Summary - What if…she never fell?

-

It was a day a lot of people remember. A bright morning dawned, the morning of Higurashi Kagome's 15th birthday. Outside of her family's shrine, the leaves were blown around the yard, many of them belonging to the giant, and her personal favorite, tree, Goshinboku. It stood tall and proud, and had to have been there for at least five hundred years. It was tall and sturdy, its only marking a small notch that no one seemed to know the origin of.

Inside, Kagome herself was listening to her wizened grandfather talk about his gift for her, some enchanted hand. She listened with no interest, tilting her head and staring off into the distance. When he finally stopped his lecture, he handed it to her and she stared at it a moment before passing it onto her cat.

"Here Buyo. Lunch."

With a meow, the cat waddled off, while her grandfather gave a cry and ran after. Kagome sighed and moved to the kitchen. She sat at the table, watching her brother scarf down his food, no doubt wanting to play in the yard a bit before they headed off to school. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Buyo entered the kitchen quietly, and her grandfather sped passed, onto the dining room. Kagome took pity on her poor fat kitty, and let it outside.

Her brother jumped up and went outside with a 'thanks' yelled to his mother, who smiled and picked up his plate. Kagome ate at a bit more leisurely pace, and finished soon after. Giving her mother a smile, she stepped out the door. Her brother came running towards her just as she felt the wind pick up a bit. He seemed a bit afraid.

"Kagome, Buyo's stuck in the well!" he shouted, and she sighed.

"So, go get him!"

"But its dark and dirty in there!"

Kagome sighed and moved forward, towards the well house, to get her cat. Her hand reached for the sliding doors, and she felt a pull in her side. She paused, and her hand touched the wood…

A large gust of wind suddenly pushed her over, and she winced as she skinned her knee.

"Damn, that's attractive," she mumbled to herself, noting the blood that began welling up. Not wanting to get any on her socks or skirt, she stood up.

"Buyo will be okay, we'll get grandpa to get him. I have to clean this up and we've got to get to school, we'll be running late as it is…"

And so, Kagome didn't fall down that well. Mistress Centipede never regenerated. And the shrine never knew of any demons, or a past in the Sengoku Jidai.

-

Ten years later…

Ten years had passed. Kagome sighed as she kissed her husband goodbye. Hojo was sweet, he really was, but she knew she didn't love him. For some sad reason, she was glad he wasn't able to have children, and that they'd had to adopt.

Several strange things had happened when she'd gotten her adoptive son. They'd been in the hospital room, with the exhausted young woman laying in the bed. Kagome had reached for the child, and a sudden feeling hit her.

"Is it…would it be alright if we named him Shippou?" she asked the mother, who smiled weakly.

"You can name him as you wish. Strange name, though…"

Kagome never knew why she named Shippou as such, it was just a gut feeling. Kagome watched as her three year old son crawled around. He could already say sentences very well, and had such an intelligence about him! It was like looking at an adult when you peered into his eyes.

Kagome also never forgot another instance that had confused her. She'd just gotten home, and Shippou had come running towards her. She'd placed her shopping bags on the counter and lifted him up into her arms, when he asked, "Did you bring me any candy mama?"

A sudden sense of déjà vu hit her, and she saw, in her mind, her little Shippou, though he was wearing strange clothes, saying, "Did you bring me any candy, Kagome?"

And though her eyes were trained on the boy, a voice off to the side answered. "Keh, like you need anymore candy, kit…"

And then it somehow faded, and she found herself staring at her surprised little boy. "Yes, Shippou, I brought your favorite lollipops."

That had been a while ago, but it still baffled her. How could she have déjà vu when her son was dressed like that, and when she had no idea who that voice belonged to?

Kagome stood up with a sigh, moving towards her son. "Hey, Shippou, how about mommy takes you shopping with her? I want to go pick up more oden and ramen."

A flash, of her heating up ramen over a fire, vague blurs of people all around her, waiting for her food, waiting for her cooking food. A voice, once again, she couldn't see, called out from a higher level, "Is it done yet, wench?"

Shaking her head, Kagome picked up her child and moved out to her car.

-

The market was busy, she noted. She didn't like busy places much, simply because she didn't like being pushed around. It seemed someone always bumped into her, or pushed her aside. She hated being so small.

And today, she wasn't disappointed. A man around her age bumped against her, causing Shippou to spin away slightly. Noticing her son wasn't hurt, she turned to the man angrily.

"Excuse me, sir." She waited for the apology, but he simply looked at her with a slight scowl.

"You're excused." He turned to move away again.

"Osuwari," she hissed, through her teeth, thoroughly disappointed when nothing…well, what had she expected to happen? She felt her face flush as he turned to look at her again, though this time he really looked at her. She felt herself blushing, her heart pounding under his steady gaze.

His eyes were a dark bluish color, almost purple, but she could see the thin line of blue that indicated he wore contacts. She briefly wondered what real color his eyes were, when she saw soft wisps of silver falling from under his hat. Obviously his strange colored hair was long, and he kept it tucked up. And then, when she looked back into his eyes, she saw an amber color.

Another vision seemed to hit her, harder than ever before. A man was standing in a tree, long silver hair flowing behind him in a glowing arc. Soft looking ears twitched upon his head, and his golden eyes stared at her. He was decked out in some red garb that looked like it belonged back in her grandfather's attic, and she watched in wonder as he jumped off the tree with a grace unlike any she'd seen. Landing softly, he moved towards her.

"Lets go, Kagome."

And she jumped away from him, still flushed. "I'm sorry," she murmured, moving away, while Shippou stared at the man, who watched them walk away.

"Sorry," the blue eyed man echoed, before turning around. The last thing he heard was the young boy asking, "Mommy? Why'd you tell him to sit?"

She never had those visions again. Only once more in her life did anything strange happen. When she told Shippou he was adopted, when he was old enough to understand the meaning, did he say he'd known all along Hojo couldn't be his father. When she asked why, he looked up at her with strangely glowing green eyes.

"My papa's so strong. He could lift you up like you were nothing, and he could run faster than anyone I've ever seen. And he wears red. Hojo never wears red," the boy had said proudly.

And from then on, Shippou refused to call Hojo father. He said he'd knew when he saw his papa again. If he did, Kagome never knew. She only felt a longing in her, to see Shippou's imaginary papa. Perhaps he was the one she could love.

But Kagome never saw the man in the store again.

-

510 years earlier…

Naraku watched as Kagura came softly through the swirling portal of time, one that had taken nearly all his strength to make. She kept her head low, hatred glaring through her eyes.

"It is done," she whispered.

Naraku nodded. Already he felt his memories of the girl fading, for, after all, she had not been here, had she not? Kagome hadn't fallen down the well, the monk, taijiya and kitsune hadn't joined Inuyasha's group, and he felt the pull of time rearranging itself to accommodate this new interruption. He began reading his plans to get the Shikon no Tama, ones that would be rather easy to complete now that there was no hanyou group coming to thwart him.

And, miles away, near an old shrine, a hanyou slept peacefully on, pinned to a tree that he wouldn't be released from until much later, dreaming of but one thing that he never had.

'Kagome…'

-

Yeah. Not sad, but I couldn't make it full out cry worthy, for some reason. I just had to make one that wasn't a happy ending.

Which it wasn't. Kagome and Inuyasha never met. I hope you realize that it was Kagura who made Kagome not go near the well, thus meaning Mistress Centipede never regenerated, thus meaning no demons came, thus meaning Kagome never existed. At least, not in the Sengoku Jidai.

Ha.

If you have questions IM me. My AIM is 'mikadzuki naito'.