A/N: accidentally posted this to my old, circa 2011 account. Deleted there, reposted here.
Cross-posted on Ao3 under the same username and title.
Who needs canon when you've got fanfic?
This piece will likely be about 12 chapters long, ~2000k word chapters apiece.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and claim no ownership of the characters within the series.
When Kagome woke up, she thought she was looking at a cat. It was the eyes - they were golden, glinting in the afternoon sun that streamed through the windows of the little wooden hut. But she blinked, and the illusion was gone: she was looking into the concerned face of a man. She couldn't place his age - his hair was silver-white but his face was youthful, and his strange golden cat's eyes seemed ancient.
"You're up," he said, reverence in his tone. Kagome tried to speak, but her throat was raw and her head - a dull throbbing near her temples made her too cautious to really move.
"Here, drink," he said, handing her a mug of tea. Kagome sat up - gingerly, she didn't want to make the headache worse -to drink it and cleared her throat. "I - thank you." He was kneeling next to her, concern etched into his features.
She studied him. He wore gaudy red hakama-style pants and a white shirt, an equally gaudy red jacket cast aside. His hair was long for a man, coming down to his waist, and his ears -
"Dog ears?" Kagome said, blinking. Atop his head were two triangular, furry ears, the same color as his hair. This must be a dream… "What are you?"
"Not funny, Kagome," he said, nose wrinkling, aforementioned ears twitching.
"How do you know my name? Who are you - where am I?" she glanced around. She was on a sleeping mat in a small room in a hut. Natural daylight streamed in through the windows; based on the sounds coming from the other side of the paper screen, Kagome assumed there were other people in the house.
"How do I - what are you talking about, Kagome? Snap out of it." He sounded really irritated now, hands - clawed hands - tapping against his knee. "You almost got yourself killed, and of course I had to save you, so I'm not in the mood for a stupid human prank."
"I never asked - that's not the point, what is going on?" Kagome shouted, and instantly regretted it when a searing pain went through her head. She shut her eyes against it, let out a pathetic whimper.
The man cursed. "Kagome - here, here drink this, the old lady said this would help…"
In too much pain to argue, Kagome drank more of the lukewarm tea. It instantly eased the brunt, and it faded to a dull - and most importantly, manageable - headache.
"Lay down," he said, hand on her shoulder. Kagome brushed him off, "No, I want to sit - "
No sooner had she said that then he dropped to the ground with a loud crash, cursing. "Dammit Kagome! You know better than to say that word -" he cut himself off and studied her from his vantage point on the floor, golden eyes narrowed.
"What?" Kagome snapped, patience wearing thin.
"You smell like Kagome," he grumbled, righting himself and sitting a bit too close for Kagome's comfort. "Maybe your stupid human brain just broke. You're supposed to be stronger than that."
"Human - what, are you not? And just what the heck's going on here?"
"I'm half-demon. And you're - sort of like a priestess. We need you to find the Shikon Jewel shards - that you broke, by the way - and you really scared a lot of people, you know, almost getting killed like that." He sat up, narrowed his eyes. "
Frustration bubbled up in her chest. "I don't get how this is my problem! I'm just a regular ninth-grader - just find someone else to do it! I want to go home!"
"You spend enough time in that stupid human era as it is! And nobody else can even see them, except Kikyo, and that's - " he cut himself off, as if it finally dawned on him. The change in his eyes happened quick enough that Kagome might've imagined it, but for a split second….
For a split second, his eyes looked incredibly, heart-wrenchingly sad, sad enough that Kagome felt her heart ache.
"You really don't remember, do you?"
Kagome shook her head. "I think this is some elaborate prank. Why don't you figure this out, lead these people -"
"Half-demon. They trust me about as far as they can throw me, and that's not much." He crossed his arms.
"Then why should I?" Kagome said, ignoring his wince. "You haven't even told me your name."
"Inuyasha," he said, voice surprisingly flat. When he stood it was so abrupt that Kagome flinched. "Calm down," he said, over his shoulder. "I'm gonna go get the old lady."
Kagome watched him leave, wondering what had just happened.
/
Minutes later the screen slid open and in walked an old woman, dressed like a miko and wearing an eye patch with Inuyasha and a little - boy? With a tail? - following at her heels.
"Kagome!" the little boy chirped, bounding over and hugging her from the side. "You're awake! I was so worried!"
"I - uh," Kagome faltered. "Thanks?"
The little boy looked up at her, eyes wide and tail twitching. "Kagome?"
"Kagome said she doesn't remember," Inuyasha said, not looking at any of them. "Fix her."
The old woman knelt beside her. "Do ye remember? Anything?"
I'm really starting to get sick of this question…Kagome shook her head. "Why is everyone asking me what I remember?" And why is everyone dressed like they're not from this century - is this some kind of joke? What's going on?" Maybe it was the throbbing in her head, maybe it was the frustration, but Kagome felt about three feet away from crying. She tightened her grip on the mug.
"I'm Kaede," said the old woman. "And I see you've met not - we won't let any harm come to ye."
"Why don't you tell us what you do know, Kagome?" said the little redheaded boy. As an afterthought, he added, "I'm Shippo!"
"Last thing I remember I was in my shed in Tokyo, looking for my cat. Now I'm...where am I?"
"You're in a different era from your own," said Shippo.
"You're a reincarnation of my sister," said Kaede.
"You're in Japan, stupid," said Inuyasha. He squatted next to her, leaned in close. Kagome tensed, ready to bolt - just what the heck is this guy's deal? - when he pushed his nose into her hair and sniffed, and said, for the second time, "You smell like Kagome."
"Ew," said Kagome, wrinkling her nose in annoyance. Then: "Sit!"
The command worked: Inuyasha went crashing to the floor, a cursing a blue streak the entire way.
"Yep," said Shippo with a flick of his tail. "Sure is our Kagome."
/
Feudal Japan.
If she were to believe these people - which she wasn't sure she did, but what choice did she have? - she'd fallen down the well at her shrine and into feudal Japan, some five hundred years in the past. She was the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo, and she was able to see the shards of the broken sacred jewel. She could control Inuyasha with the command "sit" because of the holy beads around his neck, and she'd been the one to break him of his cursed seal almost two years ago.
Another mug of tea helped ease the pain in her head. Kaede informed her that it was still only early afternoon, and if she so wanted to, she could go see the Bone-Eater's well that acted as a gateway between her era and this one.
"These," Kaede held up a glass vial, filled with purple shards, "Are the pieces of the Shikon Jewel."
Kaede handed them to her, and the vial fell comfortably into Kagome's hand, the glass pleasantly warm. There was a leather strap around it -Kagome had to fight the instinct to put it around her neck. "All the trouble for this?"
"This will bring much destruction, in the wrong hands," said Kaede. "And it is yours to guard by birthright."
Kagome bounced on the balls of her feet. "So...I'm the only one who can see it?"
"Aye," said Kaede. "Ye've been working with Inuyasha to retrieve the rest of the shards, going between your era and ours. If ye'd like, and if ye are feeling up to it, I can show you the well…"
"If anyone's showing her that stupid well, it's me," Inuyasha - who'd been ignoring their conversation up to this point - said. "Someone needs to knock some sense into that stupid human brain."
"Hey! I can hear you!" Kagome shouted, resisting the urge to stamp her foot. "And it doesn't look like your stupid half-demon brain is any better!" Then, she remembered: "Sit boy!"
/
Eventually, it was agreed that Kagome was well enough to walk to the well, that Inuyasha would guide her, and that the two of them would be back by sundown. Inuyasha strode ahead, setting a brisk pace through the forest. Kagome didn't even try to keep up with him, despite his grumblings about her slowing him down.
"Nobody asked you to walk with me!" she snapped, ducking under a low-hanging tree branch. "I don't get what I did to you or why you seem to hate me so much, but I'm getting really sick of it!"
His head whipped around, eyes wide. For a split second - so quick that Kagome might've imagined it - he looked vulnerable. But quick as it appeared it was gone, and the same flinty, disagreeable expression crossed his face once more.
"Tch. Shows what you know."
Kagome ignored him, hoping they were coming to the well soon. The broth Kaede had given her had helped ease the aches and pains in her body, but she was quickly growing tired.
Inuyasha stopped in a clearing, gestured to the wooden well in the center. "See? There it is."
Kagome peered over his shoulder. She wanted to be surprised that the well in front of her was identical to the one in her family's shrine, but all she felt was a sense of dread: this well being here - and her bike of all things lying on the grass, just to the side - seemed to confirm everything.
With a sigh, Kagome walked up to her bike and stood it up against the well. "I guess if my bike's here I must've come willingly." She looked at Inuyasha, who rolled his eyes, as if to say, that's what I've been telling you, idiot.
"So I just...come through here?" she asked, peering into the well. It was shallow enough that she could see the bottom. Doesn't seem very magical…
"Well, if you have one of these," he said, hooking a finger underneath the leather strap of the necklace and tugging the glass vial of the shards forward. "If you don't, you get stuck."
Kagome frowned. "How did I get here in the first place, then?"
"You're the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo," he said, surprisingly serious. "The jewel was...in your body, or spirit, or whatever. So when you fell down the well the first time, you came through." He was silent for a moment, then: "If you'd like, we can cross over. You can see your family. I'm sure this is disorienting."
Kagome blinked. "Really? You'd do that?" He seems really annoyed at my modern era - wonder what changed his mind?
"Just for a little bit!" he bit back. "You have a duty here, you know. Amnesia or not. If going back and seeing your family proves to you we're not makin' shit up, then it's worth it."
I guess him being nice was too good to be true… "Right. Okay. Let's go."
Inuyasha nodded, wrapped his arm around her middle, and before Kagome could so much as squeak in protest, he'd jumped up and into the well.
Kagome let out a sharp "Eep!" as they fell, which promptly turned into an emphatic "Oof!" when she landed in a tangle of limbs on the dirt floor of the well.
Inuyasha sprang up, teeth bared, as Kagome recovered from getting the wind knocked out of her. "What the hell went wrong? It's supposed to work! We're supposed to go through, and - and what did you do to screw it up -"
"Me?" Kagome seethed. The impact had her head spinning again - her mood was truly and utterly foul now, and Inuyasha was the sorry soul on the other end. She stood, glaring down Inuyasha. "I'm stuck in this weird place with half-demons, I can't get home - I'm tired - and you're asking me what I did wrong? Looks like you're the one screwing up to me!"
"I - hey! I never said you screwed it up -"
"There's only so many ways to interpret "what did you do to screw it up" so sorry if I misunderstood!" She let out a noise of frustration and kicked a tuft of grass growing at the bottom of the well. "I just want to go home."
Inuyasha looked at her, long and hard. Kagome met his eyes, refusing to be cowed by a boy she just met.
"Let's get out of here," he said eventually. Kagome didn't protest when he wrapped an arm around her and jumped out of the well.
It was nearly twilight, and they were still walking to the village. Kagome was trailing behind - the headache was getting worse and worse, and she was so tired -
"Hey," Inuyasha said. Kagome nearly tripped trying not to bump into him.
"What is it?" she grumbled, in no mood to be insulted by him.
"It's getting dark, and you're trailing behind -"
"I'm hurt, jerk -"
"Will you let me finish?" he gave an exasperated sigh and crouched down. "Get on."
Kagome blinked. "I - what?"
"It makes travelling easier, especially when you're hurt. I'll be able to get us back quicker, and you got pretty knocked around when we fell…" he wouldn't look at her. "Just get on, okay?"
Too tired to argue, and figuring that the day couldn't get much worse, Kagome let Inuyasha give her a piggy back ride the rest of the way to the village. If she were being honest with herself, it felt familiar - like her body remembered something she didn't - but Kagome was too tired and too shaken up to be that honest with herself, so she shoved it aside.
The day had been exhausting enough as it was.
And she was tired - so, so tired - that she might've hallucinated it, but she heard Inuyasha say, softly, "You know, Kagome, this is your home too."
But sleep had a hold on her, and couldn't have responded if she'd wanted to.