Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Kuroko no Basket. They belong to their respective authors.

Author's Note: Thanks for waiting. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think about the characters' personalities and their interactions with each other. :)


The Battlefield of Basketball: It's Just Began


Chapter 1: Outside of Time


Her mind was blank, not with numbness, but agony. A pain so deep and searing that she could see nothing but whiteness within her own mind. It was as if someone had taken a sword and cut into her soul. She was bleeding, but not blood, instead her own essence was gushing out of her.

She did not remember who she was, only this aching pain that did not fade and did not stop throbbing, as if in time to her heartbeat…if she had one that is. Did she? Was she alive? Or was she dead, suffering an endless agony?

She did not know how long she lay there, before the throbbing slowed down. It did not stop, she doubted that it ever would or could; but finally Kagome could think again. That's right. She was Kagome- always and only Kagome. But…

Tears slipped out of closed eyes. They didn't know her anymore…he didn't know her anymore. A sob slipped out, she was alone, alone…ALONE!

"Shhh, little miko, you're never alone. Not anymore." Arms slipped around her and pulled her into a lap as her head was laid against a cloth-covered chest. She knew who it was, she remembered, but she couldn't refuse the comfort offered. Kagome curled her hands into the kimono and cried, even as a second smaller body curled up behind her and two different hands slid through her hair again and again in smooth soothing motions.

"It'll be alright, Kagome-chan. You'll see. It will be alright."

Kagome shook her head; it would never be alright again. She had given everything for her friends, but the price was so high! If she had known that Maru was her soul mate, her red string of fate, she would never have made that bargain! She would have offered something else, anything else! More tears fell, she had fallen in love with him as they traveled together, but now… 'I will never be whole again.'

She felt more than heard the hiss the Naraku released. 'Had she said that last thought out loud?'

"Yes, you did, little miko! And do you think he would have ever accepted a human, Ka-go-me? For all that you are immune to time, you are still human. Even if Lord Sesshomaru accepted you, did you really think his court would have? The higher youkai? The rest of the governing body that rules all of Japan's youkai population?

"And what would you have done when you needed to kill your opponents for your place as the Lady of the West? To sully your hands with the blood and guts of your foes, who never did you any true wrong? You are too soft. You were not created for violence, though…" His voice changed to a purr, "You can show quite a vicious nature when someone you care about is threatened. Perhaps there is a bit of a youkai in you after all."

His words cut her, even as they stopped her tears, for they were her own thoughts as well. Kagome had never seen Maru- no, she needed to stop with her private name for him, perhaps with time and distance she would be able to slowly forget about him, so... She had never seen Sesshomaru-sama display anything towards her that gave her hope that he considered her as a possible life partner. He saw just an ally, perhaps a friend.

But her foolish heart had still hoped and wanted more; but even with a red string of fate, she was just Kagome. Normal, average looking Kagome. And that ribbon of fate was severed now. Sesshomaru-sama- no, she could not even say his name without the new wound on her soul flaring in white-hot agony. He would have the chance to find someone worthy of his status and youkai nature. She gulped back a sob at that thought. She needed to stop crying, it felt like she had already cried an ocean of tears.

"Naraku-kun is right Kagome-chan, besides you have us. You'll always have us, and right now we could use some help. I think we may be in some… er… rather small, mind you, really small spot of trouble."

Slowly she pulled her emotions back into herself, even as the ache of that last severed bond joined all the other severed bonds that her soul had sustained in the course of this day. Bond of friendship forged in blood and battle caused their own deep agony when cut, though not enough to send her into shock like his had. But her new companions needed her. She would have a long time to grieve, all of eternity it seemed; but right now she needed to think about something else, anything else!

Opening her eyes, Kagome turned from the purple kimono and glimpse of pale chest in front of her to look at...not the Shikon any more… Yuuto and she froze, not staring at him, but past him. What on earth?! Or more precisely were on earth were they!? All she could see was an endless stream of blue and white liquid lights against a black background. They were sitting in the center of the portal! "Why aren't we in the well house at home? We should have been there by now!"

Spinning her head back to look at Yuuto, she added, "The well always takes seconds to use. Why are we stuck in the time stream?"

Yuuto scratched at his cheek, "Eto, actually Naraku-kun and I have been talking while you were out of it and we think that we're maybe…possibly outside of time. The portal could only work to take you between five hundred years of history, because for a few moments you were outside of the time stream."

Kagome paused, eyes wide with shock. "That….actually makes sense."

She moved to get up to pace, but Naraku tightened his hold on her. Still struggling to get up, she looked over her shoulder and glared at him, "Naraku! Let me up!"

He nuzzled her cheek with his, "No, you can talk from where you are. I happen to like you close to me."

Kagome was close to smacking him right across the face for his rather perverted actions and words before she looked him right in the eyes and stopped. It was well hidden, behind a veneer of cruelty and arrogance, but she could just spot the loneliness of a soul left alone by everyone and the darkness of a soul that had made so many evil choices. She stifled a sigh. There was a reason she had agreed to this bargain and part of it was for Naraku. Kagome knew that she could never love him in the romantic sense as he had wanted from Kikyo, but she also knew that she was soft-hearted enough that, if given enough time, she could come to care for him, perhaps even love him like a brother or cousin…despite all he was and all he had done.

"Fine." Turning to look away from both the arrogant smirk and surprised eyes she glanced at Yuuto. He was in the body of a ten year old with straight black hair to his shoulder blades, glowing pink eyes and a silver kimono. As she watched, he came closer to her and curled up in front of her with his head in her lap. With a sigh, she started to pet his hair. She knew that Yuuto was even worse than Naraku. The loneliness of two centuries had almost driven him mad.

It was part of the reason that the shattering of the jewel had been such a catastrophe. Yuuto had suddenly had access to all the knowledge and experiences of any person that touched a jewel shard. In his eagerness for more, he drove nearly every single holder mad with the power that came in exchange for that transfer of information. She was one of the rare exceptions, in part because Yuuto had known her, had in effect grown up with her, at least subconsciously since he had still been asleep for most of her first fifteen years. The other reason was simply that her soul was comforting to those around her, Yuuto included. Kagome knew she could easily come to love Yuuto; he was still so child-like, even though he had the youkai nature for violence and bloodshed.

Turning back to the original conversation she continued where she left off. "I've always wondered how I could travel five hundred years into the past. If I was actually going through history than what I did in the Warring States Era should have effected the present, but there was no mention of our hunt for the Shikon, or of Naraku, or of the final battle in any of the history stored at my home shrine. It would have been there, if it was anywhere in my time, since it would have pertained to the Shikon no tama. But if I was stepping outside of the time stream to travel back, maybe it won't have taken effect until after I returned for good to my home era." Here she paused in thought before continuing, "Though, with the last five years now altered history, it's kind of like a time loop and irrelevant at this point. I don't think it will make any differences when we get back. Still, why did the well stop working?"

Yuuto spoke up softly, "I have a lot of power Kagome-chan, but I'm not a Kami. Even I couldn't have rewritten the past five years without the help of the well. I think the Kami were involved in the creation of this well for some reason. I've passed through it enough times with you as shards that I know the feel of its power. When we jumped in and the final bargain was put into play I tapped into the well's power. I think that's why it stopped. I zapped up most of it's strength, leaving just enough for the portal to still exist outside of time, but not enough that it will be able to take us back to your era like it should."

She sighed, "So we're basically stuck outside of time until time actually catches up to when I went in?"

"Hai."

Kagome let her head thunk back against Naraku's chest staring up at the lights above her and the darkness beyond it. "It's going to be a long, long five hundred years."

"Tsk, tsk Ka-go-me. This is good. We will be able to get to know one another in this time." Naraku leaned over her to smile. "We are a triangle at this point. All three of us are connected to one another but we have sharp edges, more likely to attack than share with each other. But give us five hundred years to live and meld together and we will instead become similar to a circle."

Kagome groaned and reached up to rub her eyes with her free hand as the other continued to comb through Yuuto's hair. He was almost purring in her lap as he enjoyed her attention. "Either that or we'll be ready to kill each other." She muttered.

"It won't come to that Kagome-chan. I wanted the two of you as my guardians for a reason. You balance each other: one kind, one cruel; one light, one dark. Plus, I'll help to stabilize that balance. It works out perfectly."

"We'll see Yuuto-kun." Kagome gave a tired half smile. "I do have a lot of information and knowledge that both Midoriko and Magatsuhi's souls gave me before they left. I suppose this would be a good time to sort through it and learn what I can from it all."

"Exactly." Naraku purred. "And I would recommend you learn how to take your soul out of your body first. I'll even help you since I know how to do much the same thing. We will then be able to put your body into a stasis state so you won't require food or sleep in the coming five hundred years."

"Is that what you both are doing? Using your soul to manifest an actual body?"

"Hai! It's actually easier to do this here then it was before we left. For some reason we have solid bodies here. I like it!"

Kagome teasingly tugged on Yuuto's hair, "It's new to you, of course you like it."

Leaning back she closed her eyes and yawned, "I really want to sleep for twelve hours or more and put this day behind me first before I go looking through all of Midoriko's knowledge. I'll get started tomorrow."

"Excellent. And what information from Magatsuhi you cannot utilize I'm sure Yuuto and I shall put to very very good use."

"…That's rather worrying when you put it like that, Naraku."

Yuuto giggled as Naraku laughed, "Kukuku. Silly miko, of course it is."


Seventeen days later, Kagome grinned at Naraku and Yuuto; exhausted and weak, but outside of her body. It had been much harder than she thought it would be to get her soul to leave her body. Naraku and Yuuto made it look so easy; though they didn't have physical bodies to start with at this point so maybe that explained it. Still, it was good timing since she was nearly out of the food left in her pack and had run out of water one day before this. Her soul looked very similar to her natural body. The major differences being she was wearing a sky blue kimono, instead of the green kimono with sakura petals on her body, and her eyes were glowing to match the blue.

Naraku and Yuuto glanced at one another, but said nothing about the open wounds seen on her body. It would likely be centuries, if not longer, before the broken bonds her soul had weathered through would heal over. Even than they both knew she would never be the same… and consequentially neither would they.


There was no time within the portal. No day or night, simply endless light and darkness mixing and swirling together. The little miko had tried to keep track of the days, but with no need to sleep or eat, it soon became a lost cause. Still all three had been busy since they had come to be stuck here. Kagome was working through Midoriko's knowledge and life experiences and she had learned how to pass on to Naraku and Yuuto Magatsuhi's information. Yuuto had even learned how to share the information he had gathered when he was merely hundreds of shards spread all across Japan. Kagome was fascinated with the culture and history of the many youkai Yuuto had inhabited, while he was interested in the abilities that many had and if he could replicate them. It was an opportunity to experiment and gave him a way to spend his time.

At first, Naraku had chafed at being unable to complete his wish of world domination and to remove his humanity, to be fully youkai. In the beginning, he was prone to fits of rage and would verbally lash out at either the little miko or the jewel. Granted, he would never do so physically, both had great power, and he thought Kagome might still be capable of purifying him into oblivion. She also mothered the former Shikon and while Yuuto still had a youkai's harsh practicality and cruelty, she was able to temper much of it, whereas he would have enhanced it. Yuuto, if a fight did break out, would choose Kagome over him. Better not to chance it at all, and learn to compromise.

Still, he had noticed that very slowly he too had started to mellow with the constant companionship of Kagome and Yuuto. It by no means changed his nature, he was still cruel and manipulative, but… he was perhaps a little kinder to them than any other being he had ever dealt with.

A conversation with Kagome, some time ago had sparked his interest. She had idly wished to see how her former comrades were faring. Kanna had had the ability to spy on his enemies through her mirror. He was her creator, so he should be able to recreate what she was capable of. He had set to work trying to find a way to bend the energy and time stream that was moving by them so that he could see into Japan, to see what was happening now.

Finally, he worked out the method, but it would require all three of them for this to actually succeed. Now, how to get their help without them knowing what he was doing. Not that they would not help him if he simply explained what he wished to do, but… manipulations and schemes help one pass the time. 'This could be fun,' he smirked.

Naraku stood up and headed over to where Kagome was sitting in a meditative pose. Kneeling behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders and whispered into her ear, "Wake up, Ka-go-me. I wish to talk to you about something."

Slowly she came back to awareness and he watched her head turn towards him as she opened her eyes. "Naraku, I wasn't asleep and you know it! Did you have to interrupt me now? I was right in the middle of studying swordsmanship!"

"I simply need you to link your powers to mine. There is an experiment I wish to try."

Kagome crossed her arms and huffed, "At least you're asking this time! Last time you tried to just take my powers. I had a massive headache and you had burns for ages because of it."

He smirked and reached out to caress her cheek. "At least I learn, little miko. Inuyasha could not say the same."

He watched her wince at the reminder of that baka dog, but her still open wound from cutting his bond to her did not start gushing out her essence again. He had taken to occasionally saying their names to slowly desensitize her and help the wounds to start to close over as she came to terms with her loss. The one name he did not touch was the Inu Lord's, she occasionally still went catatonic when he had first tried and so he had stopped…for now.

"What is it with you and experiments, Naraku? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a scientist from one of the labs back in my era."

"Is that a yes then?"

She sighed, "Fine, what is it for this time? Last time you wanted to see if we could blend abilities. It was interesting, enlightening even," She tossed him a glare, "once we tried it with everyone in agreement to what we were doing."

He leaned over to nuzzle her cheek with his, a now favorite pastime. "It's a surprise. I simply need to borrow your ability to pass through barriers and some of your knowledge of Japan. As well as a few of Yuuto's abilities."

"You know I don't really like surprises anymore, Naraku. Not after you and Yuuto kept trying sneak attacks on me to help hone my 'situational awareness'."

"It was for your own good, Kagome-chan! You're doing much better with swords because you have a better understanding of your surroundings."

Yuuto bounced over and curled up next to Kagome laying his head in her lap. She tugged on his hair, "Well, we'll see how you like unpleasant surprises when we get back to the modern era and I drag you both out to do something."

Before Yuuto could nag her about what she was plotting, Naraku intervened. Though, he was quite proud of her growing manipulative streak and would claim all honing of it. "Since you are both here, I will start."

Kagome sighed, "Fine, but if I get another migraine, I'm ignoring you and your experiments for a long time to come."

He gave a half-smile, "Very well, but you will like this Kagome."

A skeptical look was his only answer as he reached around Kagome to touch Yuuto's shoulder, while keeping his left hand on her shoulder. They had found that if they wished to share knowledge or power their soul bodies needed to be touching one another. Closing his eyes, Naraku felt the others linking their power to his own. It was an intoxicating feeling, to have all that collective power at his disposal. If he hadn't known that both of his companion's powers could never be taken by force and absorbed into his own, he might have tried that long ago.

Shaking his head, Naraku focused. Now, to see if this would work. Slowly, he pulled the combined knowledge all three of them had on Japan's geography to create an anchor and meshed it with the framework of the mirror spell he had crafted. Next, he took Yuuto's ability to tap into the well's power and Kagome's ability to bypass barriers to also tap into the time stream beyond. Finally using his ability to create barriers he tied everything together and then separated it from them to a space on their far right. As his barrier to maintain the connections snapped into place he carefully let go of the other's power and opened his eyes.

Looking over to where natural sunlight was streaming into their little corner of frozen time, Naraku smirked. It worked. He laughed at the shocked and excited expressions on his companion's faces, as he examined the massive mirror he had created. It was easily at least 12 meters tall and just as wide. It gave a bird's eye view of all the islands of Japan. Standing up he meandered over to it and reaching out he rested a hand on the mirror. The surface rippled like it was a pool of water rather than a solid glass mirror. "Show me Edo village."

Again the surface rippled before Naraku was looking down at the village he'd requested. Turning to look at Kagome who had come up to his side along with Yuuto, he smiled, "Show me the monk and demon slayer."

He saw the tears come into her eyes before he was knocked over by Kagome. Naraku landed on his back with Kagome clinging to his chest, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I told you that you would like it, little miko."

"I do! I can see how everyone is doing now! We can watch history pass! We won't get bored anymore!"

"It does have limitations, Kagome. It will only be Japan that we will see, nothing beyond these islands. It will need to be given commands, or as you would say, programmed to show certain people or places, perhaps even events."

"I can live with those limitations! I will still be able to watch over all my old friends!" Kagome scrambled up off of him and hurried over to the mirror looking at the monk and demon slayer who also had a group of four children around them: two twin girls that looked around ten, one boy that was possibly seven, and a little one that couldn't be over four years old.

Naraku sat up and smirked as he watched Kagome and Yuuto both play with the mirror and the abilities it offered. It looked like this had worked out well; hopefully it would drive home to Kagome that she wasn't a part of their lives anymore. That she belonged to him and Yuuto. They were who she was to go to for help and companionship now, not the old inu-tachi. He would enjoy seeing how she reacted to the humans dying, it was a part of nature and she needed to come to terms with this. They still had close to four hundred and eighty years until they reached her home, but, even more so, Kagome needed to let the Inu Lord go. This would be an effective way to do so, as she watched him move on she would then have no choice but to do so herself…well, only time would tell at this point.


Yuuto was not happy; in fact, he would go so far as to say that he was miserable. He silently snarled at the scene in front of him. Ever since Naraku had created the mirror Kagome had spent much of her time in front of it. She didn't ignore them persay, but she gave them less attention. He didn't like it. At all.

Granted, at first it was fun to use the mirror, but he didn't like how much time Kagome gave to watching her friends and acquaintances. Though she mostly seemed to focus on the humans rather than the two dog demons. She even spent more time watching the fox kit than the dogs… He still didn't like it.

He would freely admit that he was a very selfish creature and he did not like his Kagome-chan focusing so much on others, it was rather maddening. He had to share her with Naraku and he knew that once they came through the well both he and Naraku would have to share her with her biological family and human friends, but he had wanted these five hundred years with her to himself. Gnashing his teeth, he admitted that would not be happening with the mirror in place. A part of him wanted to smash it to pieces, but Naraku had given him an inkling about why he had created it and Yuuto could grudgingly see his point. Still, at least she could not interact with them; that would make it much worse.

"No! Megumi don't go that way! It's not safe!" Yuuto came up to stand by Kagome, curious about why she was so agitated about the youngest child of the monk and slayer playing in the woods around Edo. As he looked over the scene, Yuuto picked up the same thing Kagome did. There was a snake youkai hiding just beyond the protective barriers around the village watching as the girl played with the other village children and all came closer and closer to the border.

Yuuto watched as Megumi stumbled outside of the barrier and the snake coiled before lunging. Kagome shouted 'NO!' and threw herself at the mirror. The ripples of both her hands hitting the reflection were large and completely obscured the sight of the girl getting eaten. Yuuto frowned, Kagome needed to get used to this. Humans die. She should know this better than most. She was still human herself, despite her immortality. Though now that they could blend their powers it could be debated that once she was back into her own body and their souls rested in hers' that some of their abilities might affect her physical state.

The ripples died down and Yuuto's jaw dropped in shock and worry. There was a glowing blue barrier surrounding the little girl and keeping the snake youkai, that was continually striking at it, from getting in. Looking over at Kagome, Yuuto felt a sinking sensation at seeing the excited look in her eyes as she seemed to focus beyond where she currently was and the blue barrier brightened.

"Stay where you are Megumi. Stay there until your parents come. I'll keep you safe." Yuuto watched as the girl looked around in confusion and tears before plopping down onto the ground. Could she hear Kagome?! This couldn't get any worse!

As he saw the monk and demon slayer running from the village, the other children having run back screaming the moment the snake youkai showed itself, they attacked the snake with all the ferocity that youkai parents would have if their children were in danger. The monk then came up to the barrier, "It's alright Megumi. You can let the barrier down now. I'm pleased that you have spiritual powers, though I wish you didn't have to activate them in this type of situation."

The girl sniffled, "Not me, Papa. Nice lady did it."

Yuuto bit back a curse as the monk and slayer looked around in curiosity. It could always get worse. Kagome smiled, through the tears in her eyes as the wounds from the monk and slayer's bonds started to ooze again. "Hello Miroku. Hello Sango. I'm pleased you are happy and doing so well."

They both startled and looked around for the owner of the sweet voice they heard on the wind. "May we see you, m'lady? We wish to thank the one who saved our youngest daughter."

A sad laugh was their answer as the barrier started to fade. Yuuto watched as Kagome's strength waned; it was too much to hold a connection open between them for very long. "I will always keep watch over you, my friends. You and your descendants, for as long as I am able. Be safe."

With her last words, Kagome removed her hands from the mirror and collapsed in front of it, crying into her hands. Yuuto rushed over and hovered over her, not sure what to do. Comfort her or berated her. Congratulate her or smash the mirror. Carefully he started to pat her on the shoulder as he looked around for Naraku. Instantly he noticed the spider standing some distance away with a black frown on his face. Their eyes crossed and Yuuto could see that he was just as displeased. But there was nothing they could do. Kagome would never let them destroy the mirror. Not anymore. Yuuto suppressed a snarl and heaved a sigh instead. This just got more complicated.


In the coming weeks, Naraku and Yuuto could only watch as Kagome went into a frenzy of activity. She tested the mirror more than ever, looking for ways to interact with the people moving through time. She focused on nothing else, ignoring them and both were moving from anger to rage at this point. If she didn't stop soon they had agreed that they would remove the mirror and damn the consequences.

But after three weeks, she suddenly left the mirror and came over to sit with them. With a groan, she rested her head in Naraku's lap and pulled Yuuto over so she could cuddle with him, "I think I've figured it out. I know what I want to do for the next four hundred plus years."

Naraku sneered down at her, "And what is that, little miko? Guard you friends through all of history, watch over their descendants so not one hair on their insignificant little heads is harmed?"

She opened an eye to look up and frown at him, "No need to be so derogatory, Naraku. That's part of it, but not all that I want to do."

He scoffed, "And you will ignore all those around you to ensure their safety will you not?"

"Just because I was distracted for a little while…."

"A little while! It was three weeks of you ignoring us Kagome-chan! Three weeks!"

Kagome looked down, startled at Yuuto's venom-laced words. "Was it really that long?"

Naraku harshly tugged on some of her hair to get her to look back up at him, "Yes. We were very close to shattering the mirror, little miko."

She gasped, "You can't do that! Than I won't be able to save the youkai!"

They both froze at her words, "What do you mean by that, Ka-go-me?"

Kagome didn't say anything for a while. She just stared off into space as she started to comb through Yuuto's hair and unwillingly he relaxed with the comforting motion. He'd missed her doing it. "I've never mentioned this, but just before the final battle I went home for a break. While I was there I decided to test a theory."

She paused, than looked up a Naraku, "While I was at my shrine I pulsed out as much of my power as I could to see if there were any youkai in the vicinity. I didn't find any, not a single trace. Then I decided to head out into the country via train towards the west. If there were any youkai left, he would have been one of them." Kagome looked down at the back of Yuuto's head and drew a deep breath, "I couldn't see his ancestral home being unprotected if he still lived, but… there was nothing, not even rubble left."

She stared at the mirror for a minute. "I tried several more times, in the north and south of Japan, but I never so much as felt a single pulse of active youkai anywhere. I felt traces here and there, even families that must have had a youkai ancestor, because there was a touch of power in their souls that resonated with mine. But in all of Japan, there was no living youkai aura, any power that lingered was faded and centuries old."

She grimaced and closed her eyes, "When I got back home, I scoured the archives at the shrine. Previously, I'd searched for information about the Shikon, but this time I looked through the history that we had after the Feudal Era." Kagome subconsciously pulled Yuuto closer as she curled into herself. "With all the history we have, I didn't find much. But what's worse is that I found mention of a Hunt that spanned decades, possibly centuries. It didn't talk about warriors, but about monks and priestesses who traveled Japan wiping away the darkness from Japan. There were no names, but it was always called The Hunt." Naraku watched as a crystal tear slid down her cheek, "The last mention was maybe a century before my time and all it said was 'Removing the taint of demons from across the land has finally been completed. There are none now left, The Hunt is done.' By the time we reach my era, youkai and true spiritual powers were thought to be a myth. They were legends of times long passed that could never have been real."

For a long time no one spoke as both Naraku and Yuuto digested the information that she had given. It made more sense now that she had been so untrained when they first battled, Naraku mused. She had been the last true priestess in her time. There were none to teach or train her. None even knew that she had the ability.

"And you want to change this, Kagome-chan? Why? Couldn't the Kami have decided that the youkai's time was done?"

Yuuto's voice was quiet and soft, but Kagome clenched her jaw. "No!" she hissed, "I refuse to believe that the youkai should be completely obliterated from history. Why would the Kami create them, let them survive for thousands of years, only to kill them all before my era?!"

"Perhaps they were not meant to survive to your time, Ka-go-me. Youkai do not change quickly and you have said that the humans both increase as a race and advance rapidly in the next several hundred years." Naraku curled his lips as if the next words offended him, though he still said them, "Perhaps it is their punishment for killing so many and so often, that they are now hunted by those they once preyed upon."

Kagome released Yuuto and sat up, shaking her head, "I don't want to see the balance of youkai and humans degraded like that. It might explain why humans are so destructive towards nature in my era. The balance is gone! I just….I just don't want the youkai to completely disappear! And, I know a lot about the history of Japan in the next five hundred years so I may as well put it to good use!"

She crossed her arms and continued mulishly, "Either way, I have the chance to change it now, and that's what I'm going to do!"

Naraku's elegant raised eyebrow spoke clearly of his skepticism and Yuuto frown conveyed his doubt. Kagome huffed, "I didn't say it would be easy, but after testing it I've found that I can consistently protect people from this side of the mirror if I focus enough and I can get them to hear me too. I can even visit some of them in their dreams if I mediate with my back touching the mirror.

"Actually, I've found that I can do a lot of things as long as I'm touching the mirror. Though," she frowned, "it's rather draining and I still haven't figured out if I can actually send my soul to visit someone on the physical plain. I'd like to do that; it would make it easier than sending cryptic messages through dreams and such. Plus I could visit with my friends!"

Naraku and Yuuto shared a look at that, before the spider smoothly intervened, "I doubt that would be a very safe option, Kagome."

"Why not?"

He gestured to her body, resting some distance away. "Your body would still be here outside of time, while your soul would be within time. You may actually sever your soul's connection to your body if you did such a thing, particularly for a long stretch of time, or many times over a short timeframe."

With Kagome looking rather mutinous, Yuuto decided both to ignore her talk of visiting her former friends and try to soften her irritation. "You might not want to be too visible when you try to change history anyways, Kagome-chan. What name would you give the youkai you interacted with? What history could you give the ruling youkai that they would be satisfied with and trust you for advise and guidance? And then, what would you do when we're back in your time and you're in your physical body again? "

She looked thoughtful now rather than angry, and so he continued to press his advantage. "It might be better for you to be like a mysterious advisor, rather than the person leading this big change. You can build up your reputation by doing little things and protecting the regular everyday youkai. The rumors will spread and by the time that you talk to one of the higher lords they will likely already know you by your reputation.

"If you give them enough time and warning the youkai lords will take care of their vassals and those who live on their lands. Especially if it's to ensure the survival of their entire race!"

Kagome gave a long sigh, "You make good points, but I think it will give weight to some of the warnings I'll want to give if I can show up physically at least a couple times in history."

Naraku slanted a glance to Yuuto who gave him a slight smirk, "We might be able to balance out the strain of sending you into time and keeping you tethered to your body as few times throughout history, Kagome. But it will likely take most of our power each time and perhaps even some of the well's power."

She beamed at them, "So that means you'll both help me?"

Naraku smirked, "I would rather not be one of only two youkai around when we return to your time."

"I second that, Kagome-chan!"

"Oh, thank you!" She tackled both of them in a hug. "If all of us work together I'm sure we can keep most of the youkai safe through the next few centuries!"

"Kukuku. And think of all the blackmail material we'll have by the end of this."

"Naraku!" Kagome punched his arm as he continued to laugh with Yuuto giggling along with him. She glared at both of them, before she finally started laughing too. The future suddenly looked much brighter and Kagome smiled as she looked over to the mirror and the view of Edo village. 'I'll keep as many of you safe as I can, this I promise!'


A special thanks to all who reviewed my first chapter. Thanks so much for the comments and encouragement! :)

Quick notes to a few reviewers...

Yoruko Rhapsodos: I might try to do another story sometime which features Kagome with a guy from Kuroko no Basket, but it will be hard to figure out which person would match her in life experience… maybe Teppei would be a good fit.

DragonSlayer2187: Thanks for the review and guess, but no Sesshomaru is not Kuroko. :)

Simplistic Practicality: Thanks so much for the review, it was very thoughtful and encouraging for me, particularly since it was my first one.

Bloodcherry: Thank you for the review, it makes me happy to see that you enjoyed it.

Please leave a review on your way out. Comments and criticism welcome as long as it isn't pointless flames.