So defeat your pain, forget the past

The future stands before you now

Let's embrace it, don't keep it locked up inside!

Sunlight.

It was beyond my comprehension that sunlight was streaming into the well, when it had been inside a dank and musty building that was centuries old.

Where the heck was I?

I sure as heck wasn't back in the shrine in Kiba.

Not wanting to sit inside a dry well, I found some vines on the side and began my climb towards the top. Finally, I reached the top of the well, and, hoisting myself over the side, took a look around.

This definitely was not modern-day Tokyo.

The forest surrounding me was quiet. There was an occasional peep from a bird, some rustling wind, but other than that, no sounds at all. Figuring that it was no good to stay there half-in and half-out of the well, I clambered over the side and plonked down on the grass. It was then that I noticed the bicycle.

That thing was OLD. Some pink paint still remained on the frame, but most of it was taken by rust. I bent down to inspect it closer, reaching out one index finger to poke it, when a red blur swooped down, snatched me away and carried me into the tree tops.

I'm sure my screaming was heard for miles.

We stopped moving when we reached a town. If you could call it that. It was more of a half-buildings, half-huts town. Remembering what I had learned over the years in history, I placed the time as (maybe) the Edo period. This town wasn't really a town yet, but it was on it's way to being one. Somehow, the idea that I had been catapulted into the past didn't bother me all that much.

Until I got a good look at my kidnapper.

Understand that I had seen Inuyasha many, many times in my life. Heck, I saw him every day on my way to class. But somehow, seeing him in real life was overwhelming. That red haori, the white hair, the twitching dog ears.

And those determined gold eyes that used to haunt me as a kid.

And then, just like my childhood fantasies, he turned to me and spoke.

"Who are you? And how did you come through the well?" Ah, his voice was just like I had imagined it. Rough, a bit of a growl, yet strong and confident. And then, another voice joined in.

"Inuyasha!" called a female voice. The owner was running over a hill, her red hakama and white robes, the robes of a miko, fluttering in the breeze. "What are you doing, Inuyasha?" she questioned, catching her breath and staring at him, a mischievous spark in her eyes.

This must be Kagome.

The two of them stared at me, long and hard. Finally, Kagome spoke, kneeling down to become eye level with my seated self. "Hey, what's your name? I know you're not from around here."

Her voice was gentle and motherly, not unlike the stories described.

"Ah… um…" I stood, and bowed politely to them. "My name is Izayoi Higurashi. I'm pleased to meet you."

There was an audible gasp from both of them.

"I… Izayoi?" breathed Inuyasha, hesitantly.

"Higurashi?" frowned Kagome. She paused. "What year is it on the other side?"

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"You know, on the other side of the well. Where you came from."

So THAT'S what Souta-jii-chan had been talking about!

"Um, 2096."

Kagome's eyes widened. "Has it really been THAT long?" She turned to Inuyasha. "Have we really been around for 100 years?"

He shrugged in a non-committal way. "I told you that we'd be around for centuries once we mated."

"Don't call it that in front of other people!" she chided.

"Well, that's what it is!"

"But it's embarrassing to talk about it that way in front of people!"

"Are you saying you're embarrassed, wench?"

"Argh! No! I'm just… oh, you know what I mean!"

"No, I don't know what you mean! You don't make any sense!"

"If I don't make sense, why did you mate with me?"

"Hey, you said it this time! Hypocrite!"

"That's it! OSUWARI!"

And Inuyasha went face-planting into the ground, leaving me standing around and feeling very awkward in front of these two. Kagome turned to me.

"Sorry. He's stubborn. I haven't done that to him for a while." She ignored the angry grunts from the hole in the ground. "Now, did you say your name was Izayoi Higurashi?" I nodded. "Well, I guess it makes sense. Once our kids grew up, it didn't make sense for us to hang around Tokyo, seeing as we don't age at a normal rate."

Sure enough, she didn't look a day over 25.

"But," she continued, "it makes sense that you'd descend from me and Inuyasha! I mean, you came through the well, you have my last name and the name of his mother, and you kind of look like us…" she trailed off, thinking. "What brought you here, anyway?"

"Um…" I stammered, trying to piece everything together in my mind. Me? Descended from one of Japan's greatest legends? Talk about freaky. "Well, I had a literature assignment, and it was on your legend. So, I went to the Sunset Shrine, as the brochure said it was important to the legend, and I found out that I had a great-great-uncle named Souta that I didn't even know EXISTED, and he told me some story about his sister falling down a well and bringing home a new boyfriend and something about a cat and then he suggested that I go down the well and…"

"Whoa, slow down!" Kagome interrupted, putting up a hand. I hadn't noticed, that in my heightened state of emotion, I was babbling at increasing speed. "Did you say Souta was your great-great-uncle?" she asked. I nodded again. "Wow, he must be over 100 by now. I bet he's a lot like Grandpa was…" she trailed off.

Inuyasha finally came out of his hole. "What's this about a legend?" he asked, spitting out a clump of dirt.

I made a face. "I'm sure you know more of it than I do. I mean, it IS about you guys, and your battle with Naraku and the Shikon no Tama."

"Oh, that," Kagome muttered, wrinkling her nose a bit.

"It's a legend now?" Inuyasha asked, excitedly.

I nodded.

"Could you maybe tell it to us, just for fun?" Kagome asked, pleading a bit.

I didn't see why I shouldn't.