CHAPTER ONE

UNEXPECTED TRAVELERS AND KOUGA'S SECOND KIDNAPPING

Kagome Higurashi had one goal that September day: to return to the feudal world on time. She had been returning later than expected more often than not in the last few months, and her friends inevitably worried. This time she had determined that she wasn't going to be late. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see the boy who stopped in front of her – or the soft smile that crossed his face as he noticed her.

She ran smack into him.

"Oh!" She gasped, and stumbled backwards. Hojo-kun's hand caught her elbow and kept her on her feet. By the time Kagmoe had her wits about her the bag was on the floor, all of her books and belongings spilling out in a rush.

Her eye locked on a small vial as it rolled free, and she restrained a gasp. The Shikon Shards!

"I'm sorry," Hojo-kun said, and knelt to help her gather her belongings. His hand fell first to the vial. He held it in his hand, twisting it, clearly wondering as to the vial's contents.

"That's my medicine," Kagome said, only barely managing to wait for him to hand her the vial instead of snatching it from his grasp. Her face burned with embarrassment. She had never been a very good liar.

Hojo-kun didn't seem to notice. He nodded in understanding. "I heard that you were diagnosed with a rare bone disease." His hand touched her wrist. "I hope you're feeling better now."

A rare bone disease? Her grandfather was clearly running out of excuses for her absence. At least it wasn't something truly hideous like the Ebola virus. She could have sworn that she had heard him muttering about Flesh-Eating disease the last time she had been home, but hadn't had the energy to argue with him about it.

"Yes, I've been feeling better," she said shyly. Hojo's dark eyes were filled with sympathy and good cheer. It made her feel ashamed for lying to him continuously.

He chatted quietly while he helped her pick up the rest of her belongings.

She looked up to find Hojo watching her intently.

"What is it?" She closed the top flap of her bag, then settled the vial of Shikon Shards into their own small pocket.

"Could I meet you tonight? I'd … like to talk to you," Hojo said hesitantly.

Instantly, she thought of her tightly-planned schedule. She had homework to finish, packing to do, her backpack to repair, and then a jump into the Well to get back to Inuyasha and her other friends.

"Please?" His hands folded over hers, pressing gently.

Stunned at the contact—Hojo-kun had always been the model of decorum and reticence to her before—Kagome found herself agreeing to meet him in the courtyard at her parent's temple shortly before she had to leave. She was still processing her agreement when he helped her to her feet and walked off, pausing to wave before he turned the corner and was out of sight.

"That was so awesome!" Ayumi stood in awe, watching the corridor Hojo had gone down with stars in her eyes. "He wants to come to your house and talk to you!"

Kagome lifted her backpack with one hand—she was happy that she hadn't yet filled it with the treats and necessities that she planned to take back with her when she went back through the Well.

"Do you think he found out about your other boyfriend?" She asked, one finger perched on her chin.

Kagome arched one brow slowly. Sometimes she wondered where her friends got their insane ideas about her love life—or lack of it. "I don't think so. I'll see you later?" She wanted to say tomorrow, but she knew that she was going to come down with some mysterious illness yet again, at least to Ayumi's eyes she was.

"Okay! Maybe we can get together this weekend and study for the English exams?"

Kagome's smile was real. "Maybe we can," she agreed. She wondered if Inuyasha would let her return for a study session. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

Hefting her bag over her shoulder, Kagome started the long walk home. She wondered, absently, what Hojo wanted to talk to her about. She wondered what Inuyasha was doing, and if her friends from the Feudal Age had been attacked, or found any new Shikon Shards while she was in her own world.

She would know soon enough, she was sure. Content with that knowledge, she began to mentally review the checklist of things that she meant to carry with her when she left again.

She was facing the temple steps before she knew it.

*     *     *

The sky was colored with brilliant splashes of red, orange and soft blue, a montage that signaled the onset of evening to even the most thickheaded of people. The sun was descending quickly. Kagome was eager to make her way back to the Feudal Age.

She absently patted her newly-repaired bag. The stitching on the shoulder straps wasn't as neat as it had once been, but the bag was once more serviceable. It was also much, much heavier than it had been when she had arrived home after her last trip. Kagome smiled. Besides the usual treats for her friends she had managed to fit in many of her school books, so she would be able to study at night and prepare for the many exams that were coming up so quickly. Her mother had also bought her an assortment of first aid items (again!) so she had a full kit of creams, ointments, tablets and bandages. With Inuyasha's tendency to get injured, she was very thankful for the advanced medical knowledge that her era was able to provide for him. It may be somewhat egotistical a thought, but Kagome truly believed that sometimes her medicines truly meant the difference between the arrogant hanyou's life and a very ugly death.

He probably wouldn't agree with that assessment.

She glanced overhead, noting the position of the sun in the western sky. Hojo-kun was late. She couldn't wait much longer. She really wanted to arrive when she said she would this time. If she didn't leave soon, she knew she wouldn't. Then Inuyasha would yell at her—again—about how she took advantage of his generosity.

"Hah!" Kagome clapped a hand to her mouth when she heard the sound echo in the courtyard. Feeling foolish, she fingered the straps of her backpack and stood, stretching her back. Hojo-kun's discussion would just have to wait until the next time she was in the Modern World.

Lifting the heavy pack, Kagome headed for the small shrine that housed the Bone-Eater's Well. She smiled when she thought of Inuyasha's expression when she actually managed to arrive when she said she would this time.

*     *     *

Souta watched his sister trek toward the Well. She was smiling, and though she wasn't running, she certainly wasn't dragging her feet to the shrine.

Kagome had changed since she had begun to travel to the Feudal Age, he reflected .At first it had been small things, moments where she would stare into space, times when she would look at him and he knew that she would be seeing something—or someone—else. Over the past few months, however, he had noticed the more pronounced changes in his sister's demeanor. Though she had never been weak, Kagome had become much stronger. Just the other day he had tried to lift her backpack. He hadn't been able to pick it up off the floor. Now she carried the bag, fully packed with food, drinks, first aid supplies and textbooks (at least he thought he had seen her stuffing her math book into the bag) like it weighed nothing.

Her step was sure and steady—she had become more sure of herself in her travels—and though her temper had become more fierce when roused, there were moments when Kagome radiated a serenity, a peacefulness, that he had never seen before.

Souta envied her her adventures. Traveling the country with Inuyasha-niichan, fighting youkai and collecting the pieces of the powerful Shikon no Tama that was their family's legendary legacy sounded like such fun! He knew it wasn't a game, though when she told them of all the places she had seen and the people she had met it sounded more like fairy tales than any account of real adventures.

He wished that he could go with her and meet the people she met. He wanted to see Inuyasha-niichan fight with his powerful sword.

"Hello?"

Souta jumped at the voice, turning just as Kagome disappeared into the shrine.

"I'm looking for Kagome Higurashi," the boy who stood behind him said politely. There was a girl with him. She had curly, shoulder-length hair, and Souta vaguely recognized her as one of Kagome's friends from school. He hadn't seen her at the Temple in a long time. The boy he had seen before. He came around asking after his sister's health often. Jii-chan always panicked when he saw any of Kagome's friends, and more often than not came up with some outlandish and totally unbelievable disease right on the spot to explain Kagome's absence.

"She said that she would meet me here, but I am running late today." The boy had the grace to blush at the confession.

Souta debated for less than a second. Kagome had talked about Hojo-kun before, though not as often as she spoke of Inuyasha. If she had agreed to talk to him, she would want to see him.

"She's in the shrine," he said, leading the way for his sister's two friends. "Kagome-chan," he called loudly to alert her, "Your friends are here to see you!"

He threw open the doors to the shrine, Hojo and Ayumi on his heels, and found his sister poised on the edge of the Well, clearly prepared to through herself down through the portal to the past. She shifted the backpack on her shoulders and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Higurashi!" Hojo leapt down the stairs in a rush, "please, don't do this!"

Ayumi was rushing after the boy.

Souta blinked, confused, then realized that the boy thought that his sister was trying to commit suicide.

"It cannot be that bad," he said passionately. "You may be ill, but you still have your life!"

Kagome was shaking her head, clearly beyond explanations.

Souta stepped forward, opening his mouth to explain, though he had no idea what he was going to say. He didn't know what exactly happened next, but he saw Hojo reach out, saw Kagome teeter on the edge of the Well, and then everyone fell forward in a rush. Souta found himself tumbling over the edge of the Well, and closed his eyes in preparation for a hard impact on the dirt below.

When he didn't hit quickly, he opened his eyes, and found that the world was rushing by him in strands of blue and red and gold. Kagome was ahead of him, looking calm and collected—and happy, and on either side were her school friends, still in their school uniforms. They looked scared.

The trip was over quickly, and Souta found himself sitting in the dirt of the well. He knew that he was in the Feudal Age, and that knowledge stunned him. What was his mother going to think?
Kagome jumped to her feet and began to climb the ladder that led out of the well.

"Where are we?" Ayumi asked, sounding bewildered. She was staring up out of the well into the night sky, not the ceiling of the shrine that surrounded the Well in the Modern time.

Kagome froze, then slowly turned around. "Ayumi? Hojo?" Her eyes met Souta's, and he found himself grinning. "Souta?" She stumbled back down the ladder, dropped her bag at her feet, and stared. "Oh no!"

*     *     *

Kagome stared at the people seated in the dirt of the Well. Hojo and Ayumi, friends from school, and her younger brother, who was grinning like a fool. He knew where he was, and it was obvious that he was ecstatic about being here.

She glanced up, expecting to hear Inuyasha's caustic voice any second, to see his silver hair trailing over the edge of the well as he watched for her return. Or maybe it would be Shippo who would see her first, who would throw himself into her arms and call her name happily.

"Where are we?" Ayumi repeated, slowly getting to her feet. Hojo was standing as well, tugging on his uniform-tunic and patting the dust from his legs.

What should she do, she wondered. Return them to her time? Of course she had to. She had to tell them something, though, explain the trip somehow. Her mind scrambled for a plausible explanation, then she froze.

The feeling struck her suddenly. Shards of the Shikon no Tama. Close. Getting closer. A youkai?

She rushed up the ladder unthinkingly, throwing herself over the side of the Well and staring into the thickness of the forest from which the feeling came. She braced herself, setting the backpack down on the ground and taking up the bow and quiver of arrows that she had left there for when she returned.

She looked around the clearing. There was no one there. No Inuyasha. No Shippo. No one.

A wolf howled in the distance, and the setting sun bathed the world in red. From behind her, Kagome heard the definite sounds of the others climbing out of the Well.

"Stay back," she commanded fiercely, drawing an arrow and notching it on the bow.

The Shards grew closer, and soon she saw the whirlwind that carried them to her. With a sigh, she released the bow, recognizing the swirl of motion that was headed for her. Kouga.

He skidded to a halt right in front of her, folding his arms over his chest and smiling that infuriatingly arrogant smile. "Kagome," he greeted.

"Kouga-kun," she said, glancing around. She expected Inuyasha to leap from the bushes at any moment, brandishing Tetsusaiga and threatening the wolf youkai with all sorts of dire fates for daring to show his face around her. "What are you doing here?" She asked, sticking the arrow in her quiver.

She felt rather than saw Souta peering around her to see the face of the man she was talking to.

Kouga leaned to see the three figures behind her. His nose twitched. "Who's that?" He demanded, pointing at Souta.

"That's my brother," she explained.

"Ah," Kouga nodded, apparently satisfied, then took her arm. "Come on, we're leaving."

"What?" Kagome pulled at her arm, trying to break his grasp. Though Kouga had lost the Shikon Shard that had at one time been a part of his arm, he was still much stronger than she was. "I can't!"

Where was he, she wondered.

"You are," Kouga said. "That dog face isn't taking care of you right, so I'm going to have to take you now."

"Wait!" She cried, stumbling as he began to pull her. "Inuyasha!" She cried aloud. Birds cried from high in the trees, but no sword-wielding hanyou appeared at her call.

"My friends," she said desperately. "I can't leave them! What if they're attacked?"

"Leave Higurashi alone," Hojo said firmly, stepping forward.

Kouga looked him over, then sniffed. "She's my woman," he said firmly. "Tell that puppy that I claimed her when he gets here."

Kagome met Hojo's eyes. She wasn't surprised to find them filled with confusion. Ayumi was white as a ghost, and her eyes were wide and unblinking. Souta was glaring at the wolf youkai. He, of all of them, seemed to be taking these events in stride.

"Souta," she shouted as she was pulled toward the foliage. Wolves gathered around Kouga's knees, sniffing her feet and legs. "Get Inuyasha!" Her gaze fell on her bulging backpack. The Shikon shards were in there. She glanced at Kouga, and knew that it was better not to mention them before him. "Hurry!" She shouted, right before the greenery swallowed her up and she couldn't see her friends anymore.

"He's going to come after me," she told Kouga. "He's going to be very mad that you kidnapped me again."

The wolf youkai's arm settled around her waist. "I know," he said softly, very un-Kouga-like. "But I have to do this." He stopped, staring down at her, and she saw both pain and determination in his face. "You have to come with me now, my tribe depends on it."

The complete sincerity in his voice and gaze convinced her. "What's wrong, Kouga-kun?" She asked softly.

He turned his face away, looking into the emptiness of the shadows that were quickly deepening around them. "I'll explain later, but you have to come with me. You are my woman. I will not take no for an answer!"

She wanted to argue, but his hands firmed around her torso, and Kouga took off in a rush of speed.

The world flashed by as he carried her. Kagome's nose was filled with the reek of sweat and the distinctive odor of Kouga—the smell of wolf, and the slightly-electrical smell of youki.

Inuyasha was going to kill them both.

*     *     *