Balance Restored
by Namiyo11
Chapter 1-Time Passages
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
This is part 2, please read 'Out of Balance', part 1, before reading this! If not, you will be lost immediately. Go ahead, we'll wait. Done? Alrighty then, please enjoy!-Namiyo
"What the hell? KAGOME!!" the mature hanyou screamed and leapt into the well...but landed on a pile of-crap? Scrolls, weapons in a bundle, odds and ends. Inuyasha jumped up and down, only to discover the well was closed. With his Kagome and the other him on the other side! Sanae and Ayame were gone too!
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. A dark haired head peered down in shock. He glanced up and caught her instinctively when she jumped. The hanyou snagged his mate to break her fall and gasped. Oh, no. School uniform, no mating mark-a virgin?
He didn't realize he'd said that last part aloud.
"You creep!" A smack! He winced.
"Ow!" Inuyasha scowled as he released her to kneel carefully.
"These things...what are they? What happened, did you see anything?" Higurashi Kagome asked, staring around the well as she plucked up a tea cup and puzzled over it-and him. Inuyasha noted it would be extremely valuable porcelain in the future. An antique, with no waiting. A faint youkai aura from the weapons as well. Totosai. But not with powers.
Someone had been very busy. Shippo had been busy. That little fuck!! Alright. Now was not time to panic, he decided. Now was the time to figure out what the hell happened!
"Ichiro! Who's with you?" he yelled up.
"Dad! Me and Aki are here, and so is Rinao. Plus the Shard Hunters," Ichiro called back as his head popped over the side of the well. "Where is my Ayame? Mom-everyone?"
"Likely in the future, I'm sure she's alright." he answered with a frown. "Help me get this stuff out of the well, Kagome. Might help us figure out what happened."
He scooped it up and looked disgusted. No Shippo! He wasn't here, just his booty. Everything was grabbed, and so was Kagome. He jumped out and the miko was gently set down, who promptly dashed to the Sacred Tree.
He followed after hitting his charm to activate it out of habit. A gesture told the others to stay put as he remembered. Kaguya. But Kagome gripped the trunk and didn't hear him as she called to the future...a call that wasn't working until a dark haired human carefully laid his hand on the wood on the opposite side. The miko stared, eyes huge. Take the Inuyasha of the New Moon...make him about what-a decade older-and put him in daylight! He grinned shyly at her expression.
A bright, familiar blue glow, the sense of floating...but Shippo and Ayame held a Shard together-one that flashed green. A sense of anger...regrets...Kagome didn't know what was happening, and she couldn't see for a moment.
"Ah!" A pile arrived in the wellhouse. Ayame, Sanae, Inuyasha...and Inutaisho Kagome herself.
"Oh, no. Mom? Are you alright?" Sanae asked. She nodded nervously as they sorted themselves out. Kagome didn't know what to say as Inuyasha froze, sniffing around for the youkai who'd jumped in with a huge bundle. He'd fallen into the well with Ayame-who was here. But no Shard.
"Go home, dears, and I'll..." she hopped lightly up and down as she spoke and gasped. "It's not working!"
Nothing happened! Inuyasha saw and tried too.
"No," Inuyasha looked nearly panicked. But Kagome reached for the rope ladder. He saw, grabbed her and carried her out. The strange Priestess. Silk under his hands and a familiar yet unfamiliar scent mix made him shiver. His-no. No. Not his. The other one's...mate.
Kami.
"Ah-" he shut up and let her down fast when his nose caught it again. Kagome glanced at the hanyou who pressed up against the wall of the wellhouse nervously, sniffing. Seeing him, she winced. Kagome knew why he looked so upset, and felt rather bad about it. Because while the girl he knew was untouched, as it were...she had been quite thoroughly touched, thank you. Plus he had to be smelling her mark-with his own scent embedded in it.
"Please, calm down?" Kagome asked gently. He just nodded. She made a face.
"Mom?" Sanae looked worried as she climbed out.
"I don't know, dears," she answered with concern.
"You don't?" Ayame asked in shock.
"Afraid not," Kagome sighed as she tried to think. Until she saw the hanyou moving fast for the-Sacred Tree?
"Kagome! Can you hear me?" he yelled, hands gripping the trunk. Kagome paused as the youkai with her stared in puzzlement. Until the Priestess remembered.
"Clever hanyou!" she breathed, and hurried over. "Inuyasha?" she called, and her hand rested on the wood. Sanae, disguise on, came out cautiously with a disguised Ayame and the pair shrugged. They heard nothing.
"Inuyasha! Can you hear me?" Higurashi Kagome tried again in the past.
"-gome! Are you there? Kagome!! Come on!" a tense voice seemed to echo. The hanyou with her paused. What do you know? It worked.
"Inuyasha! I'm here-are you alright?" the young miko asked.
"Kagome! Stay there and I'll get back to you!" The older hanyou blinked at the raw fear he heard. Poor kid, petrified of losing her. Kami-he'd been a jackass. Couldn't say he cared, oh, no. But let one little thing happen and he was an idiot! Embarrassing wasn't the word for it.
"Kagome? You there?" he called tentatively.
"I hear you too." Higurashi Kagome blinked. That wasn't her!
"Inuyasha, who's with you? You're...here," the young miko asked.
"I think you know, young lady. I came with that hanyou, but we have a problem I'd rather deal with first. Please be quiet and let us talk, both of you. Mom isn't going to understand if she catches us-or do you think she'll be fine with all this? Hm?" Inutaisho Kagome shot back. Her younger self winced even as she stiffened at the harsh tone.
"Fine at this end except the well's not working. Sweetheart, there was someone else, right? We have a lot of artifacts here," Inuyasha asked very carefully in the past. He could hardly say 'Hey, remember that kitsune we raised? Well-he became pond scum, and I think he melted in the well after robbing the past if he ain't with you. Sorry!'
"Eh-a youkai-a kitsune, but he didn't come through at this end. I think the well took him," Inutaisho Kagome said sadly. Her mate just nodded in the past. A fitting end that would be for the little bastard! A pity he couldn't carve him to bits personally. He'd enjoy it.
"Damn. You have a Shard, right? Ayame's ok? Sanae?"
"They're fine, and she's hasn't got one. I know the kitsune had one, he had to have. There was a green flash in the time portal, and he didn't come out."
"That's never happened before-has it?" Higurashi Kagome interjected nervously.
"Not that I remember, Ka-uh, miko. Try with your pure ones, please. Yours should open it," Inutaisho Kagome decided on a title as better than her name as she asked. Easier on them both. A small bottle was pulled out-and three white Shards were still inside. She took a deep breath, let go of the tree and went to the well.
"Maybe-" she tried with them, and they promptly turned green!
"Alright. We've got green Shards here now," Kagome reported when she got out of the well and came back.
"Perhaps some new magic by Naraku?" Sango asked and Kagome shook her head.
"No, I don't think so. No taint, just green," she answered as she peered at them.
"You're sure?" her own voice asked.
"She said she was sure, if Kagome said it it's true," A younger Inuyasha shot back.
"Alright. This sucks. But I'll go home and check my books. Maybe I forgot something."
"Alright. Hurry it up, wench."
"We'll meet back here tomorrow at...uh-say two or so. Mom should be shopping and Grandpa'll be napping, I think. Be careful, and don't blow up anything in the Feudal Era! Watch the kid's backs, studmuffin. Love you!" his wife called.
"Love you too, 'gome," he called, and saw Kagome stagger back in shock and the connection was broken. She mouthed a word.
'Studmuffin?' Her eyes were huge. He blushed.
"Gross. So gross..." she announced as she denied everything. Inuyasha couldn't blame her. The wench would say that, knowing how these kids would take it.
Kagome leaned against the Sacred Tree in the future for a moment and sighed. Her mate and her boys were back there! The young hanyou beside her was feeling dizzy...he would've been worse off if he'd known what that last pet name meant. He knew what a 'stud' was, a breeding male farm animal...but what the hell was a muffin? Why she'd call someone that completely eluded him as well.
That was likely for the best.
"Damn it," she said. "It's ok, Inuyasha," she noted, and she smiled wryly.
"It's ok, Kagome," the shorter haired, ponytailed human looking guy told her younger self gently. He glanced at a wide-eyed Miroku and Sango, then the youkai standing behind them.
"Dad?" Ichiro asked.
"Pups, don't worry. Your mother, sister, and mate are fine and we'll sort it out. I'm sure of it. Rinao-we'll get you home too."
"Dad, we've got a problem here. My charm's fried-I must've done it fighting," Akiyoshi noted tensely from the brush he'd stepped into when he realized. When Miroku looked curious, Rinao moved in front of him. The monk blinked at the posture warning him off.
"Miroku isn't any threat and he saw already," Inuyasha told her impatiently. She glanced at the bewildered humans. These time travelers had fought those youkai without blinking, yet were nervous now? Whatever for?
"Hm." But she did stand aside.
"Pup-let me see it. Come out here," he pointed downwards impatiently as he spoke.
"Alright..." Akiyoshi gulped and stepped shyly out of the brush, ears flat.
"Hm. No spare?"
"No. I left my standard at home. I could fix the works at home, but the magic's gone, Dad."
"You're going to have to manage," he told his son grimly.
"I'll be fine. Youkai all travel openly nowadays. Uncle-will just have to understand," Aki reminded himself. That he'd never been without one wasn't mentioned. Inuyasha knew it frightened him, but gripped his shoulder reassuringly.
"Uncle? Of course. You're of his Clan. He would investigate a sudden appearance like this," Miroku noted.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Sesshomaru, he'd be angry? Um...Akiyoshi, we won't let him hurt you," Kagome offered.
"I can assure you, my Lord Sesshomaru would not harm us. We are prepared for such an eventuality, and without a charm it becomes certain to happen," Rinao replied.
"Moving on, Dad...are they really ok?" Ichiro asked. Inuyasha nodded.
"Everyone got there fine, except-the thief."
"Then we can manage."
"That's the spirit. We'll figure it out," Inuyasha answered and glanced around, "Miroku and Sango. I will be damned."
"Ok. Move out, we meet at the house-and we'll start from there," Inutaisho Kagome said, and the disguised wolf and hanyou grabbed the packs, walking casually towards the stairs out of the Shrine. She paused, though. They weren't followed.
"Inuyasha?" she glanced behind her. He leaned against the wellhouse door, arms folded.
"I'll stay here."
"Or not. You can't," Kagome noted, glancing nervously at the house. They could be spotted at any moment!
"Yes, I can."
"No-Mom can't know about this! She...can't see me or know about us," Kagome told him sadly. Ayame looked sympathetic and Sanae winced. It wasn't easy on her to even be here.
"Oh? Isn't it smarter for me to stay here? You-she's always making me hide because humans will panic here, remember?" Inuyasha told her curtly.
"Mom, he's got a point. If he comes along, he'll see things," Sanae said.
"I know. But no way will your Grandmother not realize something's wrong if he's here without-that girl. I might need him to figure out what happened with the Shard, too," she pondered a moment, and brightened. "Not a problem. Inuyasha-you just have to give me your word that you will never say anything about what you see. Not to me, not to anyone, and you can never go to where we're going again until it's time."
"My word? That's a lot to promise! Where are you going that's so special, anyways?" the hanyou demanded.
"But I know you'll keep it. Your word is better than any oath I could ask of you, silly. And we're going to my home to go through my library," Kagome answered. He paused, curiosity filling him. That meant...their home here, in this time! He scratched an ear and considered.
"I don't have a cap," Inuyasha said after a moment.
"Don't need one. I always keep a spare charm and your aura is pretty much the same, so you can use it," Kagome rummaged in her sleeve and produced an odd bracelet like the others from here wore. He made a face, and finally nodded his agreement, letting her put the watch on his wrist, her hands making a pass as she adjusted it slightly to match his current self. It was twisted and clicked.
He felt slightly different. Nothing bad, just different. But now...the two disguised youkai looked like themselves! Not like the humans they pretended to be.
"Do they look like youkai?" Inuyasha nodded.
"Then let's go." He looked at her like she was insane.
"What?"
"You look human now, and the true sight feature's working if you can see them as they are. Welcome to the Hidden World a few decades early. Just don't use your powers or draw Tetsusaiga-and we're good. You're about to see a very different Tokyo than you have before, so please don't make too much of it," Kagome answered. He gaped as they walked.
They passed a half dozen creatures just getting to the cars parked in a lot down the street! Most of whom glanced over and nodded politely, and stared. Kagome just gritted her teeth, glad Inuyasha was completely unaware of why they did. One stared-and opened his cell phone, dialing a number as they climbed in cars and pulled out.
"My Lord, we may have a problem with the Shrine. Lord Inuyasha is returned with the Lady Kagome, Lady Ayame, and the Lady Sanae. I do not see the Princess Rinao-or either of his sons." A pause.
"Yes, My Lord Sesshomaru. You will attend it personally. I understand-I will say nothing," the Inu vassal hung up, awed.
He'd been allowed the honor of watching the Shrine gates for interlopers and seen legends go strolling past. The young watcher desperately wanted to ask for autographs. It wasn't often one saw such important, famous people about.
"What the hell is she going to do with him?" Inuyasha muttered to his sons. The trio were sitting near Kaede's hut and he scowled around the village. Kagome and the others were inside-they'd join them soon.
For now, he let himself worry for a moment. He was loose in the future. Again. Frankly, the last two years had been humiliating...because it was so damned funny. Inuyasha would like to just one of the amused bastards stuck in an unfamiliar era! Not that he went to look. No. He remembered it, didn't need to go see. Instead, he heard all about it. On occasion, he got reports of certain incidents from Sesshomaru-who thoughtfully detailed how much effort was being put into covering his tracks there.
Blowing up gymnasiums, stopping bank robbers, sniffing the roadways and making a nuisance of himself. Threatening innocent trucks! To top it off, most of the Tokyo community were falling over themselves to get into the fun. Children who went to the school had to be warned when he arrived for the festival last year to stay concealed and go about their business. Others covered her absences with the school. They were eager to help, if they'd been permitted, the Shrine would be the best endowed in the country from donations. As it was-half of the stuff given was to honor Kagome's great deeds.
While he approved of such respect-it still grated.
"I'd say...I have no idea," Ichiro admitted.
"I do. I'm betting she takes him home. Can't leave him where Uncle Souta or Grandmother might see, so it's the logical thing to do," Akiyoshi answered mildly.
"My house?? Oh, no." There was a groan. So many appliances, so many things he liked and had paid good money for-all in danger. He was a-a damned menace!
"I know. It'll be ok, Dad."
"So you say. This is going to be a nightmare," Inuyasha sighed, and gathered them to go inside and face the music.
Author's notes-Ok! Chapter one is away! I'm very excited to have gotten to this point, really. I hope that the tree conversation read alright. I also hope you enjoy the rest as well. Thanks for Reading!-Namiyo