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Strangled Time

Chapter Two

Kagome felt nervous as she floated through the time portal. 'It's taking far too long... ' she thought, shifting the yellow backpack strap on her shoulder to brace for impact. Inuyasha hadn't come when she called, not that she honesty expected him to. He was on the other side, probably waiting for her at Kaede's hut.

What if the well was refusing her passage, the priestess wondered in a panic, even worse, what if something had happened to the well and it would no longer work again?

Her breathing increased and tears came to her eyes as she thought about the possibility of never seeing her friends again. Never laughing with Miroku again. Never talking with Sango again. Never playing with Shippo and Kirara again.

And despite their countless arguments and fits, the thought of never seeing Inuyasha again seemed to hurt the worst.

And jolt ran through her. Frantically Kagome looked around at the fading red light. The first tears ran down her cheeks as her feet lightly touched the ground, as soft as a feather. The landing felt similar to the hundreds of others that the had done over the years, but still something seemed off.

Closing her eyes tight, Kagome waited until she could feel that the red light had completely ebbed away. Then, just to be on the safe side, she waited a few more seconds before tilting her head up and praying that there would be no roof above her. She allowed her eyes to open and an overcast sky greeted her. Ecstatic, the teen fell to her knees, ignoring the puddle she landed in and the shivers that followed a cold breeze.

Her happiness was cut off abruptly when she realized that she wasn't alone at the bottom of the well.

The demon that sat across from her was barely propped up against the wall, his head lay slack on broken armor. Blood pooled around his body, Kagome looked down at the dampness she was kneeling in and confirmed that it was also blood. she went still.

Had the village been attacked? Was this guy a friend or an enemy?

"Inuyasha!" She called out frantically. "Inuyasha!" When no response came Kagome felt as if she were still floating. 'This can't be right,' the thought seared through her, 'He wouldn't fight so close to the village.'

After placing the box and her pack on a dry spot of earth Kagome searched for her usual hand holds to get out of the well. It took her a moment to get coordinated, she could have sworn that the rope-like vines grew on the opposite wall. Once she had finally pulled herself up to the lip she gasped at the surrounding area.

It was the same open field that she knew to be there, but with vast changes. There was an old, overgrown foundation rotting in the grass. A group of weathered stones peeked through the tree line, headstones if she wasn't mistaken. Small trees stood where she knew large trees to be and large trees stood where she had never seen any trees before. The field was the same one, it had to have been, but yet it was completely new to her.

'Inuyasha isn't here,' Kagome gathered calmly, trying her hardest to pull herself together and not completely freak out, 'and I'm not actually sure where here is... The better question would probably be when... '

Stepping over foundation rocks and rotted beams, the priestess made it to the other end of the field so that she could look out over the hill to the village below. The village that was much smaller than she remembered and had more trees surrounding it. The tori arch was gone as well as the stairs, in their place was an overgrown stepping stone path that made it's way down the hill at an angle instead of straight.

"I went further into the past..." Kagome spoke aloud as she watched the smoke that rose from chimney holes of huts. She turned around, shell shocked, and made her way back to the well. Her eyes were stinging, but she didn't want to waste the energy it took to cry. When she got to the portal Kagome looked up at the forest and noticed, with an enormous feeling of relief, that the goshinboku was still in it's rightful place.

It was comforting having the sacred tree in the backdrop as if it were capable of keeping her safe from the new dangers of this time period.

Inuyasha wasn't there to protect her from those dangers. In fact, Kagome didn't even know if her favorite half demon even existed in that time. Did anyone she know exist in that time? Was Sesshoumaru even alive yet? Shaking her head to clear it from those thoughts the priestess carefully peeked down the well to see if the bloodied demon was still there.

First things first.

"You'd better be alive!" She called down to his limp form. Jumping into the well was a risk that she wasn't going to take. She had tried that the first time the well stopped working when she didn't have the jewel shards and nearly broken her legs. Despite the fact that the shards still hung around her neck, Kagome didn't want to chance it. Besides, if she just left who would make sure that the guy down there wasn't dead? And if the well was still acting up what if it took her even farther back?

So instead of jumping right in Kagome slowly lowered herself down with the vine that she had used to get up in the first place.

With feet back on solid ground the human girl inched towards the demon, expecting him to jump awake at any moment. Slowly, as if reaching her hand into a nest of hornets, she reached out and touched neck.

His skin was chilled, but there was a faint heartbeat.

Kagome sighed out of relief. "Okay," she said to the unmoving figure, "I'm going to make a deal with you." She gathered her yellow pack from the corner and dug into it for her extensive stock of medical supplies. "I'm going to patch you up because you probably know more about this place than I do. And in return, you're not going to kill me when you wake up.

"Got it?" Her grin was lopsided. "Awesome."

…

Pieces of armor, bits of clothing and bloodied bandages littered the bottom of the well, surrounding the prone form of the tall demon and the priestess tending him. The well was just barely big enough for him to lay on his back from corner to corner. It took Kagome more than twenty minutes to get him there, but it was easier than trying to fix him up while he was slumped up against a wall.

His wound to his side was deep, possibly life threatening. Especially because it didn't seem to be healing. Even Inuyasha's wounds healed quickly, sometimes she could practically see the flesh knitting together while she was bandaging him. Even the stranger's superficial wounds, the scrapes to his face and arms, weren't healing.

Kagome dipped her rag into the ramen cup that she had filled with water in the nearby brook and brushed away silver bangs to wipe at the deep scratch on the demon's forehead. She was shocked at first when she fully saw his face after moving him, silver hair was fairly common among various breeds of demons but his markings and facial features nearly confirmed that he was related to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru in some way. An uncle or cousin perhaps?

Although it was completely possible that he was not blood related to them, but was in the same clan. Besides, that was her first time seeing another dog demon aside from the half brothers so anything was possible. 'I wonder if his eyes are gold too.' Kagome thought to herself as she tapped one of his sickly pale blue markings.

It was amazing how soft the markings were and the fact that they wrapped up his arms and down to his hips was intriguing. The markings on his legs wrapped around them as well, but she didn't look to see where they ended beyond where she had cut off his hakama. Briefly she wondered if Sesshoumaru's markings were the same way. 'Neat.'

When she realized that she was lightly petting the cheek marking with the tip of her finger the way you would a small kitten she jerked her hand away. "Sorry!" Kagome apologized aloud to the unconscious man and then felt instantly foolish. It wasn't as if he could hear her.

In fact, he was completely dead to the world. He didn't even jerk when she pricked him with her emergency sewing needle. Which meant that she was utterly alone.

Somehow, the priestess grimaced at her patient, it was going to be a very long few days.

…

After night fell Kagome found herself wearing her fleece pajamas and tucked comfortably into her bed roll beside the lip of the well. The demon had yet to show any signs of life besides some faint breathing, but, considering the fact that she couldn't even noticed that he was breathing hours earlier, it was progress.

After running around all afternoon, the teen was glad to have the chance to finally lay down and get some shuteye. Her muscles ached and her head was throbbing. However, she was deeply grateful that working with Inuyasha's various wounds throughout the years had kept her from becoming nauseous.

Just as she was reciting a list of things that she had to do the next morning in her head, Kagome felt something hit the tip of her nose.

Then there was another one on her cheek, and another on her forehead. Then suddenly rain was coming down in that way that warned you that it would down pour in less than a minute.

Kagome pulled her waterproof bedroll over her head and sighed. Then, after a few moments, a thought came to her. 'He's a sitting duck.' her eyes shot open and she sprang up. The bedroll put up a good fight, even caused her to trip in the grass before she was finally out of it. 'He's going to drown!' The voice in her head screamed at her.

The rain was coming down in sheets by the time she had started running towards the forest, changed her mind to run halfway back to her backpack and changed her mind again to run into the treeline.

She returned with four of the rounded headstones which she took in return for an apology, saying her thanks and a little prayer. They rolled next to the well as she threw them to search in her bag. When she emerged Kagome had a picnic sheet in her hands which she quickly shook open and secured in place over the well with the rocks.

Finished, the priestess looked from her handiwork to her drenched clothing and hair.

There was no way that she would have been able to sleep outside on a cold, rainy autumn night wearing wet clothes. It would have been asking for a cold or pneumonia. Frankly, she didn't have the time to get sick in a strange time with a strange demon who was already out for the count.

Making up her mind, Kagome sighed as she pushed her bag through the improvised tarp and let it fall into an unoccupied corner of the well. Then she herself climbed under the tarp, reaching blindly for a hand hold or a vine.

She didn't even get a quarter of a way into the well when the rain slick walls caused her to lose her grip and fall onto the damp blood and water mixture on the floor. At least her head was cushioned by the demon's gut, though she hoped that she didn't land on his wound.

Before Kagome passed out from the combination of the pain from the fall and her fatigue from the day she realized with a sad acceptance that the well hadn't worked for her.

She was stuck in a new past.

End Chapter 2