A/N: Okay, so this is my first Fanfic--or, my first fanfic where an Original Character isn't the main character or one that I actually have a planned ending and somewhat of an outline. Also, this is my first time publishing it on a site. That being said, reviews are encouraged and appreciated, and I would love suggestions as well. Hmm...another thing: I suck at titles. So, that explains my really generic title of 'Unexpected' as well as what I'm sure will be very vague or unrelated-seeming titles of chapters I might have.

This is sort of a prologue--it will get more interesting than this, I promise. :] (Or maybe I'm not at liberty to make that promise...who knows? Gah, enough rambling, and onto the story..)

Word count: 1,000 (I might not do this every time, but I got exactly 1,000 words so I was excited about that.)

Disclaimer:I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

………………

Routine

It was a beautiful day—absolutely perfect, in Kagome's mind. It was the kind of day where she wanted nothing more than to skip school and have a picnic, without a care in the world. She pulled back the curtains happily as she got ready for school, glancing out constantly into the sun-kissed view before her, not even noticing that she was taking almost twice as long to get ready than usual.

"Kagome, you're going to be late for school!" her mother called somewhat frantically as she finished packing up hers and her brother's lunches, heading to the stairs to see what was taking her so long. Glancing at the clock, Kagome gasped as she ran a brush through her still-messy hair and grabbed her backpack, running down the stairs and practically falling into her mom. She laughed, taking the lunch from her and waving goodbye as she got out the door. And she was surprised yet again to see Hojo waiting for her outside.

"Hojo!" she exclaimed happily, taking his hand almost immediately as they began walking to school. She had been dating him for two years, ever since her freshman year of high school. The way he'd showered her with attention, she really hadn't stood a chance. And he always made her very happy. Of course, she was a junior now, and was busier than she had ever been, and almost felt like Hojo had been taking a backseat to the rest of her life; however, he was very faithful and he stayed by her side. She'd never been happier, and she couldn't imagine how things could get any better. Or at least, that's what she told herself every day—but she was wondering more and more frequently exactly how true that was.

"Good morning, Kagome," came Hojo's reply, not fazed by her unusual tardiness or the fact that they were certainly going to be late to school—especially at the slow pace they were walking. But their walks to and from school seemed to be the only time they actually got together now that Kagome was so busy. And so they walked as slowly as they pleased, talking and laughing the whole way. It was no surprise that Kagome was 15 minutes late to her class, but she was considered an incredibly good student, so although she was reprimanded, she was left unpunished, not to the surprise of her friends.

………………

The rest of her day went as it usually did, but Kagome couldn't help but feel that something big was about to happen. Something terrible, actually—but, she was more surprised than ever that she actually kind of wanted something to happen. Her life was too perfect, too boring—and although she couldn't say that she wasn't content with it, she couldn't help but feel something bigger was out there. Something exciting, something new, something different. She was uneasy the whole day, and was totally unfocused when she and Hojo walked to her house.

"What's wrong, Kagome? Did you have a bad day?" His mind was already racing with what little gift he could get her depending on what had happened that day.

"Nothing's wrong," Kagome laughed, seeing the calculations running through his mind. "I'm just feeling a little weird, that's all." She held up her hand before he could say anything. "Nothing physical, really, either—so don't worry about it!" She was well used to Hojo's frequent gifts by now, and although she appreciated it, she had never cared about material objects quite so much. But there was absolutely no question as to how he felt about her, that was for sure. She reached up on her tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay? I have a ton to do today."

"As usual," he said, although he was still fairly cheerful about it. He waved goodbye and then left, and Kagome immediately went upstairs and fell onto her bed with a sigh. And despite all the homework she had to do, she didn't move until her mom called her down for dinner.

She was unusually quiet throughout all of dinner, and her mom and grandpa were starting to get a little worried. Souta wasn't—he teased her about it, though, commenting on how nice it was to not have her rambling through the entire meal. Kagome just shrugged it off, rather than bantering back as she usually did, which got her mom even more worried.

"Kagome, would you like to help me with cleaning the well house after dinner?" She was just dying to get Kagome alone to talk with her, and see if anything was the matter.

"Sure, Mom, no problem." She smiled and finished her dinner rather quickly after that. For some reason, as soon as her mom suggested it, she was just dying to go into the well house. What was up with her today, anyway?

………………

"Where do you want this sword?" Kagome coughed as some of the dust of the box swirled around her face. "Grandpa says it's sacred, or something," she mumbled as she glanced over at her mother.

"He thinks everything is sacred. Just put it over there," she replied, slightly frustrated that her earlier attempts to find out what was bothering Kagome had been unsuccessful.

Arching a brow at her mother, Kagome nodded and lifted it off the shelf, stepping carefully over the other antiques they had been going through. She paused right by the well, and turned to her mom and smiled. "I'm sorry I've been so spacey today. But, really, nothing's wrong. Just antsy, is all." Her mother nodded and smiled back, turning her eyes again to the old picture album she had found and flipping through it, quite reminiscent all of a sudden.

And that was when Kagome tripped. She let out a gasp, twisting her ankle when she fell over an old book that she hadn't seen—and fell right into the well, taking the sword with her.