Lost and Found
Climbing out from the well, Kagome and Inu-Yasha found themselves inside a rather small wooden building. They didn't leave the well the day before yesterday with it inside a building. Confused, Kagome decided to look around. The building was a temple! A temple '…in tribute to what?' was the question of the day. There was a small square offering table in front of the well, stained glass windows in the ceiling, and large boxes lining the walls. Everything was covered in dust, even the windows.
Inu-Yasha was the first to speak "What the hell?!?" "I don't think this is our well." Kagome responded. Inu-Yasha decided to look outside so he started for the door. Kagome didn't notice Inu-Yasha leave. Just as well because she wanted to know more about this place. She placed the old book on the offering table then went over to one of the boxes lining the walls. Inu-Yasha ventured outside to find the trees bigger than their normal size. Kagome dragged her hand over one of the four cases. What she found shocked her.
It was a casket. The dead person was a miko; she recognized the outfit and the bow. She had an unnerving feeling about what she saw. Kagome backed away from the wall in fear. She actually walked into the similar box on the other wall. She spun around to see exactly what she had hoped not to find, a dead warrior. The thing that bothered Kagome was that the warrior wore an outfit that looked like Inu-Yasha's. Kagome then looked up to the dirty stained glass windows, a mural to the dead. She spun in a circle as she looked at them carefully to see through the dirt. Whatever she saw she didn't like; she screamed "INU-YASHA!!!!"
Inu-Yasha ran back inside the temple to find Kagome staring at the ceiling in tears. He had come ready for battle. His hand was only a few inches from Tetsusaiga. Kagome fell to her knees and just cried. Inu-Yasha looked puzzled; there were no demons or anything that might threaten her so why was she crying? As Inu-Yasha placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, she jumped out of the way of his reach. She then ran into his arms and cried on his shoulder. Whatever it was scared her quite badly. "What is it?" Inu-Yasha asked sincerely. She looked into his eyes. "This is our well, just not our time!"
She had screamed quite loud for such a little thing and it didn't go unnoticed, but Inu-Yasha still didn't understand what had scared her so badly. "I know" Inu-Yasha said quickly "the trees are larger than they should be. I think we're in the future. We've got to get out of here before we're noticed by anyone." Kagome nodded then jumped into the well with him. Nothing happened. "The well doesn't work! Why doesn't the well work Inu-Yasha?" "I don't know." He replied before climbing out. Kagome picked the book up from the table hoping that it would have a reason. She began reading when two villagers busted into the temple yelling: "You shouldn't be here," "Who are you?" "Identify yourselves." Inu-Yasha stared at them with wide black eyes. It reminded him of the day he had stole the jewel from a temple and Kikyo had pinned him to a tree. Kagome slammed the book shut and spoke up. "My name is Kagome and this is Inu-Yasha." The two villages began to laugh. This laughter confused Kagome and frustrated Inu-Yasha; after all, the only one who ever laughed at Inu-Yasha was Sesshoumaru. "What's so damn funny?" Inu-Yasha demanded.
It suddenly occurred to Kagome. The stained glass windows showed their faces because…they were the dead. Her worst fear had been confirmed; the bodies were theirs. The pictures may have shown them a little older, but there was no doubt in her mind that they were the two in the pictures. This was a temple in their honor probably erected by Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara. They had been thrown into the future, but why?
"Shikon thieves!" One yelled. "We are not," Inu-Yasha shouted back. "Shikon thieves?" Kagome asked stunned back to their new present time frame. At that, another thought occurred to her, if they were worried about the Shikon Jewel's safety whether it was still in pieces or not, it was in here. With their unexpected arrival, it would now need their protection. "Take it outside!" Kagome yelled before realizing that Inu-Yasha was in no condition to fight. Even though the morning had come, he hadn't changed back into his demon form. Inu-Yasha was itching for a fight and she needed a distraction; even though, the villages were multiplying. "Shit" she told herself under her breath as Inu-Yasha calmly walked out and began to fight them one by one. She knew she needed to hurry.
She dusted off the last two untouched containers of the four containers. These two were considerably smaller than the two caskets, which sparked her curiosity as to what exactly was inside these containers. She then looked inside an empty container under the offering table. She saw only a large rectangular undusted spot. The book rested atop the table and it occurred to her that the book must be the key. She dusted off the last box. It was square. So it does hold the Shikon Jewel, but why didn't I sense it earlier? She ran over to her body, broke the lid to the casket, and grabbed her bow and arrows. She then ran over to Inu-Yasha's body grabbing the sword in his possession and strapping the sword, her bow and arrows to herself. She grabbed the book from the container and reached inside the Shikon container pulling the Shikon Jewel free. Now that the Shikon Jewel was free she could feel its power. The sudden power of the jewel raised thoughts in her head. Why couldn't I feel its power before? Was it contained in a magical field? If so, who made the field and why wasn't the jewel destroyed? On her way out the door she turned back to grab a cloak that her body had been wearing. Wearing the cloak, she could run around without being too suspicious.
"Inu-Yasha" she called "Stop fighting"
"Give back what you have stolen, thieves!"
Inu-Yasha glanced back to see Kagome being surrounded as well. "Shit" he told himself. He didn't know what to do since he wasn't in his demon form. "Inu-Yasha!!" she screamed. They were close enough to touch her, close enough steal the items she collected. Inu-Yasha responded immediately. He bounded over rows of villagers landing near Kagome ready and willing to fight. "Back off" a mature female voice commanded. The villagers froze in their tracks. With this distraction, Inu-Yasha grabbed Kagome's hand and led her into Kiada's village in a full sprint. Kiada's village expanded since they the time they knew and was now closer to the well so they hadn't run far before reaching the village.
While running through a back alley Inu-Yasha slide to a stop, staring into the face of a demon. The demon resembled Kouga. He was younger though, about their age, the age of a young teenager. It was a furry creature, one that would be found in the forest. Kagome swore he looked familiar, but reminded herself that this was a different time and at the moment Inu-Yasha couldn't protect her. The demon had auburn hair. He had a ponytail, a fluffy tail, and the bottoms of his forearms and legs were black almost fox-like. He wore an earthly fur suit like Kouga's wolf outfit and he seemed tame. He smiled sweetly at Kagome and Inu-Yasha quickly dove into a side alley. Inu-Yasha continued to run dragging Kagome behind him.
Through the streets they ran until late in the afternoon. Then Inu-Yasha stopped down a back street long enough to firmly tell Kagome. "Let's find a place to hide." Kagome had a few objections that Inu-Yasha quickly put to rest. Inu-Yasha found a broken down house that no one lived in anymore. It was near the road, but it had been abandon for some time. They could tell because dust lined everything. The walls were rotten and falling apart and the holes in the walls that looked out onto the road. There was nothing on the floor; the floor was plain, dirty but plain. Kagome collapsed from exhaustion in a dark corner. They had been running since sun up. Inu-Yasha fell asleep in his human form sitting near a solid wall. Things were going okay as far as he could tell. They hadn't been killed or captured. They had found a place to hide and he hadn't had to fight any demons either.
The only problem was someone followed them. Inu-Yasha awoke quickly and easily. He stood firm looking at the follower as though the follower were about to die. The follower was the same demon from the alley. Inu-Yasha drew the rusty katana and held it firmly in his right hand. Inu-Yasha was unsure of what to do so he stood firm. "Inu-Yasha?" the demon asked looking confused. "Who wants to know?" Inu-Yasha demanded loud enough to wake Kagome. The demon smiled "It's me. Shippo. I'm so glad to see you. It's been a long time. I thought you were dead." "Shut up!" Inu-Yasha demanded. Kagome walked into sight behind Inu-Yasha. "What's going on?" she asked in a tired trance. "Kagome?" He asked delightedly. Kagome's attention snapped to the unknown demon. "Just wait till I tell…" " Shut up, shut up now!" Inu-Yasha demanded with his rusty katana to the stranger's throat. "…Sango." The stranger finished under his breathe. He stood very still staring into Inu-Yasha's face. This was no longer fun; it was life threatening. If he spoke something to upset Inu-Yasha, Inu-Yasha would surely take his life without a second thought.
Kagome walked over to the two. "What do know about us that no one else would know?" Kagome asked. "I know that the moon's change is tonight, what I don't know is why Inu-Yasha already changed; the sun has yet to set." A small growl emanated from Inu-Yasha. "Kagome… this is Kiada's village but Kiada has been gone for many years. We built the temple that you destroyed today. I am one of the protectors of this village now and…Thank you for raising me Kagome." Shippo smiled at Kagome. Kagome's mouth fell open. Her heart and mind was telling her that this was the Shippo she knew…but she needed to prove it.
Inu-Yasha and Shippo stood in a stand off. If Shippo attacked Inu-Yasha then Inu-Yasha would attack without mercy; if Shippo did nothing then Inu-Yasha might take his life for following them. "Let him go Inu-Yasha." Kagome commanded politely from behind him. Inu-Yasha was startled by her ability to trust. "What? …No" he replied sternly. She'd had a long day and just wanted to get some sleep. "Sit!" She insisted as she let an arrow fly. Inu-Yasha fell to the ground as their guest was hit. When the arrow struck Shippo, he was flung against the tattered wall. The arrow pierced his left shoulder and the wall behind him. Shippo was pinned wall as Inu-Yasha had been. This act by Kagome sent chills down Inu-Yasha's spine. Hitting the wall was inevitable given Shippo's general size and the power off Kagome's bow. As he surged backward, he looked at Kagome with shock. "Kago…me?" he asked as he passed out. Inu-Yasha knew this pain of betrayal all too well. Kagome stood firm until after Shippo passed out then her guilt overran her need for security so she ran to his body and removed the arrow. His weight, however, was too much for her to hold and Inu-Yasha laughed as she was crushed to the ground. "Inu-Yasha" she pleaded. "I would, if I could." He replied giggling from the ground right next to her.
By the time the rosary worn off, Kagome had managed to find her own way out from under the teen-age Shippo. Inu-Yasha wondered if Kikyo hadn't died after she'd shot him if she would have freed him as well. "I'm going to sleep," Kagome added. "What if he wakes up?" Inu-Yasha asked. "Don't worry, Inu-Yasha," she stated. "He'll be out for awhile…Oh" Kagome added, "I almost forgot. Look at this." Inu-Yasha followed her over to the window where a stream of moonlight lit the floor. "There were a bunch of our things from this time frame in the temple including these." Kagome spoke with an angelic voice. Inu-Yasha was confused because the first item Kagome revealed besides a miko's bow and arrows was Inu-Yasha's one and only sword. Inu-Yasha picked up the precious item turning it over in his hands. He then placed both swords together on the ground. "There's no doubt about it." he said, "There's two of them."
He looked back to Kagome. "What else was in there?" Kagome debated whether to tell him about the other items. "Kagome? Was there anything else?" Kagome suddenly realized he knew there was more, but he just didn't know what. "The book…" Kagome said for relief. Inu-Yasha knew that's not what she was hiding. "What else was in there, Kagome?" Inu-Yasha asked with the best calm yet serious voice he could muster. Kagome stared off into space. "This…" Kagome said reaching into her shirt pulling out something small enclosed in her fist. She opened her hand revealing the Shikon Jewel. Holding it with an open hand, allowed time for Inu-Yasha's shock to wear off. "Holy shit…" he uttered. "Put that away!" She did as he commanded and put it back.