I was lying on my bed reading, only about seven chapters away from finishing my book. I was reading a very romantic part, with one of those moments that made my heart race and my fingernails shrink between my teeth-
CRASH!
The mighty crash of thunder sounded outside my window.
"ARGH!" I screamed as I fell off of my bed. The first rumble of thunder in a storm always scared me or woke me up, even when I was in the soundest of slumbers.
"Sage, are you okay?" Kagome asked me as my fingers grasped the bedsheets.
I pulled myself up onto my knees. "Yeah, I'm fine," I assured her, rubbing my forehead in frustration.
Kagome laughed, "Did the thunder scare you again?"
I pretended to be deeply insulted. "I don't get scared by every crash of thunder! Just the first one," I argued.
"I know, I know, I'm only kidding," Kagome said, laughing again.
"Hn," was my reply.
Kagome dropped the subject and continued out of our bedroom door and down the stairs. "Dinner's ready," she called.
I followed her out of our room that was decorated with pictures of us all over the walls and on the mirror. Twelve years, I'd lived here. There were a lot of moments that had been captured since my parents died. I left my book open; face down, on the bed.
"What's on the menu today Kagome?" I asked, still following her down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Ramen," she said simply.
"Whoo!" I shouted, throwing my arms up in the air with fake excitement, just to make Kagome laugh. Once down the stairs, we sat down and ate. It was quiet, and I discovered a question that was burning a hole in the back of my mind. Dinner didn't seem like a good time. After a few moments, the talking started. Everybody was joyful and was able to talk about their day. I complained about how much geometry homework we had, and Kagome agreed. After dinner, we went up to try and complete some of it. The time was now.
"Kagome, can I ask you a question?" I asked.
"Sure," she said, closing one of her books. She jotted something down in her notebook and then looked up at me. Kagome was one of those people who gave away if she was paying attention or not.
"Where the hell do you go all of the time? You miss school, you're never home, it's like you barely live here anymore," I asked, also closing one of my books so that we could talk.
Her face turned serious. I could tell she'd wanted to talk to me about this for a while. That's the kind of relationship we had. Being best friends since we were four years old really packs a punch on how much one knows about a person.
"Do you really want to know? Are you sure you can handle it?" she asked.
"Kagome, my parents died when I was six. I think I can handle whatever you're about to throw at me," I said, highly doubting it could be all that surprising.
"Okay, then," she winced at the awkward topic of my parents and then began with her very long story. "Well, when I go into the shrine in the backyard and jump into, while holding these," Kagome pulled out a chain that had been tucked into her shirt. Attached to it, there was a jar that was shimmering.
"What are those?" I interrupted, staring at the tiny pieces of what seemed to be shimmering purple shards of glass.
"They're Sacred Jewel shards. You see, a long time ago there was a jewel called the Shikon No Tama, or the Sacred Jewel. I accidentally shattered it in a hundred pieces and now I have to help look for them, so, I take these and I jump into the well in our shrine," she explained.
"And where do you go, exactly?" I asked, now fully interested in everything that she could possibly have to say on this subject.
"I can travel to the Feudal Era, five hundred years ago," and then she waited for the look of shock to cross my face.
It didn't appear. I just blinked.
So she continued, "Then, I met Inuyasha, a half dog demon that wanted the jewel…" and she continued to tell me the whole story of how she met everyone, including Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Naraku, Kagura, Kanna, Koga, the Band of Seven, and one particular demon that caught my interest, Inuyasha's half brother Sesshomaru. He has an imp as a servant named Jaken and supposedly hates humans but saved a little girl named Rin, and now she travels with him despite the fact that she's a human.
When Kagome finally finished, she was still waiting for the look of shock and disbelief to come.
It never did.
"So, now's my turn to ask the question," Kagome said.
I was ready to answer, "Do you want to come with me when I leave tonight?" she asked, giving me a half hopeful, half expectant look. It seemed like she already knew what I was going to say in return.
I beamed anyway, "DUH!" I shouted. I became excited, liking the challenge of fighting demons. I was just the sort of thing I was looking for.
"But what about school?" I asked.
She waved her hand in a sort of 'who cares' motion. "Like you said, I miss school all of the time, so who will notice if you do too? It's not like my friends will really care," she said, rolling her eyes. I hadn't really had any friends in school. Kagome and I mostly just hung out together, and her friends were obviously jealous of that. They didn't like me, and I was fine with that. I didn't like them either.
"This is true," I agreed.
"Can we get ready, then? The sun's beginning to set," Kagome asked, gesturing towards the window with her pen that was still in her hand. The sky had indeed turned a mixture of oranges, pinks, and blues.
I backed away from my books in reply, and she grabbed the yellow backpack that we shared and started packing all of the essentials.
"Inuyasha's going to be a little pissed off that you didn't come back right away, I'm guessing?" I asked, for she had told me all about Inuyasha and his temper.
"Probably, but I don't think his temper is anything compared to what his brother can be like," she said, chuckling slightly.
I thought for a moment, "What is Sesshomaru like anyway?" I asked her, hoping she wouldn't catch the small glint in my eyes that said I was extremely interested in the demon lord.
"Well, he doesn't get along with Inuyasha very much, and he can get pretty mad. He is very good at hiding his other emotions," she said. "Though I have heard rumors that Jaken had seen him smile only once."
"Do you ever see him?" I asked, wondering if I'd ever get a chance to.
"Every now and again we run into him, and there have been occasions when him and Inuyasha work together," she answered, zipping up the backpack and swinging it around her shoulders. "Why do you ask?"
I looked away and blushed slightly, "Just curious, I guess," I said, which I was, but Sesshomaru sounded appealing to me, despite his attitude problem.
When Kagome told me what he looked like, I admit I was in awe, and I could just picture his golden eyes turning to blood red, and his silver hair blowing in the wind. It sent shivers down my spine.
"Quit daydreaming, and come on!" Kagome laughed at me, already at the top of the steps.
"Sorry," I blushed and quickly ran to catch up with her. I followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen to the back door.
"Mom, we're heading out. Please don't let Gramps make up a totally unbelievable sickness tomorrow," she said when we were outside.
"Be careful Kagome! Is Sagerra with you?" she asked, obviously hoping she wouldn't have to make up some stupid excuse again.
I answered this time, "Yes," I called, smiling from excitement. Kagome's mother came out and gave us both a hug before closing the door. Kagome and I began to cross the yard. The rain had come started to pour down. I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head. We ran over the wet grass and into the shrine.
After Kagome shut the door, we peered down into the well. It didn't look like anything special. It was just a regular well inside a regular shrine. I half wondered what these magical shards could possibly do to make Kagome and I travel five hundred years into the past.
"What now?" I asked, looking back at Kagome. She took out the chain with the shards in them. Then, she grabbed another empty jar, slightly smaller than the one she wore around her neck, and dropped the small, purple shard into it.
"Here, put this around your neck," she said, handing me the small, glowing jar. I did as told, and we both faced the well. She helped me up onto the edge.
"Ready?" she asked. I nodded, my excitement building. With that, we both jumped.
A lavender light surrounded us. We were flying, or rather, falling downward. The look of shock that Kagome was searching for before finally snuck onto my face. Kagome laughed, and then we gently hit the floor of the well. When I looked up, there was no wooden ceiling. Instead, there was a dazzling blue sky.