Authors Note: The idea for this story came from me always screaming at the utter stupidity of some of the characters in the Inuyasha story line. I always wanted to tell them all that they were doing wrong and ask how could they be so stupid. I apologize if the story isn't incredibly correct, I haven't been keeping up with the comix.

Chapter 1: Greetings

Kagome stirred the boiling cooking pot that was specially made for camping. The ramen bubbled happily under her administrations and was a few minutes from perfection. She pulled her sleeping blanket tighter around her as it had been getting colder as the winter months were setting in, and now, lonely.

Miroku and Sango had finally, after a very perilous engagement, gotten married two weeks ago. Kagome had decided it was the happiest day of her life as of yet, except maybe one, especially as she was Sango's bridesmaid and got to wear the prettiest pink kimono that had been a present from her mom for her birthday. After a ceremony filled with white flowers and guests of more than one shape and size, the newlyweds had disappeared for a month-long honeymoon and break.

Shippo, meanwhile, had been injured in a battle with a particularly nasty wind demon, only a day after the wedding, in his hopes being the brave fox demon. He was recovering with the old priestess in the village. He wasn't supposed to be better for at least a week if not more, so Kagome had been looking forward to a long siesta at home. She had packed up and was almost out the door when she had felt the faintest glimmer of a shard.

Now she silently shook her head. How stupid had she been, mentioning it to Inuyasha? How many times had he brought her back from the present after only a few days? She knew how he would get, and that was even when she didn't have any idea where shards were residing. Instead of a week or more visit, complete with hot baths and friends, she had practically been dragged back out into the wilderness by a stubborn hanyou. Not that she hadn't given up without a fight, actually three days of fighting. But now she felt empty and sore after their bickering and everything was testy ground between them. Again.

She sighed and looked up at him. He was watching the ramen intently from across the fire. Though he sat still, crouching on his back legs, his ears swiveled and twitched this way and that, catching all of the sounds of the forest preparing for nightfall. The setting sun cast a honeyed glow over his features and his eyes glinted from the firelight like two amber shards. Kagome's eyes traced the familiar strong jaw line, moving down to the hard set lips, and…

Kagome coughed, embarrassed at her thoughts, and turned away. She knew she was blushing, but he wouldn't notice, he never really did. Thick-headed and stubborn, that's all he his! She thought, but she shoved her thoughts back into their corner and doled out a small portion of the ramen into a wooden bowl. The rest she took off the fire and set next to Inuyasha, knowing he would finish it quickly with his usual gusto. He smiled and reached out for the pot, but stopped. Slowly standing up, nose quivering and ears pointed in the direction of the sunset, he looked around carefully.

"Stay here," was all he said before bounding off into the forest. Kagome may have stayed, but she suddenly sensed the shard she had noticed earlier. Pulling off the blanket and grabbing her bow and arrows, she ran off in the same direction. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She'd been so unfocused she hadn't noticed the tell-tale pull on her mind of the shards. Now Inuyasha was going to yell at her, and she'd be in the way, and goodness knows what else.

But the pull felt so weak. To her, it was like the shard was a good distance away, too far for Inuyasha to smell or hear its bearer. Kagome ran into a grassy clearing and stopped. She looked at a woman who was crouching down at a spring across the glade, drinking quietly from her cupped hands. She didn't take any notice of Kagome, but she looked familiar for some reason, like a girl Kagome had met in kindergarten or something similar.

She seemed young, maybe just poking into her twenties. Long, sun-bleached blonde hair fell down the stranger's back and tan skin peeked out from a pair of black leggings beneath a short purple skirt and a white, loose-sleeved peasant top. Silver bangles knocked around on her wrists and unevenly cut but polished obsidian rocks wrapped several times around her neck on a leather string. What really threw Kagome though was her calming way of not looking up while saying,

"You can tell the dog to come down, unless he's a stranger to you too?" The woman looked up with startling blue round eyes. There wasn't any fear or anger in them, maybe surprise as she looked Kagome up and down, and just a kind of amused light that also shone from her smile. Kagome realized she couldn't be from anywhere in Asia, not with looks like that, or with the strange accent that jumped her flow of Japanese.

"Feh, I'll come down when I wish." Kagome looked up quickly at a branch high above her. Inuyasha leapt down in a graceful billow of red haori, he frowned at Kagome before turning back to the woman. The woman smiled and stood up. Her firm muscles were evident, but she also had a general, well, heartiness about her. She had the kind of body that comes from mixing hard work with fresh air and sun. Kagome was reminded of Sango and her subdued strength. No one believed it when Sango managed to throw the huge boomerang repeatedly, the very one that Kagome had trouble just lifting.

"I will not be given commands by anyone, especially a wolf demon!" Inuyasha sneered. The woman laughed.

"Well if it gives you any comfort, I'm only half wolf demon, and he raped my mother so at any rate you can not hold it against me." She shrugged, "Besides I was asking your lady friend here to tell you to come down, I don't-"

"Lady friend?" Kagome asked.

"It sounds a hell of a lot better than 'your woman' doesn't it? Even if it an old-fashioned term." Kagome smiled. There was something instantly likable about this strange lady, even if she held a sense of mysterious around her like a cloud.

"My name is Kagome, and this is Inuyasha." Inuyasha sniffed angrily, still watching the other hanyou suspiciously.

"So very pleased to meet you, my name is Faye." Faye said, bowing slightly in respect, her hands pressed together. As she bent forward, two gray wolf ears poked out of her hair, very similar to Inuyasha's furry triangles. Kagome was going to ask about them, but she felt the tug of the shard again. It still seemed too faint for a shard, but it was coming from Faye all the same. Surprised, Kagome peered at the uneven rocks around her neck, spotting the glow coming from the singular purple one in the center of the strands.

"You have a shard!" Kagome gasped.

"Excellent," Inuyasha said with a smile as he eagerly drew his sword with a rasping metal sound. Kagome turned back to see Faye had already drawn a long sword of her own and was holding it with a knowing hand. Inuyasha rushed at her, striking his immense sword brutally, but Faye parried each blow rapidly, her sword whirring as it sliced the air. "Stop Inuyasha! We can't just take it!" Kagome called.

"What makes you think you can!" Faye sneered.

"Inuyasha! Stop!" Kagome clenched her fists, "SIT!" Inuyasha face planted painfully into the ground, moaning at the force of her command over him. Faye sheathed her blade.

"Wow, I wish I had control over men like that." Faye deliberately walked over Inuyasha to stand in front of Kagome. "I have much to learn from you Sensei." She said jokingly. Kagome laughed despite herself, and after getting Inuyasha up, invited her to share some dinner. Faye accepted happily and pulled a worn and patched leather backpack out from behind some rocks.

"Lead the way!" She said. Kagome couldn't help staring at the backpack that had a clear logo and was so obviously made by modern machines.

Faye happily accepted the ramen and was unperturbed by the can of iced tea Kagome handed her. This surprised Kagome as most people she and Inuyasha had come across usually said something like "what strange device is this?" or even more popular, "Witch! Keep your devilish potions to yourself you mistress of the devil!" But Faye cracked it open and drunk appreciatively as normal as any present-day mortal. Kagome realized she was staring and looked away.

"Won't you come down Inuyasha?" She called up into the branches where he was sulking.

"Yes, it's been a long time since I've met another hanyou, please come down and assist Kagome in telling me your story! Maybe I'll give you my jewel shard!" Faye called, smiling up into the leaves. Inuyasha peered down from his branch, ears twitching.

"Story?" said Kagome, starting as Inuyasha landed suddenly beside her.

"Yes, there is probably a very good story behind why you have modern clothes and why you managed to find yourself with a hanyou. Most of the ones I've dealt with are either off-the-wall temperamental, not to mention recluses. So tell!" Kagome looked at her closely for a moment, then down at her leather backpack. Faye followed her eyes.

"Modern? I'm from five hundred years in the future, yet you-" Kagome started. Faye waved her hand dismissively and said,

"Okay, then I'll tell you my story as well, but you first."

Kagome told her story, starting back at the first time she fell into the well. She left out a lot of the little battles, unless they included Naraku. Later she told all about Kikyo, but only after Inuyasha had gone to scout around, mumbling something about smelling more wolf demon than one. She told about Kouga and the other wolf demons and all about Miroku and Sango, even Shippo, who she had practically adopted. Kagome finished after the fire had gone out and Faye and her were snuggling under their blankets as the stars came out.

"What about you?" Kagome said. She felt tired, but it had felt surprisingly good to tell someone the whole story. Faye had listened quietly except for a few questions, and had even helped Kagome clean up the campsite. Now they lay next to each other, the moon lighting up their faces.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, now is time for sleeping." Faye yawned, turning over. "Is your dog going to be a good lookout?" Kagome giggled, harder when she heard a snort of disgust from up in the trees.

"Yes, he sleeps really light."

"Excellent"

A while later, when the girls were breathing regularly and obviously fast asleep, Inuyasha peered at the hanyou suspiciously, trying to understand her. She treated her status lightly, shrugging off the fact that, like him, she was an utter outcast in both demon and human worlds. And as the night had gone on he had realized she was joyful and funny, but he also sensed a kind of ancient wisdom within her. He didn't like it that she was wolf demon, if only half, especially since he could smell a pack of them on the wind. He jumped down lightly and settled on a low branch above Kagome's head.