(A/n: I would like to thank Tiffy and KukuluAoki for kindly reviewing my fic. It was really encouraging and I dedicate this chapter to you guys! I love you)

Disclaimer: Bite me…

Love that Found a Way

The crew set up for camp that night. Miroku and Sango immediately

fell to sleep, but Inuyasha was part demon so he liked to stay up a

little later. Kagome had taken a nice nap in the middle of the day so

she wasn't ready to go to bed either. The two stayed up and talked

quietly by the fire for awhile. After some normal conversation,

Kagome's curiosity got the better of her.

"Inuyasha, why can only you pass through the well?" He sucked in a

breath. That was a good question.

"Uh, I guess it's because my dad could." Inuyasha furrowed his

eyebrows in concentration. Kagome wondered how his dad could, but

decided to hear Inuyasha out. He sighed "Are you in the mood to hear

a long story?"

"I'm not going anywhere." Kagome smiled at Inuyasha's form flickering

in the firelight. The darkness around them was held at bay by the

light of a small flickering flame that illuminated their personal

world, secluding them from the world enveloped in the night. As

Inuyasha began to tell the story, Kagome found herself being sucked

into the world of Hitomi and Inutaishou. Inuyasha smiled. "This is a

story that my mother told me when I was small." His expression became

wistful and his eyes smiled at the memory before he began his

narrative:

The Lord of the West was betrothed to the lady of the East's

daughter. He was very young, and liked to wander aimlessly around his

territory, mostly helping humans. One day he stumbled upon the well

and happened to be thirsty. He didn't see a bucket to draw water from

the well, so he decided to just jump in, take a drink, and jump back

out. To his surprise, there wasn't any water in the well and jumped

back out. When he jumped back out, to his great surprise, he wasn't

where he started at…

"What the fuck?" a handsome demon asked, looking around with a

befuddled expression creasing his face. He was in an old shrine with

cobwebs littering every corner and crossbeam. He carefully exited and

took in the scenery around him. The only thing he could recognize was

a single tree, and it was much larger than it was when he saw it only

a moment ago.

"Can I help you?" a pretty woman asked curiously. The youkai looked

at her, mildly surprised that he hadn't smelled her a while ago. His

curiosity was only heightened by the strange way in which the girl

was clothed. Though he was curious as to where he was, he didn't feel

threatened; therefore, opted for the friendly approach.

"Yes, what's your name?" they looked at each other for a second

before she spoke.

"Hitomi" she said, looking at the youkai strangely "and you?"

"My name is Inutaishou, I am the demon Lord of the West." The small

woman's laughter rang up through the old tree and rustled the leaves

void of a breeze. Inutaishou was surprised by the reaction and asked

her why she was laughing. She smiled and responded with a chuckle.

"There haven't been demon Lords since the Sengoku Jidai." He smiled

and breathed in the air around him that did smell dramatically

different than that of the air he was used to.

"So I traveled through time, huh?" he questioned the air. Hitomi

tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows.

"You're kidding me, right?" Inutaishou smiled down at the small

woman.

"I wish I were." Hitomi was a small woman, in her mid-twenties, and

she worked at the shrine that the well was owned by. She had jet

black hair that fell down past her cheekbone and angled up in the

back. Her dainty hands with long dark nails accented her slender form

and dark eyelashes rimming brown almond-shaped eyes. There was

something in those almond-shaped eyes that made Inutaishou look

twice. He didn't know what it was, but the demeanor of authority

hanging about this tiny woman intrigued him.

"Well, if you don't have a place to stay, you could stay with me in

my quarters. I just live right here at the shrine." She offered. He

smiled down at her.

"Thank you, that would be wonderful." Hitomi led him by the hand to a

small apartment attached onto a remote corner of the larger

shrine-house.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Hitomi asked politely. Inutaishou

remembered the reason he had jumped in the well in the first place

and accepted the offer.

"So, where did you, uh, travel through time?" Hitomi asked

skeptically, though she was also puzzled by Inutaishou's clothing as

well as his ears.

"I came through a well. I was walking through a break in the forest

and realized that I was thirsty when I spotted a well in the middle

of a clearing. There wasn't a bucket anywhere around so I jumped in.

When I found that there wasn't any water, I jumped back out and I was

in a room that happened to be a small shrine on this property." He

took a sip of his water freshly set before him. "I must say that I am

thoroughly confused. The only conclusion I could come up with was

that the well had some power over time." Hitomi smiled at him as she

took a place across the small grey tabletop from the youkai.

"Where did you come from? I mean, what was life like over there, or

back then, whatever? Where you in love? Why was a powerful Lord

walking through such an unnoted clearing?" Inutaishou was amused at

all of the questions, so he decided to ask one of his own.

"What makes you think that the clearing wasn't in my royal garden?"

He challenged with a raise of an eyebrow. Hitomi noticed that his

eyes were a golden amber color. How beautiful.

"Well, if it had been in your garden then you or somebody else would

have noticed, would they not have?" She questioned sensibly. For some

reason, she couldn't keep her eyes off of his. He nodded his approval

at the quick answer and answered her earlier ones.

"The time I come from is full of oppressed humans at the mercy of

wandering bandits, youkai, and ruthless power-seeking humans. Some

who have power choose to use it correctly, but not many; and no, I

was not in love." He took another sip from the taupe glass that was

fast losing its substance.

"You didn't answer one of my questions." Hitomi took her turn to

raise her eyebrow bordering her pretty almond shaped eyes.

"You're quicker than you first appear to be." Inutaishou sighed.

Hitomi shot him a look.

"As are you, just answer the question, were you in love?"

"I was betrothed to be married in a month's time to the Lady of the

East's daughter." Inutaishou avoided her eyes as he said this.

"But were you in love?" Hitomi persisted gently. Inutaishou looked

directly in the almond shaped eyes that held a fire he had never seen

in any human before, let alone human woman, and answered plainly.

"No," Inutaishou stared into her eyes "I've never felt love before,

until now." Hitomi was a bit taken aback by this, but something about

this youkai struck her intriguing, gentle, and…loving.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The pair spent two months together. Everyday Inutaishou would help

Hitomi with her work. One never got tiered of the other and they grew

to love each other in the time that they spent together. Inutaishou

and Hitomi were cuddling on her couch watching a movie and one of

those charity commercials came on about helping oppressed children.

Hitomi propped up her elbows on Inutaishou's chest and furrowed her

eyebrows. He kissed her quickly on the lips and inquired her intense

expression.

"Well," she looked past him as a tear collected in the corner of her

eye. The beautiful eyes he had come to love so much. "Maybe you

should go back for a while." Inutaishou was shocked by the suggestion

and his face became creased with thought.

"Why?" He questioned seriously. In the short time he had known her,

he had come to respect her thoughts, opinions, and instincts.

"Because I'm not sure if the feudal times can live without you." She

answered seriously.

"What if I can't live without you, Hitomi?" He stroked her hair

affectionately. She laid her head on his chest and started sobbing.

"Nor I you, but you were one of the only decent lords holding

everything together. Go and fulfill your duties and retain your

position of demon Lord, for the good of the people."

"But, I don't want anyone else but you." Inutaishou protested.

"Then come and get me once your duties are fulfilled." Hitomi paused

as she considered her next words. "Take me now and I'll be yours

forever." Inutaishou considered this for a moment, but only a moment,

and made Hitomi his undisputable soul mate for life. Inutaishou went

through the well the next day and made his way back to his castle. It

was deserted as usual, so he made his way to the castle in the East.

When he got there, he was surprised to find that he didn't know

anyone there. He asked where his wife to be was and they asked who he

was. When he told them, they told him that whom he was asking for had

been killed by demons, but he could marry a different daughter for a

belated joining of kingdoms.

'It's only a month late.' He thought, irritated. Inutaishou accepted

anyway and took a youkai female to his castle and protected her and

his new son, Sesshoumaru, for eight long years. Finally, he took

Sesshoumaru and slipped out into the night, leaving his wife with the

intent to return the next day with Hitomi, for he could bear it no

longer. Inutaishou and Sesshoumaru emerged from the well on the other

side by daybreak. Sesshoumaru was protesting and Hitomi heard the

commotion on the other side of the well and ran out to see if it was

her dear Inutaishou. When she saw him and his son standing in front

of the shrine shoe couldn't contain her joy she started weeping.

"I've come to take you away." He whispered in her ear. She hugged him

tightly.

"I knew you would." She smiled up at him as he kissed her deeply. He

took her through the well after having lunch at her place.

Sesshoumaru refused to speak throughout the entire thing and to

Hitomi at any time after that the rest of their lives. When they

returned to the castle that afternoon, Sesshoumaru's mother was gone.

No one really paid much head, except for Sesshoumaru. He usually

chose to stay secluded from the family, especially when the young

hanyou was born out of Hitomi nine months after their return from her

world. Hitomi and Inutaishou's love crossed worlds, time, species,

and life. To this day, when one looks into the other's eyes, they

fall in love all over again.

Inuyasha's narrative died down and they lapsed into silence. Kagome

sighed and leaned into Inuyasha's chest as the fire died. Darkness

enveloped them and they were taken out of the world of Hitomi's and

Inutaishou's love, and brought back to their own.

"That was beautiful." Kagome said looking into Inuyasha's amber

eyes.

"So was my mother." Inuyasha looked down into Kagome's brown eyes as

they closed and she slipped off to dream. Inuyasha fell to sleep

stroking

Kagome's dark hair.Their dreams mingled together in the darkness

as their steady breathing blended in with the rhythmic pulse of the

night.

(A/n: Wow, that one was long! It took me until 5:30 in the morning to

finish this one so you better like it! Make like a cow and review!)

*Mwah*

mumu