Chapter One: Return To The Feudal Era
The sun hung high in the afternoon sky creating a heat that felt more like a summer then Tokyo hadn't for a long time. Inside a high school near the Higurashi shrine in Tokyo Japan was a student and her teacher. She looked to be in her early forties or late thirties, long black hair tied back in a ponytail, brown eyes, a clear complexion, and was wearing an outfit that looked very professional. She look at her student in front of her and smiled. Everything was silent in the room then the girl talked.
"Have you ever screamed without making a sound? Have you ever notice silence to be so loud? Have you ever imagined you were dead? Did you see your worst fear instead? Have you ever wondered if time could stand still? Has it ever been hot but you felt a chill? Have you ever felt like you were the only one left? Have you ever wanted to take your last breath?" The girl breathed in and bowed to her teacher as an act of respect, but she also bowed to hide that she was blushing and nervous.
"Wow! Morrow-san you are amazing!" Cheered Higurashi-sensei a grade ten English teacher at the high school. "But Morrow-san," she paused. "Why is it so depressing?" The poem had seemed a little on the Gothic or suicidal side, and since Higurashi-sensei only saw Tam in her uniform she wasn't positive that the girl was Gothic, so she worried.
Tamami Morrow is a first year high school student in a privet all girls school in Tokyo Japan. She has black hair and sea blue eyes. At this moments she was staying after school to read her poem to Kagome Higurashi her sensei for English. She was to embarrassed to say it in front of the class. Tam looked around the empty class room. "Everyone leaves, no one's there. Life's a game and no one cares." She mumbled not hearing her sensei
Higurashi-sensei ignored her student's depression and smiled. Tam was the most creative student she had in the seven classes she taught, she was also the most quiet in class. But she knew Tam was as mouthy as Inuyasha when someone started it though, and she got a good laugh when the girls ran away from her. Higurashi-sensei paused to think of Inuyasha. How was he doing now? Did he ask Kikyo to take her place when she had left him? Right now, was he with Kikyo? She brushed her thoughts away and smiled at her student.
"Well Morrow-san! That was great," she smiled. Tam put the paper in her binder and smiled. "So will I be seeing you at the shrine tonight at six?" She stated and packed up her papers. She knew every high school student needed a job and it was hard for Tam to find any; not knowing any where. But considering she had just moved to Tokyo from Canada just a few months earlier it wasn't very surprising.
Tam turned her head towards her teacher. "You mean I got the job! Really?" Higurashi-sensei nodded. Tam's face lit up as she jumped into the air. "Yes!" She cheered and grabbed her bag. After packing up everything she threw the bag on her back and left with Higurashi-sensei. Saying one thing as she helped her lock the door. "I'll be the best miko ever!" And Higurashi-sensei smiled.
"Higurashi-sensei? What is the pay for working at the shrine?" Tam asked while they walked out of the school and to the first main road. Many trees covered the sun and put a blanket of coolness on the two as they walked on the sides streets. Higurashi-sensei turned to Tam and smiled, she was so excited and wanted to know everything already. Tam reminded her of herself when she first started using her own miko powers. Turning her face forward she told her.
"Morrow-san you can call me Kagome outside school or Lady Kagome at the shrine, would that bug you?" Tam shook her head and smiled. "Now as for pay, it will be 1000 yen a day. Does that sound reasonable?" Kagome asked as they turned onto Tam's street. Tam still didn't under the currency quite well. "I know that it must be hard for you, but you'll get used to it. I can teach you yen after class one day if you have the time." Tam nodded smiling confused.
"Yes! Absolutely, Mrs. Higur…Kagome-san, that sounds great." She blushed at her mistake. "I'll be at the shrine later! Bye!" said Tam as she turned onto a different street and started to run to her house. Kagome stood there for a second and looked at Tam run, it reminded her so much of herself back when she went into the well to visit Inuyasha. But those days were over. The well was sealed, she was married and had two kids and she had a great job with great students. She had everything she wanted. Shacking her head she turned to walk to the Higurashi Shrine telling herself over and over again in her head that twenty years had pasted and Inuyasha probably didn't remember her or was not even alive anymore.
"Mom! I got a job at the shrine! I'm a shrine maiden!" Tam boasted to the walls hoping her mom could hear her loud enough when she walked in the door. Miss Morrow, Tam's mother. "I wish you were still here to celebrate with me." Tam's younger sister , instantly looked at her from the kitchen. "What are you looking at!" Tam snapped as her sister laughed at her.
"You a 'miko' at a shrine that isn't ours? It seems you have been sleeping in class Onii-chan, you can't work anywhere else. And why are you talking to mom? She can't hear you and that just makes you look insane, she is not psycho like most of our family members" Tam went blank and growled at Opal. Opal was smarter then she was because of Opal being able too read the future with Tarot cards. She didn't resemble her in the least, Tam didn't take after any of her family while Noir took after their father, Kai took after their mother and Opal took after their father; but there were some things that took after her mom. All the girls had white hair and black hair or just one of the colours and Kai had red hair.
"A miko, huh? That's a popular job isn't it?" Asked Kai Tam's older brother from the kitchen looking up from his rice. Tam wished he hadn't showed up, he was never a help. Though it was her father who pushed her mother to move away from him and learn a new language across the ocean. Her father was Irish and he met their mother on a trip to Japan in high school and they met and fell in love. Tam shuttered at the thought. She ignored Kai's question suddenly feeling sick thinking about her abusive father they had run away from.
"Is Noir home yet?" She asked. Noir was Tam's older sister who was a professional psychic and had been predicting many true things for years. She had promised to see when Tam was going to die after school in three minutes but she wasn't here. Tam ignored Kai's response that was muffled by a cigarette in his mouth and read a note on the stairs. It read 'Tam! You have to come to the forest! It's amazing, bring cloths and lots of food.' Tam sweatdropped and ignored it, she had to go the shrine now. But she couldn't help wondering the whole time what stupid idea Noir had up her sleeve.
Kagome sat in her house alone. Her husband, Hojo, was at work and her two children, Song and Hojo Jr. were at their friend, Haku's, house. She sighed and looked out the window at the clouds. She gasped when the clouds formed Inuyasha. She put her hands to her face as if to block tears and let out sobs. She wanted to cry, she missed him so much. But she couldn't do anything about it. He was probably with Kikyo now. She felt a tear go down her cheek, she looked down and realized she had been silently crying. She loved him and still did kind of but she couldn't really remember his face anymore. She was starting to forget him already, it was a good start. She looked up at the clock as it beeped, Tam would be there soon. Kagome went over to the stove already in her miko uniform and boiled some green tea. Everything was reminding her of Inuyasha lately, like Tam being like him. She laughed to herself, if Inuyasha had ever tried to insult Tam like he had done to her when they had argued she would pound him into the ground; Tam wouldn't need to tell him 'sit!' She let laughs escaped her body. She hadn't laughed this much in so long, it felt great. Her laughs faded and she sighed.
"Inuyasha, if only I could see you once more." She whispered. "No," she half smiled. "He's happy now, he's got Kikyo. Why would he want to see his jewel detector again?" Then she heard a knock on the door.
"Hello, Kagome-san!" Tam greeted her with a smile. Kagome returned the smile.
"Morrow-san you can call me Kagome, you can drop the san. But Lady Kagome would be the best name here." Kagome smiled, Tam smiled back and nodded.
"Okay, but you don't have to call me 'Morrow-san', just call me 'Tam.'" Tam stated getting annoyed of being called Morrow-san.
"Is Tam-chan okay?" Kagome asked wondering if that was not formal enough. Tam smiled and nodded an 'it's okay.'
Kagome then welcomed her in. Inside the house's living room were many photos and awards. Tam looked at them in awe. There were so many, and they were mostly school awards; most older then her! Then a photo caught her eye, a boy probably a little older then herself with white hair in a red kimono, and on his head were…dog ears? She walked over to the picture and turned back to Kagome.
"Lady Kagome? Was this at a Anime convention? It's a great costume! So real looking," she paused and blushed, then continued. "And he's cute!" Kagome turned to the picture and went white. How did that get down in the living room and framed! It was a picture of Inuyasha, the first picture she ever took of him…But she had burned that the day that she sealed the well, how did it still exist!
"Yes, that is my old boyfriend from years ago, I didn't know I still had that picture." She fake smiled so Tam would buy her lie. Tam smiled and turned away from the picture. Kagome didn't know what was going on, only moments earlier that picture had not been there, it had been a different one; her and Hojo when he proposed to her on Tokyo Tower years before.
"Well, we better get ready for your shift, you don't want to start a job with a late. Not on the first day." Kagome smiled and walked her to that back door. Tam smiled back and walked out with her. As soon as they left the room the pictured went hazy and then returned to Hojo on one knee handing Kagome a ring and a rose.
Lady Kagome walked with Tam towards the shrine. In her arms were miko cloths and Tam couldn't take her eyes off of them. Red pants and a long sleeve white shirt with red lacing at the end of the sleeves. Tam was already ecstatic! They were different from her uniform that her mother had offered her if when she worked at the shrine at festivals. That one was white with a red vest, red under lacing, gold trimmings on the front, a blue sash and she had to wear a demonic mask sometimes with hay that acted at long hair to cover her won. Now she would have to pull her hair up, not hide it and she would not sweat to death from layers for there were few. She liked to show her hair now because it used to be really short then she decided to grow it for D-chan, the boy that she loved. Just thinking about him made her blush a little bit. Kagome notice Tam blushing and remembered when she looked like that back when she had thought of Inuyasha as a teenager. She smiled.
"This is the storage room, there are talismans, dolls, holy water and everything else you need if there it an emergency or to pray. You may change in here." Kagome opened the door and Tam walked in quickly. After Kagome closed the door she leaned back and tried to remember Inuyasha's face, she hadn't looked at the picture well enough to had seen it. The white hair gave him away and she just had the thought of getting away from it before she cried. Kagome straightened up and walked down the stairs to the 'Bone Eater's Well' and changed quickly. After she walked to the stairs that were under 'The Sacred Tree' and awaited Tam to finish, which didn't take long at all.
"Lady Kagome! How do I look!" Tam stepped out of storage room door and jumped down the stairs to Kagome who was standing under 'The Sacred Tree.' She was dressed up just like Kagome with red pants and a white long sleeve shirt and her hair was pull up like Kikyo had done her hair before. Actually she looks exactly like Kikyo…Kagome thought to herself. Except Tam was more endowed then Kikyo or herself. Kagome chuckled, but the miko look did look good on Tam.
"Yes you look great." Kagome stated walking towards Tam. "I know you are very happy about getting this job Tam-chan and I wondering if you could do me a favor. It's a huge favor but I really need to see something." Kagome had been hiring a lot of girls for a long time to see if they could get through the bone eater's well and if they could they could bring Inuyasha over. No matter how much she want to never see him again she needed to ask him why he choose Kikyo over herself, but mainly to see if he was happy without her being with him.
"Umm…sure Lady Kagome I'll help you." She stated following her to the bone eater's well that was in a shrine. Inside there was an open wooden well and beside it was a necklace that had a small round crystal ball on it. Tam kept her eye on it, it was beautiful. Kagome walked down the stairs to the well and picked up the necklace.
"This is the Shikon no Tama, the jewel of four souls. It is ancient and very powerful." Kagome put the necklace around Tam's neck. "I was able to travel through time with this, to go and see Inuyasha." She muttered. Tam was confused why Kagome said that but she didn't care, she would still help her. "I'm sorry about this." Kagome stated and pushed Tam.
Tam's eyes widened slightly when she fell backwards into The Bone Eater's Well! Tam looked up at Kagome, she had a sad look on her face and she was crying slightly. As she fell down into the darkness but didn't scream from shock, she imagined herself hitting the bottom then she blacked out…engulfed in the blue light that led to the Feudal Era.