-What You Wanted Then and Now-

Chapter 1: Finding Pain and The a Sleeping Beauty

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha but the amazing and respectful Rumiko Takahashi. If I owned it no one would watch. However I do own this fanfic and no one else does :3

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"Sota, you really can't look for a simple, large cat?" The birthday girl scolded her younger brother. She was finally fifteen but felt like she should be feeling more special than she presently did. Maybe if she was somewhere else, somewhere foreign, it would be different. If she was in Spain she would be whirling around joyfully in a large, beautiful quinceanera dress around a ball room floor instead of standing out in her family shrine in her school uniform. She would have been too old for a bat mitzvah had she been Jewish yet too young for a sweet sixteen had she been American. So what exactly do American girls do if their family is Spanish and their religion is Jewish? Kagome Higurashi supposed it didn't matter too much since she was happy to reside in Tokyo, Japan.

"Sorry sis….." she heard her brother say and realized she hadn't been paying much attention "….but….it's really dark and gloomy in there..." Sota mumbled quietly as her averted his eyes from the old, weary shed and expressed a cold shudder. Though only in third grade but of course wanting to show everyone that he was a "young man" and not a small boy, he crossed his arms defiantly and further added "Not like I'm scared or anything! It's just that I've gotten Buyo the last couple times. You can't expect me to do everything you know!"

At this act Kagome raised her black brow" You mean like how I can't expect you to get the cat from the well house?"

Sota blinked for a moment in confusion before he felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as he realized his sister had thrown his comment back at him."Just go already!"

"Fine fine" Kagome sighed, knowing that, yes, her brother is very smart an clever for his age when push comes to shove but he is still a child who would be willing to whine the whole day away to get out of something he didn't want to do. Instead of wasting her time arguing Kagome went inside the shed for their family's well. The girl had to agree with her brother on what he said though as she fixed her ocean blue eyes inside.

The room was eerie and dark as Sota had complained. It was worse because Kagome had shut the door once she had gone in, because if she had left it open her cat would have bounded the floors and out the door quickly and Kagome had no desire to chase him, so the room was surrounded by shadows. Through the deep darkness the outline of the well was visible and sent a shiver through Kagome's spine. She would never understand why a well would be needed in a shrine. Maybe if it had holy water but no, even without looking down into it, which she could not since she couldn't even see her own fingers, Kagome knew that the well was completely dry and was probably filling with cobwebs by now.

As she expected Kagome soon heard the lazy "meow" and felt the vibrating purr of the cat as he nudged his head softly around Kagome's leg. "Buyo! There you are!" She said, picking the lazy animal up with a groan at the cat's weight. "What Souta lacks in finding you he certainly gains in overfeeding…." Only getting another meow as an answer Kagome shook her raven locks, as dark as the inside of the shed that she was in, and turned to leave when she heard an unnerving rumble.

She turned her head to see what the commotion was until she felt rather than heard the noise. She felt it deep within her, actually, and as it rattled on Kagome desperately wondered what was going on. Buyo, even more frantic, scratched his way out of Kagome's arms and ran out the door, which had began to ease open from the shaking, hissing loudly.

"Oww!" Kagome cried out, clutching her bleeding hand from the skin tearing scratch of the frightened cat. Soon however as the pounding continued she pressed both hands to her ears to hopelessly try to block everything out. She too would have run out the door if her legs had been obeying her will.

"Kagome?" She heard her brother shout, worriedly from the outside. "What's going on in there? Are you okay?"

She couldn't even make out what he was saying! "Sot-"

"Kiiiykooo…!"

Kagone whipped her head around as a horrified scream tore its way out of her throat. The well had become illuminated in a blinding pink light but soon turned into a deep bloody, malicious red as a horrible monster approached from it. At first it looked like a human woman with the expression of a vacant mask but out came many long arms that sprung out and reached for Kagome. Its body was that of some mutant insect like a centipede with countless crawling squirming legs that were reforming itself down its long green body. The face that gave away no thought or emotions opened its mouth and let out a horrible deafening scream. "Kikyooooooooooooooooooooo….!"

As it screamed so did Kagome "G-g-get away! I don't know who that is!" But the monster hardly took notice to anything Kagome would say. Instead it sunk four arms into Kagome, dragging her down the well, kicking and screaming the whole way down.

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The further they sunk down the blood colored well the more pain the girl went through as the claw like nails of four hands, twenty fingers, dug into her, cutting her deep. It was hard enough to breathe let alone open her eyes. However Kagome forced herself. With tremendous struggle Kagome opened her eyes to the expressionless demon but instead looked past it and to the red light that seemed to turn a bright captivating pink. How was this possible…..? She felt the nails going into her flesh more deeply and let out a scream. Although this time the scream was more in anger than fear or even pain.

"Let go!"

The creature was shocked at this yet never showed any response except its mouth slowly parting "Kikyooooo…" it moaned hollow as it sunk its nails into her further and further, not realizing that it wasn't touching her at all. Instead of seeping blood from the girl's skin the fingers of the demon began to disintegrate the more it tried to reach the human.

Kagome realized this and began to feel an odd strength coming within her instead of the previous pain and fear. "I'm not Kikyo and I will not die at the hands of a bug so let me go!" She yelled, shoving her hands into the monsters face, pushing it away. The monster screeched a high pitch at the sudden contact and powerful blow that as, just like its body had begun to do, it's skin starting turning quickly to bone and Kagome felt herself felt herself stop sinking but instead came crashing down. If the impact of the clawing demon hadn't taken a toll on her the hard sudden landing of bones and cold ground definitely had.

It had taken minutes for Kagome's mind to clear but a large pounding in her skull remained as Kagome regained enough of her senses to look around and see that she was at the bottom of her family well. Her hope, however, lasted only a moment. She wished with all her heart that this had been a gruesome nightmare and nothing more. She prayed that she had just been dreaming and would wake up to her birthday with her mother, grandfather, and brother. Although no matter how hard she prayed she knew that this was neither a dream nor a wretched nightmare but instead a damnable reality as she felt the burning pain in her arms where her arms had stopped bleeding but was still wounded thanks to the centipede demon whose skull was planted in front of Kagome as she bored her eyes into the skeleton that stared back with hollow sockets. Swallowing her fear she lifted her head up and through bangs of ebony she saw just as she hopelessly expected, yet still made her gasp in mild shock, was a clear blue sky and not the ceiling of a well shed.

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She was sooooo never going to let Sota get away with not getting Buyo just because he was afraid of the dark.

"One point for getting attacked by a giant mutant insect. Boogeyman? Zero" Kagome muttered standing up with a groan. She had to force herself to climb up the thick rope in gym class last year in 8th grade and had earned rope burn on her hands for a week to and weak muscles that proudly showed her effort even though she gave her friends an earful of complaints about how uncomfortable it was. Now she would rejoiced at climbing rope instead of climbing vines as her arms burned hotly in agony as her blood stained hands tiredly pulled herself up. She wouldn't give up though since that inner strength she had felt when facing that monster still flickered inside her, giving her enough energy to push herself to the top of the tall well and climb out. "Ugh!"

The charcoal haired girl sat down on the wooden edge of the old well and placed her hands in her lap before having to take relaxing breathes and control herself when her stained hands started shaking. Shaking dark locks Kagome stood up and started walking around to investigate. She was smart enough to know that running around screaming, which didn't sound too bad at the moment, wouldn't help the situation at all. 'Maybe I can find a town or someone to help….I just need to stay calm. If a giant Lady Bug comes out from the ground and chases after me I'll scream to my heart's content.' She thought as she looked around.

Everything around her was the exact opposite of her home which would make things hard to find a town. Instead of concrete floors she was greeted by fresh soil and green grass. Instead of buildings or roads, or even houses, there were countless, countless tress, much more than where she lived due to modern day construction, making up a gigantic forest of different greens and browns. Each rustle leaf and warm breeze , snapping twig and shaving bush, seemed to faze Kagome who knew full well that she was no longer in the city of Tokyo.

So then where was she and if she wasn't in Tokyo than how is there the well?

The well was indeed proof itself but if she had chose to ignore it then how would the tree be explained? Near the well at home was one of the largest and oldest trees around the neighborhood, maybe even in all of Tokyo itself. At first Kagome had passed it but after circling around the area twice she had no choice but to check. 'It couldn't be…..'

Kagome slowly came by the tree but found herself retreating after feeling a familiar buzz in her stomach. There was something wrong with this. Kagome slowly took another step forward and hesitantly put a gentle finger on the wooden bark. It was as if she were Sleeping Beauty, pricking her finger against the cursed wheel but instead of the strong enchanted pull of slumber that took over the princess the young birthday girl felt the same pull but felt that it was directed towards someone else. Carefully, she glided her nails against the bark, listening to the subtle scrap it made, while walking around the tree to only jump back once more in shock.

Sleeping Beauty did work well in this case if the princess was instead a prince. There was a man who was stuck to the tree, with an arrow thrusted into the young man's chest. Kagome could only stand and stare at the person who could not stare right back at her. He had long powdery white locks that covered a blue crescent on his forehead and was tied atop of his head near two, and this Kagome stared at the most, white dog ears rested upon his head. The mysterious boy was very good looking with an odd stripe on both sides of his cheeks and looked surprisingly peaceful, not a single muscle jumping or tightening. He was wearing a bright red haori and hakama like in Kagome's history books!

Just as Kagome felt the pull towards this boys sleeping chamber she felt a strong pull from the arrow lodged into him. She was much more hesitant about coming near the arrow than she was about the tree. While the chances of being attacked by a tree were slim to none what about a guy that barely resembled a human….? No matter, Kagome still debated this while her hand seemed to take control as that familiar strength with in her would simply not let her go without freeing the arrow.

"You there! Stop at once! Touch him and you will lie dead where you stand, she-demon!" A belligerent, and almost dim-witted, voice hollered out just as Kagome was barely an inch away from the tip of her nail touching the tip of the back of the thin, wooden arrow.

"What?" Kagome cried, whirling around to see not just one but four men that looked like poor village crop makers that were read about in her History class before watching videos about the feudal era.

Before she could even blink Kagome was roughly pulled away from the arrow- pierced boy and had her hands tied tightly behind her back.

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The men only let out an irritable scowl every time she complained or tried to free herself, which only resulted in the rope being tightened. She was quite a sight to behold with her bright blue eyes and curved slender black brows, giving her a lively appearance that was now furrowed with both fear and annoyance, and thick charcoal hair that waves itself around her heart shaped face and around her shoulders and small of her back. This was unfortunately her default because, although beautiful, it made their suspicions that she was a demon more believable. They saw her odd clothing, having no idea what a sailor fuku was, that has dry blood stains all over her sleeves and covered in dirt also on her hands as her beautiful waves were ruffled and messy. Even if she was a human in a normal, clean, kimono they knew their strict orders to never let anyone in "Inuyasha's Forest". Especially right in front of the person the area was named after!

"Let's let Lady Kaede deal with it." One man mulled over, shaking his head. He was too horrified at the thought of the pinned boy waking up that he didn't notice the twitch of a hand as it slowly touched the tip of an arrow.

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So what did you think? Any suggestions?

It might not be very good because I'm only a freshman who started writing in the middle of last year so please help get better!

Also I'm trying to write longer chapters so tell me if its too short or too wrong =3 I have no idea why I put Kagome through so much pain o_o

Thank you for reading and please feed my addiction and review~