Chapter Seven

Hojo walked with a lively skip and a sort of jig to his step. It was the only day of the week he and Kagome had off and he had every intention of taking her out and showing her a good time. There was a show at the cinema he wanted to see and a new Western style restaurant that had just opened, so dinner was a possibility. And then there was something that made his heart sing and his mind go blank. He wanted to kiss her, had for a long time, and last night he'd been inspired and come up with a great way to ask her. He did a high skip, a little victory dance, and began to whistle.

When the bottom few steps of the shrine came into view he increased his pace then rounded the corner and took the stairs two at a time. Once at the top he was about to knock when he saw the note. It was taped over the doorbell and had his name written on it in Kagome's neat handwriting. His heart sank without even reading it because it obviously meant she was not there, and it could possibly mean she had gone back into the mini-shrine.

Snatching it off the door, Hojo made like a bandit around the main house. He was working open the intricate origami folds as he came up to the tree he'd found her at just the week before. Glancing down he read the first few words then scanned the rest for important information on where she had gone. It said she'd gone to settle something with someone from the past, that she might be gone a few days but would come find him as soon as she returned, she hoped he could understand what she had to do but promised to come back soon.

Hot jealousy flooded his senses. He was angry at whoever it was that she felt she had to justify herself to, this person from the past that was probably also the cause of her distress the previous weekend. Looking up at the tree, he studied the arrow that was still embedded in its trunk. He should have asked her about it, and he took a moment to scold himself for not.

"Hojo?"

He whirled around at the sudden interruption in his world. Kagome's younger brother, Souta, stood there watching the older boy with awe and a twinkle of curiosity.

"Are you going to get Kagome?" The little boy seemed uneasy asking her sister's special friend but looked him straight in the eye as he asked his questions. "Mom was hoping she didn't have to go back any more, and I used to like InuYasha, but now…" The little boy's voice dwindled off and he looked down at the ground beneath his feet.

Hojo's eyes narrowed. Inuyasha? Is that his name, then? "Souta, where has Kagome gone?"

The child looked up, not quite sure if he'd said something wrong or if Hojo was just playing with him. Of course he knew where Kagome had gone off to, he'd wished several times himself that he could follow her, but it was not to be. Their Grandpa said it was a blessing for Kagome and that Souta's role in it all was to remain at home and give her a solid, happy place to come back to. Grandpa scared him and his mother sometimes, saying that Kagome needed something stronger to keep her here, to prevent her from abandoning them for the past. Hojo was now part of that as well.

"She goes into the well-shrine and down into the well." Hojo tilted his head slightly at that, Souta continued quickly. "There's a time portal there and it takes her back to the feudal ages. InuYasha is a dog demon and they are searching for the Shikon-no-Tama so that Kagome can give it to InuYasha and he can become human." The boys voice was whisper soft by the time he finished.

Hojo didn't know what to believe. It was impossible for the entire family to be crazy, especially after the week he'd spent as practically one of the family. And the child before him did not appear to be lying, what he was saying was what he'd been told. It was his tone though, when he spoke of this demon becoming human that tugged at Hojo.

"And what happens when he becomes human, Souta. What happens to Kagome?" He could feel his stomach being to sink even asking the question.

When Souta looked up again there were tears in his eyes. Hojo didn't need to know anymore. Looking up and around the yard he spotted Kagome's mother standing just outside the kitchen door. The woman was holding a note in her hand, likely one from Kagome saying something similar to what Hojo had; the woman was crying while she looked at Hojo, a silent plea in her eyes to bring her daughter back to them all.

Hojo's decision was easy; he just wondered if he would be able to use the well to follow Kagome. Souta had made it sound as though Kagome and this InuYasha were the only ones able to travel back and forth between times. As he entered the dim interior of the well shrine he cared little it if seemed crazy or if he still doubted the mechanics of it all, but he wanted Kagome and he realized he was prepared to do anything to have her. Placing both hands on the rim of the well he gazed in. The bottom did not appear but he guessed it to be about two-dozen feet deep.

He paused for moment to look at her letter again. It was two pages long and he had actually only scanned the first page in his haste to get to the mini-shrine. As he perused the second page he could sense the underlying happiness and uncertainty she felt while writing to him. Every time she mentioned their time together this past week her graceful penmanship seemed to glow and the words almost rhymed. And then there were her paragraphs on what she must do; of the people she owed her time to and the friendships she could not abandon. Though not as happy as other mentions, she did not seem too despondent, only uncertain yet determined. It was the few lines that referred to one individual in particular, the one he assumed must be InuYasha, where the pain and torment he'd felt in her the previous weekend seemed also to be in the writing of her letter. He hated it.

She'd signed it 'With Love'. Hojo stared at the words, not sure if she meant it or if it was just a common conclusion. He decided it wouldn't matter anyways if he couldn't get through the well. Looking down into the pit again, he carefully refolded the letter and stuck it into a pocket. With a final steadying breath, he hefted a leg up and over the rim, plunging into darkness.