"Sometimes I miss you in July

when it's hot and lightening rips along our tongues,

as thunder roars against our bodies.

Sometimes I think of you when I am drinking my tea

as it is getting cold

and the day isn't even half over." - Unknown

Chapter 2

It was dark and she was cold. Kagome was at the bottom of an ocean and the weight of the water, like a pair of heavy hands, held her to the ground. She stirred in her slumber, burying her fingers in the cool dirt. She was comfortable, and she could stay here for a while.

Something unpleasant bit her cheek. The illusion was shattered and the heavy spectral blanket of comfort was gone as quickly as it had arrived.

Kagome opened her bleary eyes and took several seconds to check in with each of her senses to gather information about her surroundings. Touching: dirt. Seeing: dirt. Smelling: dirt. Tasting:... dirt. She gathered her sprawled out limbs below her to prop herself up on her elbows. She wiped the detritus from her face and the sleep out of her eyes with the back of her hand. How long had she been asleep? She haphazardly raked a hand through her long hair and shook out the grime. It was dark now and she was cold. She tenderly inspected her arms and rotated her wrists, touched her head and rolled it side-to-side waiting for the first sign of pain but there was none. She supposed she was lucky this time to faint into the well and wake up entirely unscathed. She slowly pushed herself onto her feet, steadying herself on newborn fawn legs that trembled under even her lean weight.

Kagome peered up at the mouth of the dark well and was transfixed on the ray of light that peaked through. She stood in a pool of shadows. The stream of light was just bright enough to ghost across her cheeks and penetrate the murky bottom of the well where she stood. Was that a flashlight? Had someone found her? Kagome put a hand to her brow, squinted up at the light, and called out to it, "Hello?". Nobody answered. She huffed to herself. Somebody was playing a trick on her - there were no lights in the well house. A single snow flake materialized from the focal point of the light source and took its time lazily drifting down before settling onto Kagome's cheek. The cold crystal bit into her skin and quickly disappeared.

The air evacuated from her body, No… It's impossible, she thought to herself as her hand fell limply to her side. Was it possible?

The air rushed into Kagome's lungs all at once and she snapped into action. She strode with purpose toward the stone wall of the well and felt for a foot hold or a rock she could grab on to. Familiarly, she found her path of choice and hoisted herself off of the ground, instantly engaging muscles in her shoulders and forearms that she hadn't used since she was 15. She worried her lip with her teeth wondering who would find her now, present day or feudal era, if she made a fall and injured herself this time? Kagome had only climbed 20 feet off of the well floor and a line of sweat had already puckered across her hairline and she was breathing hard. The rest of the climb featured cramps that snaked around her forearms and constricted her muscles. If only she could get a better foothold— Her foot slipped as she dug her shoe into a crevice in the wall. The plan was to give her arms a moment to rest but it back fired spectacularly seeing that she was precariously dangling 40 feet over the ground. She yelped and scrambled to reestablish a steady foot placement and made the final push.

Thick woody roots and mossy green foliage grew over the opening of the well suffocating it. Kagome's belly ignited with an uncontrollable flame and adrenaline coursed through her veins.

"I made it, I finally made it back. I'm back in the feudal era." She gasped, and began to furiously tear away at the invasive weeds and roots with a free hand.

Sango

Miroku

Shippo

Inuyasha

Discarded greenery and splintered wood fell away into the darkness below and the small sliver of light peeking through the foliage grew into a hole large enough Kagome could pass through. Her hand thrust out and grasped the smooth thick timber lip of the well, and using her exhausted legs, she gave one last final push and hoisted herself out of the well, wiggling past the thorns and splintered bark that caught on her denim jeans.

Kagome tumbled onto the ground and remained there for several seconds to catch her breath. She would be so sore later, no doubt about that. The pain would matter little when she saw her friends again, she reassured herself. Kagome stood up and inspected her handiwork as she stripped off her black button-down coat and aired out the sweater she was wearing. The cool late autumn breeze wicked away her sweat quickly and she settled for folding her coat over her forearm for now. The well hadn't been maintained, and what was once a tranquil clearing was now overgrown with trees and vines creeping closer to her portal between worlds. A little hurt, but not sure why, Kagome dolefully kicked a vine that was creeping up the side of the well and tore away more of the invasive canopy from the mouth of the well. It doesn't look like anyone had been to the well in years, and that wasn't exactly the warm and welcoming sight Kagome was hoping for. Six years had passed, but it wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things, right? A familiar heavy weight settled comfortably in the pit of belly and she sighed. The smell of dead grass wafted up to her nose as she shifted her feet away from the well; it was all so familiar, yet she was in an unfamiliar place.

With the Goshinboku identified and pinpointed, Kagome turned in the direction of Kaede's village and began to walk. Kagome strained to feel the presence of any youkai nearby but she couldn't determine if there simply were none, or if she was weak from letting her miko powers lay dormant for so long. Or maybe I'm no longer pure, she thought idly. She was too troubled, depressed, despondent to be the miko she was. There was no question in her mind that, if today, she was given the Shikon Jewel, she would taint it terribly. Her face screwed up into an ugly, pained expression as she weaved her way between the entangled trees and vines of the forest. One thought snowballed into the next: if she wasn't pure, and she didn't have miko powers, she was for the most part defenseless at the moment. She hoped that Inuyasha was within hearing distance if an emergency situation occurred between now and the time she arrived to Kaede's village.

Kagome broke out of the woods and stumbled onto a well-trodden cart path that ran in two directions: towards Kaede's village and away from it. There were approximately 25 people laid out in front of her in her immediately peripheral either on horse or ox drawn carts, horse-back, or walking on foot - all were going to the village. They all gaped at her for a long moment before quickly turning back to the road and minding their own. Kagome squinted her eyes and looked down the road opposite of the village. The line of people seemed endless and reminded her of a formation of ants: never-ending and marching onward. She picked a random ox cart: an old man and woman perched on top of the rickety old thing and a young man riding a stocky horse glanced nervously in her direction as she sidled up next to it.

"Excuse me," she coughed to get their attention as they pretended to not notice her, "are you traveling to Kaede's village?" In response, the old man cracked the reins and the ox groaned in protest, but picked up the speed, jostling whatever items were in the back of the couple's cart. Kagome wrinkled her nose with indignation and walked faster to keep up with the cart.

"Excuse me!" she said, with more authority this time. The old woman gave a sharp look to the young man on the horse beside her and with a click of his tongue the horse took of galloping over the hill toward the village. Kagome watched the horse kick up a cloud of dust and disappear. She turned back to the old couple, the man stared at her hard, the woman looked away sheepishly.

"Who are you and what do you want? We don't have money or food for you." The man shouted at her, as if she were a beggar on the street pestering them. Other travelers took interest in the disturbance at the ox cart and crowded in to get a good listen.

Kagome remembered her manners, "I don't mean to be rude, I was just wondering why everyone is going to Kaede's village."

"I don't know where "Kaede's Village" is. You're lost." He informed her, pointedly answering only one of her questions before nudging the backside of his ox with his foot encouraging it to move faster yet again. In his opinion, the conversation was obviously over. Kagome gritted her teeth and moved her legs faster, refusing to be brushed off so easily.

"Lady Kaede: she's the old priestess of the village. Her sister Lady Kikyou was the village priestess before her. My name is Kagome. Kaede trained me in that village…" She rambled, hoping anything she said would ring a bell, and she was just short of talking about her quest to destroy Naraku when the man spat:

"You don't look like a priestess." With a suspicious glower. The wife's eyes darted between her husband and the strange woman anxiously as if she were trying to unravel this mystery in her mind herself.

Kagome puffed out her chest huffily prepared to retort when the thundering sound of hooves came beating up the path from the direction of the village. Men in armor on plated horses, four of them, blocked the path and prevented Kagome from moving forward. The ox cart and other travelers paid no mind to the soldiers and made a wide semi-circle around them. The horses' nostrils flared and their hooves pawed at the ground anxiously but the men stood still as stone taking her in. The dust kicked up from the horses made Kagome's eyes water and sent a tickle far up her nose that caused her to sneeze. The tension in the air broke.

"You, woman," one of the men boomed at her, "where do you come from and why do you wear such strange clothing? Are you a demon?"

"I'm here looking for my friends. I'm not a demon, I'm Kagome!" she shouted, exasperated. She didn't need a parade or a hero's welcome, but it was a bit shocking that nobody knew who she was. It's not like she'd saved this village and its people from a certain and grisly death at the hands of Naraku only a few years prior. She tried again when none of the men spoke.

"I just need to speak to Kaede and this will be cleared up," she continued waving her hand in the general direction of the village, "or any of my other friends. They can vouch for me: Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, Shippo." It was strange, now that she thought about it, that these men on this path were interrogating her. Since when did Kaede's village gain a mounted patrol and who gave these stooges the right to harass any one they pleased? Kagome was sizing them up when she realized the men had stiffened, and they had now had each placed a hand on their weapons.

"I will not ask you again!" One of the soldiers shouted. Kagome must not have heard him the first time, "Did you say Inuyasha?" He asked dangerously, apparently for the second time.

Kagome pauses before answering carefully, "... Yes?" Her answer sounded more like a question than a statement. She watched the soldier's jaw set in a hard line and suddenly the other three men were dismounting their horses and upon her. Everything happened so fast that she wasn't sure who or what came from where, but she first felt her arms being restrained. She was thrown to the ground with such force that the air was knocked from her and a cloud of dirt was kicked up. She wheezed and tried to catch a breath that wasn't dirt and dust particles but instead hacked and gagged. The soldiers tied her hands behind her back with a rope that burned the tender skin located on the inside of her wrists. Next, lifted her to be thrown on the rump of the largest horse like she was a fresh kill, ready to be skinned and processed.

"No! No! Stop it! Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" She cried, hoping he was nearby and he'd hear her panicked pleas. There was no red haori or flash of snow-white hair. None of the travelers made any move to interfere but rather pretending like the whole debacle was invisible to them. Kagome watched helplessly as the men mounted their horses, straightened their armor, and spurred their horses toward the village. One of the horses trotted over her coat that she'd opted to carry instead of wear and she watched it disappear under the wheel of another cart behind her. This was something she'd never have been able to predict happening, but she cursed herself anyways because now she'd be cold without a coat on the cusp of winter. Nobody was coming to help her, so she switched gears – bargaining. She told the men that she was a powerful priestess, a reincarnation of Kikyo in fact, and that she could help the village. She had saved it before from Naraku. She was an ally, she assured them. Maybe she was laying it on a bit thick, but she needed something that would stop them from doing whatever it is they were planning to do with her.

"A priestess?" one of the men sneered. All four of the men laughed together.

"I'm not lying. I'm a descend—" she started.

The same man cut her off, "No priestess would have any business with Inuyasha." He scoffed and spit the half-demon's name like it was poison in his mouth.

Kagome was thoroughly confused. What had happened in the timespan of a few years that had caused everyone to conveniently forget about Naraku, the heroics of her comrades, and why did these men despise Inuyasha? She worried her lip between her teeth, already having met her quota for lip chewing for the day, and broke the skin there. Something must have happened, something bad. Inuyasha must have upset somebody, or many somebodies, and it's spiraled out of control. This wasn't something that couldn't be fixed with some level-headed conversation and Sake, right?

The group continued their journey for several more minutes until the wind carried the sounds of people to her ears. She craned her neck to see the village and gaped. There was no village, there was a city, a compound. Stone walls towered several stories above and men stood on top of the walls, armed, watching their caravan as they passed through the open gates. Armed guards also manned the gate entrance, stopping travelers and vendors at random, questioning them and looking through their carts. The soldiers accompanying Kagome and the gate guards looked very similar, and they passed through with no issue she noted. With little warning, Kagome and her captors were immersed in the chaos that is a vendor market. Merchants shouted over each other, men browsed goods idly while women herded their children that shrieked over the rabble, and animals such as chickens and goats roamed freely across the road. The smell of farm animals was overpowered by roasting meats and spices the further they ventured through the market and Kagome's mouth tinged with saliva. She didn't know how long it had been since she had eaten because she didn't know how long she had been laying at the bottom of the well. Kagome watched two children sink their teeth into their respective Komikan fruits while they also watched her get swept away into the crowd laid across the back of a horse. The soldiers and their horses took Kagome past a clearing the market where a large amount of construction was underway, a temple or castle perhaps, in the middle of the city. This couldn't be Kaede's humble village, it was too big with too many people. The group passed countless huts, homes, and shacks before they arrived at their destination and Kagome was tugged off of the horse and set on her feet. One of the men placed an authoritative hand on her left shoulder and steered her through a door way and down a hall and only stopped until they were in a room full of similarly dressed men. It dawned on Kagome that this must be the guard barracks, and this must be the town guard. A man in decorated plated armor and a fearsome helmet with horns approached her from his place seated at a table and looked her up and down. More guards materialized from the shadows of the dimly candlelit room and made no effort to hide they were leering at her. Kagome uncomfortably shuffled when she realized that while she was an ally, they might not be.

The soldier maintained his firm grasp on her small shoulder and spoke, "Commander, we received word that this woman was causing trouble outside of the city walls. She's looking for Inuyasha." A few of the men at the fringes of the candlelight chuckled and nudged each other, making sure they all understood the joke.

The commander remained expressionless and his stare did not waver as he asked Kagome, "Woman, who is it that you seek in our city?"

Kagome met his stare and confidently repeated herself for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, "Any of my friends: Sango, Miroku, Shippou, Kaede, or Inuyasha."

No one laughed this time and it became stuffily silent in the barracks. The commander took a step closer to Kagome putting them nearly nose to nose and the men that held Kagome hostage backed away. "If it is Inuyasha you seek," he leveled, "you can relocate to the dungeons."

Kagome bristled but a defense in her name failed to pass her lips. One man grabbed each arm and steered her out of the door and down the long hall and into the dingy dungeon below. She was quickly stripped of her wallet, keys, phone and shoved into a small, dark cell. The air was heavy with mold, rot, and urine and Kagome did her best to take shallow breaths through her mouth. Her stomach lurched but she didn't want to make her current predicament worse by covering herself in vomit. She didn't know how long she'd be in here, anyways.

She threw herself against the door of her chamber and cried out to the guards as they disappeared around a corner, "Wait, there's been a mistake!"

No no no no! This can't be happening! Kagome crouched down, her face buried in her knees, and tangled her hands in her hair frantically trying to come up with a Plan B. Nobody knew where she was, nobody knew who she was, and she was currently locked away in feudal prison. Kagome growled in frustration into the denim of her jeans and bit back salty tears – this was NOT how it was supposed to be.

"A young priestess seeks out Inuyasha." It was not a question, it was a statement.

Kagome quickly composed herself, backed away from the door, and stood dumbly in the furthest corner of her cell.

"Who's there?" she asked with more conviction than she currently possessed, wiping her nose quickly against the shoulder of her sweater. Lanterns hung from iron rungs in the dungeon aisle, affording just enough light to illuminate the face of an old man stepping out of the shadows in the cell across from hers.

"Just a friend." He smiled, and waved an unconcerned hand at her.

"How did you know I was a priestess and looking for Inuyasha?" she asked, staying in the shadows of her cell.

The old man stroked his long white beard and chuckled in his raspy dry voice, "Any man with a modicum of spiritual power can sense that you also have a modicum of spiritual power. Whether you are capable of using them… that is a different story…" he trailed off with a hoarse chuckle.

Well, that answers her question from earlier, Kagome has a modicum – a scrap – of spiritual power left in the tank. She approached the cell door, resting her forehead against the bars and asked him, "Why have I been arrested for wanting to see Inuyasha? What crime have I committed?" Her words came tumbling off of her tongue.

"You wish to see Inuyasha, the half-demon," he stated rather matter-of-factly, "In doing so, you are directly conspiring against the resistance."

"The resistance? What resistance?" Kagome probed.

"You will find him soon enough." He said quietly with a sly smile.

Kagome realized that this old man had managed to sidestep exactly half of the questions she'd asked, and that this problem between the people and Inuyasha would not be solved over sake and jokes around a fire like she had originally thought.

She tried again for answers, "What resistance? How did you know I wanted to see Inuyasha? And how will I see him?" But to Kagome's dismay, the old man turned his back and dissolved into the shadows. She heard the distinct grunt and following thud of his weary body lowering and connecting with the hard floor. He began to whistle a tune, a triumphant and hopeful tune.

The dungeon door at the end of the hall flew open lighting up the dark and dank cavern. Two guards made eye contact with her and, with panic in her voice, began to beckon to the old man one last time. "Hey! I need to know what's going on! Please!" Anything she knew – any information she could get – would no doubt help her in whatever was to come. The old man did not respond and Kagome couldn't pinpoint the moment the whistling had stopped, either. The guards approached her cell and she backed away from them and crowded herself in the furthest corner while they fiddled with the mechanism that lifted the door. Once open, one of the guards, one she had never seen before, grabbed her by the rope that bit into her wrists and dragged her out of the cell causing her to stumble over her own feet into the aisleway. Kagome shot one last desperate look in the direction of the old man's cell, but up close in the light of the lantern she gasped. In the cell across from hers there was no man, only a skeleton leaned against the wall, arm rested atop a bent knee, jaw slack, as if he'd died whistling his favorite tune. For the second time today, Kagome found herself unable to speak as she failed to grasp at the wild reality she had yet to come to terms with.