would have felt weird asking him to stay if he hadn't wanted to, but she did not really want to be separated from him at the moment.

“Not at all, Dear.” Mrs. Higurashi replied, smiling warmly. “I was just beginning dinner preparations, so I'll make sure there's enough for you as well. Please make yourself at home.”

That said, Mrs. Higurashi turned and headed back into the kitchen.

Inuyasha turned and grinned Kagome's way, pleased to see the honest smile in her eyes.

“You all right now, Wench?”

The dreaded nickname didn't faze her one bit.

“More than all right.”

Heading up to her room to get back to the studying she really had been trying to do when Inuyasha had shown up and pulled her away, she passed him a smile as he took up residence sitting cross-legged on her bed, remaining silent as he watched her. Sitting at her desk, she organized her papers and quickly got back to work. Ordinarily Inuyasha staring at her from her bed would become distracting, and maybe even disturbing, but in that moment, glancing over her shoulder on occasion to see the fire-rat clad hanyou nodding her way in return brought the miko nothing but comfort.