Author Note: Quite a few things have changed in this chapter, so if I may ask that you read it again and tell me how it turned out. :)

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi is the true mastermind.

...Chapter 1...

~Eyes so Green~

Kagome stood there, staring at the well as if waiting for something to break through the chipping wood. Finally feeling a sudden sense of danger she flung around quicker than she thought possible, grabbed her younger brother's shirt collar and hauled him outside. She slammed the well house door shut so hard it shuttered a momentary sigh of relief. Placing the now wriggling cat on the ground, Kagome turned and gave Souta a stern look. "Don't go in there alone again, ok?"

"S-Sis? But why, what's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost..." Souta nervously played with Buyo's food dish until the cat headbutted his leg obstinately, glaring at the young boy with eyes that told him 'I'm hungry, feed me!' "Ok, ok Buyo." He put the food dish down and looked at his sister expactantly, but she had already started running toward the gate.

"Just promise me you won't, Souta," She called over her shoulder and began sprinting at a faster pace. "I'm gonna be late!"

Staring after his older sister, Souta scratched his head in confusion. However, after giving the shrine a quick glance over the shoulder, a shiver ran down his spine making him take a couple steps away from it. "Creepy..." Realization struck like a brick and he, too, dashed toward the gate. "Aw man, now I'm gonna be late! Sis, wait for me!" He ran off the Higurashi property in a failed attempt to catch up with his sister.

Tapping her pencil against her lips, Kagome's eyes were practically boring holes into a sheet of math homework. However, not one pencil stroke had made it onto the paper as of yet. Certain events of the day clouded her thoughts, preventing them from remaining on her assignment as they were supposed to and no matter how many attempts she made to concentrate, it was to no avail. 'Augh! I just can't stop thinking about that well... It's never done this to me before and I've been in there plenty of times. I wonder what's going on...' Tapping the pencil once more, an exasperated sigh blew past it.

"I have to check this out..." Kagome resolved and stood, walking downstairs toward the front door. Her hand on the doorknob she started having second thoughts. 'No, I have to find out why it was doing what it was doing. I have to know what's going on.' Just as she resigned herself to going to the well house in the dark and was about to open the door, a voice stopped her.

"Kagome, dear, is that you?" Mrs. Higurashi's voice rang from the living room.

Freezing where she was, Kagome answered, "Yeah, Mom, it's me."

"Come in here for a minute."

Removing her hand slowly from the door, her eyes lingered on it as if determining whether she should ask her mom to wait a few minutes while she finished something and continue anyway or not. Deciding there was no guarantee she would learn anything to answer her questions either way and that she would rather not answer the questions her mother would be bound to have, Kagome turned and made her way to the living room where her mother waited. Peeking her head in, she asked, "Yes, Mom?"

Mrs. Higurashi looked up from piles of colorful paper cranes splayed out randomly all around her, and equal piles of origami paper waiting to be folded. "Come, sit down." She patted the floor next to her smiling.

Kagome obeyed and sat down next to her mother, grabbing a piece of yellow origami paper and began folding. "What are all the paper cranes for, Mom?"

"We're going to hand these out to the young children tomorrow during the festival, remember?"

"The festival!" Kagome stopped mid-fold. Every year, the Higurashi shrine would hold a small festival for families to come have fun and visit the Higurashi Shrine. It was not a very big one like those held in the city, but it served its purpose. Also, small donations were usually offered in homage to the shrine for holding the small gathering. Although they never asked for any of the money, it was much appreciated and helped a great deal. "I completely forgot it was tomorrow..." She looked guiltily down at her unfinished crane.

"It's alright, dear. I've already picked out a yukata for you. I know you've been so busy with school, I had a feeling you may not have remembered." Mrs. Higurashi smiled warmly.

Kagome grinned and hugged her mother. "Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome. Now, that's not what I called you in here for."

Giving her mom a confused look, she decided to start on the crane in her hands once again.

"Souta told me about what happened this morning in the well house. Are you alright? He said you looked white as a sheet, he was worried about you and so am I." Mrs. Higurashi added her finished purple crane, with small pink sakura flowers, to the pile of waiting brethren and looked at her daughter expectantly.

Kagome added her own finished crane to the pile and looked up at her mother. "Well..." She stopped. She had really hoped her mom would not find out about any of this until she herself found some answers if there were any to be found. She also really didnt want her mom worrying over nothing while she still had no clue what was going on. "It was nothing, Buyo just scared me when he jumped out from wherever his hiding place was." She offered, trying to convince herself as much as her mother.

Mrs. Higurashi looked at her daughter skeptically, remembering when Souta mentioned that Kagome told him not to go back into the shrine alone, but decided not to push. If her daughter was not willing to talk about it she would not make her, she would open up eventually. Mrs. Higurashi smiled another warm smile, "Okay, dear."

Kagome smiled back in relief. "Thanks, Mom."

"Alright, now help me finish these cranes." A determined look flitted across Mrs. Higurashi's face as she grabbed another piece of origami paper. "We have a lot of work to do."

It was dark. It was still night, but why are the stars not showing?

'Stars? I'm in my room that's why the stars aren't showing.'

It was dark. A damp, warm breeze blew from the west.

'A breeze? No, I'm in my room, I must be facing my pillow and just breathing into it.'

It was dark. There is someone standing there.

'Someone?'

Green eyese. Eyes so green. Pale. Pale. White fangs.

'F-fangs?'

Green eyes. Eyes so green. Blood dripping down white fangs. Blood. Blood. He's-

Kagome shot up in her bed, drenched in a cold sweat, gasping for air. She clasped her shirt above her heart, fear still clenching it with an iron grip. She noticed her hands were shaking, too. "Wh-where did that come from?" She swiped at her forehead, cringing at the filthy feeling she suddenly felt. Kagome glanced at her alarm clock. Five o' clock in the morning. "Ugh... Well I won't be able to get back to sleep after that, so i guess I better just take my bath, I feel disgusting." Grabbing a change of clothes she headed to the bathroom.

Sloshing down in the water after thoroughly scrubbing herself, she mulled over the nightmare. "That was really freaky... But, it just felt so real. She put her wet hand up to her cheek as if she could still feel that warm breeze. Or... had that been breath? Kagome's breath caught in her throat and she felt cold shivers run down her spine at the thought of it. "Ok, ok I think the heat's getting to my head and putting ideas in my head..." She convinced herself it was just a dream anyway and that she shouldn't give it much thought. After grabbing a quick snack in the kitchen and finally finishing her homework from the night before, she headed to her mothers room around seven.

"You're up early, dear." Mrs. Higurashi was tying the obi on her light green yukata. Twisting her pale blue obi around to the back, she smoothed out the wrinkles made in her yukata and walked over to Kagome. "Is something wrong?"

Leave it to her mom to know when something was up. Kagome smiled sheepishly and admitted, "I had a nightmare early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep is all."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. Do you want to talk about it?" Mrs. Higurashi held out her arms.

Gladly accepting the hug, "I don't really remember it," she lied. It was clearly imprinted in her mind and she did not think she would be forgetting it any time soon.

"Are you sure, dear?" Mrs. Higurashi pushed. She rubbed small circles on her daughter's back like she used to do when Kagome was younger after she had nightmares.

Releasing her mother, Kagome smiled and nodded reassuringly. "You said you had a yukata picked out for me, Mom?" She was aching to change the subject and forced the thoughts of the dream to the back of her mind.

"Of course." Mrs. Higurashi smiled proudly as she fetched said clothing and offered it to her daughter. It was a beautiful deep blue yukata with white spider lillies decorating it and a contrasting crimson obi. "I thought this could serve as your birthday present. Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"Oh, Mom, it's gorgeous! Thank you so much!" Kagome excitedly took the offered yukata and skittered to her room, anxious to slip into it. After fitting into the outfit, she began fussing with the obi. Every time her obi knot came out sloppy, and she was getting frustrated. "Mom made it look so easy..." One more failed attempt and she heard a giggle from the hallway.

Kagome turned to come face to face with her mother who had slipped silently into her room and had taken hold of the red obi. "Turn back around and I'll tie it for you." Mrs. Higurashi smiled and her eyes danced in amusement.

Blushing profusely, Kagome obeyed and faced her window. After she felt her mother give the knot a final tug and then smooth it out, she faced her mom once again and hugged her. "Thanks, Mom... I'll be able to tie my own someday." 'I hope.' She giggled slightly at the thought of her thirty-year-old self coming home to get her obi tied.

"There's no rush, dear. I'll be here to help you as long as you need." Mrs. Higurashi smiled back lovingly.

"Yeah." Dressed and ready, Kagome headed downstairs close behind her mother, before they heard a crash in the kitchen.

"Grandpa?"

"Dad?"

Souta came zooming out of the kitchen and blocked the two women from entering. "E-everything's fine! You don't need to worry." Souta smiled nervously as he glanced over his shoulder nervously.

"Ack!"

Crash. Thud. Claaaaanngg.

Mrs. Higurashi gave Souta a mother's look as he laughed nervously.

"Are you sure about that, Souta?" Kagome asked skeptically. "Everything doesn't sound fine."

Just then, Buyo trotted out of the kitchen, stopped to lick some strange white substance off his paw, then continued past the family.

"What the?" Kagome watched the cat walk to the front door and wait to be let out as he cleaned himself.

Mrs. Higurashi's eyes widened, and she quickly turned on Kagome. "Kagome, would you be a dear and let Buyo outside? And then, Grandpa's got some sutras in the well house, would you mind fetching those as well?" Without waiting for an answer, she started pushing Kagome toward the front door, then darted into the kitchen past Souta. Giving Kagome another nervous glance, he joined the aparent kitchen party that she had not been invited to.

"I wonder what that was all about?" She looked to Buyo for answers, but all she got was a lazy meow. Glaring at the cat, Kagome let him outside. "Well you're no help you dumb cat. Guess I better go get those sutras for Grandpa..." As she made her way to the well house, she started getting a weird feeling again and her pace slowed considerably. Kagome stopped in front of the door and rested her hand on the handle, but then ripped her hand away and took a couple steps back. She felt warmth spread in her left side again, but this time it was accompanied by a slight tug like something from inside was trying to pull her inside. "Wha...?" She stepped back again and ran smack into a chest. Kagome slapped her hand over her mouth to block the scream climbing in her throat as she pulled away and turned around.

"Oh! Good morning, Kagome."

'Houjo... What in the world is he doing here?' , "Uh, g-good morning..." She stuttered, still shaken by the warmth in her side which had yet to go away, as well as the tug. "What are you doing here, Houjo?

"Well, I heard your annual festival was today so I came to help." He smiled broadly. "What'cha doing here?" He gestured at the shrine.

"Oh, Mom wanted me to get Grandpa's box of sutras." After straightening her yukata, she started fingering her hair that had been tousled in the excitement. Good thing she decided to just leave it down.

"Do you need help?" Houjo smiled eagerly.

"Uh, no I'm ok." Kagome declined against her better judgement. She did not want to be alone in the well house, but she also did not want to burden someone else just because she was a little afraid of the shrine right now. She would have to get over it eventually and she decided that it would start with her getting her grandfather's sutras from inside. "Mom, Grandpa and Souta are inside, they might need help." Kagome offered.

Houjo waited a bit longer in case Kagome changed her mind, which she was tempted, but did not. "Alrighty, I'll go see if your family needs help." He smiled before walking off in the direction of her house.

Turning back around to face the well house, Kagome took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves and willed her side to return to her natural body temperature. Unfortunately, her body decided to go against her wishes and stay warm. Ignoring the tugging, she took one more deep breath and flung the door open, bracing herself. For what? She did not know and that was one of the biggest things that scared her.

Opening her eyes- when exactly had they closed?- Kagome gave the shrine a good twice-over before finally settling her sights on the well. A small bit of the well's seal was still there. 'So I guess it didn't all burn off... but most importantly that means all that stuff was one hundred percent real.' In the back of her mind, she had hoped and prayed that all of the happenings of the previous morning had all been a bad dream like the one she had last night. Now that she found out it was no bad dream, a new sense of nervousness set in. 'Stop it, stop it. I'll be fine. Nothing will happen to me. I'll. Be. Fine.' After yet another deep breath, she looked around the well house again, this time looking for the boxes of sutras. "Ah-hah!" she spotted them on the far side behind the well, so she grabbed the old wooden ladder by the door and made her way to the other side. Skirting the well, she set the ladder against the mass of shelves and started climbing, all the while not noticing that the well had began to pulse.

Mrs. Higurashi turned away from her father at hearing the doorbell. She had been scolding him at almost letting Kagome see the birthday cake he was in duty of frosting. Apparently, while he was doing just that, Buyo decided to waltz in and make mischief, resulting in frostiing being flung across the kitchen and pots and pans being dropped.

"Coming!" Mrs. Higurashi called after giving both Souta and her father an austere look that told them to clean the kitchen and have the cake finished before Kagome came back. She opened the door and recognized one of the boys from Kagome's school. "Hello, Kagome's in the well house if you're looking for her." She smiled.

Houjo smiled back. "I saw her, I offered to help her get the... sutas? suras?... But she declined and told me you and your other family members may need help."

"Oh my, she did, did she?" Mrs. Higurashi chuckled at her daughter's 'I can do it myself' attitude that she has had since she was a child. "Alright, dear, come on in. We actually could use a little help." A glint appeared in her eyes that went unnoticed by the unsuspecting Houjo as he entered the Higurashi household.

Mrs. Higurashi led the boy to the kitchen where Souta scrubbed the floor, and her father was working on the cabinets. "You can help Dad and reach the higher places he cannot."

Houjo jumped at the prospect of helping Kagome's family, no matter how much it seemed like chores at his own home. "Yes ma'am!" He grabbed a wash cloth and promptly began scrubbing the higher places the frosting had made its way to.

"I'll go check on Kagome while you boys finish the kitchen." She called as she made her way outside.

CRASH

"Oh dear, that came form the well house!" Mrs. Higurashi hurried towards the well house, instantly distraught. "Kagome!"

Kagome shuffled up the ladder as best she could in a yukata, and finally made it to the top. She extended her arm toward the box she was currently looking for, and smiled when her hand rested on it. As she tossed the box to the ground, she noticed a second box of sutras just behind where th first had been. "Hm... I guess I better get that one too just in case." As she reached for the second box, she suddenly noticed the tug in her left side seemed to get stronger, and the warmth heated up even more almost burning.

Freezing in place, she debated on whether she should turn around or not. 'No... I better not... I just have to climb down slowly, and get the hell out of here! If they need the second box I'll just have to tell them I couldn't reach it, which isn't a lie at least.' Tremors shot up Kagome's spine, and she just knew what had caused it. She finally noticed the pulsing of the well, but still she refused to turn around. 'Just get down, and hurry out.' Her steps down the ladder became a bit more frantic. Big mistake.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Kagome's foot slipped and she grabbed onto the ladder for dear life, but she felt it shudder and start falling backwards. Her throat burned with the insatiable urge to scream, but it would not come. The next thing she felt was the hard hit of the well's cover against her back, and the seemingly endless fall afterwards. Then... everything went black.

"Kagome? Dear, are you alright?" Mrs. Higurashi breathed a little heavier than normal from the hurry, and slid open the door to the well house. "Kagome? Sweetheart?" Her eyes widened as she saw the ladder leaning against the well, and the cover to the well completely shattered. "Kagome!" Rushing over to the well, she shoved the old ladder aside and peered down the dark well. "Kagome! Are you alright?" As she looked harder and her eyes finally adjusted to the minimal light, she noticed that there was absolutely nothing at the bottom of the well. Not even the scraps of wood from the broken cover. "What's going on?" Tears burst from Mrs. Higurashi's eyes and she fell to her knees and wept over the well.

Green eyes gleamed in the sunlight as they settled on a particularly plump cow grazing just beyond sight of the village. A slight breeze played with long red hair, bringing it around to tickle a stolemn face. A fanged grin broke the surface of that face as the being crouched and prepared to pounce on his prey. Sharp claws extended, the being rushed toward the beast but stopped short as something distracted their focus.

Bright blue light suddenly rose above the trees, reaching for the sky but falling short.

The cow, now aware of its hunter's presence, gave a great snort of warning and stomped back toward the village.

Keen eyes shifted from the strange light back to the task at hand. The assailent followed close behind the animal, soon sinking his claws and fangs into warm flesh.

End Note: I have to admit I wasn't very happy with chapter one... it just felt so forced :/ So I re-wrote it in the hopes it came across smoother, I hope everyone likes this and don't worry I'm still going to have chapter 2 up if not by tomorrow, by Friday hopefully. :) I apologize for the delay. Please do me the honor of reviews and helpful criticism. -Snapps ;)