Important Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned from Ancient Magus Bride or Inuyasha.

Authors Note: I'm very excited to introduce my first fanfiction! I've been dreaming of sharing my own story for years now, but never had the real guts to do it. Yet, there comes a moment when we have to let go of our fears and adventure into the unknown! This story is for you, my readers, and I truly hope you enjoy it.

As it is my first story, I ask only for a little compassion if you find mistakes, but please comment and feed me with constructive advice!

Chapter 1: Hiraeth

Hiraeth, embracing it was the first curse of these two pure souls. To never return home, where their families were, because these had ceased to be due to unfortunate events. Both girls abandoned, rejected, victimized by horrible people that pushed them away. Little ones forced to envelop the solitude that the path of life had lead them to, yet unaware that before despair could snatch their fate, they'd be rescued. The first soul was Rin, ward of the great Inu Youkai, Lord of the West, and the second was Chise, bride of an Ancient Magus.

"Please, find me." Rin turned around, but there was only fog. The heaviness of it impeded her to see beyond the grayness, yet she heard a voice echo through the mist. She had been walking for a long time, wandering in the silence unknowing where to go, or if there was anywhere to actually go to. Relief overcame her when finally she heard those words.

"Who is speaking?" she asked shyly yet there was no response. Suddenly, the mist began to fade away and she could see a girl that appeared to have the same age as her, with red hair that reminded Rin of fire. Her clothes were strange though, and the only time she had seen those types of garments was whenever Kagome was around. Could this girl be from a different era such as Kagome? Her emerald eyes looked straight into Rin's brown orbs, but tears were coming out.

"Help me." pleaded the girl, "My mother, she…" Rin's eyes widened, the little girl in front of her began to sob, "I'm all alone now…my mom, she's gone forever." Rin ran towards the girl as fast as her own two little feet would allow her to.

"I'm coming!" she yelled, but as soon as she neared the image of the girl, the mist began to hide her once again, "Wait! No! I want to help you!" but darkness filled everything up, drowning Rin's own body into an abyss of profound shadows.

Awakened by the fear of being consumed by nothingness, Rin jolted up from her laying position only to find Jaken snoozing next to her. A bubble was coming out of his right nostril, "Gross" thought Rin, but she was relieved to know that the darkness in her dream hadn't been real. The day was chilly. It had rained all night, and now she could smell the petrichor. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air, with life. She stood up and shivered, it was chillier than she thought.

"Rin." She turned quickly at the sound of her Lord's baritone voice, forgetting everything that had invaded her mind just minutes ago.

"Good morning Lord Sesshoumaru! Have you rested well?" She beamed at him with a smile from ear to ear, yet he merely glanced at her with his usual stoic expression.

"Rin, feed yourself quickly. We'll be leaving soon." He commanded.

"Yes milord!"

Even though his orders were said with an imperious tone, she knew that his instructions were intended to preserve her well-being. She was still a child and, as such, many things that she required for her own survival were forgotten due to her distracted mind and fascination with play and flowers in the fields. More than once had she forgotten to hunt for her food while she consumed the time Sesshoumaru would give her to make him crowns of flowers. Of course, being a prideful demon, he'd never allow her to place them on his head, but she was content with showing them to him. It was only until during one of their travels when her pace began to slow down, and a her stomach made a grumbling noise so loud that Sesshoumaru didn't even have to use his keen hearing to notice it that he warned her that her inability to feed herself would not be tolerated, and if she couldn't keep up he'd have to leave her in a human village. Rin had begged him to spare her from such a horrible fate, and promised to be more responsible. Of course, Sesshoumaru was far from actually leaving his ward in some undeserving human village, yet, he hadn't forgotten either the advice that the old woman Kaede had given him about Rin living with humans for a while. After the little incident though, his young companion began fending off for herself well enough, so he simply put that idea aside. He had more important things to worry about anyway.

Sesshoumaru stared for a moment as his small ward ran off to fetch her human food, and sighed silently to himself. "How annoying" he thought. His ward's breathing had been uneven throughout the night, and she had tossed and turned several times during her sleep. Something about not knowing if something was haunting Rin in her dreams irritated him. It was even harder to determine if there really was a threat during her slumber when every time she'd awake she'd always speak to him with a joyful expression. "Humans are so deceiving".

Chise's Universe

Black. Everything was black, the suits were black, the umbrellas were black, and her entire world was now black. Chise's mother had tossed herself from their apartment window in order to escape madness and now the monsters that surrounded her were celebrating that she had been abandoned, and soon they would go after her.

"Chise, come now. It's time for us to leave."

The little girl looked up at her mother's sister with a lost expression in her eyes. "Okaa san is gone…she's not coming back." She thought to herself.

Her aunt frowned at her, "I told you girl, it's time to go." she harshly said. "Why do you have to be such a strange child? Is it so hard for you to be normal!" she spat while grabbing onto Chise's arm and dragging her away. She had no strength to protest, instead, she looked back at her mother's grave and saw the hideous beings that always haunted her now hugging her mother's coffin as the workers threw it into the earth.

"NO!" She yelled out and pulled away. Her aunt growled and only tightened her grip on Chise's small arm, making her shriek in pain.

"Shut up you ungrateful brat! You're lucky we simply don't toss you out on the streets, if it weren't for the money you're mother left you'd be homeless by now! So stop yelling and get into the car!" and with a final drag she tossed Chise into the car.

"Okaa san!" Chise banged on the window with her small fists as she witnessed with horrified eyes how more monsters went into the ground where her mother's coffin was. She pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed her heart out as the car drove away. She grew weary so quickly that she didn't even notice when she drifted off to sleep.

'Wake up child.' Chise's eyes opened slowly, and widened once she realized that she was no longer in her aunt's car. In fact, she was no longer…anywhere. Fog surrounded her, filling her existence with a feeling of abandonment. Yet, something had told her to wake up, and now she couldn't see anything, or anyone.

"Where am I?" she asked to herself out loud.

"You are in the middle of everywhere and nowhere" said a voice into her left ear, it was so close that Chise shrieked but when she looked, nothing was there.

"Who-WHO ARE YOU?" she yelled more out of fear than bravery, and the voice, this time closer but not as before, replied "I am time, and right now you are in my infinity realm." Chise began to tremble, had a monster eaten her and this was what was left of her mind?

The voice spoke again, "Child, you are an orphan now. You see beings that are unearthly who want your blood in their mouths, and there is nothing I can do to stop that. But, I will play with your fate a bit, and see to it that you discover that you are not the only one with such a strange destiny. I will make a time bridge, and you shall meet another like you."

The fog opened a path to where another little girl with black hair was walking, looking as lost as Chise was. The little girl was wearing a kimono, with orange and yellow squares and was walking barefoot. The voice spoke again "That girl is an ally of yours, although both of you have yet to discover why. Seeing that you are centuries apart, this world will be the time bridge that connects both of you." Chise stared at the girl, "An ally?" she didn't even know what that meant. Even so, right now she could use a friend. It was probably the overwhelming loneliness she felt at the moment what made her talk; before she could stop herself she said the words out loud, "Please, find me."

Rin's Universe

The journey back to her Lord's empire was a long and tiring one, and despite being able to sit on Ah-Un's back most of the trip, Rin felt tired more than usual. Her mind had been mostly occupied with the images of that little girl she saw during last night's dream. It felt so strange to think that she had randomly dreamt with a person from a different era. It wasn't as if she was acquainted with a lot of people from a different time, the only person she had actually met from another world was Kagome chan. "She looked so sad, and lonely. I remember feeling that way when bandits killed my family. I was so alone, and lost. Who could this girl be?" Rin was so carried away thinking about the lost look in the girls eyes that she wasn't paying attention to where she was heading, which didn't go unnoticed by Sesshoumaru.

They were reaching the end of the forest and beyond it were cliffs so high that travelers believed that below them laid the entrance to hell. Anyone who had ever tried to go down and discover what was under the clouds that covered the abyss below never returned, and now Rin was walking straight towards the border. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, "Rin."

She was so engulfed in her world of thoughts, that not even her master's voice broke her concentration, this time, Jaken yelled at her "Stupid girl! Can't you see you're going straight to the hole!?" Rin jumped startled from hearing the toad's reprimanding voice, and stopped right where she was. Normally, Rin was more attentive, but that dream had her mind so consumed that indeed, she hadn't noticed that one more step and she was going to be the one to verify for herself it the entrance to hell was below those clouds.

Ashamed of her strange conduct, she straightened herself and walked back, with her head down and bangs covering her eyes, she marched until she was standing next to Ah-Un.

Sesshoumaru frowned at her but buried his annoyance quickly, then he announced. "We're here."