Chapter 5

"C'mon, Kagome! We have to hurry. We have to go meet up with the others." Inu Yasha yelled as he slung a bag of rice-balls over his shoulder.

Kagome ran to catch up with him.

She had been braiding her hair in two pigtails as she ran.

"Where are we going? Who are 'the others?'" Kagome asked when she caught up.

Inu Yasha opened the door to the well house for Kagome as he said, "We're going to my time period. I didn't want to introduce you to the others this soon, but we don't have a choice anymore..."

Kagome stopped and stared into the well house.

"What?" Inu Yasha asked.

"Grandpa always said, 'Never go into the old well house. It is cursed and you will regret it if you go in. The demons will eat you.'"

"I think the demon's will make an exception. We... uh..."

Inu Yasha tried to think of an excuse.

"We asked their permission! Yeah!" he said and felt like patting himself on the back for his lie. (Kouga- Haha! Gay-wad!)

(WG- Do you ever shut up with the insults?)

(Kouga- I... er...)

(WG- You be quiet or I'll kick you out of my fan fictions. And you know how big a part you play in my other one.)

(Kouga- Alright...)

Kagome grinned and went over to the well. She turned and grabbed Inu Yasha's hand.

Then, they both jumped down the old well.

When they reached Inu Yasha's time, Kagome stared at the odd surroundings.

Inu Yasha walked through the forest as Kagome slowly followed him, half in a dream.

Suddenly, Inu Yasha turned around to see that Kagome had gone missing.

He frantically looked around and jumped off looking for her as he yelled, "Kagome!"

Inu Yasha halted and saw Kagome staring at the old God-tree.

He walked up to her and noticed that she was staring at the mark in the tree's trunk where he had slept those long fifty years.

"Hey." He said.

She looked up suddenly at him. She looked like she had been deep in thought.

"Oh... hey..." she said.

"You recognize it don't you." He sat down beside her and held her hand.

Kagome looked carefully at that same spot. "Mm hmm."

For a moment he stayed silent. "C'mon. Let's get going."

Kagome glanced at the old God-tree and followed Inu Yasha.

Sango and Miroku were waiting on the edge of Keade's village. They were facing away from each other and still looked vaguely peeved.

Inu Yasha walked up, Kagome staying behind his back, and looked to the odd couple.

"Why have you returned Inu Yasha?" Sango asked when she finally noticed him.

Inu Yasha started to fidget as he said, "There's been a complication..."

Kagome peered over Inu Yasha's shoulder and looked at Miroku and Sango.

Miroku and Sango both went silent and looked at the small face looking at them from over Inu Yasha's shoulder.

"I had to bring her back... I'll explain later..." Inu Yasha finished.

He took Kagome from his back and put her in front of him. She quickly ran behind him and crouched to hide herself behind his legs. Her face went deep red and she tried to use his pant leg to hide her face.

Miroku looked to Inu Yasha. "Is that..."

"Yeah..." he replied and pulled Kagome forward again.

"Kagome, this is Sango and Miroku. They're some good friends of yours." He said and indicated them both.

Then he pointed to Shippou and Kirara. "That's Kirara and Shippou."

Kagome looked at Sango and Miroku and waved. She looked hard at Miroku and then shrugged her shoulders. "Alright... I guess so..." she said.

Shippou looked up at Kagome and stared as he asked, "Are you gonna be alright, Kagome?"

Kagome's eyes went wide and Shippou backed away as if he had scared her.

Suddenly Kagome yelled, "Hi! Who are you? What's that?" she asked, pointing to his tail. She leaned foreword and grabbed.

Shippou yelped and pulled away from Kagome, cradling his tail in the process.

"I'm sorry... I didn't know it was real..." Kagome said and sat on the ground.

Shippou looked at his tail and then looked at Kagome. He walked back over and pulled a leaf from his kimono vest. "It's alright Kagome. Look! Want to see something cool?!"

He put the leaf on his head and turned into his odd, balloon-like form.

Kagome laughed and clapped her hands as she chased after him down the road.

Sango looked to Inu Yasha. "What happened? Wasn't she turned into a what... two year old?"

"Yeah, Ms. Higarashi noticed that Kagome seemed to age when something would spark her memory." He replied.

"I see. So the curse may only be temporary." Miroku said. "Then why did you bring her back just now?"

Inu yasha's face became solemn. "I found that Narraku has on of his minions in Kagome's time. He was apparently Narraku's offspring. He had been the one to kill Kagome's father."

Sango and Miroku looked at each other. She would be safer with them from the looks of it.

"Well, then what do we do for the time being?" Miroku asked.

Inu Yasha looked back up at him. "We should try to finish returning Kagome to her former state. At least then we can fight Narraku without worry."

Miroku and Sango nodded and they followed Inu Yasha in the direction Kagome and Shippou had gone.

The next morning Kagome seemed to have aged an additional year or so. She had the appearance of an eleven or twelve year old.

She was almost as tall as Inu yasha's shoulder height. Her hair was still about waist-length but seemed fuller, and she was very lanky and apparently had the start of small breasts.

Inu Yasha looked at her, caught her scent, and walked away as fast as he could when he saw her that morning.

"What's wrong with Inu?" Kagome asked and sat down by Sango.

Miroku looked over at Kagome and said, "I think I know. Just let him stay away for a little and he'll be fine."

He gave Sango a look that showed he would explain later on.

Sango started to get up to go for a walk when she noticed Kagome's height. She had become far too tall for the skirt outfit she was wearing.

She looked to Kagome as she said, "Kagome, do you want to come with me? I may have some clothes that will better fit you."

Kagome looked at her skirt and then smiled at Sango. "Alright!" Kagome jumped up as fast as she could and followed Sango to go change.

Inu Yasha walked away from Kagome as fast as he could when he caught her scent. He could smell that she was at the age she was just about to hit puberty.

This could change things up now that he thought about it. Kagome would be hitting puberty again... and he could hardly control himself when she was on her week when she was older... Now that her hormones where even more out of control, he would have an even harder time controlling himself. He had to stay away from her. It would just be too much temptation.

Inu Yasha sat on the edge of the river and stared at it blankly. His ear twitched every few seconds when he would think about Kagome's scent earlier.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Miroku came up and stood beside him.

"You can't stay near her at her present age can you?" he said.

"Yeah... It's just... you know what I mean..." Inu Yasha mumbled and tossed a stone in the river.

"I understand." Miroku replied.

Suddenly both Miroku and Inu Yasha jumped up. They had heard a scream come from the village. Only one person had this exact scream... Kagome.

Forgetting about his ordeal, Inu Yasha bolted in the direction of the scream.

When he and Miroku reached Keade's village again, they saw Sango in a fighting stance in front of Kagome. Across from her was Harukentso. Kagome was sitting on the ground shaking. She was wearing red pants and a white kimono style shirt. It was exactly like the one Kikyo used to wear.

Harukentso looked over at Inu Yasha. "So, you finally decide to join us." He said in his cool tone.

"You bastard... How?!" Inu Yasha yelled.

"Oh..." Harukentso cocked his head to the side. "You mean follow you into this time period? That is quite simple... that is... when you have the ability to manipulate time... like I do..."

"What..." Inu Yasha and the others stood restless for a moment.

"That's impossible!" Inu Yasha yelled.

"Or is it? You seem to do the same..." Harukentso said. He looked over lazily and smirked. "Now that my message is delivered... I shall be seeing you soon Inu Yasha. Goodbye."

Harukentso took one of his hands and made a symbol in the air. Suddenly, the demon disappeared from their sight.

Inu Yasha ran over to Kagome and crouched down beside her. Sango put her Boomerang-Bone over her shoulder and let out a sigh as she walked over to Miroku's side.

Kagome was still quaking on the ground.

"Are you alright Kagome?" Inu Yasha asked her.

Kagome kept staring at the spot Harukentso had been standing. Miroku and Sango looked at each other and walked away from the site. Inu Yasha needed to be alone with Kagome for a moment to comfort her. For a split second, Miroku thought about earlier with Inu Yasha and started to turn back, but Sango shook her head at him.

"He won't do anything. Not right now." She assured him.

So they left the two alone.

Inu Yasha slowly put his hand on Kagome's hands. "You alright?" he repeated.

Kagome shook her head and clenched her eyes to hide her tears. "Y...yeah... why w... wouldn't I be?" she choked.

Kagome noticed that Inu Yasha was looking at her still, so she quickly drew her knees up to her chin and pulled her hand away as she blushed.

'She's acting weird... I'm gonna find out what she meant the other night... I think that has to do with this...' Inu Yasha thought.

"Kagome... you know you can trust me... so please... What did he do to you? What happened?" Inu Yasha asked. "What I mean is... what did you mean when you said he 'hurt' you the other night..."

Kagome went wide-eyed and looked quickly at Inu Yasha. He gave her a look that showed he was there for her no matter what she said.

"When I was small... not too small... but about... I dunno how old... my daddy had that man over. He yelled at my daddy... I heard him cause I hid behind the door. He said he would kill me and then my daddy if my daddy didn't give him something... something about a jewel..." Kagome started to stare into the distance like she waas remembering every detail.

"I looked out from behind the door as the man was leaving. He saw me and stared at me for a while... then he smiled and left. The next day the man came back and hid outside. When I went outside that day he took me away... he covered my eyes and drove me somewhere. He called my daddy and said he finally had what he wanted... when he hung up... he uncovered my eyes and said we would play a game... He said that he would at least have some fun with me before he killed me for what he wanted..."

Inu Yasha stared at Kagome as she went on. He was starting to follow the story.

"Then the man said I had something in me that he wanted and had to look for it... so he said... before he cut... cut me up and got himself messy... he would do it the new way... he... told me to take off my clothes and he... he..."

Kagome started to sob uncontrollably. Inu Yasha understood what she was saying. It was as he had expected.

Inu Yasha put Kagome in his lap and stroked her hair. "It's alright... I get it... I'll get him for it..."

Kagome ignored his comfort and continued. "Later on... he took me back to my daddy at my house... My daddy figured out what the man had done and pulled out a gun... he said to give me back and that he would never get the jewel... it was called... what was it... 'the Shikon no tama'... I think... he said that only he knew where it was other than me... Then the man just disappeared and appeared again behind my daddy... he put his hand on my daddy's neck and whispered something... and... and suddenly my daddy... he...he fell down... I ran over and asked him to wake up but he wouldn't listen... he looked up at me... and he said something weird... he said, "Don't worry. I know you can protect it from him. HE will help you... the guardian of time... the white-haired guardian will find you and help you keep it from him...' Then my daddy went away..."

Inu Yasha went wide-eyed. Kagome's father had known of the Shikon jewel laying dormant in Kagome's body... and... 'the white-haired guardian'... that couldn't be irony... Kagome's father had been a guardian over the Shikon jewel that happened to be in Kagome's body... no doubt about it...

Inu Yasha looked at Kagome and she looked back at him.

"Inu?" Kagome asked.

"What?" Inu Yasha replied, still holding her in his arms.

"Are you that guy my daddy told me about? Are you the 'Guardian of Time'?"

Inu Yasha blinked. "Well... I guess I am..." he said.

"Good... because I wasn't supposed to give up until I found you..." she said.

Inu Yasha picked Kagome up and put her on his back and he started to walk after Miroku and Sango. "Yeah... well, you found me... what I still want to know is how HE knew about me..." Inu Yasha said as he walked away.

WG- Hey! What do you think? It gets really good later on. Remember this chapter when you read later ones. It has some important stuff. Well, I'll update as soon as possible. If it's not until a week or so... sorry... I have a weekend long competition coming up and won't be home for a few days followed by some other stuff...

So, until later chapters or the end of the world... whichever comes first... Bye.