Kagome sighed as she unlocked the front door to her apartment, sighing again as the paperwork contained in the folder she was holding fell to the floor. Growling with frustration, she finally managed to get the door open. Walking inside she dumped her bag and keys on the kitchen counter then turned to go and scoop up her post and other bits of paper strewn across the hallway, flicking on the lights as she went.
Locking the door behind her, she kicked off her heeled pumps and flung herself onto the sofa. A contented sigh passing her lips for the first time that day. Clawing at the first envelope, she was about to take a look at the letter when her landline started to ring. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, she only had the damn thing installed for the broadband. The only people who ever called it were sales people, however, her mother being a traditional woman also used it so she answered anyway.
"Hello" Kagome said, head in the fridge as she looked for treats.
"Hello" she said again, this time more irate, she didn't have time for this shit.
She gave it one more try and again was met with the same crackling from before.
She slammed the fridge shut and hung the phone up, glaring at it and planning to throw it across the room when it began to ring again.
Seething and intending to vent the frustrations of her stressful day on the apparent prankster, she punched the answer button and snapped "What, you've finally decided to talk now asshole!?"
"Kagome? Is everything alright?" her mother's concerned voice floated down the line.
"Oh shoot - Hi mum" she said somewhat sheepishly. Stuffing a pop tart in her mouth, she continued her rummage through her kitchen cupboards as she carried on the conversation.
"You didn't try ringing me a second ago did you?" she managed between munches.
"No dear. The reason i'm ringing is… well it's because…" her mother began warily
"What's up? You know you can tell me anything, i'm not a little girl anymore" Kagome smiled
"Honey, it's the well. I think… i think something is happening. It began glowing a couple of nights ago, we didn't want to ring you over nothing but… it's getting more and more powerful. I think you might need to come home" she finished, waiting to see what reaction her daughter would give.
Kagome froze, the well? The well had stopped working around six years ago after Naraku's demise, she had grieved over the loss of her friends however she had moved on with her life since then. She was not a child anymore, in the middle of her twenty second year, she had landed herself a great position in an Engineering company on the outskirts of Tokyo. She was successful, self sufficient and aimed to please no one but herself and her family, something she was proud of becoming after her years as a teen spent traipsing around the feudal error after self absorbed men.
"Kagome? Are you okay?" the voice on the phone brought her out of her reverie
"Yes, sorry, god… erm okay, i'll come home tomorrow. I've been suspended from work for two weeks anyway… hehe" she laughed half heartedly
"Oh Kagome" Hitomi chastised, knowing her daughter's abrupt personality all too well
"We will talk about it tomorrow when i'm home, i promise" Kagome cut in quickly, wanting nothing more than to mull over the new information with a hot bath and a glass of wine
"Ok honey, have a safe drive"
"I will don't worry, i love you" she said, getting a goblet out of the cupboard.
"I love you too"
She sighed, placing the phone back on it's stand.
Shimmying out of her pencil skirt and taking off her shirt she grabbed the bottle of rosé wine out of the fridge and padded into the bathroom, glass and bottle in hand.
She sat on the side of the bath as it filled with hot water and bubbles and went over the day's events in her mind.
Her day had begun as any normal day had, barely making it in time due to traffic then making her way through her duties. After lunch however, a particularly lecherous representative from the company's main customer had arrived on site for a factory visit. Kagome's poor PA, Naomi had been scared out of her wits, not that she could blame her. This guy had quite the reputation and Kagome wasn't bothered one bit by it.
Smiling, she introduced herself and winking at Naomi as she guided the man out of the door announcing that she would be giving the tour herself as she had an opening in her schedule.
They had been on the desolate factory floor for about ten minutes as Kagome gave him details on the progress of each of the parts when he decided to grab her ass.
Not a brush or a passing stroke, the sleazy bastard full on cupped a cheek.
So, Kagome did the first obvious thing that came to mind. She grabbed his arm and threw him straight over her shoulder, sending him flying into an array of steel pipes which clattered to the ground around him on impact.
She smirked at this memory, it was a flawless throw afterall. Her kickboxing teacher would be proud when she told him, unfortunately her boss hadn't seen things the same way.
After a two hour grilling for her 'inappropriate behaviour' and 'temper problems' she was allowed to leave with a two week suspension, her boss knew what the guy was like and Kagome secretly suspected he was glad someone finally gave the ass what was coming to him, however, they were the main customer and essentially 'paid his and Kagome's wages' so they had to make it appear that disciplinary action was being taken.
Ah, the injustice of society.
She turned off the tap and lowered herself into the water, trying not to get her hopes up about the suspicious activity at the well house back at the shrine.
Failing miserably, she took a sip of her wine as she sank back into the comforting liquid, mind processing thoughts at one hundred miles an hour.
The following day saw Kagome stood outside the well house, hands on hips which were clad in low rise denim shorts, showing off her long tanned legs and midriff. She ran her fingers through her hair, sorely needing an alcoholic beverage after her mother's telling off once she laid the previous days events on the table.
She couldn't feel any power from the well where she was standing. The midday sun beat mercilessly down on her as she took off her cardigan and tied it around her waist, exposing the bits of flesh not covered by her tight white tank top to the cool summer breeze.
Come on Kagome girl, grow a pair. She thought to herself, mustering up the courage to open the heavy wooden sliding door.
She slipped her sunglasses to the top of her head as she stepped inside. The cool dampness of the air prickling her skin as her nose was assaulted by the scent of damp and mildew.
She approached the well, still not feeling any power from the old relic as she turned her head over her shoulder and shouted "Nope, not feeling anything, must have been a false alarm!"
No sooner had she shouted, a surge of power pulsed through the well and ensnared her.
Screaming, she tried desperately to cling onto the side of the well but the pull was too strong.
She felt the all too familiar tingle of magic as her body was pulled through time and space.
Then everything went black.
"Kagome" a voiced tingled at the edge of her consciousness
"Kagome" the voice repeated, this time more urgently
Wearily she cracked an eye open, followed by the other as she made out a bright figure sat next to her on the grass.
Wait, grass?
She sat up clutching her head as the world spun.
"Where am i?" She croaked, noticing the beautiful shimmering woman beside her.
"We are in your subconscious my dear, it seems you fainted as you fell through the well" the woman said, standing and brushing off her golden robes
"Who are you?" Kagome said, butterflies filling her belly, she didn't want to return to the feudal era. It had taken her so long to get over it all.
"I am the goddess of the sun, the land and all things holy" the woman smiled "on earth i am known as the goddess Amaterasu"
Kagome's face was something akin to that of a fish out of water.
"We do not have much time, i must explain to you the importance of returning to the feudal era. There is something i need your help with, something only you can do." The goddess' eyes pleaded with her.
"Please Kagome, there is a new threat, something the likes earth has never before seen. You must travel back to its origin and destroy it." She then smiled and approached Kagome.
"Of course, that does not mean to say you will do it alone." she touched a finger to Kagome's collar bone, instantly a searing pain filled the girl. It drowned out everything around her until she could barely see or hear the woman before her.
"You must find him Kagome, the moon to your sun, the cool to your fire. You can only do this together." Kagome barely heard her as she felt herself speeding backwards into the darkness, the bright field becoming nothing more than a speck before her.
"Please Kagome" her echo reached out to her.
"Kagome" the voice sounded again, this time more rough and harsh.
"Kagome?" this was definitely not the woman's voice, it was a man's voice - harsh and gravelly.
"Kagome!" This time the voice was accompanied by a small shaking on her torso.
"Ugh" she moaned
"What the fu-Inuyasha?" She opened her eyes, staring at the golden eyes above her in shock.
"Oh god" she cried, then for the second time that day, she fainted.