Chapter Two

A Leap of Faith

I sat up from my bed of furs and ran my clawed hands through my black hair. Such a weird dream. A girl with long raven hair walking away from me and dressed in an odd green and white kimono. My thoughts wandered over this stranger, yet somehow seemed familiar. Even her smell seemed familiar, an alluring combination of lilacs and something else. Lavender maybe? Who was she and why did my blood run cold thinking of her being lost to me? I shook my head back and forth, trying to push the dream away from my thoughts.

Today my pack hunts. Lately game has been a bit sparse, nearby villagers seem to be easier for the taking rather than traveling out farther to find enough game for our flourishing pack. An odd feeling crept in the back of my mind at the thought of villagers as a meal. Fuck, what is wrong with me this morning? I growled, frustrated at my random emotions. My last meal happened to be villagers, I laughed at their efforts to flea and enjoyed the look of helplessness in their eyes as my pack killed them.

"Koga, today's hunting party is gathered ready for your order," Hakkaku reported to his alpha. "Will you lead us again or will you appoint someone to run it for you?"

"I'll lead them," I barked a bit more harshly than I intended. "You think I'm too weak to lead the hunting party now?" I challenged further.

"No of course not," he stepped back worried about his leader's reaction while slowly shaking his head back and forth. The tips of his white mohawk flipped slightly with his head while he had his hands raised in submission. "I was just simply asking in the case you had other matters to attend to, my mistake Koga," he hurriedly added.

My body relaxed at his words while I inwardly cursed myself, Dammit Koga! Get it together, Hakkaku is one of your Betas and best friends. He would never insinuate what I just accused him of, his loyalty wouldn't allow it. I squeezed the bridge of my nose between my fingers before getting up and throwing on my armor.

Hakkaku seemed to notice the change in my demeanor and relaxed, "I'll tell the others you will be out shortly to lead us in another successful hunt." He smiled at me as I bound my hair in it's usual ponytail. He then turned and jogged out of my den with the smell of excitement trailing behind him. My own excitement started to pick up at the smell, now thinking of the impending hunt. My tail swished slightly, content to be making another kill soon.

"That dream will no longer bother me," I reassured myself.

(^u^)

The morning light shone through my window, waking me up. I grabbed my cell phone and saw I was late for school! I quickly threw on my school uniform and grabbed my yellow back pack before running downstairs. Mom was making breakfast, the smell of bacon making my stomach growl.

"Good morning Kagome. Why are you in your uniform? It's Saturday." She was looking at me with concern written all over her face. Realization hit me hard as I sat at the table, now that I had plenty of time to actually eat.

"Oh, uh...I must have just gotten my days mixed up," I half chuckled to reassure her everything was ok. Everything wasn't ok. Did my wish work the way I had wanted it to? The memory of yesterday, or rather five hundred years ago, slowly faded into my mind. I had just admitted to Koga that I may actually love him. I blushed at the memory. Koga's face had changed expressions fast: shocked, elated, and then almost panicked. I wonder why he was upset like that at my proclamation. Did he no longer love me?

"Ok Kagome," she had an uncertain smile on her face as she set a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon in front of me. She didn't push whatever she was thinking though. I've always been grateful of how my mother seemed to know when I didn't want to talk about something.

"This looks great! Thank you Mama!" I picked up my chop sticks, grabbing scrambled eggs first. I ate everything off my plate in a short time, feeling much better now that my stomach no longer was yelling at me.

"Would you like some more dear?"

"No. Thanks though. I'm just going to go back to my room to work on some homework now." I didn't have any homework, or at least I didn't think I did. I just had to think about some things to see if my wish had worked. "I wish Naraku never existed." That should have more or less restarted everyone's lives, but without any heart ache in my friend's lives.

Shippo's father should still be alive. The Thunder Brothers wouldn't have any jewel shards or be searching for any of them to have murdered him. I bet Shippo is so happy to be living with his father, instead of being an orphan. I smiled at the thought of him playing with his father.

Miroku may not even be a lecherous monk anymore. I chuckled trying to imagine Miroku not trying to grope at any female's rump. He wouldn't have had the desperate need to have a son just to ensure his family's name continues on. Naraku would have never cursed his grandfather with the Wind Tunnel. I wondered if he and Sango would still cross paths.

Sango would still be apart of a thriving demon slayer village. She would still have her family, her brother not used as a pawn against her any longer. Tears of joy fell from my eyes. Sango seemed to have lost the most due to Naraku. I know she is much happier with this alternative.

My heart twisted painfully thinking about Inuyasha's possible outcome. He and Kikyo wouldn't have had a reason to believe the other betrayed them. Would they have mated? Would Inuyasha have wished to become a human? Or would he have still wished to be a demon? Would Kikyo have just accepted him as who he was and he give up making a wish on the jewel again? The jewel. My whole train of thought paused at the mere thought of the shikon no tama. If a wish was made it would no longer exist.

I grabbed at my lower left rib trying to sense the jewel's presence or lack of it, depending on whatever happened five hundred fifty years ago. Would I be able to cross the well without it if it wasn't there?

My thoughts drifted to a certain blue eyed wolf demon. He wouldn't even know I even existed. Even if I did get to go back, what would my place be back in the past? Everyone's lives would be better and there would be no reason for our group to unite together like we did before I made my wish. I couldn't tell if the jewel was inside me like before, but even if it wasn't I still wanted to see if I could pass through the well.

I walked downstairs, not even bothering to change out of my uniform, and headed towards the well. I paused briefly to look at the Goshinboku Tree, noticing the bark seemed to be fuller. I guess Inuyasha was never sealed to it. I shook my head and kept heading towards the well, a bit nervously now. I slid the door open, slowly revealing the well. All my insecurities started to flood my mind. What if I couldn't go back? What if I got back and no one remembered me, or worse had no reason to befriend me again?

A pair of blue eyes pierced through all the worries and replaced them with a more powerful one. What if I stayed here? That thought seemed scarier to me than trying and possibly failing. I slowly threw one leg over the side of the wooden well, then the other. I sat there for a moment looking down into the darkness of the well. Here goes nothing, or everything, and I jumped in.