The battle was won… the shikon jewel was finally within their grasp. Now, with the jewel in hand, they could wish for anything. It could be anything from simply wishing for happiness to wishing for the world; if it were humanly, or even demonically, possible then such a wish could be granted. It didn't matter who made the wish either. That however was the problem; Inuyasha would want to use the jewel to become a full fledged, 100% bonafide demon. Miroku would wish for every woman in the wolrd. Sango would wish for her village to come back. Shippo would wish for his family to come back. As for Kagome, she had no idea. All she knew was that she didn't want Inuyasha's wish to come true. As such, Kagome would make sure Inuyasha would never make his wish. It was either that or convince him to become a human… she didn't cherish the thought of trying to seduce him with the idea. To facilitate this, she took the jewel, went to her time, and up to her room, placing it inside a little hole under a floor board under the head of her bed. No one bothered ask where the jewel went. After all, if there was no more Naraku, then what was there to worry about? They had time.

For days after the defeat of Naraku and the jewel's completion, the group wandered aimlessly across the Japan countryside, trying to figure out what their new goal was. Along the way they exorcised demons for food and money, and sometimes they would only help out in the village. With no goal, there was nothing to do, and coming up with one was even harder now that Naraku was dead. Finally, Kagome began to miss her home, and was ready to return to her time for a while. For a few months to be exact. Inuyasha wasn't excited about letting her go. Despite his disdainful feelings about her leaving, Inuyasha's protest fell upon deaf ears as every frustrated insult he tossed at her added another injury to the growing pain toll he was currently racking up. Finally Kagome just laughed at him, running to the well while yelling,

"I'll be back in about a month or two, Kay?!" Not waiting for a reply, she hopped the lip of the well.

Once through the well, she figured it was about time she got a nice bath. After all, bathing in hot springs was nice, but the odor of sulfur wasn't her favorite in the world. Waltzing inside, she was greeted by a happy mother,

"Kagome, welcome back! So, how long do you think you'll stay this time?"

"Well… I'll probably stay for a while! I mean, there is literally nothing left to do in the past, or at least that's what it seems like."

Her mother smiled at her, but slowly her expression went from innocent to mischievous. The glint in her eyes said trouble for Kagome. Kagome waited for her mother to speak, but what she said was a surprise to Kagome. A complete surprise,

"So… did he do the deed yet dear?" Kagome's face contorted in a humorous way after the query, and she shot back an irritated reply,

"Mom, how could you ask me something so ridiculous?!" Her mother looked at her with a confused expression, but her expression returned to mischievous once more when she realized the other meaning of that phrase,

"Oh no Kagome, not that, but has he proposed his love for you?"

"Oh, that's what you were asking? Well… not yet…"

"I see. Well, there's still time. I still think you should be the one that starts the relationship."

"I kinda' already did mom—not that kind of relationship though, if that's what you're talking about."

"Well I know that you woke him up and you were the one to start your friendship, but I think you should be the one to start the actual relationship, if you know what I mean, but I digress. Just remember Kagome, I'm only trying to help."

Kagome's mother gave her a suggestive wink, making her daughter blush, hard,

"Okay, if that's all you wanted, I'm going to take a bath, kay mom?"

"Whatever you'd like dear."

Now with her mother pleased, she began to think to herself about how wonderful a steamy hot bath would be,

'Oh man… I can't wait for that nice hot bath… steamy and soothing… the hot water running along my soft, smooth skin—'her thoughts were interrupted when her grandpa walked up to her and began a conversation,

"Kagome my dear, how are you, you haven't been home in some time!"

Kagome gave him a genuinely happy smile before replying,

"I'm doing just fine grandpa. Say, how long was I gone for this time?"

"I would reckon about two months."

"Two months?! Wow… I really have been gone a while… and even when I came over to put the jewel under my bed, I spent like five minutes here and that was it… whoops."

"Well not to worry dear, but I do have to wonder… what made you stay so long in that time—unless… don't tell me that demon has something to do with it?!"

"No no no gramps, he—well, I mean he is the main reason I go back, but—"

Her grandfather's mood had gone from cheery and happy with her arrival to becoming disparaged, worried and belligerent old man in less than ten seconds,

"Oh my god, please let this be a nightmare! My poor grandchild has been defiled by that demon! By the word of the gods I shall purify that demon in your name Kagome, for he has done wrong to take advantage of you and indeed defile you!"

"He has not defiled me, and he most certainly hasn't even gotten to first base!"

"First base you say? Oh my no dear, I meant not sexual defilement, but rather the tainting of your mind. It must be that! Eitherwise you would have never returned to him! Oh you poor dear! I swear by the gods I will purify him at the cost of my life!!"

By this time Kagome began to get frustrated… all she wanted was to go take a nice warm bath, where she could get away from the craziness in her life. It seemed that craziness had a knack for stalking her,

"Grandpa, I'll say this one more time, Inuyasha is not evil, and I would never dare let him put a hand on me, do you understand?!"

The room fell silent as three pairs of eyes looked at her in fearful surprise. Kagome stopped for a second before her cheeks began to burn red at the embarrassing situation she had just created. As she looked around, she thought her head was going to explode from all of the blood rushing through it. It took her a few moments to realize that she literally blew up in her grandfather's face, to which she knew she had to apologize,

"… Oops… Sorry… listen, I just want a nice hot bath, where I can be alone and think to myself for a while, kay?"

Everyone nodded slowly, meaning Kagome she could do what she had requested. As such, she went upstairs to room so that she could pick up her pj's and some undies. Waltzing into her room, she found Buyo on her bed lying on his back looking like a bear skin rug. Kagome giggled quietly to herself as she walked over to the closet. She pulled out her favorite pj's, the cotton ones with little cat faces on them. She then walked over to her dresser and pulled out a lime green 36-D bra from the top drawer, and then a like pair of lime green panties from the second drawer down. Turning around to face the door, she stopped suddenly, and looked over to her bed. She took two tentative steps backward, and began to eye the floor next to her bed. Without thinking, she trotted over to the bedside, got down on her hands and knees and pulled the loose board up and out from under the bed. Inside was the glowing jewel, inside of a small glass container. She stared at it for a little while, and then swiped it from its hiding space. She shook the bottle, expelling the jewel from its captivity. Once in her hand, she became entranced by the soft white light that danced about the inside of the jewel. After some time, she broke her trance and shook her head before putting the jewel in her pocket and focused once again on getting to the bathtub.

Now in the bathroom, she locked the door and quietly stripped herself while running the water. Running the water for a while caused her to get the urge to go to the bathroom. Setting the jewel down on the sink, she sat down for her business. Just as she finished her tinkle, she heard something drop into the sink; it was the sound of the jewel rolling around and down towards the sink drain.

"Oh shit!"

Once again drawn to the jewel, she forgot what she was doing in the first place and went after the thing. After frantically jabbing at the jewel and missing several times, she finally snagged it and prevented it from going down the drain. After retrieving the jewel, she was brought back into the same entranced state she was in her room. Again she watched the soft glow of the jewel, becoming completely engrossed in its beauty.

More time passed before she was free of her hypnotic state, and she noticed that the tub was about to overflow. She dashed for the water knobs, and frantically spun the knobs until they closed tight. With the bath tub so full, she would have to drain it or else the displaced water would flood the bathroom when she got in. Draining most of the water, she hopped into the bath. She also took the jewel with her… Staring deep into the jewel's depths once more, she tried to figure out what made the jewel so attractive and entrancing. An hour passed and she continued to stare at it intently. Suddenly, her mind kicked into high gear; her mind flooded itself with ideas for wishes, each one more enticing than the last. One of her ideas was to reset time so that she could fall down the well for the first time and see Inuyasha again. Another idea was to resurrect Inuyasha. Yet another idea was to wish for wealth, fame and hot guys. She discarded all of those ideas, and kept going through the flood made of ideas in her brain. One of her thoughts was to make it so she was so smart that she could go through school without any issues. Along those lines, she also thought about just making it so that she had already graduated and had become eligible to go to any college she wished. One wish was to make herself older. One idea was to make herself younger. One thought was for eternal life. She kept running circles around these ideas, until finally she stumbled upon a childhood fantasy of hers; ever since she had seen an old movie where time had stopped, and the main character was the only person that was able to move and do things, she wanted time to stop so she could run around and do whatever she wanted with no one noticing. Just herself in an alien world where no one moved; better yet nothing moved what-so-ever. She just about discarded this as well, but it slipped her tongue,

"I wish time stopped; just me, alone, being able to move, do whatever I want to, and stay the same age for as long as time is stopped. I want food replenished every day as well, and I want to be immortal."

Despite it being nearly four wishes, the jewel flashed brightly, and Kagome could feel consciousness fading from her; she began to get dizzy, and before she realized what was going on, she passed out.

A few hours later, Kagome woke up to find she was still in the tub. She realized she had been in the tub for a really long time, however the watch on the lip of the tub was completely the same as it was when she got in. To add to that, the water was just as hot as it was before. Kagome jumped up out of the water and grabbed a towel, rapping it around herself. Whirling around, she went to unplug the tub. To add to the strangeness, the water that she had just jumped out of was still in the same position it was when she had leapt out of it. She thought long and hard for about ten minutes before finally she deduced that she was dreaming. With that idea in mind, she tried to wake herself up. No go. She tried again. Still nothing. Finally she just tried pinching herself—

"Ouch—oh my god! … Does this mean… that… Time really stopped?!!"

Hello peoples! For those of you that have read this once before, I've edited it & re-written several things, and as a result it's a little longer and it flows a bit better than before. For those who are new to it, don't worry, you didn't miss much; it's pretty much exactly the same as before, the only difference is that I took out some content that didn't suit the story. Anyway, part of writing this is actually from my own childhood fantasies… I've always wanted time to stop so I could run around doing whatever I wanted to… but I'll leave it up to your imagination what you would do in that situation… in fact, why not tell me in your review what you would do—you never know, I might use it in the fic as one of Kag's experiences!! Anyhoo, thanks for reading this first chapter, please leave a kind review, and have a wonderful day!

-JT Jewels