It was a pleasant afternoon with the sun shining softly and the wind blowing through her short boyish black hair. She had her eyes closed. Sitting under the shade of a huge tree in the park, Naomi Ogata was lost in past memories of a fateful day.

Naomi was just a four year old girl, with her friends running around in the grassy field. She was playing tag right outside her town. As she continued to play, her mother came to her with a sweet smile on her face and told Naomi that they had to go to the city. Her father had been posted to Tokyo. Naive as a child, Naomi felt excited to go see the city with its cars, huge buildings and bright lights. She was glad to be moving closer to her aunt(mother's sister) and her two year old cousin Kagome Higurashi. Little did she know that this day would mark the beginning of a surreal loneliness. She waved a quick bye to all her friends and left with great enthusiasm.

The city gave her very little which her town did not. Better education and greater access to technology was followed by the lack of friends. Being a bright girl from the very beginning, most of the children in her class thought of her as arrogant and vain. Not many talked to her and those who did tried their best to use her for their homework and assignments. Though she did not realise that at first, as she grew she was well aware of all the facets of opportunists. She transformed into a completely different person as she grew in the city. She bottled her emotions and put on a fake persona and always appeared jolly though in truth she was far from it. She hated the world for its ways and had become cynical towards almost all things relating to feelings. The only thing keeping her sane was probably her love for gadgets and music. On many occasions she would retreat from the world and listen to music to drown her sorrows. When the frustrations thrust too hard on her, she would visit Kagome. Being with her cousin was one thing that still kept her from becoming antisocial.

She opened her eyes and wondered at how eager she was to leave all her friends just for the hustle and bustle of the city. Realising that she was drifting back to reminders of her silent suffering, she decided to go to Kagome's house and spend sometime with her cousin. It was 5:30pm when she left and she reached Kagome's place by 6:00pm. Accompanied by her cell phone cum walkman, she was climbing the stairs to the house.

"Sota! How are you," she said as she saw Sota right in front of the house making his way to the shrine.

"Ne-chan! I'm great. How come you're here today?"

"Nothing special really. Just thought I'd bug you for the night. How does that sound?"

She smiled at Sota and put a hand on his head and messed his neatly combed hair. He laughed and so did she. Naomi ran into the house and Sota chased her.

"Hey mom, look ne-chan is here!" Sota said enthusiastically.

"Naomi! It's nice to see you. How have you been and how are your parents?"

"They're all fine and a little too busy just as usual. Mom wanted to meet you, but she is not able to find time. I just thought I'd visit and maybe stay here for the night, if you don't mind that is…"

"Of course not dear. You can stay here as long as you want."

"Thank you so much. I'll just be calling home to tell them that I'll be here for the night."

Naomi walked over to the phone thinking that she did a good thing by coming over. It was a welcome change. Every other day involved her staying home all alone for most of the time as both her parents were employed.

She had kept the receiver back in its place, when she heard voices coming from outside. One of the voices she was aware of. "Kagome," she said to herself. The other voice was that of a boy. She thought that it must be her boyfriend. After all, not everybody was as unlucky in love like herself. She went out following the voices and there they stood. Kagome was in her school uniform and there was a boy with long silvery-white hair and doggy ears. Naomi was puzzled. What are those doggy ears doing there? She wondered. She stood in her place, looking at Kagome and the weird boy from a distance.

"Look here Inuyasha, I have to go to school. It's been a long time since I came back and if I stay away for too long, I'll fail in the exams. I'm in high school now. Things are not as simple as they were. Its best if you leave me be for sometime."

"What about the jewel shards? Are you telling me that we just let that bastard Naraku find them and keep them? No way! You're coming back tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you in the morning."

"SIT BOY!"

Naomi was watching intently even though she didn't understand anything. The boy fell with a thud when Kagome said 'sit boy'. That came as a shock. Kagome began to walk towards the house and Naomi hid herself, waiting for Kagome to turn around the edge. Kagome walked past and she didn't even notice her cousin standing there. Naomi thought she'd surprise Kagome by catching her from behind. She started to run towards Kagome with silent steps and right when she was about to touch Kagome, something hit her and she fell face first. Kagome let out a slight scream and she turned around to find Inuyasha with his foot on someone's back. Kagome came running to take a look at Inuyasha's victim. She was surprised to find Naomi there.

"Ne-chan! Are you alright? Inuyasha, what did you go and do that for?"

"In case you didn't notice, this guy was trying to grab you from behind. I just saved you."

"No this is my cousin and she is not a boy!"

"Not a boy?! But, she has sort hair and she's not wearing what you're wearing. She has something like Hojo! It's a boy Kagome!! This is a 'he'!!"

"Sit boy."Kagome said calmly and Inuyasha plummeted to the ground. She helped Naomi up and took her inside with inuyasha following closely behind.

"Ouch!" Naomi said, as Kagome touched her face. Kagome went to get Naomi some clean clothes while Inuysha was to keep watch on her. He kept staring at Naomi like she was some kind of alien life form.

"What're you looking at?"

"I'm looking at you. Are you a girl or a boy?"

Naomi was irked, she had a boy cut, wore jeans and tucked her shirt in but she did not look like a boy. This was the height of Insults. She chose to remain silent.

"You're a boy aren't you?" He said again.

"No I am not a boy. Tell me, is something wrong with your eyes? Why do you think I'm a boy?!" Her voice was filled with anger.

"Well…you have short hair and you wear clothes like Hojo."

"Looks like you haven't seen too many girls in your life. It's no wonder really. With a face like yours, I'm sure most of them ran away even before you could cast a glance their way." She smirked. Inuyasha seemed confused. Naomi rolled her eyes and looked at the doorway. Kagome came in with fresh set of clothes and asked her to go change. When Naomi was done changing over, she came in to find Kagome and that strange boy arguing again.

"Be nice to her you understand me Inuyasha?"

"It's my wish. I'll behave the way I want to."

"Hey it's useless to tell this guy. He seems to be less endowed…if you know what I mean." Naomi let out a laugh and Inuyasha had the same puzzled look again.

"Did you understand what she just said Kagome?"

"Yes and I guess she was right." She sighed and sat on her bed right besides Naomi.

"Dinner's ready!"Kagome's mom said.

Everybody ate and Naomi had the time of her life saying things to Inuyasha, who never managed to understand anything. Everybody laughed with Naomi except Inuyasha. After dinner, Naomi headed towards Kagome's room and the room was empty this time. She sat on the bed waiting for Kagome to come. They had lots of catching up to do.

After fifteen minutes, Naomi was bored. She started to look around the room and she saw a small bottle with glowing shards of some material. She picked up the bottle and took some shards in her hand. They began to glow brightly. The colour changed from faint purple to almost a blinding white. Kagome entered and Naomi was startled. The shards fell to the ground and the original purple colour was back. Kagome never saw the shards drop, but she could see the bolltle shards in Naomi's hands. As soon as Kagome entered the room, she started explaining about the incident from two years ago. Naomi couldn't believe her ears.

"…and that's how I have these shards."

"It's…not possible. It's just not possible to travel in time like this. Some of the greatest scientists in the world have not been able to travel in time in its true sense"

Kagome smiled and said, "You worry too much and honestly, you're behaving like a nerd."

"What do you mean like a nerd? I just told you some hard facts. And honestly, if knowing a lot makes me a nerd then I'm proud to be one." Naomi pouted.

"There you go again. Calm down. I'm not insulting you. We all know that you're the smartest in the family. Now we should get some sleep. I don't want to fight with you."

With that Kagome turned out the lights and she fell asleep soon after that. Naomi on the other hand couldn't help but think about those weird shards. She kept staring at the shards kept on the table.

Kagome is the reincarnation of a priestess and she can see the shards and purify them. But why did they change colour when I touched them? She said that the shards remain pure or get corrupted depending upon the nature and intentions of the user. But that doesn't make them change colour does it? Then why did they glow?

Naomi heard arguments again but the voices were hushed and closer this time. She opened her eyes and saw that it was morning already. Sleep had taken over her without warning. But she started wondering about the shards yet again.

"So you're awake."

Naomi seemed lost when she heard those words from Kagome. She sat up on the bed reluctantly and as soon as she sat, her eyes scanned the room for those shards yet again.

"Kagome, Sota, Naomi, and Inuyasha come down. Breakfast's ready."

"Coming mom!" yelled Kagome. She was in her uniform again and she rushed downstairs with a bag on her shoulder. Naomi brushed and took a bath as soon as she could. She wore her clothes which were washed and ready now. She took the shards and her cell phone before she went down.

Breakfast was light and delicious. Everybody was done and Naomi helped her aunt clear the table. She thought she should leave and wanted to talk to Kagome. Just then Inuyasha stormed in.

"Where's Kagome?" He demanded.

"I don't know. What do you want with her?" Naomi replied.

"I can't tell you." Inuyasha said in his usual rude manner. "Kagome! This is important you have got to come right away."

"Oh what's it this time?" Kagome asked from inside.

"There's a demon close to Kaede's village and rumour has it that it has three jewel shards. We need those shards."

"Oh alright. But I'll be back as soon as we're done gathering those shards. Ok?" Kagome said as she walked out of the house. She waved to Naomi and ran towards the well hurriedly.

Just my luck

Naomi drifted back to her thoughts and started to leave when she remembered about the shards she had taken from Kagome. She had to return them to her and she followed Kagome.

"Kagome wait! There's something I have to give you. Stop!"

"I can't. I have to go now. I'm sorry. I'll see you soon. Bye." With that Kagome jumped into the well and she disappeared.

"No Kagome come back!" It was too late now. Kagome had jumped and Naomi was awe struck to see her vanish into thin air like that. Naomi still had the shards with her and she started to think of a way to give those shards to Kagome. She might need the shards. Naomi decided to consult Sota. But he said that only she could travel to the feudal era.

This put Naomi in a difficult situation. So she decided that she'd go down to the bottom of the well and that she'd set the shards down on the ground.

Kagome can see the shards. So if she needs the shards, she'll have to come back and when she does come back, she'll see the shards in the mud and she can take them. Yeah!

Naomi thought of executing her plan and she carefully climbed down the well using a ladder, but as she set her foot on the floor of the well, she felt light headed and the last thing she remembered was falling on the ground.