Chapter One
A/N: This chapter mainly focuses on Kagome, but there will be chapters focusing on Inu-Yasha, eventually. ^_~
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha or any of Rumiko Takahashi's characters.
'Just our luck…' thought Kagome as she stared glumly at the dreary landscape outside the window of the moving truck. 'Moving day comes and it just HAPPENS to be on the only rainy day we've had this year!'
The black-haired school girl wasn't in the best of moods today...and who could blame her? Three hours of sitting wedged in between Grandpa, who smelled strongly of sake and last night's fried noodles, and Souta, who had been playing his Game Boy ever since the Higurashi's had left their old house a few hours ago.
"So, mom…why IS our new neighborhood called Sengoku Jidai anyway?" Kagome asked. She hoped her own voice would drown out the sound of Souta's annoying Game Boy music.
"Well, sweetie...the houses are designed to look like they did during the Feudal Era, so that people who visit the neighborhood would get an idea of what the houses looked like back then…" said Mrs. Higurashi, who was driving the giant Penske truck, filled with the Higurashi's furniture and household items, Grandpa's useless ancient artifacts, Kagome's school desk, and box upon box of Souta's toys.
"Does that mean...we have to DRESS like they did back then too, mom?!"
"Well...most of the neighborhood residents dress in kimonos to maintain the "ancient" feeling…" Mrs. Higurashi said, while still keeping her eyes on the road.
Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Why couldn't Kikyou have lived in a NORMAL neighborhood?! Why do WE have to inherit her house?!"
"Kagome-chan! You shouldn't ask such questions…you already know we're Kikyou's only living relatives! Her sister Kaede passed away also, shortly after Kikyou died."
That certainly didn't improve Kagome's mood. Kagome had always thought of Kikyou as a "wicked stepsister," like in the fairy tales she read when she was little. Kagome had only met her once, and although she had tried to be friendly, Kikyou didn't seem to like her at all.
What had happened was that Mrs. Higurashi had divorced Kagome's father five years ago, after learning that he had ANOTHER daughter. And that daughter's name was Kikyou.
Kikyou's mother was a sickly woman, and after she died, Mr. Higurashi had to raise his daughter alone...but unfortunately, Mr. Higurashi died in a car accident on his way home from work one day, and Kikyou was forced to take care of herself and her younger sister Kaede.
One day, Kikyou was in her back yard hanging clothes on the clothesline, when she was stabbed to death. By the time the police came, Kikyou was dead and her murderer was long gone. Kaede had already died a short while before Kikyou did, and Kikyou's murderer was never found.
'They must have had really bad luck…' thought Kagome. 'The whole family died within five short years!'
Kagome shuddered. And now it was her family who was going to live in their house.
"We're here!" Souta's voice broke through Kagome's thoughts, making her jump slightly.
As Mrs. Higurashi slowly turned the truck into the cobblestone driveway, Kagome examined the house. It definitely looked like it could fit right into Ancient Japan. A low rooftop curved upward at the bottom, giving it an artistic look. Sliding panel doors, and even a small stream of water running through the back yard added to the beauty. And the old well in the back yard made the house look centuries old.
'You can't even tell some one died here…' Kagome thought to herself, staring wide-eyed at her new house.
The truck stopped moving and Kagome jumped out of the car, thankful that she didn't have to sit next to Souta and Grandpa anymore.
"Why don't you two have a look around while Grandpa and I unload the truck?" Mrs. Higurashi said.
Souta ran towards the back yard to examine the stream and the old well, as Kagome looked at the other houses around her.
"They all look pretty much the same…" Kagome thought aloud.
All the houses had the same design, and the only thing that made them different from each other was the different colors they were painted. Some of the houses were red in color (as was her own house), some were beige, and some were gray.
Kagome looked at the beige house on the right side of her own house. She wondered what her neighbors would be like...she hoped they were friendly.
Kagome stepped closer to the beige house and peeked through the window, hoping someone was home. The house was pretty dark, and there was no car in the driveway.
"That's strange..." Kagome said, peering into the house. "It looks like nobody's home, but it's only 9:00 in the morning!"
Just as she was about to go back to her own house, a young man came walking towards her from his backyard...at least she thought it was a man. He had a long, tangled, silver mane...and were those dog-ears on his head?!
Kagome rubbed her eyes. 'I must be imagining things.'
"Whadd'ya want?!" growled the man, walking towards Kagome.
Kagome just stared at him wide-eyed. She'd never seen a person that looked like THIS before...golden eyes glared back at her suspiciously. Up close, she noticed that the guy looked about her age. His hair was an odd silver-white color, and Kagome guessed that he must have dyed it. And on his head? Indeed there were two fuzzy white dog-ears. They wiggled back and forth impatiently.
"Those ears..." Kagome gasped, looking at the dog-ears. "Are they…real??"
This seemed to irritate the man even more.
"Of course they're real, you stupid girl! And I'd APPRECIATE it if you didn't touch them!"
Too late. Kagome couldn't help herself. She'd never seen a person with dog ears! She wondered if the guy had gotten them surgically implanted in his head or something. She wiggled the ears back and forth, and rubbed them.
The man looked surprised for a second, but then his face turned into a grumpy scowl again. His ears wiggled back and forth rapidly.
Kagome giggled. 'I think I've tormented the poor guy enough,' she thought. 'I should really introduce myself!'
"I'm Higurashi Kagome!" she exclaimed, pulling back her hands from his ears. "I just moved in next door!"
The man stared at her, as if he had only just noticed her a second ago. His mouth hung wide-open as he examined her, making Kagome feel a bit self-conscious. A mix of sadness and disbelief shone in the man's golden eyes. 'What's wrong with him?' Kagome wondered
"K-kikyou?!"
"Kikyou? Didn't I just say my name was Kagome?! Ugh!" Kagome had a feeling that this man just might've been Kikyou's boyfriend at one time.
"B-but you look just like her!"
"I'm kind of related to her, okay?!" Kagome hated it when people called her Kikyou. True, the two girls DID look similar, considering they shared the same father, but Kagome hated being mistaken for someone else.
"Talk about rude!" Kagome rambled on. "You could AT LEAST introduce yourself instead of gawking at me like an idiot!"
This seemed to get the man's attention. His expression turned from bewilderment to a scowl once again.
"FEH! I'm Inu-Yasha, okay?! There! I've introduced myself! And it was you who was staring at me like an idiot a just few minutes ago, if I remember correctly, wench!"
"So are the other people around here as "friendly" as you?" Kagome asked, glaring at Inu-Yasha.
"Hmph! If you think I'M unfriendly, you should try getting to know my brother!" Inu-Yasha said, pointing at gray-colored house across the street from Kagome.
"Well ANYONE'S more friendly than you I'm sure!" Kagome replied.
"Not Sesshoumaru! You'll be lucky if he doesn't kill you. He hates humans!" Inu-Yasha spat as he glared scornfully at Sesshoumaru's house.
"Humans?" Kagome was getting very confused. "What do you mean? We're all humans!"
"Damnit, wench! Didn't you know that some of us here are youkai?! Gah…you're even denser than I thought you were…"
"Y-youkai? Get real!" Kagome wouldn't let Inu-Yasha make a fool out of her. Just who did he think he was? Did he really think she was stupid enough to believe that?
"Of course we're youkai! Didn't you know that there were tons of demons in the Feudal Era?" Inu-Yasha talked as if everyone else in the world knew that except Kagome.
"Well...there are legends about that, but I didn't know they were true! And even if they ARE true, there's no way a demon could be here! The Feudal Era was such a long time ago, there's no way you could've survived that long!" Kagome looked closely at Inu-Yasha, and secretly noted that he did fit the description of the demons in the legends. 'Could he be telling the truth?'
"You really are clueless, aren't you, wench?! Don't you know that Kikyou died guarding the well in your backyard? It's a time portal! If you jump through the well, you'll find yourself in the Feudal Era."
"Y-you're kidding, right?" Kagome had trouble taking all this in at once. 'This is WAY too weird to be true.'
"All of the people in this neighborhood are from the real Sengoku Jidai, although you're probably the only one who knows about it. Some of us came through the well, curious to see what this new world was like. We thought there would be demons here as well, but we were mistaken. We decided to stay in this new world; we had no idea it was entirely populated by humans. Before we realized our mistake, Kikyou, who was a priestess in our time, had sealed off the Bone Eater's Well with her powers to prevent any more youkai from coming into this world. When we told Kikyou that we wanted to go back to our own time, she said she wouldn't be able to break the seal until 50 years had passed. Apparentely, some idiot got impatient and thought they could break the seal themselves, so they killed Kikyou and tried to break the seal. Didn't work, obviously, so now we're stuck here."
"Kikyou's…a MIKO from the Feudal Era?! I thought she was my stepsister!" Kagome felt like she was going to faint.
"Stepsister?! Where'd ya hear that?"
"My dad told me…"
"Well that's probably 'cuz your dad didn't want you to know that his other wife was from the Feudal Era…" Inu-Yasha snorted.
"S-she WAS?! So is he not Kikyou's REAL father, then?!"
"Nope. Kikyou's real father never came to the Modern Day. He was killed by a demon…I witnessed it."
"So that means…"
"Yep. Kikyou's from the Feudal Era too."
"Then why do I look like Kikyou?! I'm not…I'm not from the Feudal Era too, am I?!"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Inu-Yasha was silent for a couple minutes while he thought about it. "Maybe…just maybe…you're her reincarnation. Even though Kikyou came through the well and died here, she's actually from a whole different time period…meaning you COULD be her reincarnation!"
"N-no way…" Kagome really felt close to fainting now. She was starting to feel dizzy. "I must be dreaming…this can't be real!"
"Feh! Even if you ARE Kikyou's reincarnation, you don't look half as strong as she was! And stop askin' me questions, girl! I'm tired of watchin' you look like you're gonna faint or somethin'. Go back to your house and sit down or whatever," Inu-Yasha started to turn towards his house, but he stopped for a second and turned back to Kagome. "By the way, welcome to the neighborhood...I guess." With that, he grunted and stepped into his house.
Kagome stood outside at the same spot she had been for the past ten minutes. Her heart had practically stopped beating, she was sure of it. She couldn't feel her legs. So she just stood there trying to register all of the information.
"I'm Kikyou's reincarnation?! And…no way…I'm living in a neighborhood of people from the Feudal Era?!"
A/N: Sorry there wasn't much humor in this chapter! It was mostly for explaining exactly what was going on. ^_^; But there will be humor in the next chapter! BY THE WAY, I'll really try to get the next chapter up by Saturday, but if I don't, then I'll post the next chapter in about three weeks. I'm going to Singapore (and I'm stopping in Japan! ^^) for Chinese New Year and my 14th Birthday. Wish me luck! It's a 21-hour flight, AND I have to sit in economy class seats! *dies* Anyways, PLEASE review my fic! Next chapter: Kagome introduces herself to various neighbors...and finds out that there ARE people even more unfriendly than Inu-Yasha.