Time will tell

I wasn't prepared for this... At all. As I reflect back at the time when I first discovered the feudal era, much time had passed by since then. Who would have thought that out of all the possible things that could have happened as I opened those wooden doors of the entrusted shrine which lead to the Bone-Eater's well that I'd be attacked... By a centipede, mistress centipede was the name to be exact. As creepy as it sounds her persona was just as equally disturbing, resembling that of a centipede of course. My very first encounter with a real demon! Had I told any of my friends from school this they'd think I was hallucinating … I mean, you don't hear that often now do you? A centipede reaching out from the depths of an old well and suddenly seizing you with her many arms. Sounds creepy, right? My thoughts exactly.

After that day, my life changed forever, and I must say… It did, for the better. If it weren't for that dumb centipede who knows how boring and ordinary my life would have continued to be like. Besides, I wouldn't have met any of my dear friends… And Inuyasha of course-

"Oi, Kagome!"

"What now Inuyasha, can't you give me a break already!?" I snapped back.

"The hell- What's wrong with you today? You've been acting all weird lately." He responded peering closer to me with wide golden eyes and tilting his head a bit in a curious manner. This startled me, and I could almost feel that redness creeping onto my face as I quickly reacted and pushed him away.

"Keh- See? This isn't like you." He stated, brushing it off with a scoff and crossing his arms.

I sighed, and put my diary back in my big yellow backpack. Or well I tried to that is, it was always so full! This frustrated me and I grew annoyed and sighed once more. Stupid bag… I tried moving things around and jabbed my diary in an attempt to find an opening in this over packed bag.

"Hey! Quit ignoring me will ya?" He snapped.

Now what annoyed me even further was what I discovered next, I realized that half of the things IN my backpack were ramen noodles. And the one person who absolutely loved ramen noodles was the same person yelling at me right this instant. This irritated me none the less. I glared back at Inuyasha. He- as always took it to offense.

"What's with that look huh?" he snapped again, flailing his arms around in the air as if the attention he was getting from the village people wasn't already enough.

What happened next caused a big commotion, and then loads of swearing.

"The hell Kagome! What's your problem and why'd you have to say THAT word?!" He yelled, coughing out dirt which resided in his mouth due to the large impact of him being forced to the ground because of… THAT word.

I smirked in content, before he could ramble on any further he was cut off by the sound of a little giggle coming from another direction, it was the young fox demon, Shippo.

Shippo was the next one to say anything before I could open my mouth to respond to Inuyasha.

"Haha, Inuyasha! You should've seen your face when Kagome made you sit, Ha! Hil-arious! You deserved it though you big jerk" He stuck his tongue out and giggled some more.

"Why you… Little twerp!"

What surprised me next was how in a flash Shippo was left on the ground, knocked out with a huge bump on his head. Of course, Inuyasha's usual attempt to counter attack was to hit him back with a few punches on the head.

"Why'd you do that Inuyasha? He's just a little kid." I defended as Shippo got up and was whining to me about how much it hurt. As if, I hadn't heard enough… It was a daily routine for these two to get into a small argument only for it to lead to this.

"Oh quit your whining!" Inuyasha rolled his eyes, his hand balled up in a fist ready to attack once again, Shippo squeaked and hid behind me.

Suddenly, something changed. The air felt different, there was this odd aurora. Inuyasha of course caught on to this, and started sniffing the air. His eyes grew sort of wide. What was it? Naraku? In an instant I wrapped my hands around the small bottle containing some of the Shikon Jewel shards that we had all collected with much difficulty. I looked down at the incomplete jewel.

"Na-Naraku?" Shippo gulped barely managing to speak out. His head whipped back and forth before jumping into the basket of my bicycle.

This caught my attention and like everyone else I too stood my ground ready to attack. My hands reaching out for my bow and arrows. Inuyasha snarled in disgust and looked up. There was a huge white dog flying towards us, I squinted my eyes a bit and caught sight of two other small figures on its back. I gave in a sigh of relief when I saw a small girl in a patterned kimono and a imp.

"Sesshomaru" I whispered. Inuyasha kept glaring at the approaching big dog. He growled some more and leapt up onto the tree beside us to catch a closer look at his 'prey'.

"Wait Inuyasha, let's hear him out. Besides, I doubt he's here to fight us he's got Rin and Jaken with him." I reassured him.

He looked down at me as if insulted that I'd actually go ahead and defend HIM out of all people.

"What?" I responded back, he grew annoyed. "Keh- This is Sesshomaru we're talking about Kagome! He's a heartless bastard, you should know better." He scolded crossing his arms once more, chin pointed upwards and nose in the air.

"I know that!" I yelled, closing my eyes for a second. Of course I knew that Sesshomaru despised humans and Inuyasha for being half.

"Even though they're half-brothers, they sure don't get along too well, right Kagome?" Sango, the infamous demon slayer nudged me, holding onto her Hiraikotsu with her other hand.

"I heard that!" Inuyasha's ears twitched and he snarled.

Everyone knew that Sesshomaru hated Inuyasha with a passion, and vice versa. All due to the fact that Inuyasha wasn't a full demon, but half. Which in this era meant you were a hanyou, a disgrace to both humans and demons alike. Inuyasha had gone through much troubles himself growing up as a kid, losing his mother from an early age and never being able to actually meet his infamous demon father whose heroic stories swept across the western lands of Japan. He was an outcast in a human village that he had spent his early childhood days in only to be teased at, no human or demon approved of him. It made him strong though, it made him who he is today.

I flinched and broke away from my thoughts and held my stance as a bright light shone in the air and the once big dog leapt to the ground and shape shifted into a man. He resembled Inuyasha, with his long silvery hair and amber eyes. His eyes looked cold and uninviting though and almost dead… Unlike Inuyasha's, his eyes were always full of life. I held back a smile.

I heard someone clearing their throat and I quickly turned to the side to see Miroku, the monk with his shakujo- a pilgrim staff that he used to ward off evil held in his other hand tightly, while grinning at me. I blushed a deep red and quietly laughed it off as if I had no clue what he was teasing me about. That hit me. Why did I get so embarrassed? Did I … Have feelings for-

"Inuyasha" Sesshomaru replied calmly, with a non-expressive façade plastered onto his face like a mask. Like always he never showed emotion, for emotions were only displayed by the weak. That was his philosophy.

"Kagome!" I yelped in surprise to see my name being called from an unfamiliar voice and then I saw that little girl from behind Sesshomaru with a pattered kimono running towards me. She was so different from Sesshomaru, always smiling so brightly, a caring individual and being so involved with her emotions. How could two totally opposing personalities travel with one another? Who knows, maybe Sesshomaru secretly does have a 'softer' side. I smiled when I took in her familiar presence and waved at her. "Rin! It's been a while, how are you?" I asked and knelt down to her. She gave me a toothy grin and held out a flower. I looked down at it in confusion.

"For you." She said, I smiled and took it from her. "Thank you Rin, it's lovely." I replied, complimenting the flower as I twirled it between my fingers. It sure was lovely, a deep red, like the colour of the cloth of the fire rat that Inuyasha always wore… I blushed a bit, wait… Why the heck did I just compare this flower to Inuyasha? I groaned, it was true... I was acting different lately.

"Hey ya bastard!" Inuyasha greeted him with a growl. Sesshomaru looked up to see Inuyasha standing on a tree branch out of all places, what a suitable place to stand upon while having a conversation. He narrowed his eyes a bit.

"Pathetic." He mumbled.

"Keh- Is that your way of a come back?" Inuyasha mocked, knowing that Sesshomaru wasn't the type to talk much, he always just cut to the chase and preferred to get straight to business.

"Talkative as ever I see, dear brother." He finally replied, putting a strand of his hair behind his elf like ear.

"Quit your yappin'!" Inuyasha yelled jumping back down in front of us.

Sesshomaru's glare only darkened, "I choose to talk when it's necessary, I don't go away wasting my words on insignificant people such as yourself."

"Oh? Then why is the mighty Sesshomaru 'choosing' to spend his presence with such insignificant folk like us right now, huuuuh?" Inuyasha mocked and stifled a short laugh.

I sighed, he was going to get himself killed and not to mention probably us along with him. "Inuyasha, stop." Miroku pitched in. He looked dead serious.

"What did you say?!" Inuyasha snapped back, his hand rolled up in a fist to show threat and authority. Miroku sighed and chose to ignore him.

"If I may ask, why are you here Lord Sesshomaru?" Miroku asked while stepping in front of Inuyasha. "Cut it out Miroku, stay back." Inuyasha, obviously displeased by the sight of a human cutting his view off by coming in front of him and acting like the group leader, for he felt as if he was always the one in charge.

"This'll only take a few minutes Inuyasha, please relax yourself." Miroku gently reassured him with his hands, a calm disposition, and a gentle smile plastered onto his face.

"Foolish humans, Rin get back here!" Jaken, the loyal vessel of Lord Sesshomaru spoke out and stepped forward, clutching on to his entrusted staff of the two heads.

"Oh, shut up ya filthy old toad!" Inuyasha leapt forward which caught Jaken off guard, he squealed in fright and tried running back to his master. Inuyasha roughly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and demanded an answer.

"Please, forgive me…" Jaken screamed in fright, wiggling around trying to break free.

"Inuyasha, enough." Sesshomaru spoke. This caught Inuyasha's attention and he looked back at him. "Let him go, this has nothing to do with him. I need to talk to you, it's important."

Now this caught everyone off guard, including Inuyasha who arched an eyebrow in surprise. He let Jaken fall to the ground who groaned and rubbed his back before getting back up and scurrying over to his beloved master.