IMPORTANT! Read this before you start reading the actual story, please!

This story takes place after episode 31: Jinenji, Kind Yet Sad. Kikyo has been resurrected, Kohaku has been revived and works for Naraku, and Sango has been forgiven for stealing Tetsusaiga. Koga has not met the group, but he has married Ayame and had children. Sesshomaru did not revive Rin until about twenty years after Inuyasha and the gang left. And now, on with the story!

Inuyasha growled in agitation and tightened his grip on Tetsusaiga. The bastard, Naraku, had dodged yet another of his attacks. Where the hell was Kagome? He never should have allowed her to return to her time alone to get whatever the hell it was she needed because she was too damn slow if she couldn't return within a couple of hours! Honestly, was it that difficult to grab the things she needed, shove them into that accursed yellow bag, and then return? Inuyasha surely didn't think so.

Because Inuyasha's thoughts had distracted him, Naraku found an opening in the hanyou's defenses, and the dark haired demon smirked cockily as he impaled his silver-haired opponent through his chest. He noticed the young demon slayer stealthily moving around to attack with her Hiraikotsu. He smirked again and summoned his poisonous, black smog.

The three adults, along with the two-tailed demon and the fox demon child, huddled together, standing back to back as the dense fog began to drive them back. They knew Naraku had successfully hidden within the miasma and would attack when he saw an opportune moment, based on past experiences—but he never did. Instead, the poisonous gas began to cave in around them, and it was stronger than anything they had ever encountered when battling Naraku. Before any permanent damage could be done, a sphere began to form around them from within the miasma. It shrank around them and a bright, white-gold color seemed to engulf the sphere until it became so small that it disappeared, leaving no trace of the people who had stood there moments before.

Naraku's malicious chuckle resounded through the quiet forest that surrounded him once the miasma dissipated. All he had seen was his miasma killing his enemies without a trace of them left. "Now I shall have no trouble finding the Shikon no Tama fragments," he remarked to himself. His chuckle faded from existence has he slipped through the thickets in pursuit of the remaining shards unhindered.

~x~

Kagome rushed around the house like a woman who had lost her marbles. Of course, she just had to fall asleep! She knew Inuyasha would be nearly irate when she got back to her friends in the Feudal Era—if he wasn't already. Honestly, she hadn't meant to fall asleep. Her bed had been so comfy after sleeping on the ground for months, that it had felt like heaven when she had laid back upon it to take a short breather—only for her to fall asleep. She let out a sigh as she triple checked her items and quickly dashed out of the house after saying goodbye to her family, all of whom had different responses.

Her mother had given her a kindly smile, telling her to have a good time and be safe. She knew her daughter was in dangerous situations constantly, but she tried not to worry too much. Her brother, Sota, had told Kagome to tell Inuyasha 'hi' for him and that Inuyasha should make an effort to visit the family. Her grandfather had good-naturedly started complaining about not being able to come up with more illnesses for her absences from school and that they should just pull her out and home-school her. Kagome had laughed at this and would have responded if not for the hurry in which she was.

Kagome ran to the Bone-Eaters well and vaulted over the side, only to wince in pain when her feet made contact with the bottom of the dry well. Confusion spread through her like a wildfire. She climbed up the ladder a couple of rungs and then jumped down once again. Nothing happened.

She wasn't traveling.

Dismay washed down upon her, and Kagome did the only thing she could think of: she began clawing away at the ground in hopes of digging her way to the past. (It had worked before, why shouldn't it work again?) Once a sizable hole had been created and nothing changed (except her hands began to ache), Kagome's shoulders slumped in defeat. Slowly, Kagome ascended the ladder and walked back inside the house. "Kagome, what's wrong? I thought you were going back through the well." Concern filled her mother's voice, which only increased in amounts when she caught sight of Kagome's dirt-covered hands.

The girl looked up at her mother, her face tearstained and eyes puffy and red. "I-It's not working. I-I can't go back." Her mother held her as her sobs caused her body to quake.

Kagome had checked every day to see if she could get through the well since the initial loss of the Feudal Era for the first four to five years. However, once she had been ready to graduate high school, she had only checked once every two weeks, but that slowly decreased as time passed. After twelve years had come and gone, and she could still not get through the Bone-Eaters well, Kagome decided that her destiny had changed and that she needed to move on with her life. She wanted to start a family with her recently married husband, Hojo. Around nine months later, Kagome and her family found themselves at the hospital preparing to welcome another member into the family.

"You have a beautiful baby girl." Kagome smiled weakly and accepted her baby with relief from the nurse. Her mother smiled next to her while her husband stood on the other side, beaming like the proud father he was.

Kagome looked at her child and noticed a faint, pink glow around her little girl. The name for the child came to her, as Kagome's had to her mother. "Saya."

Hojo looked from his tired wife to his beautiful child before he nodded. "The name sounds fitting," Hojo said in agreement with his wife. Thus, the child was named Hojo Saya.

~x~

Multiple years later in the Feudal Era, cries of surprise were heard as the missing group of comrades fell from the sphere which suddenly appeared, suspended in the air. The quick-thinking neko transformed into her larger form and safely caught her demon slayer, who in turn grabbed onto the falling monk. Inuyasha's reflexes kicked in as he bounded off trees before landing safely on the ground; he looked up in time to catch Shippo, who was dropping to the ground helplessly. Inuyasha allowed the small kit to rest upon his shoulder as he surveyed their surroundings. It looked to be the same place they had been before Naraku had pulled some sort of trick and the group was relocated, and yet it appeared different. Inuyasha, however, could not tell how.

The irritated hanyou growled in agitation and punched the nearest tree, causing the small demon resting upon his shoulder to shift to avoid injury. "Damn that Naraku! What the hell did he do, and where did he send us?"

Miroku looked around as well before he sighed. "I haven't the slightest inkling, but perhaps it is best to return to Kaede's hut and figure everything else out there, agreed?" Inuyasha grunted but led the way to the miko's hut while everyone fell silent as they followed. Sango spoke up as they neared the village.

"Inuyasha, hadn't Naraku injured you?" Inuyasha nodded, and glanced down in surprise. He hadn't noticed, but the wound he had received had, indeed, been healed. The group's confusion rose exponentially.

When they arrived at the village, the lot was surprised to see so many new faces. After a startling realization, the group recognized that the adults of the village had been children before Naraku's trickery. What had happened?

Inuyasha continued to lead the others throughout the village looking for Kaede with vigor, in hopes of discovering what had happened. When they saw the elderly miko at last, they restrained themselves from saying anything rude; even Inuyasha held his tongue. She had aged quite a bit.

How is the old hag even alive? Inuyasha wondered silently as they approached.

"Master Inuyasha! You have returned at long last!" Myoga, the flea, exclaimed upon sighting Inuyasha and jumping on him, attempting to suck some of his blood—the resulted action flattened the flea as Inuyasha smashed the minute demon onto his face.

"What the hell do you mean by 'at long last'? We've only been gone for a little while," spat Inuyasha with annoyance.

"No, it may feel that way for you, Inuyasha, but it has been nearing thirty years since you have last stepped foot in this village. Myoga had gotten worried when he had no longer smelt your blood, thus he came here to wait with me."

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment before he asked, "Has…Kagome been here?" Kaede shook her head and said that Kagome had not been back since before they disappeared. Inuyasha looked out toward the Bone-Eaters well. He left without a word, while the others glanced between each other.

~x~

Kagome sighed in contentment as she looked out the window of the shrine house. She had begged Hojo to allow her to remain here, saying the shrine was to remain in the family as it had been for generations. He had agreed, much to Kagome's pleasure and relief. (She knew that Sota had been more than willing to take over the shrine so Kagome and Hojo could build a life together without the past coming back to haunt her, but Kagome had declined; she had a feeling that she needed to remain where she was.)

Time had passed more quickly than she would have liked. Since the day Saya was born, Kagome had only gone to check the well four times in total. She had long since lost hope of ever traveling back in time through the well to see everyone.

But with the loss of hope for Kagome, herself, returning, there came a new hope that perhaps Saya would take Kagome's place and be allowed through the well. As that hope blossomed, so did the memory of the fear that Kagome had felt when she had first found herself in the Feudal Era; Kagome did not wish for her only daughter to feel the same way should Saya ever venture through the well. And so, she took precautions and insisted that Saya do things that normal children her age would not be doing.

One such thing was for Saya to take archery lessons, even from a young age. Hojo had no idea why his wife had insisted their child have such training, but he agreed to support Kagome's decisions, no matter how bizarre they seemed. Hojo had seemed exceptionally surprised to learn that their little girl had been doing fairly well in her extracurricular activities, but Kagome was not; she knew the reasons for her daughter's success as well as she knew how she, herself, had become so good at archery back in the Feudal Era: The two (both mother and daughter) had been destined to become mikos, and as such, they needed to know how to defend themselves and how to wield a bow correctly. Saya had, indeed, made her mother extremely proud of her.

When Saya had reached the age of twelve, Kagome had become pregnant once again. She soon gave birth to a boy, Daichi, making Hojo ecstatic; he had always wanted a boy. Kagome had her husband spend extra time with their son while she continued to train their daughter.

After Saya turned sixteen (nearing two years ago), Kagome had given her some wisdom about the well: "Whenever you go near the well, bring your bow and arrows." Kagome had also given Saya the necklace of Shikon fragments with instructions to never remove them from her presence. Saya had been a good child and listened to her mother, even if she had not truly understood why or for what purpose to do so.

Saya was now preparing to graduate from high school in a couple of weeks while Daichi prepared to attend elementary school in the next school year, but there was still no luck getting through to the other side of the well. Kagome exhaled and went to put away a dish that she had been drying, only for it to shatter as she dropped it at the sound of a feminine scream of terror. Saya.

~x~

Saya screamed as she was grasped from behind. Something decidedly ominous was pinning her where she stood in front of the well. Saya screamed again as she felt the thing wrapped around her tighten its hold, binding her and refusing to allow her to move. A tremor of fear ran down Saya's spine as the thing spoke, "You possess Shikon no Tama shards. I want them. Give them to me now!"

"Get the hell away from me!" Saya shouted as she felt the thing lick her cheek. Saya began to struggle when she felt herself being lifted from the ground and falling head-first into the well. Before the shrine disappeared from her line of vision, Saya's last glimpse was of her mother's face, drained of color, looking at her with fear clearly displayed upon her features.

~x~

Inuyasha ran through the forest, his mind swarming with thoughts—all of which focused upon what he had just heard from Kaede and Myoga. He had been gone for thirty years. Kagome hadn't returned since they left. Inuyasha could not believe how much time had passed for him without him realizing. First, he had been pinned to a tree for fifty years, and now he had vanished with everyone for another thirty. Could fate not give him an easier life?

The fresh scent of blood assaulted his nose as he drew nearer to the well and disrupted his musings. The familiarity of the scent nearly made him stop in his tracks. The scent was similar to Kagome's; his speed increased.

Upon his arrival at the well, he saw a corpse of a demon chasing after a young woman whose appearance was similar to that of an older version of Kagome. The demon was weak; Inuyasha did not understand why Kagome didn't simply shoot it and finish it off. Was she fooling around with the weakling? No, that was not like her. The sharp pang of fear coated her scent when Inuyasha inhaled; he jumped in to intervene.

~x~

Saya stumbled on an uneven patch of earth and fell, landing on her stomach. Turning onto her back and sitting up as quickly as she could, Saya stared in horror as the demon drew nearer. Saya cursed herself inwardly that she didn't have her bow and arrows with her. The one time I didn't bring my bow and arrows, something like this happens, thought Saya with disdain toward herself as the demon reared up to attack her. Just as she shut her eyes and awaited the pain that was inevitable, a cry of pain erupted from the demon that had been poised to kill her followed by the sound of flesh being torn apart by a metal object.

"What the hell is your problem, Kagome? Why didn't you take out that demon? It was a weakling!"

Wearily cracking open an eye, Saya glanced toward the origin of the voice. The sight before her was an unexpected, but not unwelcomed, surprise. The guy before her was, for lack of better words, gorgeous. Long, silver hair that fell down his back, golden eyes that she could easily get lost in, and…were those dog ears? Her body moved of its own accord. She had to find out if they were as soft as they looked. Reaching out, she grasped the small, twitching, animal-like features he sported. "Ka-Kagome…? What are you—doing?" Her fingers began rubbing slow, soft circles and he became rooted in place momentarily. Once regaining his senses, he knocked away her hands. "Stop that shit, will ya? And what the hell is wrong with you? You looked like you did the first day I met you; not that you've changed a whole lot. You're still as useless as before…"

Irritation overtook her senses causing her to strike out at him with a slap, though he moved too quickly to make contact. "What the hell do you mean useless?!" Well, he was attractive, mused Saya after she shouted at him.

"Feh" was the only response Saya received. She raised an eyebrow when he suddenly knelt before her.

"Um…?" He irritably told her to climb onto his back. She did so with vast amounts of hesitation. The speed at which he moved startled a squeak out of the girl. He increased his pace. They arrived in a village in no time and he unceremoniously deposited her onto the ground. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Kagome?" The question was followed by four heads popping out of the shack nearest them. One of the occupants (a young child with teal eyes and light auburn hair tied back with a blue bow and a fluffy, tan…was that a tail?) ran up to her and buried himself into her chest. The child gave a tearful "I've missed you" while the others gathered around Saya.

There were two others that seemed around her age. Finally, Saya thought as she looked at them, normal people! Though their clothes are a little out of date… One was a male in purple monk robes, though the black hair pulled into a low ponytail was anything but normal for monks. The other was a female with black hair tied back with a white ribbon at the bottom outfitted in pink traveling robes. The last was a miko—a very old miko. Other exclamations similar to the child's were heard from the two younger members of the group.

Saya looked around in shock and confusion. She knew that she looked similar to her mother, but this was starting to become ridiculous! She decided to put a stop to it as she stood (causing the young child to jump down and scurry to the monk) and exclaimed, "My name is not Kagome! I'm Saya! SA-YA."

"What the hell do you mean your name's not Kagome?" the silver-haired male demanded.

"I mean just that," Saya said irritably, crossing her arms over her chest.

He turned to the elderly miko and demanded to know what was going on. "This better not be another damned reincarnation, Kaede," he added after a pause.

The elderly woman slowly shook her head. "No, this is not another reincarnation. She does possess an aura similar to that of Kagome-sama and my sister, but it is decidedly different."

Saya huffed and explained, "That's what I've been trying to tell ya! I'm not Kagome; I'm Saya. Kagome is my mother's name."

Everyone froze, and the tension skyrocketed. A thick, choking silence permeated the area as those that surrounded the young Hojo glanced at each other. The attention of the group slowly began to shift from Saya and each other onto the silver-haired man. "Inuyasha…?" the girl wearing pink ventured a tentative question. The silver-haired male said nothing but turned on his heel and stormed out of the village, up the path, and into the forest. Saya, after a quick glance, followed.

~x~

Inuyasha muttered curse after curse on his way back toward the well. His mind was racing with thoughts about what he had just been told. The girl had not been Kagome after all, but was her daughter. Her daughter! Inuyasha's mind almost refused to think upon that matter, though a small and twisted part of his brain began to wonder who the girl's father was. He quickly realized it did not matter. Realization dawned on him when he took account of where he was. Without giving much thought to it, he hopped into the well.

~x~

Saya watched as Inuyasha hopped into the well that brought her into this world. She heard no sounds coming from the well after a couple of seconds and crept up to peer inside. Empty. Shrugging, she hopped in as well.

The wind rustled the leaves of the trees surrounding the area as sapphire eyes gazed at the dry well. A single word was heard as the two figures disappeared into its depths: "Oops." The silhouette of a female disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

On the other side of the well, Saya clamored out with enough time to see Inuyasha take off out of the well house and into the main house. Saya followed much more slowly after the irritated hanyou. A vague feeling of another presence near her brought Saya to her senses and she exited the well house and turned directly into her mother's arms.

"Mamma!" The two women began to cry as they held onto each other, each scared for different reasons.

"Saya!" Relief was evident in her voice as Kagome tightly held onto her daughter. (Saya's mind registered Inuyasha stop and stand in the doorway, but she could not be bothered to legitimately give him enough attention. She was simply too happy and relieved to be back where she belonged.) "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Kagome began to fuss over Saya as any mother does, checking the well-being of her beloved daughter.

"I'm fine, Mamma. A little freaked out, but fine." A sad smile passed over Kagome's face.

"I would assume so." She turned her head to face the person approaching. "Hello, Inuyasha."

And there you have it! The first chapter of my Inuyasha story. Let me know what you thought of it via reviews! The next chapter will hopefully be posted in another two weeks. I just have to make sure that I finish the chapter I'm working on and edit everything. Happy readings! ~Saph