Chapter 2
Kagome sat at the bottom of the well at her family's shrine for a long time before she moved. Slowly she looked up and acknowledged the wooden roof above her head signaling she's back in her own time. She quietly considered climbing up and jumping back into the well to return to her friends. It seemed like the only thing she wanted to do at the moment, even more so than visit with her family who she hadn't seen in several months. She desperately wanted to comfort Inuyasha and to make sure he would be okay. She also wanted to see Sango and Miroku get married, if they ever did.
These ideas were dismissed almost as soon as they entered her head. Slowly she climbed up the ladder hung inside the old well. Making her way to the house she stopped and stared at the sacred tree. Releasing a long sigh Kagome headed towards the house.
"Kagome!" Souta shouted as she entered the house. "Hey, Souta" Kagome almost sighed out when she got into the living room. "What's wrong honey?" her mother asked coming out of the kitchen while wiping her hands on a towel. "It's done Mom" Kagome explained, "we defeated Naraku and I left, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back." Kagome started sobbing as she allowed herself to finally come to terms with the choice she had made.
After her sobbing fit Kagome retired to her room and slept. She slept throughout the night and well into the next day. She might have slept clear through that night as well if it wasn't for her mother who came in and woke her shortly before dinner.
"Oh Mom, I don't feel like doing anything, I just want to sleep" Kagome wined covering her face with her covers. "I know dear" her mother sympathized "but you can't spend the rest of your life hiding in your room feeling depressed. Come down and eat dear, you have to continue with your life and try to remember the good times you had with them." "I know Mom, I just don't feel right, I feel like something is wrong. I thought the feeling would go away once I got home but it hasn't, it's actually gotten stronger." "I don't know what the feeling is hun but I do know you'll never find out if all you do is hide in your room." With that her mom left back downstairs and Kagome just stared up at her ceiling before sighing and heading towards her dresser to put some clothes on, she knew her mother was right.
That night Kagome sat under the sacred tree and remembered the friends she felt she had to leave behind. She half heartedly wondered if it was possible that Shippou, Inuyasha, Kouga, or even Sesshoumaru could survive this far into the future. Kagome sighed while dismissing the thought; if any of them had survived this long they would have searched her out. At least Shippou would look for her, she was sure. Sighing once again, Kagome continued staring up at the sacred tree while she rested against it's trunk.
Kagome slowly stirred realizing how stiff her neck had become. 'I must have fallen asleep against the sacred tree' she thought to herself while rubbing the back of her neck. Kagome slowly opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep from them. As she became more awake she realized that she could no longer hear cars down at the road or the low buzz of commotion that usually came from her house. 'I must have slept for a really long time,' she thought to herself 'I wonder why Mom hasn't come to get me?'
Kagome slowly rose to her feet and started to walk towards her house when she realized it wasn't there, instead she was starring into a lush forest. 'Wait a minute' she thought slightly alarmed 'this looks like Inuyasha's forest. That can't be, I'm not suppose to be able to come back.' Kagome suddenly realized she wasn't alone in the small clearing surrounding the sacred tree.
Stiffening slightly, Kagome started looking around for the other person she could sense in the clearing. Finally her eyes rested upon the back of a woman sitting upon a large rock near the outskirts of the clearing. She was dressed in what appeared to be an old warrior outfit. Kagome slowly started to back up thinking about running back to the well or maybe to Kaede's hut when the woman slowly rose.
"Don't worry Kagome," the woman called out to her, "I'm not here to hurt you." Slowly the woman turned around and Kagome gasped when she recognized Midoriko. "What, how, why?" Kagome stammered while starring in disbelief at Midoriko. "You're suppose to be dead." The statement came out as just more than a whisper. "Oh Kagome, I am dead, you have fallen asleep and I have come to offer you some words of advice. They all need you Kagome, more then you know."
"What, no," Kagome started to back away slowly from the woman, tears streaming down her face, "they don't need me, Inuyasha can't even look at me I remind him too much of her, he can't stand to be around her reincarnation." "Oh," Midoriko sighed "Kagome, you are not Kikyo's reincarnation, the only reason your soul was able to bring her back is because of the strong miko energy you possess. The physical similarities are plainly coincidental. Look, I can't stay here too long so I need you to listen to what I have to tell you."
"Okay," Kagome sighed "I'm listening."
"I hate to give you this news but I have to, there is too much at stake if I don't." Midoriko started towards the sacred tree and leaned against it as she continued to give Kagome the news she carried. "You made the wrong decision, right now it hasn't changed anything, it's just like any other time you have visited, but soon it will start to make a difference. You won't be able to …"
"Kagome!!! Kagome!!!" As Midoriko started to fade into the distance, still speaking her warning, Kagome became aware of her mother's voice calling her name. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around, expecting to see Midoriko leaning against the sacred tree. She stared towards her house as the image of her mother came into view. Kagome got to her feet and started walking towards the house "Don't worry Mom; I just fell asleep against the sacred tree." "Thank goodness!" She heard her mother exclaim.
The next morning Kagome went to school as she normally did when she would visit her family. A lot had changed at her school and she found herself thinking more about the strange dream she had had the previous night than about her school work. 'It has to be a sign,' she thought as she once again replayed the previous nights dream. ' Midoriko was trying to tell me something. I made the wrong decision, does that mean I'm suppose to stay in the feudal era? How could that be possible, wouldn't it disrupt the time stream.' Suddenly something Midoriko said came back to her "right now it hasn't changed anything, it's just like any other time you have visited, but soon it will start to make a difference" 'that was what she had said.'
As school came to an end for the day, Kagome's friends came up to her and asked her to go out to the mall with them that night, if she was feeling up to it. "Yes, that would be wonderful!" Kagome exclaimed as she decided that she would have to go back, if the well would allow her to, and find out what Midoriko was trying to tell her. "Great" her friends all exclaimed in unison, "lets get something to eat and then head towards the mall." Kagome allowed herself to be dragged along by her friends as a sudden feeling of ease fell upon her, 'I haven't felt this great since Naraku was killed' Kagome thought as her friends dragged her out of the school. 'I'll have to spend a few days with my family before I go back for good' she decided just as they exited the building.