InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Trapped by Time ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Trapped By Time

Chapter One

"Well, aren't you going to go after her?"

The silver-haired hanyou ignored the kitsune. He stared into the well, a pensive expression plastered on to his face. He shook his head slowly, his expression hardening.

"If you're so worried, why don't you go after her?" he told the kit gruffly. "Besides, she can go back to her own time if she wants."

The kitsune sat down on the edge of the well and pouted. Inuyasha took this as a sign that he had won this argument and grinned evilly. He turned to Sango and Miroku who had been listening quietly.

Sango, although carefully watching the lecherous monk who stood beside her, had heard every word of the argument and had no intentions of letting Inuyasha win. Finally annoyed by Inuyasha's insensitivity, the dark-haired demon slayer spoke up.

"So you're going to let her run back to the future, with the jewel shards and go fall in love with that Hobo boy…."

"Hojo," Miroku corrected.

"Whatever. My point is, what if she never comes back? What if she falls so deeply in love with her boyfriend that-"

"KAGOME DOES NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND!" Inuyasha exploded. Sango knew that she had hit him right where it hurt, so she stood back and watched the show. Inuyasha calmed down and shoved his fists into his kimono. "Besides, what should I care if she never comes back? It would be her stupid decision."

"Why would she want to come back to you? You're always a jerk to her anyway," Shippo said.

Inuyasha whacked the kitsune over the head. Shippo fell from the edge of the well on to the grassy ground. He immediately erupted in tears.

Sango shook her head sadly as the hanyou yelled at Shippo to be quiet. Inuyasha, who was now comfortably sitting on the edge of the well, took no notice to her disapproval. Sango lifted her boomerang over her head and sent it crashing down on Inuyasha.

The half-demon fell backwards in the well. He dugs his fingernails into the side of the well to avoid falling five hundred years into the future. He scowled and began to climb.

"Damn…you…what was that for?!" He began to pull himself out of the well.

Miroku lifted his staff and whacked Inuyasha over the head with it. This caught him off-guard. His grip loosened, but the hanyou did not fall.

"Damn monk," Inuyasha muttered, pulling himself the rest of the way out of the well.

"Ladies are to be respected, no matter how strongly you feel about the matter at hand," Miroku announced, resting his Houshi-staff comfortably against his shoulder again.

Inuyasha glared coldly at the monk. Miroku continued to speak.

"Without Kagome, we have no chance of finding the rest of the jewel shards," Miroku announced.

"Feh. She'll come crawling back soon. She always does." Inuyasha placed his hands inside his kimono once more.

"Besides," he added angrily, "we don't need her!"

. . . . .

Kagome stared into the well for a moment before leaving the shrine. She smiled. Inuyasha would come after her. He always did.

She slid the door shut and turned to look at her home. It seemed like it had been so long since she had been here. She took a deep breath of frosty air and went inside her house.

The house was a mess. Kagome had never seen it in such a condition; something must be wrong. "Mother?"

There was no answer. She pushed aside some overturned chairs and looked around. The house was deathly silent. "Sota? Grandpa?"

Still, there was no response. She shook her head. This was really odd; even her cat was nowhere to be seen. Kagome ventured into her room and gasped.

Her room was in ruins.

. . . . .

Inuyasha sat up in a tree, listening to an owl cry nearby. The rest of his companion's were at the dwelling of Lady Kaede. While those he travelled with slept, Inuyasha was thinking.

He and his companions slept here because Miroku and Sango had insisted that if they stayed closer to the well, that he might be persuaded to see his mistake. He didn't care much. It was they who were suffering, not him.

"You'll never care about anyone but yourself, Inuyasha!"

That was what Kagome had said to him. He didn't fully understand why she had said it. All he had done was talk to Kikyo for a brief moment. He had taken advantage of the moment because it was one of few in which she did not seem like she wanted to drag him to hell with her. It was almost like she was her old self.

"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't died," Kikyo said. She smiled sadly. "What would have become of us if you had made the transformation to human?"

Inuyasha smiled back. "I miss you, Kikyo."

"And I, you" Kikyo responded. The miko sighed sadly. "If only we hadn't been tricked so cruelly. Things could have been perfect."

Inuyasha did not respond. He only stared into the ghostly image of the undead priestess. Then he drew his gaze away. There was something odd about the situation. Kikyo didn't smell undead, and the undead always reeked. However odd the situation, he decided to play along. What was the worse she could do? Fail to kill him?

"What do you want from me, now, Kikyo?" he asked coldly.

"I want you to die, Inuyasha." Kikyo smiled and disappeared. No murder attempts, nothing. She just faded away.

Inuyasha could not comprehend why Kagome had been offended by such a simple conversation. He knew she had been watching, he could smell her stronger than the others. He shook his head, reaching the conclusion that females made no sense whatsoever. He knew that Miroku would agree with him.

"I never want to see you again!"

Why had she said that? What had he done to deserve such hatred? Probably nothing, but Kagome had never said that to him before. Usually, she would sit him. But this time, she did not even think of sit. That struck him as particularly odd. Whenever she was mad - at him or not - Kagome told him to sit.

Inuyasha broke from his thoughts long enough to scan his surroundings. There were still no demons about. With the Shikon shards gone, there was little threat, but it was always advisable to be on guard.

He looked over towards the village. Then he looked up at the sky. The moon was nearly gone, and tomorrow, it would be. He cursed Kagome under his breath. She always picked the worst times to run off.

As he looked at his surroundings, Kagome's accusation echoed louder in his mind: "You'll never care about anyone but yourself, Inuyasha!" He did care about others. He cared for Kikyo, and he hated to admit it, but sometimes he even cared about Kagome.

"Damn you. Damn you, Kagome!" he muttered angrily under his breath. He jumped off the limb and landed feet first on the ground. Quiet as a shadow, he slipped into the well.

. . . . .

As soon as he felt solid ground beneath his feet, Inuyasha looked up. Something appeared to be falling toward him. He held out his arms instinctively and caught the falling object. It was Kagome.

Kagome looked around, confused. Inuyasha scowled at her. As soon as she realized what had happened, Kagome scowled back.

"Put me down," she ordered.

He obeyed, dropping her on the hard ground.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, rubbing her back.

"Why did you run away?!" Inuyasha asked accusingly.

"You wouldn't care!" Kagome yelled back. She jumped up immediately, forgetting her pain.

"I didn't say anything to Kikyo!"

"You did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"SIT!"

"Damn wench," Inuyasha muttered as he fell to the ground. After a moment, he pulled himself back up.

"You did too! You told her that she meant everything to you and you couldn't live without her! Don't deny it!" Kagome accused.

"I didn't say that!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"SIT!"

"STOP THAT!"

"SHUT UP!"

"I didn't say anything like that! It must've been some sort of trickery!" Inuyasha said, before adding silently to himself: "I thought her scent was a bit off."

Kagome thought about this for a moment. Inuyasha began to stand up and she turned sharply to him. "Whose trickery?"

"How am I supposed to know?!" Inuyasha hollered. "Naraku's, probably! Or Sesshomaru!"

Kagome didn't listen. True, it could have been some sort of trickery, but she was only willing to consider this explanation because Inuyasha rarely said anything loving to anyone. Inuyasha stood, a bit bruised. Kagome did not bother to sit him again.

"We'll argue about this later. We have to get back to the feudal era. Something's been here, and I don't know where my family is."

Inuyasha perked up. "Sounds like a demon."

"Whatever it is, it's gone now. I think it took my family."

Inuyasha's excited expression faded. Then he sniffed the air. "I don't smell any blood."

Kagome scowled at him. "Will you stop being a bloodthirsty mutt and listen to me!"

Inuyasha grinned. "You're not worried, are you, Kagome?"

Kagome did not answer his question. She could not show weakness. "Climb. We have to get back to the feudal era before it comes back."

"Feh. I can take it. And you never seemed the one to run away from a demon."

Kagome scowled at Inuyasha but didn't bother to sit him. "Climb!" she repeated.

Grumbling, Inuyasha obeyed. When they reached the top, Kagome spoke again. "Jump in."

Inuyasha scowled. "Climb, fall, make up your mind!"

"Just listen to me for once!"

Inuyasha grumbled under his breath, but obeyed Kagome.

His temporary relief came to a halt as the ground of the well reached his face. It was the same well bottom that he had seen three times very recently.

"Well, I hope you're happy," he said angrily as he pushed Kagome off of him.

Kagome did not bother to respond to his snide comment.

"We need to get to the top and warn the others that something big is after us," she said as she began to climb up the side of the well.

"Are you blind?! This is the same well we were just in!"

"No kidding."

"No, I mean, it didn't work!"

Kagome reached the top and froze.

"Feh. See? I told you."

"The well," she said quietly. "It didn't open."