The Fickle Well
She could see the sun shining above her, welcoming her into the land of the past. Kagome reached up her hand to grip the edge of the wooden well. She always hated the climb up from the bottom, especially since she was always carrying her ultra-stuffed pack with her. She'd considered travelling light a few times, but she usually found that most of what she brought with her came in handy. So the large pack remained.
Just as she was about to grip the well with her other hand, she felt something fuzzy grab at her hand and yank. The surprise caused her to jump a bit, and she lost her grip.
"Kagome!" She heard somebody yell as she fell back down through the well.
"Ow," she said, looking up at the familiar ceiling of her family's shrine. That wasn't fair. She'd have to get out and do it all over again. Not for the first time, Kagome wished that there was an easier way to go back and forth between the times without jumping into wells.
Sighing, she made her way up the well and into the temple. She felt like an idiot as she turned around and jumped right back in. As she was jumping, she thought she heard somebody calling her name, but it was too late for her to turn back. She couldn't help but smile. She had people waiting for her on both sides.
She landed, once again, in Sengoku Jidai. This time when she looked up, she saw Shippo staring down at her with a horrified look on his face.
"I'm sorry, Kagome! I was only trying to help you!"
Kagome grinned up at him to show she wasn't mad, "It's okay, Shippo!"
She didn't have a chance to hear his response as a red streak jumped over him and went into the well. Kagome turned and saw, as expected, Inuyasha standing next to her, his arms crossed and an impatient look on his face.
"Hello, Inuyasha!" She said cheerfully.
"What took you so long?" He demanded.
She waved her hand at him, "Oh, you know. School."
"Keh!" He said, turning his head sharply. Then he picked her up and jumped out of the well. Once on the ground, he carefully put her down. Shippo ran over to her and hugged her leg.
"Was school hard?" The little fox asked.
Kagome nodded, "Because I've been missing so much, it's hard to keep up."
"You shouldn't bother in the first place. This time's more important than yours," Inuyasha said grumpily.
Shippo grinned, "Inuyasha's been sulking the entire time you were gone. He didn't want to come down out of his tree until you came back."
Inuyasha turned to Shippo, growling, "Shut up!" He raised a fist and made a move towards the little demon.
Kagome moved between them and said in a warning voice, "Inuyasha..."
Inuyasha backed off, his eyes wide. Then he snorted and turned away, folding his arms.
Kagome tried to keep from giggling at him. She was in such a good mood. School was hard, but she had done well on her last exam. Plus, she always enjoyed coming to this time and being with her friends. Even Inuyasha. She was about to walk away to see Sango and Miroku when she heard a voice come from the well. She stopped in shock.
"Hello? Higurashi-san?"
She dashed back to the well and peered in, Inuyasha beside her.
"Hojo-kun??" Kagome's eyes widened.
Hojo-kun was looking around at the well and then looked up at Kagome and Inuyasha. Without another word, he climbed up and out of the well, turning to face Kagome.
"I was coming to give you a present, Higurashi-san, when I saw you fall into the well. I went in to help you..." he trailed off as he looked around at his surroundings.
"Kagome, who's this?" Inuyasha growled.
Kagome was speechless. It was impossible for Hojo-kun to go through the well. Only she and Inuyasha could. He should have jumped in and just hit the bottom of it in her own time. Why did he end up here? As she was thinking, Shippo jumped up on her shoulder to get a better look at the newcomer. Hojo-kun looked at the fox for a few seconds. Then he smiled.
"He's cute! Is he your pet, Higurashi-san?"
Shippo nearly fell off of Kagome's shoulder. "I'm not her pet!" He yelled at the boy.
"Hojo-kun," Kagome cut off the demon before he could get worked up, "you...er...shouldn't be here."
Beside her, Inuyasha grunted in agreement, "I don't know who you are, kid, but you're in the wrong time." Without another word, Inuyasha shoved Hojo-kun back into the well.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, and looked over the edge. She was surprised to see her classmate sitting at the bottom, rubbing his back. He didn't go through?
She turned to Inuyasha, who looked at her guiltily.
"Kagome, you did say..." He tried to explain, but Kagome cut him off.
"Sit!" She yelled. Inuyasha fell down to the ground and snarled. Turning back to the well, Kagome leaned over and called out, "Hojo-kun! I'll help you back out, and then we'll go somewhere to discuss some things, okay?"
******
Inuyasha sat in the corner away from everybody else. Sango and Miroku were staring at the boy's strange clothes, and Kagome was settling down beside him. Inuyasha didn't understand why Kagome had sat him. After all, she had said that "Hojo-kun" needed to go back to his own time. As Inuyasha thought again, though, he realized he was just annoyed at the boy. Inuyasha didn't like the fact that he had been able to come through the well, even though he sensed no power from him. Plus the fact that Kagome seemed so familiar with him. Inuyasha stared at the boy with a suspicious look.
"My, Higurashi-san! This seems just like Sengoku Jidai we were studying about in school," Hojo looked around, stopping when he got to Inuyasha. He smiled nervously. "Though I don't remember learning about people with dog ears."
Kagome cleared her throat, "Hojo-kun, I don't quite know how to explain everything to you..."
"Oh! Your present!" Hojo reached into the bag he had and pulled out a wrapped gift. He handed it to Kagome. As she opened it, he explained, "Your grandfather told me you were sick with cytomegalovirus. I did some research and found that some people believe that certain herbs will help you to regain your energy. So I bought this for you. Though...if you do have cytomegalovirus, should you really be running around in this time?"
Kagome laughed nervously while looking at the bottle he'd given her, "I'm fine, Hojo-kun. Thank you."
Inuyasha tried to keep from grinning. There's no way Kagome could like an idiot like him. He was too dense. Inuyasha paused for a second when he began to wonder why he cared so much if Kagome liked the boy.
He didn't have much time to mull it over, though, as Kaede walked in with Shippo a moment later. Kaede looked at Hojo and sighed.
"I don't know what happened," she said. "Though it's apparent to me that the well has been cursed."
Kagome gasped and looked up at her in shock, "Does that mean I can't get back to my time?"
Kaede nodded, "I've tried everything, but the well seems to have been sealed."
"Kaede-sama," Miroku said, "How is it that he was able to come through, then, without any magic abilities?"
Kaede closed her eyes as though thinking, "I don't know."
Inuyasha noticed that Kagome wasn't paying attention. Instead, she was looking down at the bottle of medicine that Hojo had given her.
"Kagome..." Inuyasha said quietly.
She opened the bottle and poured the medicine into her hand. There were many pills, but there was also a glittering shard among them. Everybody looked on in surprise.
"It's a Shikon shard," Kagome said, without really needing to.