Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. InuYasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro, Shueisha, Viz Media, and Shounen. No profit or money of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.

Existential Plight
Chapter Four, part II: The Cracks of Time

"But everyone disappears,
no matter who loves them."

Kagome clutched at her baggy shirt, dirty from a day's work in Jinenji's garden, feeling more weariness than normal. The news that Inuyasha and Shippou had brought back from the Ningekai to her were things she refused to believe. She would not believe it, not until she saw and experienced it for herself. She could not help it; thoughts of seeing her family again had kept her going for all those centuries, and now...

"Kagome-sama," the young ruler of Reikai—whose face so closely resembled the one she had not forgotten even after all the centuries—spoke through the computer screen. Inuyasha and Shippou had returned with it, unable to explain all the details of what was going on to her. "I cannot apologize enough for what I have had a hand in dealing you. First, I reinforced the barrier, keeping you locked away here. And now I am forced to inform you that you do not exist in this time line.

"What Inuyasha-sama has told you is correct: your family does live and exist in Tokyo. Your grandfather, mother and brother live normal lives. Your father still died in a car accident. The catch is that the well does not exist, you were never born into the Higurashi family, everything dealing with the Shikon no Tama does not exist."

Kagome swayed and gripped the arm of a nearby chair to stay upright, yet KoEnma continued on, a grim look on his face. "There is still a tragic story between Inuyasha and Kikyou, Midoriko died without losing her soul... There can only be one person existing in the same time line, so unfortunately, you three and Jinenji have made it into this one while retaining your memories from the one you were born into. Had any of your other allies had managed to live this long too, they would have the same problem."

Shippou and Inuyasha watched Kagome with worried eyes. Compared to how they had reacted to the news, she was taking everything far too calmly. It was unnerving, even to KoEnma who had paused to wait for her reaction. Everyone could tell he was sweating in nervousness as the sounds of furious sucking echoed throughout the room.

Kagome stood, her eyes clenched shut and with a death grip on the chair, as if it was her one anchor to the world.

"Kagome-chan?" Shippou ventured, drawing a deep breath from her. Inuyasha flattened his ears to his skull in preparation for her yelling.

"And just," she said through clenched teeth, "how do you know this if we're from a 'different time line'?"

KoEnma gulped and tugged at his collar. "Well, uh, this is Reikai, and... Uh... We have records on all the time lines that were, are and are to be."

Inuyasha and Shippou were sure they heard the wood of the chair splinter from her tightened grip. "I don't care! I still want to go—they're my family still! If they could sense something familiar about Inuyasha, then they're sure to with me!"

She was near tears and stubborn enough to not listen to any of their warnings or reasons. But Inuyasha could see beneath that—to something similar to his much younger self: a part of her that was desperate to prove she still had a family. Only it was worse than his old desire. His family was dead; she did not exist in hers.

He crossed his arms and turned his head away. "Let it go. She's a stubborn bitch who isn't going to get it through her thick skull until she sees it herself."

"Osuwari," she muttered, though he could tell how thankful she was for his words.

KoEnma sighed and hung his head. "All right then, Kagome-sama. I really have no right to keep you from the Ningenkai anyway. I would like for some of my old team to show you around while you're in Ningenkai Japan."

"Keep an eye on her, you mean." Shippou snorted.

"Yes, that too," KoEnma quipped. "But only for this visit, of course."

Kagome sighed. "That's fine. I'd like to start heading out. It's about three days from here, right?"

Inuyasha rolled his shoulders. "Yeah, if we travel our old way... We'll drop this off with your people, binky-brain." He snapped the computer shut on the sputtering god and tossed it to Shippou. "Keep up, runt."

Three days later found Kagome sitting near the Goshinboku on the shrine she grew up at. Her head was bowed in what appeared to be reverence, but Shippou knew better. From his spot at her side, he knew it was to hide the tears she did not want to shed. She knew what she would find, she had been warned, but in typical Kagome fashion, she had demanded to come to the shrine anyway.

Where she had expected to find the well there had been only storage shelves and boxes. The Goshinboku bore no sign of Inuyasha's enchanted sleep, as they had figured. The shrine that had been famous for its legend of the Shikon no Tama did not even sell keychain replicas of it now. All of it was easy enough to brush off, even for Kagome, as they were just things and fads. Things and fads came and went and disappeared all the time.

Yet when her family ignored her presence and treated her like a normal visitor, even Shippou's heart broke for her. He could recall the love she would speak about her brother with, and the meals her mother cooked for them from time-to-time. Now that he was finally able to meet the family she had always talked about, they did not know her. Her grandfather gave them incense to 'burn off their youkai aura' without a single spark of recognition. Her brother had walked by, sparing them only a glance and a greeting. Most heartbreaking of all, her mother only smiled and apologized for her father-in-law.

"It really is my fault, ne?" she asked with a soft voice. "When Inuyasha said this future had been created by a Shikon wish, I wanted to believe it had been another part of Naraku's wish... But I know now it was my wish. I asked that the Shikon disappear forever... I created all of this."

Shippou pulled Kagome into his embrace, which caused her to end up sprawled across his lap. "Don't blame yourself, Kagome-chan! You destroyed a great evil and put an end to the Shikon's cycle of tragedy. You did nothing wrong!"

He could feel her tears soak through his illusion and shirt. "Everyone says that, yet all this happened. I don't exist!"

"Yet I'm holding you right now and we're breathing the same air," he spoke, petting Kagome's hair in much the same way she used to pet his tail. "You're just not a Higurashi anymore, nor do we have a legend. Other people get along just fine without either. You're Kagome—what more could you want?"

She was quiet for a long while as she tried to calm down. Shippou was only a little better at comforting women than Inuyasha, but in this case, he had no clue as to what to do. He was sure that he had said the wrong things, but it was in the past now.

"I wish I had been more specific," she muttered at great length, her soft tone further muffled by his shirt.

"C'mon, let's go get Inuyasha and meet up with your watchdogs," he said, detaching himself from her with an ease from his licentious early years. He held out his hand, pulling her to his side when she took it. Let everyone think what they would about their relationship, but providing her with proof of his presence was all he could give her at that point.