Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha or Barenaked Ladies, but if I did, I would certainly share with you.
Chapter One
The bravest thing I've ever done, was to run away and hide
But not this time, not this time
The weakest thing I've ever done, was to stay right by your side
Just like this time, and every time
"Break Your Heart"-Barenaked Ladies
Kagome was standing in front of the well, something she hadn't done in ten years. It was weird, being in front of it again, and the memories came surging back. She wasn't proud of her last remembrances of Inu Yasha. She'd acted like an idiot and then hid in the modern world, hiding from her foolishness and trying to forget the past.
But she couldn't. Her decision would haunt her forever.
I need to make it Ok again, she thought to herself as she slid the door open to the well house and gazed down into the dusty depths. She hoped that even without the Shinkon Jewel that she could still manage to step through time.
The young woman climbed up onto the edge and crossed her fingers, shut her eyes tight, and held her breath before leaping into the hole. For a moment she hung suspended in the air and she thought something had gone wrong. Then the familiar rush and light engulfed her and she landed hard on her knees.
She looked up at the sky, so much cleaner and bluer now and she knew she was back. Will Inu Yasha know I'm here and come for me? Kagome wondered. She paused for a few seconds but nothing happened. With a sigh she stood and brushed the dirt off of her legs.
The young woman scaled up the side of the well and emerged into the clearing, hoping to see a flash of red.
The sight never came so she walked towards the village, working from memory and suddenly feeling like a fifteen year-old girl again instead of a woman of twenty-five. She had a strange compulsion to skip but suppressed it, hardly.
Kagome entered the village and stared around her in happy reminiscence. She wasn't sure where she could go. As much as she hoped it, she wasn't sure if Kaede was still alive. In the end, she decided to walk around until she recognized some one.
As she strolled through, people gave her odd glances and stares. She nervously waved to a few who acted like they'd never seen her before. Suddenly a little girl ran up to her and point blank said, "You dress funny. You look funny. Are you a demon?" She sounded excited now. "Demon-lady come see my mommy!" She took a hold of Kagome's hands and yanked her along behind her. As hard as the young woman tried, she couldn't struggle out of the little girl's surprisingly strong grip.
The little girl stopped outside of a hut and screamed, "MOMMY! MOMMY, COME QUICK! I FOUND A DEMON-LADY! CAN I HELPYOU KILL HER?"
A woman came stumbling out with a small boy attached to her leg and his thumb in his mouth. She stared out the visitor for a moment, brushed a loose strand of her back and asked, "Kagome?!"
The young woman suddenly recognized her. "Sango?!" They ran up to each other, locked hands, and began to jump up and down shouting jumbled, hardly coherent sentences at each other.
"OH MY GOD I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH-LOOK AT YOU-YOU LOOK GORGEOUS-I'M SO EXCITED!"
With an exasperated sigh the little girl muttered, "Does this mean we don't get to kill her?"
"No we can't kill Kagome. I swear, Yuko, you are the most one tracked five year old..." She turned to her friend and added with motherly pride, "She wants to be a fully trained monk/demon exterminator."
The guest really looked at Yuko for the first time. She had black hair tied back in pigtails and the shape of her mother's eyes with her father's eye color and inside of them a spark of determination. The little boy though, who had to be about three, was the spitting image of Sango, though his eyes were like his sister's in hue. He had a dreamy look in them compared to his sister's zeal. They both also had incredibly long eyelashes. She knew that when they were older, he'd drive the girls wild and she'd give the boys a run for their money.
"Well come in, come in!" the demon exterminator called and led her friend in. She quickly made tea and then sat down across form Kagome. The little boy let go of her leg to sit in his mother's lap and buried his face into her yukata while observing the guest. Yuko walked up behind Sango and began to braid her hair.
"I see you and Miroku have been busy," Kagome remarked coyly.
"I'm surprised I didn't get pregnant faster," Sango answered smoothly. She smiled brightly and continued, "And number three's on the way." She lovingly stroked her belly.
"That's fabulous!" Kagome cheered and did a little clap.
"I suppose you want to see Inu Yasha?"
She blushed before answering, "Of course."
"Miroku and him should be home soon," the demon exterminator explained. Her look suddenly went from happy to somber and she asked, "So, why'd you leave?"
Kagome knew that this question would pop up eventually. She took a long sip of tea before answering, "Well, after we killed Naraku and the Shinkon Jewel was purified, he wanted to take our relationship to a new level. He wanted me to stay here and marry him-or at least live with him. I was only fifteen and that just seemed too scary, too big a step. When I told him, he got upset, and that only made me feel even more insecure. So I fled. It's taken me ten years to work up the nerve to come back. I'm terrified by the thought that he hates me." She had stared at her tea during the entire speech.
"He doesn't hate you," Sango told her quietly.
There was a depressing silence between them. It was broken by Yuko announcing, "Daddy's here." She skipped out of the hut and through the doorway Kagome could see her tackle her father and just out of sight, red cloth.
The boy looked up at his mother and cooed, "We see Daddy, yes?"
"Yes, we see Daddy," the demon exterminator answered cheerily and stood up. She picked up the boy and then helped her friend to her feet. Kagome was reluctant to move forward, so the other woman gently but firmly shoved her out. "It's for your own good," she explained wickedly.
Kagome stumbled out and quickly tried to regain her composure.
"Kagome, is that you?" Miroku asked while his little girl climbed up onto his back, then on his shoulders.
"Hi," she responded, waving her fingers at him. She was still trying to avoid the one she'd come to see. Miroku though, saw right through this and with a wicked grin to match his wife's said,
"You still remember Inu Yasha?" He walked up to Sango, kissed her, took the little boy from her arms, then said, "I'll leave you two alone." Then the couple walked inside.
"Inu Yasha..." the young woman sighed. She met his eyes for the first time.
A/N: Yes, I am a bad person. I keep adding new stories and leaving older ones to rot. Fear not, none shall be ignored! For much longer, that is. I'll get around to them. I do realize that this sounds like those cliché Kagome leaves, comes back, her and Inu Yasha hit it off again with only minor conflict, but I promise you it won't be. Please review, you know you want to. Even if it's to tell me how unoriginal I am.