A/N: Whew, here we go! First off, ABOUT Sesshōmaru! I am using the manga version for this beginning part; in the manga he was far more open with his emotions to an extent in the beginning (although they were all negative), the why of this in regards to this story was explained last chapter and in this chapter is summarily taken advantage of.

Anyhow! The story officially starts here; I couldn't just give a one chapter summary of Kagome's changed childhood, or go into it into great detail either, so I took the middle ground and provided a few snapshots. The rest of this fic will still be closer to a mixture of snapshots and a summarising of things, which will probably span more than one chapter in some cases and in other cases will be several snapshots in one chapter.

Also, I hope I have managed to convince you guys that Kagome is still herself at heart, just with certain traits magnified more or subdued more depending on what will prevent her from undergoing as much potential trauma and shit once her Sengoku Jidai adventures begin. How much she has and hasn't changed will be far clearer once the tachi forms and she begins making her friends in this new era. Don't just go by this chapter, Inuyasha has a weird place in her heart because, remember people, in her last iteration he pretty much killed her. So… yeah. She will not be treating everyone like she treats him. (Also no, I do not hate Inuyasha and the bashing will stop relatively soon from this chapter because Inuyasha surprised me in a really good way!)

"Yasha if you do not shut up and sit down right fucking now I am going to sit you into the ground so hard that the bones you are standing on will permanently harm your own bones. I will not have you hurting Sesshōmaru-kun!"

Kagome thought it was rather more the name she assigned the daiyōkai – which she had studiously avoided saying until now – than the threat (Kagome had carefully added the "boy" to her beads, so she could say her threat word in regular usage and never accidentally sat him – as well as being her own manner of vengeance for the way in which she had been aware he would treat her, and in which he treated her already; it was rather demeaning to be called a boy when one was an adult by the standards of their era, but since he absolutely refused to call her by her name, she thought she deserved some small bit of revenge) that made Yasha obey her; he hadn't experienced a sitting except once yet, to prove what she could do to him, and it had been particularly gentle.

Not because she liked him much. Actually, she pretty much couldn't stand him at this point in time, despite the fact that he was obviously still feeling the pain of a seeming betrayal and being forced to be around someone who looked like not only his betrayer but his first ever love interest. His language was beyond appalling; yes she could curse with the best of them, but generally only for emphasis or when she was angry and did not care what the person getting a taste of her temper would think about her afterwards – not constantly, like he did. (Seriously, how had Kikyō borne up under that?) His personality was brash and crude to the extreme, beyond what one would expect from him despite having had to survive in a hostile world until this point – he had been raised by a princess for goodness' sake! And Kami but he smelled, even having yōkai-made clothes that almost always muffled certain kinds of scents – body odour being one of them, seeing as most people in this era were not big on bathing, even amongst yōkai, who in general bathed more than ningen did.

Most inu were the exact opposite of ningen and bathed both regularly and often. Apparently this was not so for Yasha.

His reaction to her Sesshōmaru-kun (who did, in fact, both look and act so young that she felt much more mature than he was right now, and although she was aware that he rapidly matured during this coming year, she was going to take advantage of the fact that he was blatantly emotional right now to set the standard for all their future interactions) was merely topping off a long list of things she Did Not Like about her youngest stepson. (No, she and Toga weren't mated yet, but they were as good as and would be as soon as possible.)

"What is your reasoning behind addressing this Sesshōmaru so – wait, why-"

Here it was! Kagome swiftly interrupted him with a subtle, but clear, look at Yasha over to the side, and the words, "Please do not ask this Kagome that at such a time, Sesshōmaru-kun. However, as to the first query, this Kagome is from the future, and is very close with her Sesshōmaru-kun there; he made Kodokuso for her, after all."

At that she pulled out her longbow and held it out for him to examine. He was clearly impressed with the quality and the abilities, and looked at her not only with a respect that had been lacking before, but with an overt curiosity that was oh so very adorable, squee!

This Sesshōmaru was definitely Sesshōmaru-kun, for sure. She hoped that her interference would delay his returning to that cold mask of his – possibly permanently, in private. He certainly never wore it in private in the future, after all. "This Sesshōmaru will grant your request for a later meeting; and suspects that you have something to inform him of as to Tessaiga, or you would not have followed him here, despite your acquaintance with the hanyō."

Ah, clever, clever! See, if it had meant losing Bakusaiga to do otherwise, Kagome would have gone against her own wishes and allowed for Sesshōmaru-kun's arm to be removed – however, the removal of his arm had nothing to do with it, really; it was just him finally accepting that not only would Tessaiga weaken him, but that he simply didn't care about the sword in any way excepting that it subdued the imbalance inherent in his half-brother's blood. The regaining of his arm had been a gift, of sorts, from the sword to him.

Before she could respond, however, Inuyasha (as she called him both in her mind and out loud when he was particularly bothering, upsetting, or angering her, and his interruption was doing so right now) spoke up with an, "Oi! Why th' fuck does he get a suffix from the first time you meet him – you might know this asshole where you're from but he don't know you yet and fuckin' attacked you when he saw you, anyhow!"

"Because, Yasha, I do not know you whatsoever yet, and to be frank you have been incredibly and completely inexcusably rude to me from the moment you met me, whereas Sesshōmaru-kun's response to my presence was highly appropriate – I was in his way and yōkai simply get rid of pests."

Then she grumbled under her breath, loud enough that Sesshōmaru-kun would be able to hear, but soft enough that Inuyasha wouldn't be able to because his hearing wasn't as sensitive as a full yōkai's was, "Plus I can hardly stand being around you, you're an asshole, and you damn well stink; Kami, don't you ever bloody bathe?"

Oh, the smirk she was rewarded with was so worth it, and she smiled sweetly at him, "Yes, Sesshōmaru-kun, this Kagome does in fact have a few things to make you aware of, in the name of easing relations; and dearly hopes that you will be amenable to an alliance with her and her pack as an entity – not with its particular members separately. Anyhow, the Tessaiga can only be drawn by a ningen – and only wielded by a hanyō or yōkai that is doing so in order to protect ningen. Yasha you are not listening. Sit, boy. This Kagome would not request that you protect her, Sesshōmaru-kun, whereas Yasha has already agreed to aid her on her quest. As well, something important that both of you should be aware of; please listen up, Yasha, or I will sit you again."

She got a grumbled response, but he listened – probably only because he didn't want to miss out on information his brother was getting; completely unaware that he had already done so several times, once due to her clever manoeuvring, the second due to his lesser physical enhancements, and the third due to his being buried in bones. "This Kagome was made aware of the fact that the Tessaiga is the only thing that prevents the strength of your honoured father's blood from wholly overpowering the weakness inherent in Yasha's mother's blood – something that would, effectively, turn Yasha into a rampaging, mindless beast that slaughters everything in its wake, be they innocent or evil, friend or antagonist. Ideally it would never have left this tomb, and controlled his blood from within his body for the rest of his life, however Yasha will need it for our quest, for many reasons, which do not need to be listed here."

Her hanyō acquaintance immediately assumed she was keeping his secrets for him and it deepened his trust in her seeming-innocence – upon informing Kaede of exactly why she had subdued him and that she needed his help, but that more importantly, she needed him to trust her deeply enough that by the time she took control of their forming group, he would keep waving things off until he was used to her being in control, Kaede had agreed to upholding the falsehood that she had required Kagome to place the beads upon him. Especially because she would have demanded subjugation beads anyhow. Kagome had made a great show of patting them into place in such a manner that he didn't realise they had already been around his neck, and so he already pretty much trusted her as fully as he could someone he'd just met.

Kagome was wholly aware that only her similar appearance to Kikyō, initial insistence that she was "not this Kikyō person, my name is Kagome! Ka-go-me!", and reassurance from Kaede that while she might not be Kikyō, she was probably—not definitely, Kaede knew the truth about that as well, but when asked if Kagome should let him know straight off or keep it from him, Kaede decided on her own – Kagome had assumed she would have to nudge her into it, but apparently not – that it would be safer for all of them if he thought she had Kikyō's soul—her reincarnation, were the reasons that Inuyasha trusted her so deeply.

Oh, and her seeming-helplessness and fear, which would be waved off once she brought in Raimei, Jinrai, and Rakurai and informed him that she knew how to use a bow, just not a longbow, and that she'd been so terrified because she had been trained in blades from a young age and felt helpless without them – which was a blatant lie, she had her daggers with her after all, but he might never find that out until her not feeling so could be attributed to her experiences here.

Once Kaede let Inuyasha know about Kagome probably being Kikyō's reincarnation, Kagome had then had Kodokuso shoved into her hands and been informed that Kikyō's favoured weapon was the bow, even if she didn't know how to use it she would with a little bit of practise.

It had been stupidly easy for her to fake being a bad shot and purposely shatter the jewel, then. She would arrange for "lessons" as a part of her alliance with Sesshōmaru-kun, which would explain her proficiency after this. She would tell Inuyasha, who would probably never know whether it was an untruth or not, even when things ended and they were a real family, that there wasn't actually much difference between the types of bows once she got used to the change in how they were held.

Which led her to Sesshōmaru-kun's response to her statement, which was a very slight smirk and a slight tilt of his head in acknowledgement. He was definitely not only accepting of her as a person on her own merits now, due to her obvious intelligence, overt manipulations, subtle manipulations, willingness to use force, and pretty much general yōkai-ness; he was accepting of her being worthy to be his father's intended, and accepting of the fact that despite her young appearance, she was far older than she looked.

Considering that his only other mother figure had never mothered him or been affectionate towards him, she would be able to do those things without him feeling as if she were taking an already-held and unwanted place in his life; instead, because of his growth period instability and the fact that her body language was inu, he would simply accept those things from her because she was clearly an alpha bitch and, as his father's intended, she was in fact his alpha bitch. The fact that he was not chafing under such restraints actually made quite a bit of sense – firstly, her presence meant his father would be re-entering his life, something he desperately wanted. Second, she was—unbeknownst to his half-brother, which made it all the better—completely antagonistic towards the hanyō he despised. Third, she was very smart, aware of her intelligence, and willing to not only use it to aid her endeavours, but to thoroughly insult his uncultured half-brother just because she could, essentially.

Kagome might or might not ever explain her antagonism towards Inuyasha to Sesshōmaru-kun, but it was definitely helping her relationship with Sesshōmaru-kun blossom rapidly.

The most important part of her endeavour being done, she grabbed the Tessaiga (which whispered along the edges of her mind, greeted Kodokuso politely, and then made sure that the person it was made for was going to be the recipient) and shoved it at Yasha, who grabbed it eagerly – he might not be allowed to fight his brother any more, but it was something from his father, a man he looked up to inordinately despite knowing next to nothing about the yōkai. Kagome only hoped that her plans would be able to be implemented how she intended and that by the time Toga came back into her life as her actual mate instead of her betrothed who couldn't even stay solid in his humanoid form without a freaking sword, Yasha would be over his developing crush on her, viewing her like a mother, and ready to accept not only his father's presence, but his education as well.

Well, all she could do was hope, on that front.

Then she walked over to Sesshōmaru-kun and boldly placed her hand on his neck in such a way that meant she was inviting him into her pack – and thus his father's pack – as an addition to his leading his own pack, and tagged him with her reiki so that she could track him down whenever he was far enough away that she couldn't sense him. Sesshōmaru-kun was inordinately powerful for his age, but he was also very intelligent and kept his yōki restrained tightly so that he would not have people constantly challenging him and be needlessly killing unworthy opponents. She kept her hand there as he decided what he wanted to do – in the end, before he accepted her invitation he shot a look towards Yasha and got a small shake of the head in response to his unspoken query—no, she hadn't offered this to Yasha and would not be doing so just yet.

He was young enough that this blatant sign of favour was enough to make him tilt his head to the side in acceptance, and she smiled happily, murmuring, "This Kagome is so very happy that Sesshōmaru-kun accepts her and is willing to be in her pack. Thank you very much, Sesshōmaru-kun."

Then she leaned up and kissed his cheek, before stepping back and calling out, "Yasha, we need to get out of this place, it won't be here much longer before it is gone, can you feel the shaking? Sesshōmaru-kun, this Kagome is aware that it is slightly demeaning for one such as you, and apologises profusely for even considering asking, but she can think of no other way to arrange our alliance swiftly – would you follow behind this Kagome and Yasha discreetly until we have departed from Edo?"

Kagome needed to grab Raimei before they left; Rakurai and Jinrai could wait until her next trip through the well, but even though she was well aware that she was beyond proficient with a bow; and that even touching Kodokuso would burn/poison anybody excepting Toga, Sesshōmaru-kun, and herself (Kagome had kept the bow wrapped up when she brought it here so that Kaede wasn't touching it directly), she still wanted Raimei with her – in part because Kagome was not certain that she could reasonably make an excuse to come back to Edo before Toga arrived, and even though it had been such a short time already, she missed him so much it was beyond painful.

Sesshōmaru-kun had been watching her face closely, for any sign that she was deceiving him about her genuine displeasure that such a thing had to be asked of him, since her scent was still being dampened by not only her clothes but her reiki – Sesshōmaru-kun was pack now, and Inuyasha was not; it should be Sesshōmaru-kun travelling with her, rather than otherwise. He had been summarily convinced, because she really did hate that it wasn't Sesshōmaru-kun travelling with her, but he had lands to rule and could not truly join her quest, and then shot her a Look at the obvious pain that passed through her when thinking about her beloved. She looked upwards and his eyes softened somewhat. He knew the pain of missing a loved one, as well, and although it was not the same kind of missing, it was the same person, so he sympathised with her.

It helped.

Then the group exited; just in time, too – the shaking inside of the tomb was getting more severe by the second. Kagome knew that Toga had little choice about how fast the bones would be absorbed, or about when he could begin; the Kami decided the second, and natural process decided the first. It was still somewhat upsetting that Toga couldn't exit how they were, but Kagome knew that at least that had a Very Important reason behind it. Kagome needed to be accepted and trusted by all of her new pack as their alpha before introducing him to the group; although Kagome hoped that there would at least be someone she could talk to about Toga, because she really needed a male opinion and neither of her stepsons (simply because they were her stepsons, and young ones at that) were suitable conversationalists for this sort of thing.

Somehow, Kagome had a sneaking suspicion that now that the Shikon was roaming free to spread chaos and false power everywhere, she would get the kind of people she so desperately needed in her pack. People she could consider a true new family; something she desperately needed because she would be missing her birth family, whom she had never been far from, something dreadful, despite finally feeling like she was home now that she was in the Sengoku Jidai.

But that was for later. Right now they had to make a stop at the well, which they did, and Kagome, shooting a grin and a wink towards a rather curious Sesshōmaru-kun who was hiding himself in the trees, leapt into the well, blue light enfolding her form as she was transported between dimensions. It was time to let her grandpa know about what had happened so far, grab Raimei – Kodokuso was hovering on her mind and pleased that she would have a conversation partner for when Kagome was busy doing other things – and depart on her way.

She had an alliance to make, after all, and a very interesting story to tell her eldest.