The demoness frowned grimly. This was the end for her. She would die at the hands of this ningen, a priestess by the name of Kikyo. There was nothing to save her now. The female demon backed up against a tree and snarled at her nasty predicament. How could she let this happen? A powerful youkai like herself being defeated by a human; it was unheard of. The priestess let an arrow fly, piercing the demoness's shoulder, pinning her to the tree. That was all it took and her world went black.

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Akari woke up to the shrill ringing of her alarm clock. Oh, how she hated that thing. She had begged her mother multiple times to let her get a new one, but the insufferable woman insisted that the present clock got the job of waking her up done much more effectively. Akari sighed and got out of bed. Today would be another boring day at school. She headed toward the bathroom and looked in the mirror as she brushed her long black hair. She was a sight to behold, not your typical Japanese-looking teenager. She had blue eyes and pale skin. Akari was tall and slender, which helped being as she was extremely active, but she didn't know how that really helped. Oh well. Many of the girls at her school were jealous of her natural beauty, which was fine with her being as she wasn't very social anyway. The young teenager walked out of the bathroom and put on her uniform, thanking kami that it didn't show off her curves, otherwise the boys would be all over her. She stalked out of her room and out of the house, ignoring her parents' cheerful goodbye. It wasn't that she didn't like the happy couple, no, she absolutely adored them, she merely thought the level cheerfulness in the morning to be nauseating. After about fifteen minutes of walking, Akari reached the school she attended. Being as she was early she sat on the steps awaiting the first bell, signaling the day had begun. Several minutes passed and the steps began to get more crowded. Eventually she could hear little snippets of conversations. One of them caught her attention:

"Did you hear about Higurashi?" One girl asked.

"No. What happened to her this time? Kami only knows how many illnesses that girl has had," another girl replied.

"I heard that this time she's come down with typhoid fever. Her grandpa called the school to say it's serious."

Akari frowned. Kagome was one of the nicest people she knew, probably the only kind person she knew. It made her sad to hear that she was so ill. That girl deserved nothing but happiness. And what did she get in return? A whole lot of hell, that's what. The bell rang and Akari sighed and got up to go to classes. Perhaps after school she would pay Kagome's family a visit.

Akari breathed a sigh of relief that school was over. It wasn't that she hated school, she was as intelligent as they came, it was just the girls there treated her so horribly. She set off a fast walk, wanting to visit Kagome's family and get home in time for dinner. Soon enough, Akari reached the house that had a shrine in the back. She found it to be very intimidating, something about that little shack was not right. She shook off the feeling and rang the doorbell. After a couple of seconds, a cheerful-looking woman answered the door. The woman was surprised to say the least.

"Konichiwa, Mrs. Higurashi," Akari said with a bow.

"Konichiwa," Kagome's mother replied.

"I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's illness. She is a very nice girl."

"Thank you very much, I'll be sure to let Kagome know you stopped by. May ask who you are?"

Akari blushed. "Of course! I'm so sorry. That must have seemed rude of me! I'm Akari Kinoshita. I am an acquaintance of your daughter."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "I'm pleased to meet you. And again, I'll be sure to let Kagome know you paid a visit."

"Arigatou," Akari replied. "Sayonara." With that said, Akari turned around and quickly walked away. When she finally looked up, she found herself staring at the entrance to the shrine. Apparently her feet had a mind of their own today because they were now leading her inside the small building. Inside, she saw a very old well and immediately it attracted her interest. Akari had always liked wells. She walked to the edge and looked down. It was a long drop, but you could see the bottom even in the darkness. Suddenly, the wood beneath her gave way and she fell towards the bottom of the well. Akari closed her eyes, preparing for the painful collision with the ground, but no such thing happened. A flash of blue light and a second later she was sprawled out on the ground, sunlight pouring down on her back.

Akari was not ready for what was about to happen next, but there was nothing she could really do about that. She heard a female voice shout, "SIT!" and the next thing she knew someone had jumped in the well and landed right on top of her. She gasped in pain from the contact. She had never before experienced pain like this; it had knocked the wind out of her and apparently made her temporarily deaf. The person who had landed on her was now apologizing profusely, but Akari heard none of it. Slowly she forced herself to flip over and sit up. It was painful, but she managed to do it. She looked upon the person who had used her as a cushion and to her immense surprise saw it was Kagome.

"Kagome?" She gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Kagome only stared at her, mouth hanging open. "How- how- how?"

"How what?" Akari snapped. She was not in a good mood right now, but could you blame her? Who wants to be used as a cushion?

"Kagome?" Came a voice Akari knew to come from a male. "I thought you were going home." A head looked over the side and Akari was shocked to see he had white hair and dog-ears. She visibly stared. He stared back. "Who the hell are you?" He asked rudely. Akari blanched.

"I was about to ask the same thing, only not as rude as Inu Yasha," said Kagome.

Akari looked incredulously at Kagome. "Do you not recognize me, Kagome?" She shook her head. "I'm Akari, I go to your school. Remember anything now?"

Apprehension dawned on Kagome's face and her mouth formed an 'O.' She blushed a deep shade of red. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry Akari! Please forgive me!" The panic on Kagome's face was enough to make anyone laugh, so that's what Akari did. A laugh bubbled out of her mouth and echoed around the well, she quickly stopped, however, when it hurt too much.

"Of course I'll forgive you Kagome. No one really knows my name anyway, why should now be a big deal?" Akari was smiling, but in her eyes was bitterness. She really didn't mind that people treated her badly; she just wanted a little recognition, people to know who she was. She shook the hard feelings off; she was not going to let something as trivial as negative feelings get in the way. "Now, I have only one question to ask?" Kagome cocked her head to the side. "Where the hell am I?"

Kagome sighed. "I think we should go to some place a little more private. Inu Yasha? Could you please help Akari out of here?"

Akari waved her hands wildly. "That's not really necessary! I can get out of here myself. Really!" Slowly and painfully, she got up and starting climbing up the wall of the well. Eventually she reached the top only to find the boy Kagome called Inu Yasha staring at her. "What are you looking at dog-boy? Haven't you ever seen a human before?"

"INU YASHA! Are you going to help me out or what?" Kagome shouted. Inu Yasha jumped down the well with inhuman grace and quickly came back up with Kagome. "Thank you." Inu Yasha merely grumbled out something incoherent. "Follow me, Akari." Akari nodded and followed the lead of dog-boy and Kagome, thoroughly confused out of her mind. What was going on?