Kagome groaned at how dirty she was. Not only was she dirty, but she was stuck in the bottom of a well. That's a wonderful situation. When she was fifteen there was a vine hanging into the well which she could climb up. However, that vine had more than enough time to rot and die. How was she supposed to get out anyway? It's not like anyone knew that she was in there. She pressed her feet against opposite sides of the well and tried to climb out. Unfortunately, she was too weak to pull off such a maneuver. She tried to climb up but simply slid straight back to the ground and landed on her butt.

This was a very undignified day. It seemed that she would simply have to call for help. "HELP! Sango? Miroku? Can anyone hear me? Anyone! Help! Shippo?" HEEELLLLPPP!" Kagome shouted.

Suddenly, Kagome's luck changed. A rope was lowered down to her. "Who's down here? How do you know my name?" A voice called down to her.

Kagome grabbed on to the rope and slowly scaled upward. "I'm Kagome, who am I talking to?"

"It's Sango! What are you doing back?" Sango started to pull Kagome up by withdrawing the rope little by little.

"My mother threw me in the well! She's lost her bloody mind!"

Kagome finally got out of the well. She lay on her back, appreciating the sunlight. It was good to be out of the well.

"I'm glad to see you, Kagome!" Sango threw a hug over her.

"Uh... yeah, you too." Kagome said, a little less enthusiastically.

Sango pulled Kagome to her feet and started to drag her in the direction of the village. "Shippo is going to be so happy, he'll just die!" Sango exclaimed.

With her free hand, Kagome pushed her glasses up her nose again. "Well, I don't want to kill him." She said calmly, slightly annoyed at the fact that she was being dragged around again.

"Oh, you know what I mean, Kagome!"

They arrived in Kaede's village. It was as it always was, busy, dirty, and full of noisy little children, with grown men hammering on their roves trying to fix whatever damage had occurred.

"So where is Shippo, exactly?" Kagome asked, rather tired of being left in the dark.

"Well, I don't really know for sure. He doesn't really have any really permanent home. He stays with Miroku and me for a while, then, whenever he feels like switching he goes and stays with Inuyasha. He used to stay with Kaede sometimes, but... you know..." Sango slowed down.

"She passed on, didn't she?" Kagome asked her, already guessing the answer.

"Yeah, but... it was such a long time ago that no-one's really sad anymore." Sango consoled her.

They entered into a little hut. It had a man, twelve children, and a two- tailed cat.

Kagome gawked at the chaos. "Where are we, Sango?"

"This is where I live of course." Sango looked about. "I guess Shippo isn't here right now... Honey! Honey, come here! We have a visitor!"

"Don't tell me all these children are yours, Sango." Kagome said with surprise.

"Well, actually, they are. You know, that's what comes of being married to Miroku."

"Oh! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!" Kagome feigned excitement. She knew that her friend was happy, and she was happy about that, but the entire institute of marriage seemed antiquated and repulsive to her.

Miroku looked Kagome up and down curiously.

"Will you look who it is!" Exclaimed Sango with excitement."

For the next three minutes Miroku continued to look at her. Finally he gave up and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Kagome, stupid!" Sango told him as she lightly bonked him on the head. She pretended to be disgusted by his ignorance, but the truth was that she wasn't. In fact, she wouldn't have known that it was Kagome either, had Kagome not told her.

"Oh." He said, looking at her dubiously. This woman didn't look a whole lot like the Kagome they had known. She wore a blue pantsuit. Her hair caught up in a loose bun at the top of her head, with little clumps of hair falling out around her neck. She wore thin, flat-heeled, black shoes, and teeny reading glasses. This woman was a lot more calm and collected than the Kagome they had known.

"Sango, dear, I have to do an exorcism in the next town over, I'd like you to come with me if we can get a babysitter on such short notice."

Sango made a little worrying gesture. She bit her thumb just a little bit, "I dunno... um, Kagome, would you mind watching our kids for a few hours?"

Kagome took a few seconds to think it over, she looked inside their hut. Kirara was covered in mud and was being chased around by a toddler until they both crashed into a wall. "I'd like to, but I'm not so sure that I could handle all those kids..." Kagome told her honestly.

"Oh that won't be a problem." Miroku told her, then he called for the oldest of his children. "Keiko!"

Keiko, a twelve-year-old girl with very short hair came skipping up to them. "What is it?" she asked.

"Your mom and I need to go out of town on business, will you watch your brothers and sisters? This lady here will help you."

"Oh, alright... do I get full control over them?"

"Sure. Bye kids, bye Kagome!" Miroku called as he and Sango walked off.

Keiko rubbed her hands together and grinned menacingly.