Hello, I decided to binge watch Inuyasha again and got the inspiration for this story. I'm hoping you'll like it! If you do, please don't hesitate to leave me a review. If you don't, I'd like to know what you don't like. Have fun and enjoy!

Prologue

A powerful demon disguised as a man sat scheming in his poisonous castle. A young girl stood before him with a mirror in her hands. But instead of the demon's reflection, there was another image on its surface. The demon observed as a teenage girl dressed in a strange green and white outfit disappeared over the lip of a well with a large backpack on her shoulders. This was not the first time the demon had witnessed this action. He had watched the girl jump down and then reappear anywhere from hours to days later. It had intrigued him. He had always wondered how the reincarnation of that woman had ended up there, especially with objects as foreign as she possessed. It was almost as if she had come from another time. A future time. A slow smile began to form on the demon's face. It held all the chill and foreboding of great evil.

"Kagura," he said to one of his demon offspring, "put this inside that girl's bag."

"And then what?" She asked him.

"After she has gone through the well, destroy it," he instructed. His offspring took the object from the demon and took off on a feather she had pulled from her hair.

She landed near the well and waited. It would not do to sneak around the village of the one she sought or she could be spotted. She used her wind to keep the scent of her master in the opposite direction so she would not be discovered by keen noses.

It did not take very long. When morning arrived, the demon woman watched as the girl climbed the hill alone to the well. Just as the girl was about the jump over the edge, the wind sorceress placed the object she was given in the girl's backpack. She was so quick and her touch so light that the girl didn't even notice. Then when the girl had disappeared, the demon's offspring used her fan and destroyed the well with powerful gusts of wind. It crumbled into the ground and was no more. On the other side, the object in the girl's backpack exploded and that well also collapsed. The Bone Eater's well was gone: erased from existence along with all the adventures of the curious girl in a time not her own.

Chapter One: Arrival

"Please wait for the passenger door to open before disembarking. Those towards the back of plane please wait until all the passengers in front of you have removed their luggage from the overhead compartments before retrieving your own. Thank you for flying China Airlines and I hope you enjoy your time in Tokyo!"

Kagome sighed. The flight had already been longer than she could have imagined and now she would have to wait even longer before she got off this cramped plane. Not only did she fly economy class, but her tickets put her right at the very back of the plane. So as she waited for every other person on the plane to leave, she found herself fuming about the situation once again. It's not like her parents couldn't have afforded a better seat for her. Kagome closed her eyes in frustration as the memory of two days ago came back to her.

"Hey okaa-san, where's my flight information?" Kagome asked as she came downstairs from her room.

An unusually tall women with classic Japanese features looked up from the kitchen table where she sat. Her long black hair was pulled into a low ponytail and her brown eyes were confused. In her hands she held a needle and before her on the table was a purple and white kimono. It belonged to one of the employees that worked at the ramen restaurant they owned in Japantown.

"What?" she answered.

"My flight information. You know, for when I leave in two days? I thought it'd be in otou-san's office but it's not there," Kagome said. She tapped her fingers against her leg. She was overwhelmed with the amount of packing she still had to do and she wanted to know how much time exactly she had to get it done.

Her mother dropped the needle and said, "Oh dear."

"Oh dear?" Kagome had a horrible sinking feeling. "What does that mean?"

"I-I never booked the flight," she said. She shifted guiltily in her chair.

"Okaa-san, please tell me you're joking." This could not happen. It just couldn't.

"I'm sorry, the restaurant has been really busy lately with the influx of summer tourists that it slipped my mind!" Her mother tried to defend herself but both of them knew it was just an excuse. Her mother didn't want to admit it but she had dragged her feet about Kagome's decision to study abroad. It wasn't that it slipped her mind, she'd intentionally pushed it out of her thoughts.

"School starts in four days. I need a flight NOW," Kagome turned and stomped back up the stairs to her room. She looked at the mess her room had become in her packing endeavor. When you were leaving home for an entire year, it was hard to figure out what you were going to need, what you thought you'd need, and what you weren't going to realize you needed until you left without it. She'd spent the past few days packing and re-packing. She was finally making some headway when this bombshell got dropped on her head.

She felt the urge to throw her suitcase out the window. Why had her parents been so against this? She just wanted to go back to the country she was born in. She was curious, that was all. Why were they so worried? She flopped down on her bed and stewed about it until she heard a soft knock on the door. She looked up to see her mother open it and come in. Her mother always walked with careful grace and even though her floor was a veritable minefield, it never changed as she came and sat down on the bed next to Kagome.

"I'm sorry, dear. I really am. We're just a little apprehensive." She sighed. "But I should have booked your plane tickets. I knew it was actually happening but I thought if I pretended it wasn't, it wouldn't."

"I don't understand, what's so bad about me going to Japan? Your parents we're born there, dad was born there, and so was I!"

"Oh sweetie, I know. We just…we love you so much. We're scared. You're going there all alone," she said. It was a reasonable answer but Kagome always knew when her mother was hiding something.

"There's another reason, isn't there?"

Her mother hesitated. "Kagome, are you….are you going to look for your….your other family?"

Kagome had never seen her mother so nervous before. She looked…breakable. Kagome couldn't deny that finding her birth family had been part her desire to go to Japan but it was also stemming from a long held wish to understand the country she came from. It felt like something was missing in her life. She thought perhaps she'd find it in Japan.

"I don't know. I might." Suddenly, Kagome realized why her parents were so hesitant. "Okaa-san, you don't think…that I'd abandon you?"

"No, of course not. We just…maybe you'd want to stay there, if you met them." I hugged my mother around the middle and she stiffened, startled at the contact. Her mother was shy when it came to physical affection.

"I would never do that," Kagome assured her.

"That's good." Her mother covered her mouth and coughed delicately before adding, "And I've booked your tickets," she said. Kagome released her and pulled back to look at her mother's face. A smile spread across Kagome's face.

"Really?" she said. Everything would be OK after all!

"Yes, but…" Her mother hesitated.

"But what?" The smile dimmed.

"All the flights were booked but one."

"And? What's the problem?"

"It was almost full too so there were only a few seats left."

"Okaa-san…."

"It's economy class. The back of economy class."

By the time Kagome got off the plane, her patience was thinner than ice. Her flight had not only been horrible but it was also long. Even though San Francisco was on the West Coast, there was still an entire ocean to cross. People had been noisy, the air conditioner was weak if it was there at all, and the restrooms had been right next to her. There were some smells even the most powerful air freshener couldn't cover up. Still, there was tiniest bit of excitement as she stepped out into the terminal area. It grew larger as she walked through the large open hallways, following the signs for the baggage check.

Narita International Airport, like most international airports, was really big. It took her a while to find the baggage check, even longer to pick it up and put it on a trolley, and then she had to find the Keisei Electric Railway. Since it was nighttime, there wasn't any point in taking her time to look out the windows and sightsee so she completed her tasks at a quick clip. Besides, the family she'd be staying with was going to meet her when she got off the train. She'd rather not make them wait.

She'd already exchanged her money back in SF so she bought her ticket and boarded the train. She opened up her phone and found that it had already adjusted to the time zone and was surprised to see that it was 20:14 (8:14pm). She had left at 19:00. She shook her head. Time zones…

Okaa-san, I've landed safely. I'm on the train to meet the family I'm staying with. Her parents had already set her up with a phone that could communicate internationally, mostly so that she could send this text.

Her reply was quick: I'm glad. Let me know how they are. I want to know my daughter is in good hands.

Don't worry I will.

She then looked up the number she was given for her caregivers and sent them a text too but this time, in Japanese. (AN: Assume when she's talking to her parents, it's English with some Japanese. But from here on after it's Japanese unless I say otherwise.)

Hello! This is Kagome Inoue. I have arrived safely and am on the train. I can't wait to meet you!

This reply also came quickly: Hello Kagome! We can't wait to meet you as well! My husband and daughter will be there to meet you when you get off. They'll be holding a sign with your name so it should be to find them.

Oh, that's very convenient! Thank you very much!

Don't worry about it. Would you like something to eat when you get here or would like to go right to sleep?

Kagome took a moment to see how she was feeling. She felt the weight of exhaustion in her limbs and realized that she was not only tired, but really tired. She must have been running on pure excitement and adrenaline up until now.

I'm sorry, I think I should go right to sleep. I'm exhausted.

No problem! I'll lay a futon out for you.

Thank you so much!

Kagome got the impression she would be much welcomed when she got in her temporary home. It wasn't that surprisingly, really, if she thought about it. She was sure they did screenings and interviews for families that wanted to participate in the program. It made sense.

She went to put her phone in her pocket and her fingers brushed against a piece of paper. She took out the crumpled thing and flattened it out again. Her parents and slipped into her hands before she went through security at the airport.

"Here Kagome, I know you won't be able to help yourself so we might as well make it easier." Her father said as he handed her a small square of folded paper. He wasn't a short man but he was shorter than his wife and the same height as Kagome. So it was easy to lean forward and give her a kiss on the cheek. Another rare instance of physical affection.

"What is it?" She asked.

"The names of your birth parents," her mother said.

"You're too curious for your own good," her father smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Just promise us that you'll call when you find them."

"I promise. Thank you." Kagome's eyes teared up sensing it was the moment to say goodbye. "I love you both so much." Then she turned away and walked towards the metal detectors. She let herself look back only once and saw her mother awkwardly bent with her head on her husband's shoulder. Her mother's own shoulders were shaking. She was crying. Kagome made a fist, crushing the paper held within and boarded the plane with a heavy heart. Her parents were her parents. Even if she found her birth family, that fact would never change.

She had waited until she was half-way over the Pacific before opening the paper. She had already memorized the characters but she read them over again trying to picture faces behind the names. Asako Higurashi. Yuji Higurashi.

What would it be like to meet them? Would she ask all of her questions about why they gave her up? Or would she just break down in tears as they hugged their long-lost daughter? Would they even want to see her? Her parents were right. She was too curious. She would have gone looking for them even if she had sworn up and down that she wouldn't.

She'd find them. Even if it took her the whole year.

So what did you think of the first chapter? I know it might be a little slow but I'm hoping to pick up the pace in a few chapters. Which I already have mostly written. I'm not sure when I'll post them though. I guess that's up to you guys XD