Kagome walked home at a brisk pace, her mind consumed with the horror of a fast approaching trigonometry test. Numbers and symbols swirled through her head in nightmare patterns, never making a wit of sense. All the formulae promptly flew away free when she saw the well-house. To the casual observer, it looked no different than usual; the wind having subsided and the door firmly shut. But the latent miko could sense that something within was wrong.
She dashed inside, sick with fear. The well-house was empty, but the dulled rosary lay tangled on the dust covered floor, the ofuda crumbling and yellowed. Kagome peered down the dry well and almost someone, even some thing would come through and end her uncertainty. The well remained silent, its unseen bottom mocking her.
Trembling, she picked up the rosary, wondering if she could restore the binding spells by herself. She bolted the entrance to the well-house, knowing that she was not experienced enough to restore the seal alone. And, of course, she didn't possess the brute strength to jam a whole tree trunk into the well.
Kagome locked the doors and windows, offered a devotion to the Buddha, and hoped that anyone who might have wanted to come through the well had been deterred by the months it was sealed.
While in the process of turning on every light possible, she stumbled over Souta, who was huddled in a corner. His skin was paler than normal, his brown eyes wide and blank. He turned a tear-stained face up to his sister.
"Nee-chan, the rosary . . . I took it off . . . I'm sorry . . . I"
"Souta, you idiot! Do you know what could come through no that the well isn't sealed anymore? Of the danger you've put your family in?"
"Big brother Inuyasha will save us, like he did when the Noh mask came," he said weakly.
"Inu- that idiot will never come back, so stop mentioning it!"
"Nee-chan, he didn't get killed, did he?" whispered Souta, wiping his cheeks with his palms.
"Sheesh, he's too stubborn to die."
"Then what-"
"I don't want to talk about it! Mama will be home soon. I want you unlock the doors while I get my bow."
"Hai."
Autumn fell into winter, and winter melted into spring. Cherry blossoms smothered the world with pink softness, and still nothing came through the Bone Eater's Well. But Kagome did not ease her vigilance. She slept with a quiver at her side, and purified the well-house every other day.
It was routine day, on the cool side for late spring, the sky and pink petals blending spectacularly. What caused her to falter, to stop, to loosen her iron control for a minute Kagome would never know. She paused after the purification, leaning against the well, exhausted.
She gazed down the dry well, her breath trapped in her throat. She could go through: back across time to see Sango-chan and Kaede-bachan, Shippou-chan, and Miroku-sama. It would be so easy, her family wouldn't need to know—
She choked, sinking down to the floor, her face pressed against the rough wood. Only then did she let herself cry.
"Baka, baka, baka, baka!"
"Fuck, Kagome, I haven't even done anything yet."