Hello everyone and welcome to my new story! Of course, I don't own any of the characters! They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi! :(

I know, this first chapter isn't too exciting, but if I get some reviews, I just might be inclined to post the next chapter later today :)

Happy Reading!

XNKX

Chapter One: The Black Abyss

Darkness. It was all she had known for a while now, yet she couldn't be sure exactly how much time had passed. Had it been hours, days, or only minutes? It was odd, how everything seemed to move slower when there was nothing except nothing. The loneliness almost ate away her insides-it almost drove her insane.

She couldn't see anything, or feel anything for that matter. She seemed to hang suspended in the middle of the nothingness. There was no breeze and no movement anywhere around her. When Kagome herself moved, the darkness gave no response. It was sheer terror. Kagome couldn't see anything, not even her own hand directly in front of her face.

The young adult hung onto the one thought that could always keep her together, no matter what the situation was or how desperate she became.

"Inuyasha," she whispered once again into the blackness as she floated weightlessly. Once again, the echoing voice boomed at her from somewhere in the darkness. She couldn't be sure from where it came; it echoed all around her. The thought crossed her mind that the voice came from within her own head. Wherever it came from, the voice didn't make her feel any less lonely; if anything, it made the loneliness grow even more intense. If that was possible. One thing she knew for sure, the voice was that of the Shikon no Tama.

"You know what must be done, miko," the darkness said, its voice neither male, nor female. "You must make a wish." Kagome said nothing in response. Another tear snaked its way down her cheek as she curled herself into a ball. She didn't know what to wish for. She didn't even know where to begin.

"Inuyasha. He wanted to become a full demon," she thought out loud. Obvious sorrow laced her voice. The essence of the jewel latched on to her sorrow, as it did to everyone who had ever held it.

"Would you like to see?" Kagome snapped her head upward in shock at what the voice had said. She detected a hint of amusement in the otherwise emotionless voice.

"See what?" Kagome asked as she looked into nothingness. 'I feel like I'm talking to myself,' Kagome thought briefly. It was strange talking to someone who she couldn't see.

"What would become, if that were to be your wish." Kagome was taken aback. She could see what would be before making her decision, before making the life-changing wish? Her tears stopped falling at the thought of what this would mean. It would help her get out of the darkness. The crippling, horrifying darkness. The miko almost shook with anticipation of seeing the sunlight and feeling its warmth upon her face. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to have the wind whip through her hair or see the stars twinkling in the night sky. Never again would she take such simple seeming things for granted.

So one nod was enough for the essence. It didn't need even that much. It could see into the girl's heart and soul and knew what she would choose. Anyone would jump at the chance to escape. It knew that she hated the darkness and above all, she hated being alone. She hated being away from her friends and family, especially the inu-hanyou known as Inuyasha.

The jewel knew him well through the various people who had possessed it. It felt the love from Kikyo, followed by her scorn and bitterness. It felt the pure hatred and betrayal from the hanyou when he had stolen it for a brief moment, and now, it felt the innocent love from the young time traveling miko whose destiny had been intertwined with the jewel itself. Such innocence and purity almost demanded to be broken.

Kagome blinked and the darkness stayed behind her closed eyes. She was standing just within the forest by Kaede's village. The wind that she had longed for brushed across her face and played through her hair. The instantly felt relieved, almost to the point of tears. The blackness had left and taken the loneliness with it. She was free! All memory of the discussion with the jewel had left her memory as pure joy welled inside her. She let out a laugh of relief as the sun's warmth fell upon her face through the canopy of leaves above. She took one step out of the forest into the village…

And stopped. The sight in front of her froze her in midstride as her heart caught up in her throat. What's going on?