InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Begin Again ❯ Scroll Four: Explanations ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: It's my birthday! (Or it will be in a few hours) Whoohoo!

To be quite honest it was something she probably should have done a long time ago, but she had never really known how to say it in a way that would be believable. She had been afraid that they would cast her off as insane and dump her. They had been her best friends since grade school. She didn’t connect with them in the same way that she connected with her friends of the Sengoku Jidai, but she still loved them as much as she did her other friends. They deserved an answer. Besides, considering how much else they’d taken in stride about her less than average life, she couldn’t help but wonder how they could freak out over this.

And so she’d invited them to stay the night before school started back and they became seniors. The night was filled with promises of movies, snack foods, make up, girly magazines and lots of talking about the latest gossip circulating about their classmates, career futures and college. Well…Eri wouldn’t be participating in that discussion. She was sporting a new piece of jewelry that attested to her soon to be independence.

“I just have to finish high school,” the girl had said with a bright smile as she showed off the sparking diamond. “Mama insisted that I graduate high school, but then Ryu-chan and I can get married…”

It was hard to believe that Eri-chan would be getting married soon - and to Sakamoto Ryu no less. The suave and debonair young man reminded her a lot of Miroku-sama. He had a charming quality that lured women to him and he knew exactly how to work them. He was two grades ahead of them and when he and Eri had started dating the year before, Kagome had been suspicious of his motives, but the diligent teen had seemed quite taken with her slightly air headed friend and had proved to be quite faithful and caring. For that, she was grateful and since Eri seemed so happy, it was just another good sign.

She threw another batch of pillows on the floor for them to lay on and draped an old quilt over them. They had wheeled a cart with a small TV on it into her room and set up the VCR so that the girls could watch movies without being bothered by Jii-chan and Souta. The movies she had gotten for them to pick from were stacked next to the cart. Standing back, she tapped her chin with her index finger, looking over her room to see if there was anything else she needed. Bedding, magazines, make up, movies, snacks…

“Kagome! Your friends are here!” Her mother’s voice drifted up from downstairs and Kagome jumped over piles of pillows to her bedroom door, slowing down just as she reached the steps to keep from falling.

Deep breath…

“Kagome-chan!” Ayumi squealed and the two girls hugged each other, Ayumi‘s sleeping bag between them. Two months was a long time to go without seeing your best friends. Sometimes leading a double life was really, really hard. The other girls shifted their overnight bags to embrace their friend also.

Count to three…

“Hey guys! You can just drop your stuff by the door. I’ve got blankets and pillows piled in the floor and there’s some bags of chips and stuff up there already. I’ve got tons of movies and stuff,” she said, leading the girls up the stairs although they already knew the way.

Eri and Yuka had passed her on the stairs and Ayumi passed her once they were on the landing. Souta came out of his room, looking a little displeased with having so many girls in the house for the night. They had already gone into her room and turned on the light, discarding their things and searching for the perfect spot to settle in.

“Nee-chan, when are you going to go get Shippou-chan? You promised you’d bring him so that I wouldn’t have to put up with all you girls,” he whined, putting on his best Inuyasha pout. The kitsune had traveled the well with her several times in the past year. The first time had been experimental, but after that he had insisted on coming to be near her. “Do you think Inu-no-nii-chan would come too? Shippou-chan’s good at video games and all, but Inu-no-nii-chan rocks!”

Yuka had come back out to the top of the stairs, the other girls trailing behind. “Who’s Shippou?”

And off the diving board…

“Ah…He’s…well…He’s my…son…well, not really, but I did kinda adopt him…” She stumbled over her words. This had not been how she was planning to tell them. Making a mental note to kill her little brother later, she closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Everyone, I really have to talk to you.”

“I’d say,” Eri said, crossing her arms over her chest and fixing Kagome with a pointed look. “When’d you adopt a kid?”

“Eri-chan, it’s a really, really long story.” She sighed and shook her head. “But I think I should go get Shippou first. I did promise them. You can all come with me if you like…”



Of course she wasn’t really going to take them to the Sengoku Jidai. She’d just take them to the well house and let them watch while she disappeared. That should give her story some credit. And well…seeing the kitsune should do the rest. Despite his kitsune magic, the child still refused to alter his lower half to match his upper half in a more human appearance and so he still walked around on the hind legs of a fox.

“That’s a good idea, I think.” Eri nodded in agreement and the three followed their secretive friend back down the stairs and out into the shrine house courtyard. “I can’t believe you’ve been keeping a child from us.”

Kagome sighed. She really should have been more honest with them. They were her friends. They’d understand, right? “I know, I know…but…I just didn’t know how. I mean, the circumstances were pretty…special and kinda…unbelievable.”

“Why are we at the well house?” Yuka’s question was perfectly innocent and very legitimate. Normally if she were going to go get someone they would have headed for the temple steps and the streets of Tokyo…not a shrine.

Kagome slid the door open and motioned them inside, kneeling shortly to pick up four flashlights that she had left for this very purpose. After passing one to each girl and keeping one for herself, she led them down, speaking as she walked.



“Even though I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you all this, I haven’t come up with anything that’s acceptable. I’m just kinda…winging it.” She stopped and sat on the lip of the well, turning her flashlight on. “Look, I do have to go get Shippou and this is the way I have to go.”

“Kagome-chan, I hate to tell you this,” Ayami said gently, as if talking to a child, “but you’re not making any sense.”

Kagome actually laughed. She wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. How do you make sense out of the illogical? “I know and I'm sorry. Okay…well, you’re gonna think I’ve spent to much time with jii-chan, but here goes. This well is older than this shrine. It has stood in this exact same place for well over six hundred years and to my knowledge it has been dry for all of that time. It is made from the wood of the Tree of Ages. Now, when Kikyo -”

“As in the girl Inuyasha was two timing you with?” Eri interrupted.

Kagome’s face paled and she was glad that the girls were not able to see her reaction in the dim light. “Yeah, that one. When Kikyo-sama told me that about the Tree of Ages I don’t know if she was talking about the Goshinboku or if she meant Menomaru’s tree, but either way, the wood itself is ancient for the Tree of Ages has stood since the beginning.

“According to Kaede it was built not as a place to gather water, but as a place to dispose of youkai remains so as not to contaminate the ground with their venom. The wood of the Tree of Ages was chosen because of its supposed spiritual powers and, once the construction was completed, it was blessed by the local miko of the time. After that any time a youkai was killed in the area surrounding the village, the remains were brought and dumped into the well where they would remain for less than a day before they would mysteriously vanish. That is how the well became known as the Bone Eater’s Well.”

The girls nodded and Eri shifted, going to sit on the bottom step. Ayami joined her while Yuka leaned against the railing. “Okay, we get the origins of the well, but what does that have to do with Shippou?” the latter questioned.

“Everything,” Kagome answered. “That’s only a small part of it. Because of the well’s origins, as well a combination of several other factors, if I were to jump over the edge of the well right now I would be transported from this era to Sengoku Jidai.”

“Really, Kagome…”

“No, don’t say it, Ayumi-chan. I know how crazy it sounds, believe me. If I hadn’t been doing it for the past two years even I wouldn’t believe it.”



She motioned for them to come closer. Once they’d come to the well, she turned so that her legs dangled over inside of it. “Point your lights to the bottom and watch. I’m gonna go get Shippou now…Oh! I almost forgot, when you see him try and be nice. He doesn’t look like the boys you know…”

“Kagome - “ Yuka had started to say something, but was cut off when Kagome pushed herself off the edge and began a free fall to the bottom. In a flash of blue light that lit the well house, she was gone, leaving her friends frantically searching the cavern at the bottom of the ancient well for her figure and coming up empty handed.


“Oi!” Inuyasha’s voice held an annoyed tone as he looked down over the lip of the well at her sudden appearance. “It’s about time you got here, wench. The brat’s starting to give me a headache.”

“Kagome-kaa!” A bundle of red fur leapt over the edge and landed in her waiting arms. “I thought you weren’t gonna come get me!”

She hugged the kitsune cub to her and rubbed his head. “Of course I came! I said I would, didn’t I? I had to wait till my friends got there, though.” She smiled and looked up at the brooding hanyou. “Are you gonna come get me out so I can jump again or just stand there pouting?”

He growled and leapt, landing next to her in the small space. “Why don’t you just climb out?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and leaping up again. “That is why you had that stupid ladder put up anyway, ne?”


“But it’s so much easier this way.” She smiled innocently as he landed in a crouch on the ground outside the well. “Thank you, Inuyasha.” She gave his head a light pat which earned her another growl in return and she giggled. “Souta wanted me to ask if you’d come back with us. He got a new video game yesterday that he’s anxious to show you.”

The hanyou made a face of pure disgust. “Your girl friends are already there, aren’t they?”

She giggled again. “Yeah, they are, but you’d be in Souta’s room, safe from their assault.” He wasn’t going to go for it. Her friends worried him with their constant barrage of questions and squeals over his beautiful hair and gorgeous eyes. “I’ll tell him you were…uh…fighting a youkai and couldn’t come? Sound good?”

“And make it a good one, wench.” His usual smirk settled over his features as he tucked his hands into the sleeves of his haori.

“Yes, of course. Huge, gigantic and ugly with poisonous venom and razor sharp claws as long as you are tall. A deadly foe against any except for the magnificent Inuyasha.”



Shippou snorted and was nearly clobbered for his reaction, but scrambled onto Kagome’s shoulder, hiding under her hair.



“See you tomorrow, Inuyasha! Ja ne!” She leapt back over the lip of the well with a laugh of her own.


Another flash of blue startled the girls from their search for Kagome. They had started looking behind crates and boxes and had even climbed down the ladder into the well to look for a secret passage, but had come up empty handed.



“I’m back!” The cheerful call brought them back to the well’s edge as they watched Kagome climbing the ladder, something perched on her shoulder.

“Everyone, this is my son, Shippou,” she said sweetly, patting his head absently. “Shippou, these are my friends: Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka.” She pointed to each in turn and smiled. “Come on, let’s get back to the house so that you and Souta can get caught up.”

When they entered the sunlight and they got a good look at the young boy for the first time, Ayumi gasped, eyes going wide. “Kagome-chan! He’s…so…”

“KAWAII!” Yuka and Eri finished, squealing. Shippou’s eyes widened as he was nearly tackled by three teen girls, reaching for his tail and bushy red hair.

“Awww! How’d you get a tail?” Yuka asked.

“I was born with it.”

“Look at that red hair!” Eri gasped. “What an unusual color.”

“No, it’s not. Most kitsune have reddish color hair.”

“Most what?” Ayami tilted her head in confusion, looking to Kagome for explanation.

“I’ll tell you once we’re all comfortable in my room.”


The girls were lounging on their sleeping bags and the pillows that Kagome had provided. Each had a soft drink and there was a bowl of chips in the center of their little circle. Occasionally one would reach over and grab a handful.



“Alright, we’re comfortable, now spill,” Ayumi demanded.

Kagome sighed and resituated her pillow. “Well, you know all those legends jii-chan tells? Turns out, they’re true.” At her friends disbelieving expressions, she smiled. “I know, I didn’t think it was possible either, but turns out…”

“We don’t pay much attention to his stories, but they’re kinda far out, you know?” Eri explained.

“Believe me, I know, but…” She shrugged and tugged at the chain that held the Shikon no Tama around her neck. It sparkled and twirled as she held it out for them to see.



“This is called the Shikon no Tama. It was created hundreds of years ago by a miko named Midoriko. She was very powerful and she could dispel youki like it was nothing. In order to defeat her and regain control, a bunch of lesser youkai consumed the body of a man who lusted after her and the two engaged in battle. She was unable to defeat him, but just as he went in for the kill, she used every last bit of strength that she had and forced her soul out with his and the two merged, creating the Shikon no Tama.

“For centuries since then, her soul and the soul of the evil youkai have continued to battle inside of the stone. If someone with a good heart and a pure power holds the jewel, then Midoriko-sama holds power over the youkai and the jewel is pure. If someone with evil or with malicious intent holds the jewel, it becomes corrupted and the youkai holds power over Midoriko-sama.”

“And that’s the real jewel?” Eri asked curiously, breathlessly.

Kagome nodded. “Yep. Supposedly only Kikyo and me are able to keep the jewel purified for extensive amounts of time. Some others were able to purify the shards for a short time. Miroku-sama and Sango both did… But Miroku-sama’s a monk so that’s a given I guess…although he is a lecherous monk...”

“Kagome,” Yuka complained, “you’re getting ahead of yourself. Who are Miroku and Sango?”

Kagome blushed. This was gonna be difficult. “Oh…yeah…”


It took nearly two hours for the entire telling to be finished. A lot of explanations and many, many interruptions later, Kagome took a deep breath, relieved to have that off of her chest.



“So, now you know why I missed so much school and just who Inuyasha really is.” She looked from one girl to another anxiously, trying to gauge their reactions.

Eri was the first to recover. “Why didn’t you just tell us?” She looked a little depressed.

Ayumi nodded. “Yeah, why? Didn’t you think you could trust us? Haven’t we known you long enough for that?”

Kagome sighed, shaking her head. “It’s not that, really. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I should have. I really should have, but I was afraid that you’d think I was crazy and you’d stop talking to me. I mean, it really is far fetched, you know?”

Yuka nodded, just as upset as her other friends. “Still, Kagome, we’re your friends. You should have known you could trust us. You should have told us.”

Kagome looked at her hands in her lap, feeling guilty for having kept it from them for all these years. It seemed that she had not given her friends the credit that they deserved. They liked Inuyasha and they understood that there was something different about him though they never really knew what it was. She should have trusted them.

“Kagome,” Eri started and then stopped, taking a deep breath. “Kagome, there was a time when we told each other everything. I want to go back to that. You guys are the best friends that I’ve ever had and I don’t want to lose you all just because we’re getting older and our lives are getting more complicated.”

“A lot more complicated in Kagome-chan’s case.” Yuka giggled and nudged the other girl teasingly.

Kagome smiled brightly and nudged her back. “Well, then I guess I can tell you the rest, huh?” They nodded enthusiastically. “I’m not going to college.”

It was a simple enough statement, but it had every single one of her friends picking their jaws up off the floor. This was the same girl who had worked so hard for so many years to keep her grades in check. Despite traveling back and forth through time and missing so much school, she had managed to pull her grades back up. And this same girl was sitting there, declaring that she wasn’t going to go to college? What was all that work for then?

“Why?” Ayami frowned. “That’s not like you, Kagome. You dreamed of going to college. It was your goal, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember, but then things changed.” Kagome sighed and picked up a pillow, hugging it to herself. “My life became a fairytale. I can’t go to Sengoku Jidai and stay here and go to college. It’s too hard. High school’s been bad enough. I’m tired of it. I need a vacation - I deserve a vacation. We just finished saving the world, after all.”

“Really, Kagome, be serious. I know that Naraku character was really filthy, but 'saving the world'?”



Ayami and Eri giggled at Yuka’s admonishment while Kagome only fixed her with a glare. “It couldn’t have been that bad…the future didn’t alter none even when he was roaming Sengoku Jidai, before you knew you’d kill him.”

“Besides,” Eri added, “It’s not like youkai are running rampant today so his life couldn’t have made that big a difference.”

Kagome fixed her with a glare also. If she’d had rosaries on the girls they’d have been face planted into the dirt. Of course it would have been bad!



“Okay, first off, Yuka-chan, it’s ‘didn’t alter any’ not ‘none’. And, yes, it could have been that bad. You never met Naraku. And secondly, Eri-chan, I’ll have you know that there are youkai walking around today, but they do a very good job of disguising themselves. In fact, next time you talk to Ryu-kun ask him about his dragon ancestors. He happens to be at least one-forth dragon youkai, if not more.”

Eri stared at her wide-eyed, sputtering for something to say, unable to come up with an appropriate comment. She had not known that her friend could do that. How could she -

“How on earth do you know that?” Ayumi demanded before she could form the thought.

Kagome smiled and crossed her arms over her chest triumphantly, giving them her best Inuyasha impression smirk. “Elementary my dear Ayumi-chan. I’m a miko. I can sense youki on people and judging by the type of youki and the amount, I can determine how much youkai blood is in a person and what sort. I’ve encountered enough dragon youkai in my time to be able to tell one when I see them. There’s not a lot of youki surrounding Ryu-kun’s aura, but there’s a tiny bit so I’d say he’s about a fourth youkai.”

“Wow,” was the only thing that her friends could manage to utter before there was a knock on the door.

“Oi, nee-chan? Shippou-chan and I are going to bed,” Souta informed her as he cracked the door open. The kitsune cub leapt into the room and straight into Kagome’s arms, receiving a goodnight hug and kiss upon his forehead.

“G’night Souta,” she called over her shoulder and then looked down at the cub in her arms. “You wanna sleep in here with me or are you going to be alright with Souta?”

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her then gave her friends a weary look as they ooh’d and aww’d over him.

“Okay then. G’night, Shippou, and if you have a bad dream or can’t sleep, just come and get me, ‘kay?” She ruffled the rusty colored hair on his head and sent him on his way.

“That is so sweet!”

“Isn’t he just the cutest?”

“I bet he calls Inuyasha ‘otou.’”

Kagome blushed deeply at the insinuation that she and Inuyasha were like that in their relationship. Obviously she’d like it to go to that level, but he hadn’t made any moves on her to claim her thus far.



“Well, uh, like I was saying before…I’m not going to go to college. I’m going to work here at the shrine while I’m in this era and then I’m going to train to be the village miko after Kaede retires back in the Sengoku Jidai.”

The girls giggled, nudging each other and giving her little winks. “Yeah, we know why you want to stay in Sengoku Jidai.”

“Oh my - Kami! Eri-chan!” Kagome grabbed her pillow and slapped at the dark haired girl with it while she put her hands up in defense. “My relationship with Inuyasha is nothing like that!”

“Not for lack of trying, ne?” Ayumi’s utterance received her a blow with the pillow as well.

Still laughing, Eri and Yuka picked up their pillows, defending their friend against Kagome’s attacks, which created a full blown pillow fight and ended with the girls falling back on the floor, gasping for breath and giggling.



“Come on, let’s get comfy and watch a movie. I’m exhausted and I want to hear about your lives as much as you wanted to hear about me.”



Two weeks she’d been back in her era only visiting Sengoku Jidai on the weekends. She was almost caught up in her classes and it was wonderful to be back into a regular routine. She liked being able to go back and forth to school as she wished and study her homework. Sure, she didn’t plan on attending college after her high school was finished, but she still wanted to be able to graduate with at least half the high marks she’d had before.

“Mama! I’m home!” she called cheerfully and slipped her shoes off at the door, putting on her house slippers before she slid the side door closed. “Guess what! Ayumi was talking to Noriko - she’s the daughter of the guy that Ayumi’s dad works for - and Noriko said that she knew of an archery range that’s only a few blocks from the school. It’s small and they don’t advertise much, but I thought it might be a good idea if I went at least once a week to keep in practice, you know? I might be able to get a part-time job there as an instructor or something.”



She had walked into the family room looking for her mother since she heard the television going and found her mom standing at a side table with the feather duster poised in mid stroke, attention focused on the television. Inuyasha reclined on the couch, hands behind his head and his feet propped up on the coffee table also focused on the T.V.



“Eh…Mama?”

Keiko looked over at her daughter, surprised to see her there. “Oh, back from school already dear? How was your day?”

“I’ll tell you about it later,” she grumbled as she dropped on the couch next to Inuyasha and glanced at the television.



The show they had been so immersed in, she saw, was a soap opera. This made her giggle - the thought of her hanyou being so engrossed in something so silly when his own life held quite enough drama for three or four soap operas.

“Oh, Mama, I saw Souta after school and he’s gone to the arcade with one of his friends. He said he’d be back before dark,” she added.



Keiko nodded and went out of the room on some mission or another.



“Inuyasha, you do know that it’s only two days till I go back through the well, don't you?” She gave him a grin.

“Yeah, so?“ He didn’t look at her. Her voice was sweet enough, but it was almost as if she didn’t want him there. It wasn’t like he was there to drag her back with him. He just missed her. Kami…when had he become so pathetically addicted to her presence? It was sickening. That’s what his brother would say - not that he cared what that oversized ball of fluff thought. He just couldn’t believe that he had gone from an independent hanyou to a clingy, lonely puppy over one human female. But she was the one constant in his life and he couldn’t stand to lose her.

“Well, I have homework to do. My physics teacher has been threatening us with a surprise exam if our grades don’t improve and he’s going to throw it at us any day now.”



She sighed and stood up, straightening the blue skirt of her school uniform. This one was slightly more modest and more to Inuyasha’s liking than her junior high uniform because it kept every man in Japan from seeing her legs. It was only a few inches longer than the other, but those few inches made all the difference.



“Sometimes I would rather be youkai hunting,” she muttered and slung the book bag over her shoulder before turning to look back at him. “Are you staying for dinner? You can keep me company if you’re not too engrossed in Days of Our Lives.”

“Actually,” Keiko interrupted, breezing back into the room, “the door to the storage shed has broken again. I’ve bought the supplies, but you know Jii-chan is not a handyman and I can’t keep your brother in one place long enough to ask him. I was hoping you would maybe see if there was something you could do, Inuyasha?”

He shrugged and stood up. It’d kill time and give him an excuse to stay. “Sure, why not?”
“Wonderful! Kagome, I’ll be outside showing Inuyasha where the materials and the building are if you need me.”



Time was moving on. Her grades were improving and she was spending her weekends in the Sengoku Jidai as promised. They didn’t have much to do. Once in a while there was a straggling youkai that would come near to try and steal the jewel, but it wasn’t anything much. Mostly they spent their time talking and planning the house that Miroku was going to build for Sango.

Never in a million years would she have guessed what kind of curve ball the fates were about to throw at her….