Title: Miscommunication
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: December 26, 2003
Disclaimer: Inuyasha, the character and the series, belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Sunrise.
Author's Note: And, here's chapter two. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I went back and tweaked my original draft a little after reading everyone's questions, and I think this should answer some of them. Not quite all just yet. But, the time period issue should become clear... though I think my way of answering it will bring more questions... But, it should all be cleared up in time! Though if I ever claim anything "explained" and anyone finds that they're still lost, let me know.

Chapter 2: Promise

Inuyasha "awoke" to the mesmerizing sensation of gentle hands caressing his ears. The hands delicately stroked the short fur covering them, laying it down neatly in the proper direction. Occasionally, one would slip just a bit lower and rub carefully at the base of an ear.

Lulled by the soothing sensations, the hanyou found himself torn between snarling at the intrusion into his personal space and enjoying the moment of pampering. Sadly, he was lacking in options. His body was completely unresponsive. He couldn't even twitch his ears, let alone move them or his head. He was so numbed he couldn't even fully enjoy the petting.

Petting…. Just as well. He shouldn't be enjoying that.

As his awareness gradually increased, he became aware of other sensations playing across his numbed senses. Distant, distorted voices reached his ears, filtering down into his dazed consciousness.

"That's amazing, Shippou! You look just like a rabbit!"

"…I'm a cat…."

"Well, you're still adorable!"

A soft pop followed the words. Inuyasha recognized the sound as Shippou transforming back to his normal form from whatever vaguely feline/lapine shape he'd temporarily assumed.

Inuyasha struggled to recognize the first voice. Shippou was familiar enough, but who was the other one? It sounded like a girl. It sounded awful close too.

"Do you think he'll wake up soon?"

That was the girl. Was she talking about him?

"I dunno. Are you sure he's not just napping? I could chew on his ears to check. He hates when I do that."

That little rodent! Inuyasha growled to himself. If he could just move….

He felt the hands on his ears suddenly cover them protectively.

"No… That's alright," the female voice said quickly. "I'm sure he'll wake up soon. His hair is almost all white now. You said it was normally like that, right?"

The voice finally clicked.

The girl! The girl! The girl he'd freed!

Inuyasha stiffened… or he would have if he could move.

The girl…

He finally registered that there was something soft beneath his head.

Did that mean… The girl was holding him? Rubbing his ears?

Sensation was returning fast now. He felt an ear twitch of its own accord as fingers brushed across the delicate guard hairs. Good. He had to get out of this position. And, soon.

A hand began to stroke the twitching ear once more.

"Shh," the girl's voice whispered soothingly. "It's okay…"

Alright. Enough was enough.

He was no one's pet.

The raven-haired girl who had, only a half hour ago, been trapped in deathless sleep squeaked in surprise and pulled away when the boy who had, just seconds ago, been lying quietly with his head in her lap suddenly leapt to his feet. He spun around to face her and brought a clawed finger up into a demanding point. The gesture nearly stabbed the tip of her nose.

"What are you doing?"

The girl stared at him blankly as Kirara, perched on her shoulder, greeted the hanyou with a happy trill. Inuyasha gave the feline youkai a sour look. Then, he re-focused on the girl. Her face had tightened into a petulant scowl.

"I was trying to be nice!" she snapped, reaching up to push his hand aside before standing herself.

"Then, keep your hands off my ears!" Inuyasha bellowed, balling both his hands into fists at his sides.

Kirara wisely chose to evacuate her perch in favor of a safer, less conspicuous, place on the ground as the two youths glared at one another.

"Inuyasha!"

Any further ranting they might have initiated was halted as Shippou leapt up to resume his spot on Inuyasha's shoulder.

"Inuyasha!" the kitsune repeated, grabbing the hanyou's nearest ear in his teeth. "This is the girl that has to help us!" he growled around his mouthful. "And, she's going to be your wife now too! So, you should be nice to her! My father was always nice to my mother!"

The older boy had stopped listening halfway through the child's tirade. His mind had halted on one, single word.

Wife?

"Oi, runt, what do you mean she's going to be my wife?!" Inuyasha snapped, plucking the fox from his shoulder and holding him at eye level by the back of his shirt.

"You woke her up and agreed to marry her, you idiot!" Shippou flailed a tiny hand at Inuyasha's face. "Did you forget already?" Shippou's eyes widened as he stared up at the blank look his comment had brought to the hanyou's face. "You did!" he wailed. The child began to beat on his own head. "I'm so stupid! Leaving everything to a moron like Inuyasha! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

The girl watched the performance with startled eyes. Inuyasha merely scowled and abruptly released the little fox, letting him fall.

Shippou squawked in alarm before his cry was muffled by the girl's arms as they wrapped around his falling form.

"How can you be so mean?" she demanded, cradling the kitsune as she met the silver-haired boy's eyes, her own flashing dangerously.

"Eh?" Inuyasha blinked. "A little fall like that wouldn't hurt him." He shrugged indifferently. "He needed to snap out of it and answer the question."

"He's always doing stuff like that to me," the fox confided to the girl in a whisper.

It wasn't whisper enough that the keen-eared hanyou didn't catch it.

"WHAT?! Shippou, you—!"

"How horrible!" the girl gasped, hugging Shippou closer. "What kind of bully are you?" she growled at Inuyasha, taking an angry step towards him. "You should be ashamed!"

The hanyou's amber eyes rounded. "Wh… Wha… WHAT?!" He took a step back, holding his hands up defensively.

"What do you mean 'what'?!" the girl demanded angrily. "I mean, beating up on a child like that!"

Inuyasha stared at her. "But, I never—" He suddenly collected himself. "Shippou!" he roared, gesticulating in the kitsune's general direction wildly, "Stop makin' things up!" He abruptly crossed his arms, stuffing his hands in his kariginu's wide sleeves and looking away. "Keh, you'd think I'd get some thanks for takin' care of you all this time…"

"You could do it more nicely! You don't like to play games with me, and you never tell me stories," Shippou retorted.

"Do I look like your mother?"

Shippou's face suddenly fell. A single tear trickled down one rounded cheek. "No," he sniffled. "Because my mother is dead, you jerk!" His angry snarl quickly dissolved into sobs.

Inuyasha swore loudly and turned away, clenching his hands until his own claws bit into his palms. How could he have said something like that to the kit? He knew the effect talking about his own mother had on him. With a growl he silently cursed himself, wanting nothing more than to take his own words back.

Behind him, the raven-haired girl blinked. She looked between the crying child in her arms and the silver-haired boy who now stood with his back to them. She could see his muscles tensing even through his loose kariginu. There was much more here than she'd imagined.

Well, first things first.

Whispering meaningless but tender words into the nearest of his elfin ears, the girl soothed the sobbing kitsune.

"Shh… I don't think he meant to say that," she murmured.

"I… I know," Shippou hiccupped. "Inuyasha can't help it he's a jerk. He was just born that way."

The girl smiled softly. "Then, let's get him to stop beating himself up, huh?" Gently, she adjusted Shippou to a comfortable position in the crook of her left arm. Then, she turned to the other boy.

"Hey…." A tentative hand reached out to tug at the back of the boy's kariginu. Surprised, he turned around. "I think we got off on the wrong foot." The girl smiled softly. "I'm Kagome."

Inuyasha found himself unable to do anything but stare at her blankly. One minute she was screaming at him and the next she wanted to start over with a friendly greeting. An angry retort began to form on his tongue, but the sudden memory of his earlier vow silenced him. No, there was too much at stake for him to offend her now. At least… more than he'd already offended her. Best to put on his finest manners for the moment.

Recovering, the hanyou crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his hands into the wide sleeves of his kariginu once more. "Inuyasha." He looked away indifferently.

Kagome seemed oblivious to his attitude and simply smiled brightly in return. "Well then, Inuyasha, take me to your people."

He froze. One ear twitched spastically.

"Take you to… my people?" Golden eyes slanted to study the girl curiously. She didn't look crazy.

"Introduce me to your parents, your family. You know, that sort of thing. We are to be married, right?"

Shippou promptly bounced out of Kagome's arms and hopped onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "That's right! You agreed right before you passed out!"

Inuyasha froze, remembering Shippou's earlier comment about his "wife".

He… agreed? Agreed to marry this girl?

The hanyou felt his mouth go dry. His arms dropped loosely to his sides in shock.

"Shippou," he began hesitantly, "Did I officially agree to marry her?" His amber eyes practically begged Shippou to respond in the negative.

The little fox scrunched his face up in thought. "Well, she said you had to marry her to get her help and you said, 'I can do that'…." He looked up at Inuyasha. "That counts, right? One asked, one agreed. That's how it works, isn't it?"

"Y… Yeah," Inuyasha stuttered.

"And, if you don't marry me, I'll be trapped again," Kagome suddenly whispered, drawing Inuyasha's golden gaze to her face. "The spell will take effect again and—"

The hanyou's snort interrupted her.

"Keh! There's no chance of that." Inuyasha crossed his arms once more. "The arrow disappeared."

Kagome shook her head, eyes focused on the ground. "No… before… The miko… She said whoever freed me had to agree to bind themselves to me. To be like a sister should they be a woman. To marry me if they were a man. They were to protect me and keep my powers out of the wrong hands."

Her voice tripped over the words. To protect her. Ha. To keep her safe and locked away was more like it. She was some sort of valuable magical tool. Or maybe a weapon. No one had ever clearly explained it to her. Either way, it meant her life was not to be her own.

She wanted to deny it. Wanted to lie to this boy who was to be her husband, guardian, keeper if he so chose. But, she was afraid of what would happen if she didn't tell him the truth. Afraid of the pain again. Afraid of that arrow hurtling through the air. Afraid of the confused dreams she'd lived in for so long.

Inuyasha looked at the girl closely as she spoke. She looked haunted. Distantly, he wondered if some part of her consciousness had been awake during that long sleep. Lost, floating in a void between life and death. Unable to live. Unable to die.

He pushed the musings down. Time for that later. Now he had to live up to the bargain he'd struck with her… and the vow he'd unwittingly made.

"So, you have to decide if you really want—" she was whispering.

"No."

Eyes still locked on the ground, the raven-haired girl flinched as though he'd struck her.

Inuyasha realized his mistake immediately. "No, no!" He flailed hopelessly at the air, the wide sleeves of his kariginu flapping wildly. "I mean, no, I don't not want to. I—" He straightened. "Shippou. Kirara. Myouga… I know you're on Kirara somewhere."

Two heads turned towards him inquisitively as one tiny face appeared from the fur around Kirara's nose. Kagome started at the site of the diminutive youkai she hadn't even known was there. Then, Inuyasha's next words caught her by surprise.

"You three have to bear witness." Inuyasha focused his attention back to her. His eyes met hers. "I, Inuyasha, son of Inutaishou, agree to take…" He paused. A flush spread over his cheeks like a crimson tidal wave. "Uh…" His gaze dropped to his bare toes. "What was your name again?" he whispered huskily.

"Kagome. Higurashi Kagome," the girl, Kagome, returned dryly. There went a few more cherished childhood fantasies.

"Right." Inuyasha collected himself quickly. "I, Inuyasha, son of Inutaishou, agree to take Higurashi Kagome as my wife." He darted a glance at the three watching youkai. He was met with wide-eyed stares. Golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oi, is that all I have to say?" the hanyou snapped.

Shippou and Kirara just stared.

"Er… technically your earlier agreement was binding under youkai law, Inuyasha-sama," the tiny Myouga stammered, watching his young master's heavy brows lower dangerously. "But, this was much more appropriate!" the flea youkai finished in a squeak before burying himself once more in Kirara's creamy fur.

Inuyasha nodded, "Good," he grunted, more to himself than the others. "Now, we can get on to— Huh?" He looked around. The girl… er.. Kagome was gone. She had walked several feet away to stand with her back to him, looking away into the distance.

The hanyou shifted his gaze from Kagome's rigid back to his two visible companions. They were just staring again. Fat lot of help they were being. Trying to get her attention, Inuyasha cleared his throat loudly.

No response.

He scowled. What was with her? Here he'd freed her and agreed to all that she required – given up his only— Well, no need to think too much about that. The point was, she should be grateful, happy to be free, curious over how long she'd been imprisoned… Even bemoaning whatever greater being had just cursed her with a youkai… no, worse, a hanyou husband would be an improvement. Anything but this sudden disinterest!

Kagome fought down the rising sobs she felt welling within. Tears trembled, poised to fall, at the corners of her eyes. Everything was happening as she'd been promised. But, that didn't make it any less wrong.

She'd always dreamed of the day she would fall in love. And, of the man who would steal her heart. He'd be kind and fun to spend time with. They would meet in junior high, then date in high school, or maybe she'd meet him at college. There would be long walks under starry skies, dinner dates, trips to the amusement park, and, of course, the requisite amount of hugs and goodnight kisses. Engagement would follow and, eventually, a wedding wreathed in smiles and roses.

Kagome would have been among the first to admit that her dreams weren't particularly creative. Any number of cheesy romance novels had more imagination in them. But, that didn't matter. It was what she wanted. Nothing extraordinary. Just a normal, simple life. It was what she wanted.

The tears burst free at last.

It was what she would never have.

She understood little of magic, and the spell surrounding her own sealing had been explained to her only vaguely. But, she couldfeel the magic binding her to this Inuyasha. Could feel it slowly growing, developing. Into what she wasn't sure. But, she was sure that the magic would not make him love her or she him.

Sobs racked her body. She was virtually married and all she knew of her new husband was his name. Not even his family name, assuming he had one. She was going to be compelled to follow him, probably coerced into helping him find those shards. Those thrice-cursed shards that were the cause of all her grief. They and her own supposed powers.

Why, oh why hadn't she kept her mouth shut before? If she'd never followed that feeling, never prattled about seeing strange lights, never touched that faintly glowing fragment… they'd have let her go. Maybe… maybe then she could have gone home.

Home.

Kagome gasped.

Home!

She spun on her heel, abruptly slamming into a large, scarlet bulk. Looking up, she found a pair of startled amber eyes. Kagome yelped and stumbled back, tripping on the uneven ground and falling onto her derriere.

Inuyasha found himself again unable to do anything but stare. This Kagome's moods changed far too fast for him to begin to follow. One minute the girl had been despondent. He'd been smelling the unmistakable, salty scent of fresh tears, his ears detecting the soft sound of muffled crying. Then, she'd turned around and very nearly trampled over him, suddenly in a hurry. As he gawked at the girl sprawled on the ground before him, she suddenly seemed to find her voice. Standing, she stared up at him with pleading eyes.

"I… Inuyasha… Before you take me away, can… can I go see my family?"

Please. It hadn't worked before, but maybe… Maybe this time the well that had brought her to this place would let her go back home.

"Her family?" Inuyasha stared at the girl blankly, his mind trying to process this request. For an instant, it started to wrap around the notion, albeit with some reluctance. He was eager to begin his quest in earnest now that he had someone who could sense the shards from a distance rather than relying solely on rumors and blind luck. But, this girl… She was an anomaly. Her behavior had been erratic since the moment he'd woken her and it was only becoming more so. Maybe it was from the sealing. Who knew what the physical effects of being sealed were on a human? He'd only heard of sealing youkai, who seemed to wake up well enough, if rather furious over their imprisonment. But, a human?

Perhaps visiting her family would be best. They could calm her, and then she could start fresh the next day. She probably needed food and some new clothes anyway.
The hanyou froze. Wait… Her family.

He swore under his breath.

She didn't know.

Mistaking the silver-haired boy's silence for a negative response, Kagome felt her heart sink. Was he so heartless? If he had been able to free her, he was supposed to have…

"They won't… be there anymore."

The near whisper of a voice was almost lost amid the tempest of thoughts and emotions that was raging within Kagome's dazed consciousness.

"What?"

Inuyasha visibly winced as the girl looked up at him with such a lost, vulnerable look in her brilliant eyes that it took all the restraint he had to keep the memories from overwhelming him. He clenched his fists at his sides. Shippou had looked at him like that when they'd first met. He would never forget those haunted green eyes. In that instant they met his own they were still shining with a tenacious hope, begging him to deny the truth the child already knew with his head but could not yet accept in his heart.

Blistering curses tore through Inuyasha's mind, threatening to spill from his lips. Why did he always have to be the one to look into those innocent eyes and tell them that everyone they loved was dead?

"They won't be there." He forced the words out with effort. "Your family. They won't be there now." Her expression was slowly changing from lost to terror. Undaunted, the words continued to push their way past his lips. Now, they were coming too easily. Too fast. But, he had to say them. Had to get this out. "You've been sealed for fifty years. Probably everyone you knew isn't… there anymore. I—"

He faltered, the putrid flood tumbling from his lips suddenly exhausted. But, there was no taking it back now. Now his only recourse was to fumble through those last two, useless words.

"I'm sorry." The words clawed their way from a suddenly raw throat.

"No."

Inuyasha stiffened, his ears pricking forward to catch the girl's soft whisper. Kagome's head was bowed. Her thin body shook. The salty smell of tears was becoming overwhelming. Loosening one tightly clenched fist, the hanyou moved to lay a hand on her shoulder, no longer able to quell the instinctive urge to comfort.

"No!"

His hand had barely grazed her shoulder when Kagome suddenly leapt away. Looking up at him, her face was livid. Blue eyes as liquid as the tears spilling down her cheeks crackled with aqueous fire as they met his amber orbs.

"That's not true!" she shrieked.

For once, Inuyasha couldn't find the anger to retaliate. He remained mute, staring at the raven-haired girl with an unvoiced apology burning in his eyes.

It was her undoing.

If he'd snapped at her, argued with her, she could have suspended belief. But, looking into those soulful eyes, filled with their own remembered pain, destroyed any hopes she had that he was being anything less than truthful. No, he was sincere.

But, she couldn't accept it.

"No! No, they're not!"

With that, Kagome fled the clearing. The well. She had to find the well. It would take her home. Home was in the future. What did it matter that fifty years had gone by here in the past?

All doubts were pushed from her mind. She would not doubt. She would find the well, and it would take her home.

Back in the clearing, Inuyasha stared dumbly at the space the girl had just occupied. Then, with a snarl, the silver-haired boy slammed his fist into the ancient tree on which Kagome had been imprisoned. The old tree's venerable bole absorbed the blow with only a dull thud and the hanyou's angry curses to show it had ever landed.

At Inuyasha's feet, Shippou cringed while Kirara looked on worriedly. "Inuyasha...?" the child began hesitantly.

"I'll find her," the hanyou snapped impatiently. "She just needs a minute."

"What if something attacks her? She's all alone out there!"

"I can't smell any youkai but us for miles. She'll be fine," Inuyasha ground out.

"What if they're downwind?" Shippou was bouncing from one foot to the other in agitation now. "You're going to have been married for an hour, and then she's going to get eaten by some giant centipede youkai!"

Inuyasha's patience, notoriously thin in the first place, snapped. "Shut up!" he roared, baring his dog-like canines. "Just shut up! I'll go find her now, okay?! Then, I'll drag her back here kicking and screaming and you can calm her down!"

With that, he was gone, vaulting into the forest canopy above and disappearing through the treetops in angry bounds.

Once the sounds of the hanyou's furious exit had died away, Shippou crossed his arms and allowed a self-satisfied smile to curve his lips. Playing the dog boy was far too easy.

Kagome ran blindly, branches and fallen limbs tearing at cloth and skin alike. She ignored it all, shoving aside anything that immediately blocked her path.

The well. Where was the well? The raven-haired girl searched her memory. She had been running to the well when the priestess had caught her at the tree. She knew she had been close. It couldn't be far. This time, she had to reach it. This time, it had to take her home.

Her breath came in short pants. She had to find it. Had to…

One foot caught on a rock protruding from the ground. With a short cry, Kagome pitched forward, tumbling out into a wide, grassy clearing.

She pushed herself up on shaking limbs, letting a quiet whimper slide from her lips. Her eyes scanned the clearing frantically before lighting on the single, incongruous structure that stood at its center. Kagome gasped.

"The well!"

She forced herself up and lunged for the wooden frame that marked the well's opening. Vines had grown to twine around the wood, splintering and deforming the simple square frame, but it was unmistakably the well that had brought her to this world.

Kagome wasted only a moment peering into the well's depths. The earthen floor was as dry as she remembered, but the heap of misshapen, broken bones – youkai bones the villagers had said - that had littered it fifty years ago was gone. The girl didn't care. She was just as happy not to have to jump down amid the mess. She hefted herself up and onto the rim of the well.

That was where Inuyasha found her. As the hanyou stepped into the clearing carefully, trying not to startle the weeping girl he expected to find, he froze as his auric gaze fell on Kagome's slight form. She was sitting, balanced on the edge of the old well.

What was she—?

His breath caught.

She wouldn't!

Kagome pushed off from the edge, plunging into the darkness below.

A strangled gasp tore from Inuyasha's throat. The hanyou cleared the distance to the well in a single leap, landing on the wooden frame and plunging a searching hand into the gaping hole that was the well. He caught nothing but air. Desperately, keen golden eyes peered into the darkness. At first, he saw nothing. Then, he found her, crouched at the bottom of the shaft, her form only a dim outline in the well's depths.

"Oi! Are you okay down there?" he called. Thank goodness the stupid girl had been too dense to commit suicide in a well deep enough for it to be effective.

The girl looked up at him, and Inuyasha again found himself unable to move. Her face was illuminated by the sunlight streaming past his body. Her blue eyes burned into his own. Then, recognition and despair settled over her features. With a sob, she collapsed in a heap, burying her face in the dirt beneath her.

"No…"

Inuyasha's ears pricked forward to hear the whisper that was her voice as his spirits flagged. Was he so horrible? Was he? Anger rose in him, burning away the dismay. If she found him so disgusting, she could just stay down there and he'd find himself another—

Kagome's next words cut through his anger and brought him up short.

"No… I want to go home… No!" Her voice rose into a scream. "I want to go home!"

Her screams became a wordless wail as she scrabbled at the unyielding ground with her short nails.

Inuyasha flattened his ears to his skull. He'd never heard such a horrible sound. It tore at his soul. The horrible ululations went on and on, racking the girl's frail body as she clawed at the earth until her fingernails were torn and bloody, her skin raw and blistered.

The harsh, metallic smell of her blood flooded his nose, and the hanyou couldn't take it any longer. He leapt into the shaft, pressing himself to the far wall so as not to land on Kagome. Then, he reached down to grab her wrists and haul the girl to her feet, ignoring the shriek of protest this elicited.

"No!" Words found her again. "Let me go! Let me go!" She twisted in his grasp with a violent, inhuman strength. Frantic, she turned to flail at the unprotesting boy, punching, clawing, tearing at the long forelocks of hair that hung past his shoulders. "I want to go home! Let me go home!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her voice was harsh and ragged, her throat raw from screaming. Her cries became gasping sobs as the blows slowly stilled. "I just… just want to go home!" Exhausted, she let herself slump forward, collapsing against Inuyasha.

The boy caught her reflexively, opening his mouth to say something, anything. The words became a gasp as the ground beneath their feet began to glow. He felt a surge of power pulse from the very walls of the well shaft. Azure light flooded the tiny space, and Inuyasha felt himself falling, slipping into the opening portal at his feet.

"What th'—?!"

His words were lost as he and Kagome vanished in a shimmer of blue light.

To Be Continued...