A/N: Have fun, guys!
Beta: Cstorm86

A Boy and a Well

After inspecting the perimeter of the shrine 'in search for hunks' the girls finally let Kagome lead them home. They all ate together and Kagome had to answer dozens of her mom's questions - the first being if she felt safe so far from the civilization. Her grandfather was no help, just smirking and playing dumb if he got a question. Then he started to tell stories of kappa living in a stream running near the shrine grounds and wolf youkai pestering people of the next mountain and the dinner was over in less than five minutes.

The four friends spread extra beds on the floor of Kagome's room, because they firmly declined the offer of sleeping anywhere else, claiming it was the last chance for a long time to have a sleepover together, since both Yuka and Ayumi were going to move out of the city to go to college, and Eri was going to start working in her uncle's store next week.

Kagome was immensely thankful that the trio came to visit her, even if they were teasing her about all sorts of things. With them in her room, despite it looking so different from her old one in her mother's house, she felt as if she was a schoolgirl again. They talked about their plans for the future, a bit about their classmates and boys, shared little stories for hours, until the other girls finally fell asleep.

For some reason Kagome couldn't sleep. She rolled on her side and looked at the shadowy room, listening to the three girls' breathing.

Something was wrong, but she couldn't put a finger to it.

She was pretty tired and wanted to fall asleep, but something was bothering her, like a hair under her shirt. She focused on the odd feeling, trying to name it.

It was a bit like sensing the air pressure shifting, as if a change of weather was coming. Kagome frowned, trying to think if she had felt this feeling before, but before she could search her memory, she heard a sound outside of her bedroom door. Her eyes, that she hadn't realized had been closed, opened and she looked at the doorway. Someone was walking down the corridor. She tilted her head, so she could listen with both her ears. It wasn't her grandpa, the person was moving too fast.

Kagome decided to get up and carefully navigated through her room not to step on her friends. No matter if it was her mom or Souta, she hoped that talking to the mystery person would help her feel better. The feeling of something pressing against her skin was getting more and more annoying.

She felt a bit like a spy following an unsuspecting target, despite the fact that it was her home and her family member. She slid the door open and carefully sneaked out of the room, so not to wake her friends up. A moment of careful listening revealed that whoever it was ahead of her was now in the living room, which was odd, to say the least. There was no food there and the bathroom was on the other side of the house. She managed to get to the bottom of the stairs when she felt a gust of crisp night air against her ankles, a clear indicator that the shoji to the engawa was slid open in the room. Bewildered and curious she peeked through the door to find the room empty and dark, the only source of light being the faint glow from outside.

She crept towards the light, carefully avoiding any furniture on her way, then she poked her head out and looked around. Just in time to see Souta and someone else entering the old well house. What was he doing there, in the middle of the night? His companion wore clothes easily blending in with the shadows, their form not bigger than her brother's. Frowning, Kagome stepped outside and made her way to the ancient building. It didn't store anything special, just an old, dry well that had a few slips of paper with sealing spells on the dusty lid. Some shrine visitors were sometimes stepping in to take photos or just admire the place, but in Kagome's opinion it wasn't as pretty as the main shrine or the forest.

As she approached the sturdy, plain-looking building, Kagome could hear someone talking inside - it wasn't her brother's voice, but one belonging to a girl. She was talking in a monotone voice, calm and soothing. The feeling of something being amiss intensified when she heard the girl speak.

"...Good... Now the southern seal..." A pause, silence filled with shuffling of feet. "Western seal..."

Kagome decided that whoever it was and whatever she was doing with Souta, it was definitely not to her liking. It sounded like the two were doing something to the old ofudas put on the well by her grandfather or even great grandfather. Without thinking much about it she stepped inside, determined to tell the girl and her brother that they were in big trouble, because she was going to tell her mom and the girl's parents what they had been doing.

"Hey!" she started.

And that was when she lost her voice, her next words stuck in her throat, her eyes widening in shock and fear. The feeling of something being wrong intensified and now she knew what was wrong.

Souta was standing by the well, his face passive and emotionless as he idly stood there, his hand holding a few slips of paper which had to be the ancient seals. But the sight of him was only mildly unsettling in comparison to what lurked in the shadow behind him.

A girl... Or rather something that looked like an unassuming girl with short dark hair and empty eyes. She had no nose or brows and her dark lips seemed to be too long for a human. Something told Kagome that she had rows of thin fangs hidden behind those lips. The creature held a doll in her hands. The air around her felt thicker somehow. There was only one supernatural being she had ever seen in her entire life, but Kagome had no doubt in her heart that the girl was a youkai.

As Kagome stared at the girl she smiled at her with her too wide mouth, revealing that indeed, she had teeth like no human should have. Souta reached for the last slip of paper placed on the wooden lid of the well slowly as if in a daze, as if he wasn't aware what stood behind him. Kagome couldn't imagine how someone could turn their back at something so disturbing.

"Souta!" Kagome called and outstretched her hand and took a brave step forward, knowing that there was no way she could reach her brother in time to stop him or grab him and run away from that eerily smiling being behind him before the youkai attacked them. Still, she wouldn't be herself, if she just did nothing. A sudden light flashed before her spread fingers, blinding her for a second. When the light faded the girl, now scowling, stood deeper in the shadows and Souta was swaying on his feet, holding the last slip of paper in his hand.

"Ah! Stay out of this, miko, or the brat dies!" the youkai girl called. Her voice sounded angry and a bit too high-pitched.

"What? Please, don't..." Kagome gasped for air, feeling her knees shake and a block of ice appear in her belly. She didn't look away from her brother, who now held all the ancient seals. What was the girl going to do to him? What could she do to save him? What was that light and why did she suddenly feel dizzy on top of being frightened?

"Yeah, miko, stay outta this," grumbled a voice from behind her and a man in red grabbed her shoulder to roughly push her out of the well house. She stumbled on her weak legs and barely avoided falling down the stairs.

"Hey!" Kagome had enough time to call and look back at Souta pushing the lid of the well off of it before the door slid shut.

"What do you want, mongrel?" Kagome froze with her hand on the door frame when she heard the girl's voice again. "This human is mine and I don't have time to play with you. Hey! I need this!"

Kagome slid the door open just in time to face the growling Inuyasha holding her unconscious brother. The hanyou pushed the boy in her arms. Kagome barely had time to grab him before almost collapsing under his limp weight.

"Stay," Inuyasha barked and closed the door again. Almost at the same time something hit the wooden surface not a meter away from them. The thud was immediately followed by a growled curse, a sound of something crashing and a howl of anger and pain - luckily it didn't sound like Inuyasha. The sounds of struggle were growing louder, accompanied by yelled curses and growling. She would've assumed Inuyasha shifted to his dog form, but as a dog he couldn't curse aloud.

No matter which shape he was in, it sounded like he was handling the supernatural issue pretty well, so Kagome decided that maybe it'd be best to leave it to him and focus on Souta. After all, what could she do to fight a youkai?

Kagome looked down to her brother's pale face. His eyes were still closed, but he was breathing and didn't look hurt. Something hit the door again and slid to the ground with a wet noise. Kagome carefully half-carried half-dragged her brother away before the door collapsed on both of them. As she laid the boy in the cool grass, Souta gasped and opened his eyes.

"K-Kagome!" he gripped her hands with desperation. "She's a monster!"

"Shh, it's okay, Souta, you're safe now," Kagome said, hoping that she sounded soothing. Seeing Souta awake and unhurt caused a wave of relief to wash over her. Souta flinched when something crashed inside the well-house again, followed by a yell and then eerie silence. She swallowed and touched his cheek to keep his attention on herself. Her fingers shook a bit. "It's okay. A friend will get rid of the monster."

"Uh... Okay..." her brother still held her other hand like it was his safe-line. He slowly nodded, swallowing and inhaling deeply, just like she did. The door of the little building slid open with a loud thud and they both jumped in fear and surprise. Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha standing in the doorway.

"She ran away. Get the seals from the kid and reseal the well before something crosses to this side," the hanyou grumbled. In the moonlight his red kimono was almost black. So were the tips of his fingers and a splash of something smeared across the side of his face. Kagome heard her brother gasp and she glanced back at him to see him staring at the hanyou with eyes big as saucers and jaw hanging. The look on his face wasn't terrified it was more like awe and fear mixed together.

"It's okay, Souta, don't be afraid," Kagome soothed. "I can explain..."

"No time for that now!" Inuyasha leaped from the doorway to where they sat on the grass. "Oi, kid, give her the seals now!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded the shrine guardian. "Be gentle with him, he just got..."

"I'm not kidding, wench, if we don't put the seals back we will have the whole shrine grounds swarming with youkai," They both glared at each other for a second. The hanyou's ears were twitching in annoyance and his scowl was the deepest she had ever seen. "You can take your sweet time with the brat when it's over. Now move."

With that he stood up, towering over the two humans like a pillar of red agitation. Kagome gave a small nod, realizing that he was right, she had to do whatever he wanted her to do before she could take care of Souta. After all having youkai running around the place didn't sound appealing. Carefully she extracted the old papers from Souta's grasp - the boy was still staring mutely at Inuyasha - and stood up.

"Okay, just tell me what to do," the last word was a squeak of surprise, because the shrine guardian grabbed her hand and pulled her after himself with inhuman speed. The well-house stairs - both external and inside the building - flashed before her eyes and she stopped in front of the well. The lid was already back in place, even if one corner of it was missing and was replaced by a fragment of one of the steps' planks. She looked up to see Inuyasha observing her, his foot impatiently tapping the ground. "What now?"

She expected him to insult her lack of knowledge, as he did before. She was supposed to be a shrine keeper and know things, but she had a lot to learn. He sighed and pointed at the well.

"Put those on the lid. It won't be as effective as a real sealing, but it will hold for now. You have to circle the well clockwise."

He sounded annoyed, but he didn't wasting time on insulting her for not knowing what to do, which was nice. There was a sense of urgency in his voice and he didn't look away from the well, as if expecting it to explode or something. Kagome did as he said, walking around the well on stiff legs. Each seal glowed a soft pink light for a second after being placed on the wood, but beside that nothing else happened. When she put the last seal on its place she turned again to the hanyou for more directions.

He smirked at her and walked up to the doors. It was then that she saw that he was limping.

"Inuyasha..." she started.

"Keh. I dealt with the youkai. Now you deal with the humans," he said as he glanced back at her and then jumped away with slightly less grace than usual.

It took her a second to realize what he meant by that. She could hear multiple voices coming closer and she remembered Souta was still sitting in front of the well-house.

"Oh, dear..."