The Story

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

AN: As a result of this story being a remake of "The X of the Story," I'm calling it simply "The Story." Yes, it is an AU, and I'll try not to make the characters too OOC, but I can't promise anything… Anywayz, please read and enjoy (and review…please?)!

Abstract

Her name was Kagome Higurashi. Her birth was completely normal. She lived with a completely normal family in completely normal Japan…until the year between her fourth and fifth birthday.

Kagome's mother became pregnant with another child, later to become Kagome's sweet younger brother Souta, and at this point the Higurashi family decided to move out of crowded Japan and into the promising land of the United States of America.

Now, eight years later…

"'Gome, hurry it up! You'll make me late for 'nitiation!" a young boy shouted up the stairs.

"Explain to me again, Souta, why you even need initiation into the third grade!"

"'Cause we're older now and more 'sponsible…hey, hurry up!"

"Fine, fine…we'll get there on time. Hey, Mom? Don't forget to come get Souta today; eighth grade has to stay late for a meeting with the principal about the importance of Junior High."

"Okay, dear, I'll see you when you get home! Bye, guys!"

And with that, the siblings walked out of the front door, past their cat and two dogs, and onto the well-beaten path to their happy little school.

It was nearing 5:30 p.m., and Kagome was certain that her mother was throwing a fit right now, wondering when Kagome would return home. The meeting had run late, first of all, and then one of Kagome's friends had asked her if she could help him out on algebra problem, and against her better judgment, Kagome had agreed. Unfortunately, the problem took much longer than she had expected, and Kagome was going to be in serious trouble if she didn't return home quickly.

Turning a corner on the way back to her house, Kagome suddenly noticed a small pathway between two buildings that had never before caught her attention. It seemed to run parallel to the one she was currently walking on, but then it curved more to the direction of her home. Something somewhere inside Kagome warned her not to take the path, but she was in a hurry…so she decided to go ahead and take the possible shortcut.

After walking for several minutes, Kagome's foot quite suddenly landed in a large pile of rusty autumn leaves. Looking up, Kagome saw that there were trees growing straight and tall ahead of her. She took a few more steps, confused, and then turned to find that the path she had taken, as well as the buildings on both sides of it, were gone.

Kagome began to panic. She turned around, searching in every direction for some hint of the path that she had surely just been walking on. But there was no path; Kagome now found herself in the midst of what seemed to be a large forest.

Kagome turned around again and set off in the direction that she hoped would lead back to where she came from. But, according to the watch on her wrist, she had now been walking for close to an hour, and her family was surely having kittens.

She started running. She knew that she was completely lost, and she had no idea how to get back home.

Kagome didn't have long to run, however, before she was forced to stop; she soon found herself overlooking a large ravine leading down to swirling river currents far below. The wind from the water worked its way up the chasm and blasted steamy droplets of water at the girl standing precariously at the edge of the sharp drop-off.

Kagome's breathing became more ragged, her head and torso soaked with spray, her mind jumbled and confused. There were no rivers anywhere near her home; only one ran through the city, and it was one of those lazy rivers. At any rate, that river was located a good hour's drive away from her house.

She leaned against the nearest tree to catch her breath, her mind struggling to find an explanation for whatever was happening. She closed her eyes and forced her body to relax slightly, not paying the least bit of attention to her surroundings.

He crept up behind the girl very slowly. She seemed very confused, which had been expected, but it didn't necessarily make his job any easier.

He didn't really have a set plan; his goal was to get rid of the girl, one way or another. There was a long sword resting on his left hip, but he didn't want to bother with something so messy….After a few moments of thinking, the man made up his mind, straightened up, and began to walk casually toward the girl.

Kagome sighed, then stilled as she heard a sound off to her right. She whirled in that direction, expecting some sort of wild animal. She was more than slightly surprised to find two very human eyes gazing back in her direction. She gasped, first for his sudden appearance, and secondly at the sight of the large and dangerous-looking sword at his hip.

There was a strange feeling about the man; the lower half of his face was covered. Though he looked to be somewhere in his late twenties, Kagome could tell even through the man's clothes that he was very well built. The finely toned muscles one of his arms now flexed, and Kagome screamed as he drew his sword.

The man quickly dashed toward the girl, ignoring her scream and ramming the hilt of his sword into her stomach. Resheathing his katana, the man then attacked Kagome with his fists, pummeling and harrowing at her until she was swimming in and out of consciousness from the pain. At this point, the man reached for Kagome's throat, pinning her up against a near tree.

"I'm going to let you die, now," he whispered to her gasping form, then flung her over the edge of the cliff and into the swirling waters that howled in appreciation.

The man smirked, his job done, and walked away to find something else to do.

…I woke up to a bright light that made my head hurt, along with everything else.

A moan just barely passed through my lips, and I attempted to shift my body into a more comfortable position, but a sharp pain racked my body. I felt as though I had fallen a long distance, only to land on sharp rocks that had bruised every inch of my body, inside and out. I moaned once more, hardly noticing the mud in which I was almost buried, then fell back into unconsciousness.

The second time I awoke, it was almost dark outside, so the inside of my head didn't hurt as much, but everything else did. There seemed to be something or someone carrying me, and it hurt like hell. I began wishing, praying for a stretcher, or that this someone would just set me down somewhere so that the pain would stop. Finally, however, the person carrying me tripped or something, and I felt an especially sharp jolt run through my body, washing pain and unconsciousness over me once more.

I awoke a third time to a bright light shining into my eyes. This time though, when I moaned at the pain, it immediately snapped off. This turn of events confused me, so I tried to open my eyes fully. What I saw when they opened first shocked then delighted me. It was a human being! I was so happy, I would have jumped up and out of that bed had I not felt like I should have died already. I tried to, however, and I immediately fainted and fell back onto soft pillows.

Chichi was working in the kitchen, whistling lightly. She would start on dinner soon, but it was a little early for that, and the kitchen was a mess. 'That husband of mine; he's going to get it if he leaves the house in this state ever again.' She sighed. 'I just wish that he wouldn't eat so very much all of the time…' Chichi looked over to where the girl slept quietly in the hammock.

Gohan had said when he brought her home that setting her on a normal be would only cause her more pain, but…they had gone just a bit too far. The girl was resting in the hammock kept hanging from the high ceiling of their house, and Chichi could only hope that the girl would not wake up or fall out of the hammock. It would hurt to fall from ceiling to floor on any occasion, but this girl obviously had some broken bones, and…

'Never you mind, Chichi,' she reprimanded herself. 'What, after all, are the chances of that happeni--'

"Oh, no!" The girl had indeed woken up, and had tried to get out of the 'bed'. She fell straight down and Chichi watched in horror, as the girl would surely hit the ground! However, at the last moment, the girl stopped. In midair, she stopped, and lay there in the air for a moment before floating softly to the ground, her dark hair swaying slightly before resting beside her.

"What on earth…?"

Gohan yawned loudly as he finished up his breakfast burrito. He didn't know who had come up with the things, but they sure were tasty. Not as good as rice cakes, of course, but good just the same. He left his food on the table (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and walked slowly from the kitchen, and out the front door. It was still dark outside.

"Dammit," he mumbled to himself, "I can't believe Dad's making me get up and out this early."

"Well, you get more sleep if don't stay up late, yes?"

"Hmm?" Gohan turned around and looked behind him. Through the darkness, he could make out the form of a young girl sitting on a large rock by a small, clear pond. She was sitting with her back turned to him.

"Oh, what do you know, Keija? I've caught you up at past one in the morning before!"

"Hmph. You is up late yourself to see me. And one o' clock is late only for school night. I do not have school, so does not matter."

Gohan laughed. "That's true for now, I guess, but mother told me last night that she'd be sending you to school tomorrow." He snickered.

"Do not be childish, Gohan," she retaliated. "School only give me reason to get out of this hell hole."

"What language, Miss Keija!" Gohan said with mock anger. "Better not talk like that at school, or they'll kick you out. Speaking of which…where did you even manage to hear those words?"

The girl looked smug, as only thirteen-year-old girls can look, and said, "I hear you use them. I know others too. Not from you only, but Yamcha is good friend, too…need say more?"

Gohan sighed, frustrated, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly back and forth, vowing to kill his father's friend on sight.

"Did you hear about that new foreign exchange student?"

"Yeah, I hear she can hardly speak any Japanese."

"Where do you think she's from? She doesn't have an accent, and I hear there's no record of her anywhere. People say she had to make up her own name."

"Well, I heard she's staying with Gohan Son. I wouldn't mind living with someone as cute as--"

"Shh! Here she comes!"

Keija walked quickly trying to hide from the stares and the gasps of surprise at the fact that she looked as Japanese as the rest of them.

"Gohan," she said quietly, "why is people staring? I hear voices; can't understand!"

"I know, Keija. Don't worry; I'll help you through your first day."

"Thank you much, Gohan-san."

"Right, just stick close; I don't need to lose you right now. I need to get to the high school, so I don't have a lot of time to spend over here. I'm happy to take you," he added quickly when he saw Keija's crestfallen look. "It's not really that much of an inconvenience, really, Keija-chan!"

Still, the girl began to walk away from him. "I will find big office myself, yes?" she said, and walked off down the hallway leading to the main office. Gohan stood for a moment in indecision, trying to decide what to do, and eventually left her to her own devices. 'She can take care of herself' he convinced himself.

I walked silently down the hallway, careful not to make a sound on the wooden floor. I felt completely lost. I couldn't remember anything at all.

After waking to Chichi's piercing gaze, and that was more than a month ago, there had been only one thing that I could remember. 'K'. Just the one letter; not my name, not any memories. I had no idea how I managed to end up here, and I didn't have any idea as to where I came from.

Also, I didn't fully remember any languages. I could recognize some things that Gohan and his family said, but not even in my thoughts were there any sentences or languages. Actions or fragmented thoughts symbolized absolutely everything.

But I needed to speak, so I began learning Japanese. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be; it was the only option I was given, so I took the opportunity and embraced it. I figured that Japanese was probably the language I had spoken before…whatever it was that happened to me.

None of us at Gohan's house knew what happened, so we usually didn't talk about it. I figured that Gohan and I would speak of it one day, but not quite yet. Now was not the time. Until that time finally came, we would wait.

A/N: So, how'd you like? Er…Kagome Higurashi and Keija Kan are one and the same…but Kagome lost her memory of everything before waking up in Chichi's house, so she made up a new identity and is now living with Gohan and his family…I think that's about all. Now, are you going to review?