A/N: And here is the moment you've all been waiting for! the meeting between Kagome and onbe of the puppies!
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31.
Winter, 1st month, third year
This is the second winter in the Higurashi castle, the third winter I had experienced altogether in this era.
Kami, so much has changed since then.
Koyuki and Takamaru were quick to officially transfer all their nobility titles to me and my children. Me, a noble? And the Head of the family no less? Inu would have thought I had sat him into the twilight zone.
Anyway, there have been some good changes in my life.
It's been almost a year since I came to accept my life here and it has been thanks to everyone that I have become the person I am today. A person that once upon a time I once thought only a dream of ever becoming.
I am Higurashi Kagome, Head of the Higurashi Clan, mother of Higurashi Shippo, Higurashi Hinoko, and Higurashi Sekitanko.
I am the noble who rules over the Higurashi domain and all who live within it. I am the healer who my people come to when they need aid. I am the teacher who freely teaches any who come to learn to read and write within my small school.
I am a master of the bow, the naginata, and the tessen. I am the defender of this domain when threats step foot on my land. I am the miko who purges the darkness from hearts both yokai and mortal.
And I am the one untouched by the flow of time.
…
….It seems so strange, for a barely remembered sentence to have so much meaning.
It seemed that Kaguya was right about me, I am one who time flows around.
It was Shippo who noticed a while back that I had not aged all that much since we landed in this era. I asked Takamaru-san if he knew anyone who could explain this and he took me to a witch that was reputed for being wise.
From what the witch told me, my aging will slow down with every year that goes by until I age no differently than a yokai. By the time I am twenty in body, I could easily be a hundred years old. It will continue as thus until "the flow of time reconnects with my spirit", which if I'm correct could be centuries away.
My friends and family are overjoyed, and it gives me some closer that I might just live long enough to see my modern family again, but the thought of such a long life…."humans were not meant to live so long" the witch said with pity in her voice, and I think she is right.
With a sigh, Kagome closed her journal and set it within her 'treasure chest', filled with gifts from her children and students as well as the only remaining modern appliances she still owned. Locking it closed she took a moment to look out at the forest bordering the manor.
She narrowed her eyes, 'Something feels off.' Without a sound she picked up her bow from its stand and exited her room. Slipping into a pair of zori laid out for her she stealthily marched into the forest.
After years walking through these very forests Kagome knew where she was going without even looking as she followed the sensation of a disturbance.
'It can't be a yokai; I would have sensed it before it ever set foot on the grounds. The villagers know better than to wander through the forest this late at night. So who or what could it be?'
Suddenly her ears picked up the sounds of stumbling and racket that no forest animal would ever make. Instinctively readying her bow, Kagome crouched down and crab-walked through what little underbrush still held onto life in the coming cold.
Peeking through the brush she narrowed her eyes at the sight of three tall strangers. Her eyes hardened when she realized that they expelled no aura, like Kanna. They were speaking in hushed voices, but the urgency in them made it possible to hear some of their words.
"Make…..stop…control…..!"
"…stop him!...you carry him?"
"Must hurry….take the child…..!"
Her eyes widened when the bundle, which she had not noticed until then, whined and wiggled. Personal experience with kidnapping instantly connected the dots as to what the strangers were doing.
Instantly aiming for the one holding the bundle, she drew her bow and released the purifying-arrow. The target had only a second to exclaim in surprise before turning to dust.
The other two instantly drew wakizashi and tried to pick up the bundle, but her next arrow forced them away. The bundle scrambled away from the clearing. The strangers cursed and tried to follow but her arrows insured they stayed inside the clearing.
Once the bundle escaped into the underbrush, Kagome drew her tessen and opened it. Filling the weapon with her miko powers she jumped up into view, drawing the attention of the yokai, and made a sharp sweeping arch that released her powers in a large wave.
Both yokai tried to escape it, their eyes wild at the realization as to what they were fighting, but they were too slow. With barely an agonized scream, they too became dust.
32.
Kagome remained still for a few moments, making sure there was no hidden enemy waiting for her to lower her guard.
Once sure there were none, she sheathed her tessen and bow. 'Now to find the child.'
Following the obvious trail left behind Kagome soon found the trembling child hidden under a tree. It froze with a jerk when she approached, loosening the cloth covering it. Kagome blinked when she felt the aura of the child before her instantly appear. 'So the cloth blocks aura detection. Knowing yokai it must also have been to block smell as well.'
Her eyes narrowed slightly. There was something familiar about this aura….her eyes widened in shock. 'It's the aura of a hanyou! Those yokai were kidnapping a hanyou?' now that made no sense. Even in the feudal era most high yokai did not need to be so subtle with hanyou, as they were seen as lower than dirt. The only reason they would go so far was if the hanyou was the child of a rather high ranking yokai that could easily have killed them in one-on-one combat.
'Well whatever the reasons, this child needs help.' As she took a step forward the moonlight peeked form behind the clouds, revealing the face of the child.
Kagome froze.
Silverish hair. Golden eyes. Doggy ears on the top of the skull.
Inu-Hanyou. Centuries before the feudal era. Close to the Western Lands.
'Oh Kami-sama…'
Though a mere child, the hanyou before her was someone she could never forget.
It was Inuyasha.
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A/N: And here we go, little Inu-kun! :3
Next Chapter: Kagome learns that not all is what she thought in the world.