by Elyndewen Startree
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi, it's true; but the plot of this is MINE. Also, Mr. Okumura, Akio Genji and other similar characters are EXCLUSIVELY mine, so don't use them!
A/N: A dramatic little two or three part fic I thought up a couple nights ago. "Alls well that Ends well" including this fic. Never fear, Inu/Kag all the way...trust me on this one.
~~~/*\~~~
Kagome dashed across the landscape, not seeing where she was going, nor truly knowing where she was. She ran through a forest brimming with sharp, thorny greenery that scratched and tore at her bare legs as she brushed past. Ebony green needles and cruel, rough branches were vicious in the attack, as if every thorn on her path were intent on making her stay right where she was. But she refused to be held back. Running with all her soul and strength, her only desire was to get away. Far away. As far as she could go. Modern times. Her time. Reaching the edge of the trees, she hurtled toward the well. A rock captured her foot, tripping her, and she was falling, crumbling; forced to the uneven ground. A knee was scratched and torn. Blood trickled down her shin as dirt and needles stuck to the small wound. But she wouldn't let it stop her. Kagome staggered upward, crawling, then half-running toward the well. It was insight. She was absolutely intent on reaching it. She made it, skirt and shirt torn in places, knee bleeding and limbs scratched, tears streaming down her face. The well. She had reached her goal.
She reached toward her throat and tore from it the necklace that held the Shikon no Kakera. Laying the shards on the edge of the well, she took one moment to look around her. The trees and sky, so clear and beautiful, now meant nothing but heartache to Kagome. Her life here was nothing but heartache. It was hopeless. She jumped into the well, leaving the shards, all the shards behind. She could not return again. Not on her own. Which meant she never would. He'd never come back for her. It was the end of her travels there.
"Goodbye. Inuyasha. Everyone." She had left the Sengoku Jidai. Never again...
~~~/*\~~~
Hours later in her own time, Kagome lay on her bed. When she'd arrived home, her mother had taken one look at her and dropped everything. Mrs. Higurashi hugged her daughter and promised to take care of her. A warm soapy bath. Kind hands cleaning and bandaging the scrape on her knee. It had all felt so nice. A nice warm meal of familiar food. And now time to think. What she had needed most of all. Time to reflect. She sighed. Perhaps she'd been rash. No, no, not rash. It was the right thing to do. As long as he was happy, it didn't matter how she felt. The pain was there but not to be noticed. 'I'm okay. I'm back where I...where I...' She could barely think it. But it had to be said.
"I belong HERE!" She shouted it to the empty house. Sota, Grandpa and Mama were out. Buyo was nowhere to be seen. Kagome sighed and leaned back, tears trickling down her face. There. She'd said it. And it was true.... She was falling asleep, resting her wet cheek on the cool pillow, on top of her bedcovers. It was all too much. Her eyes closed, and the tears brought memories. Every time she'd cried in the Sengoku Jidai.
All the memories had been revolving around her head. Instances of pain, fears that she would lose a friend, anger even. Finally, her thoughts had brought her back to that afternoon. The moment of choice. It was one of those rare moments when Fate pulls an active hand in life. Inevitable and inescapable. That moment of choice had come.
~~~/*\~~~
"Kikyo..." It was Inuyasha who spoke. How many times had she heard that name pass his lips? How many times had she seen that look in his eyes. The look she wanted to receive. How many times had her heart cracked upon hearing and seeing the name and the look? Too many. It was the last time. If he did the same thing again, it was the end.
"Inuyasha, come with me! I want you to come with me. We belong together, but I can not remain here forever." Kikyo's usual plea...Kagome sighed. He agreed, and she would interfere and save him. But not this time. Unless he refused, she wouldn't dare show herself. Kikyo spoke again, deep melodious voice raising in urgency.
"Come Inuyasha! We will be together again. When we reach the very innermost depths of Hell, we will be together. Bound for an eternity."
"Kikyo..." ' She began to silently sob as she thought about her friends. Her friends from the past. She still had friends in her time. Oh, she would give anything not to have come. Not to have been cursed by the Shikon Jewel. It was Naraku's fault. He had killed Kikyo. And Kikyo's fault too. Everything was her fault. From Kagome's travels in the Feudal Era to this heartache she was feeling. The heartbreak.
The well was ahead. Tripping would not stop her. Neither would any type of physical pain. Her heart was broken enough. And that was the worst wound of all. And since the one she loved would never help her, she could never heal. She could only move on. And that was what she would do.
~~~/*\~~~
Kagome awoke as her dream self jumped down the well. Panting a little, she reflected upon the things she'd been remembering during sleep. "I've given so much to them. Him. Inuyasha has gotten so much from me. So much of me. I won't let him have any more." She sat up, resolve stiffening with each passing word. "He won't get any more of my tears. I'm not going to cry about him or for him. Not again. Never again." She wiped her face clear of the salty liquid. "Never again. From now on I live my life like I'd never met him. Or any of them. I've been sick. Now I'm healed. I can go back to school. Never again."
There. That was all she had to say. She could stay here in her time. Where she belonged. Never again.
~~~/*\~~~
"Kagome!! You're back!!!" Eri, Yuka and Ayumi ran up to their friend. Kagome sighed. It was time to restart her life. No more being "sick", no more lying to her friend. She had moved on, ready for anything.
"Hey!" She greeted them happily, as though she had never be gone, which was her intent.
"Have you recovered from your Hepatitis?" Ayumi asked.
With an inner grimace at her grandfather's desparate excuses, she grinned at her friends. "Yup! All cured! Turns out that I had some problems with my immune system, which made me get sick all the time." 'Nice cover Kagome. Believable too.'
"So are you still going to keep getting sick?" Eri was always more interested in her illnesses than the other two.
"Nope. The doctor gave me some meds and said if I keep taking them, I should get better!" Kagome felt a little bad about lying to her friends, but promised herself it wouldn't happen anymore. "So, what do I need to keep up on?"
"Well, we've got a new unit in Literature for the next couple months..."
"About what?" Perfect. Even a new unit to help her restart her life.
"Myths! Like from the Feudal Era and stuff!!!"
Suddenly, life didn't seem all that wonderful. Just when she was trying to forget about everything about where she had spent her last year, it was all going to come back. This was the worst thing that could have happened, and it had. She might as well go back to the Sengoku Jidai for all that she could forget it and move on.
"Kagome? You aren't saying anything. Don't you think that's great?"
"What? Oh--yah! That's great! I was just thinking..." 'Cover story, cover story...on more littl white lie...' "Actually, I spent a lot of time reading about it...you know, when I was sick and everything. And my grandpa has told me a lot of the myths, so I'm pretty familiar with them by now." She laughed a little, somehow managing not to sound uncomfortable.
The four friends were now walking up the school grounds toward the main building. They were headed toward the lesson that they were now conversing about.
"That's great Kagome!"
"It is! Maybe you can bring all your grades up!"
"Yah...great...!"
"Higurashi!" Who but Hojo had come up the lawn, waving and smiling.
"Look Kagome, he's back."
"You aren't gonna blow him off again, are you?"
"Hey, what about that boyfriend of yours?"
"HEY HOJO." Called Kagome, ignoring her friends' babbling. "What's up?"
"I heard you were feeling much better Higurashi! Are you all cured?" She could have sworn the boy had a way to turn invisible and listen in on conversations. Somehow, he always knew exactly what was going on. Hojo might have been dim and ignorant in the ways of the world, but he was no fool concerning things like this.
"Oh yes, the doctor said that I should be all cured in a few months."
"So, are you going to keep coming to school from now on?"
"Yup! I'm so sorry I missed this much school. I sure hope there's time for me to recover my grades."
"Don't worry Higurashi! If you need any help I'm right here for you to ask!" She was so grateful to this boy, it could not be expressed in words. But she would try.
"Thank you, Hojo! I have a lot of catching up to do...I should probably start tonight!"
"Well, would you like to meet me at Wacdonalds this afternoon for a study session?" The kind boy had gone slightly pink, but he was still eager.
"I was just about to ask the same thing. Sure! I'll meet you there at three, alright?"
"No problem." The first bell rang. He started running to his class. "I'll see you at three!"
As soon as he was gone, Yuka turned to Kagome and started to interrogate her as they walked into the classroom. "But what about your boyfriend?"
"Oh him?" This was painful, an ache deep in her heart, but she would not be reduced to tears. "We...broke up. Or actually, I broke up with him." It was perfectly true.
"Really? But I thought you were really in love with him."
"What? Oh, no. It wasn't really love. I'm just fine. Maybe I can even start going out with Hojo now!"
The bell rang again. As Kagome unpacked her books and got ready for her lesson, she thought, 'I can just pretend what I told Yuka was true...it IS time for me to move on...'
The teacher, Mr. Okamura, looked around at his class, eagerly awaiting the start of their new unit. It was nice to know that they were interested in literature and culture, if only part of it. "Good morning class. Today as you know, we are ready to being our new unit on mythology from the Feudal Era, or the Sengoku Jidai. Do any of you know some of these myths?" Several hands went up, including Kagome's. "Yes, Genji?"
The tall youth named Akio Genji stood and prepared to tell the class, "Well, my mother used to tell my younger siblings and I tales when we were younger...and I remember some of them."
"Like what, Genji?"
"Uh, well...," the boy was visibly sweating know. The entire class knew that on top of being forgetful, Akio had an amazing tendency to get nervous whenever a teacher looked his way. "I...uh...see, there's this one where...ah..."
"Thank you Genji. You may sit down." The boy sat so quickly, he barely escaped falling out of his chair. A murmur of laughter circulated the classroom. "Now now, none of that. Anyone else?" Mr. Okamura sought a more likely candidate...perhaps..."Higurashi?"
Kagome stood and faced her teacher, ready to act like she'd learned everything she knew about the Feudal Era at her home from her grandpa and books. "Well, one story I know very well is the Legend of the Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls."
Mr. Okamura took off his glasses and wiped them down. It was his way of showing interest in a subject. "Anything else, Higurashi?"
"I know a couple others, but that's the one I know the most about."
"Very well. Anyone else? You may take a seat, Higurashi."
The sixteen-year-old girl sat in her chair, relieved. 'That wasn't anywhere near as bad as I though it would be. It's actually kind of...nice to be an expert on something. Maybe this unit will be even better than I thought...'
After Mr. Okamura finished inquiring about nervous students' past encounters with mythology from that particular era, he bid them to take out some paper and begin to take notes on the time period itself. Kagome half listened. Afterall, she could have taught the information. She could pass any of the tests without keeping good notes. The rest of the lesson was devoted to learning about the lifestyle of the farming class in the Sengoku Jidai. While most students hung onto every word, Kagome sat and stared out the window, dreaming about 500 years earlier.
When the bell rang, she began to pack up her things just like all the students around her. She was about to exit with her three friends (who were eager to continue their babbling about Hojo) when Mr. Okamura's voice rang out over the rustlings and chattering: "Higurashi! Could I have a moment?"
Kagome made her way up to the teacher, hoping dearly that this was not about her absences...or her attention span in class. As it turned out, Mr. Okamura had something else in mind. "Higurashi. You seem to know a great deal about this time period. Why is it that you know about the Shikon no Tama inparticular?"
"Well," began the girl, trying to balance out past and present experience to hash together a believable story. "It's always been a favorite of my grandfather's, and since we live in the Shrine, I've been around mythology and stuff all my life, sir."
"Hmmmm." 'He's not buying it! Oh no, what do I do?' "Well Higurashi, would you consent to taking a pre-test about the Shikon no Tama during lunch. Should you pass, I would most enjoy having a teaching assistant."
"Y-yes, sir...I'll come by during lunch!"
"Thank you Higurashi. I look forward to seeing how well you do..."
The school girl ran after her friends who were, by this time, half way to geometry class. They turned to see her running up to them. But there was someone among them. A boy...
It was Akio. When he saw Kagome he waved at her cheerfully, looking very awkward among the four (much shorter) girls. "Um, h-hey, Higurashi."
"Hi Akio...did you need something?"
"Oh, well...I was wondering...if I could...you know, talktoyourgrandfatheraboutthelegends." The latter half of the sentence tumbled out of his mouth very quickly as they headed to Geometry.
"Of course! You didn't have to ask; Grandpa always likes telling people the legends."
"Oh, alright then...would you tell him I'll...uh...come by later or som-something?"
"No problem."
The five walked into class barely seconds before the bell rang again. Kagome took the books out of her pack and sat down, ready to try and catch up in her class.
For the next few hours and periods, the time-traveling school girl sat in class, diligently taking notes and trying to keep track of everything she'd missed. As it was no easy task, she would have forgotten about the test she had promised to take during lunch, had Eri not reminded her.
"Kagome, don't you need to go back to Okamura's room for lunch?"
"Yah, weren't you going to take that test for him?"
"What...? Oh! That's right, I almost forgot." She took off in the direction of the Literature classroom. "I'll see you guys later! Make my excuses to whoever!"
Ayumi looked at her other two friends and sighed. "Kagome's always on the move nowadays."
"Yah, and how come she's more popular than us?" Yuka piped up. "We're here twice as much as she is."
"Try three times. And why are you complaining? I know for a fact that half the guys in Gym want to ask you out. You're good at sports."
"Well, you're smarter than the two of us put together," was the response.
"Let's just face it," interjected Ayumi. "We all have our own merits. But somehow, Kagome manages to be much more likeable than any of us."
Yuka sneered at a passing seventh grader. "What do you want?" Looking back at her friends she innocently asked, "How could anyone be more likeable than us?"
"Gee, I wonder." muttered Eri as the three girls walked into the cafeteria.
~~~/*\~~~
At that time, Kagome had reached Okamura's classroom. Since he was nowhere in sight, she scarfed down most of her lunch none to slowly. She wasn't nervous about the test exactly, just about taking it. Maybe there were some things she didn't know. And why did Mr. Okamura want her to help? Weren't there enough teachers' pets in the class to satisfy him? Or was there something else? Did he know about the well?
She shook her head and laughed a little, amazed at her own foolishness. 'Mr. Okamura couldn't know about the well. Not even my friends do. I mean, it's not exactly widely known.' Determined not to think about the well again, Kagome sat back in her chair and waited for the teacher to arrive and give her the test. Things would be so much easier if she could just manage to forget about the past. Move on with her life. 'I hope he gets here soon, I might not have enough time to take the test...' She had to stop lying about everything. It really was time to move on.
'Okaaaaay, so where is he?' No more lying. No more excuses. Never again.
A/N: Soooo, that was part one of my lovely little fic. Since I ended HERE, I think it'll end up being three parts afterall. But that's just me. My friend found a great site for Japanese names, so if you want the link, email me! Reviews please!!! I think this is my best fanfic yet, but I wanna hear some other opinions!!
--*Elyndewen Startree*