Author's note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed or favourited. It really does mean a lot to know that people are actually reading and enjoying this! I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Sara, who made me a very happy authoress.
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and co. I do not own. So nasty lawyers, leave me alone!
Kagome opened her eyes to the inside of a crude but efficient shelter, a small cave with a fire flickering merrily and a large boulder blocking the wind that was howling outside. The youkai from earlier, who had evidently saved her despite his unfriendly behaviour, was pacing the cave -seven steps, turn, seven steps, turn- creating a comforting tap-tap-tap that reminded Kagome of the clock on her mother's kitchen wall. Her mother, who she may never be able to see again, and Souta, and Grandpa! Shippo, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, her other friends from the feudal era!
Kagome jolted upright with a gasp, drawing the attention of the cave's other occupant.
"Explain yourself." He demanded. "Why were you inside of my father's territory?"
"Never mind that!" She snapped back. "Where's the well? I need to get home!"
He looked at her as though she'd announced she ate babies for breakfast, half disbelieving and half disgusted.
"There is no well in these woods, onna. This one would know, as I have been hunting the panther youkai which dwell here, and I have found nothing but trees and mud." He glared disdainfully at the long, draping sleeve of his kariginu. He looked to be about twenty, but looks were often deceiving when it came to youkai, and he was acting a little like a teenager who had been dragged out camping. "Now, why are you here, and who are you, to be dressed in such a manner?"
He looked up and down what was visible of Kagome over the blanket she had awoken with, and clearly found her taste in clothing lacking. Next to the youkai dressed in Heian period hunting attire, Kagome felt very under-dressed. Not for the first time, she wished she looked less like Kikyou, and could have worn the traditional clothing of a miko without Inuyasha looking at her strangely, like he was looking for something but not finding it.
"I'm lost, as I said. I was looking for my way home. My clothes were designed to be practical for activity. You can admit my clothing is functional, if nothing else."
He glared again at the long, mud-splattered sleeve, then looked at Kagome's school uniform again. His eyes lost a little of their icy hardness as he re-evaluated her. "Perhaps, but the amount of leg showing is... is..." He lost his usual eloquence for a moment as he seemed to struggle for words.
"I agree with you there, but whoever designed my uniform obviously thought differently. Perhaps you have a spare pair of hakama I could borrow, and we could both feel more comfortable?"
He looked at her appraisingly, then went to the small pile of belongings at the back of the cave, placed there for protection from rain and snow. He rustled through a pile of clothing that was high-quality even to Kagome's inexperienced eyes, but all of which had clearly been worn and refolded, as evidenced by the small sections near the bottom of the garments which were covered in drying and hardened mud. He found a pair of plain red hakama, and thrust them in her general direction with his right hand, while covering his eyes with his left. "And your name?" He questioned while Kagome changed.
"H-hoe?" Kagome exclaimed, remembering abruptly that she was in the past, so had to ensure nobody knew who she was, otherwise she could cause a paradox! Her stomach chirned at the thought, and she knew instinctively that time was already weakened by her previous alterations, accidental though they were. She needed an alias, quick!
"My name is Sakura!" She replied after a short hesitation, remembering the character from the manga who also made hoe noises when surprised, one of her all time favourites. She always had liked the name Sakura, and planned on calling a daughter by that name if she ever had any, so it worked pretty well as an alias. "Ishikawa no Sakura!" She used Heian period naming conventions, naming herself as a member of the Ishikawa clan, which had yet to be founded, so no-one could call her out on it, again drawing her inspiration from anime, this time one her brother liked.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sakura-san. I am Nishi no Arashi, of the court of the west." He introduced himself formally. "Now, you must leave this place. The panther tribe this one's father sent me here to hunt are dangerous, and I can ill afford any distractions or delays. Can you find your way back to your family home?"
"I don't think so..." Kagome mused aloud. "I know how to get home from the well, but if there is no well in this forest, I must be more lost than I thought."
"Very well, then." Arashi sighed. "As you cannot return to your family home, you may remain in this cave until I have exterminated my quarry, and then I shall escort you to the well you seek." He looked resigned, as though this was not the first time his honour had required he do something troublesome.