Under the low glow of a dying fire, Kagome began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open to the ringing of a headache. Sitting up so a blanket that had been wrapped around her fell softly down, she lifted one hand to her forehead and seethed in a painful hiss.

"You're awake."

She turned to the person who had addressed her; Koga sat in watch at the front entrance of the tent she lay in. Around them the chirping of grasshoppers calmly announced a harmony to the dusk. She felt a damp chill roll through her and, trembling, she lifted the blanket that had fallen back around her.

"Koga, where am I?"

"Still at the camp. We haven't moved, Inuyasha's orders." The wolf demon stood and flicked his hair agitatedly over his shoulder, then stepped over to Kagome and knelt down beside her. "We set up a tent for you to recover in. You blacked out after that worthless demon attacked you."

Recalling the scaly hands creeping intimidatingly up her back, she shook, drawing Koga's eye to the way she held herself. Kagome noted that the handcuffs had been removed from her wrists. Thankfully, she rubbed her free arms and hung her head.

"I want you to know," Koga's voice softly played on the quiet backs of the grasshopper symphony, "I believe you must not be Kikyo."

Kagome snapped her head up, facing Koga with shock at his revelation.

"Why all of a sudden?" She asked in a whisper.

Koga grinned so his fangs poked over his lips.

"I've seen Kikyo in battle and now I've seen you in battle." He seemed to laugh to himself, making Kagome blush several shades of red. "Kikyo would never be so helpless. I hate to say it. Kagome, you said your name was? You really are just a human girl. I don't know how you got mixed up in this, but I do know one thing."

She felt a warmth cover her hands; Koga wrapped his fingers around hers, gazing at her with severity. Kagome froze, unsure of how to respond, but hesitant to crush the one nicety she had been afforded since arriving.

"If you are not Kikyo, you are not betrothed to the mutt-boy." Koga went on, squeezing Kagome's hands and inching his face toward hers. "And if you are not betrothed to that idiot Inuyasha, that means you can be my woman. Got it? Don't worry about a thing, Kagome. I'll protect you from now on."

Stunned, Kagome remained frozen with her hands held out in front of her as Koga retreated to keep watch outside of her tent. His woman? She thought, unsure where he had come up with the ridiculous idea, but she wasn't given long to ponder. It wasn't a minute longer before the door flap burst open once more and Inuyasha stomped in, stopping before the sleeping mat Kagome lay on with her hands hovering in the air, wide eyes glued to the ceiling.

"Kikyo." Inuyasha started, faltered, then cleared his throat. Kagome glanced from her hands and tried to shake the wolf demon's words out of her head as she turned her attention to the hanyou, who sputtered to regain his composure. When he finally did, his voice was soft, completely unlike any tone she had heard from him. "Kikyo, I'm sorry."

Earnest tenor thick with sincerity, Inuyasha bowed his head, white fringe of bangs falling over his eyes, the only proof of his expression the slight curve of his downward frown.

"S-sorry for what?" Kagome mumbled, gripping the edge of her blanket as a shadow covered Inuyasha's face. "You're right, I'm the one who ran off like an idiot with my hands restrained. Even though that wasyour fault."

"So, then I don't need to use these?" Inuyasha lifted his gaze and his hand to showcase a second pair of cuffs along with the first, swinging independently of one another from his clawed fingers.

Flinching, Kagome looked away from the chains, from her imprisoner. She decided in that moment not to forgive him, but for her own safety, to work with him.

"Please don't." She softly begged, grabbing a fistful of her blanket in nervous trepidation. The red material bunched up, she wondered why it looked so familiar, why it felt so comforting. "I won't run again. I know what's out there is… can be… worse than you."

"Jeez, thanks for the vote of confidence." Flopping down to sit beside her with his legs crossed, Inuyasha rested his sword against his arm and closed his eyes. "Then it's settled, you don't run, I won't have to restrain you. Deal?"

"Deal." Kagome had a hard time getting the word out; the pact sealed her desperate situation. At the same time, she was relieved to know that he wouldn't put her in bonds again. Being helpless had been even more terrifying than, well, everything else that had happened to her since waking up in such a strange world.

"I had some food prepared for you." Inuyasha looked away but opened one eye to watch her response with subtle interest. "If you're up to it, I'll have it brought in."

Kagome shook her head, frowning down into her lap.

"You should eat." Inuyasha's voice grew rough, demanding. "You'll need your strength; you can't be this weak. I'll have it brought in, and you can try. If you don't want it, we'll just send it back."

He crossed his arms defiantly, the elbows of his white shirt crinkling as he did so. Kagome watched, noticing as he moved that his hooded suikan was missing. She had yet to see him without it the entire time she'd known him, as short as their acquaintance was, and found herself curious, until she released the fistful of blanket she had been clenching and watched the red material pool down. His robe lay around her, protectively fanned out across her shoulders and wrapping her body in affectionate safety.

Sitting up as quickly as possible, she rushed to crumple the material into a ball and hurriedly push it back toward Inuyasha. Holding out the top, she bowed her head in gratitude,

"Here, you can take this back."

"Wear it." Inuyasha gently pushed the mass of material back toward Kagome, raising an eyebrow. "It's made from the fur of the Fire Rat, it's stronger than any armour."

"I'm okay, I-"

"Kikyo." Inuyasha seized the robe from her hands and in one short movement had draped it over her again, wrapping the sleeves around and tucking it up over her shoulders. Lightly pressing her to lay back down, he hovered over her with serious intent. "You were attacked and assaulted. It would make me feel better if you wear the damn robe while you're resting and recuperating."

"I'm not Kikyo." Kagome reiterated with rebellious insistence. "The sooner you realize that, and realize you aren't contractually obligated to care for me, aren't you going to rip me apart to get this jewel, just like that demon tried to? Wouldn't you kill me if you could, so you could be a full demon?"

She nearly jumped when Inuyasha's fist slammed down into the ground, pluming a small dust cloud as his fingers trembled.

"If I were a full demon, this wouldn't have happened." He barked severely, eyes flashing at her with heated reproach.

"Inuyasha, it's not your…"

"Wear the robe."

With that he stood and left in a hurry to track down the meal he had asked to have prepared. She sat up slowly, alone in the tent and in general, for the first time since she had arrived. A cool chill crept up her spine, even with Koga sitting outside and Inuyasha so close and so foreboding. She thought of the sword he always kept on his person and wondered if such a rustic old antique was all he needed; she imagined, with his claws and his strength, there wouldn't be much in this world, or any world, that could stand up against him.

She wasn't sure if this made her feel better or worse; it only made her pull the robe of the fire rat closer around her, comforted by its soft shield.

XOX

"Kagome, over here!"

The young girl spun on her heel, holding a messenger style book bag close to her side. It was stuffed from the morning by her mother with a now empty bento box, a textbook her young brother had urged into her hands over breakfast, and a very useful stack of sutras accompanied by a bag of rustic roots that Gramps had forked over, musing along with Kagome as they had every morning for the past few days. She couldn't remember a time when she was so happy, to have an elder she felt she could tell anything; however, mostly they stayed on the subject of spiritual growth and protection spells, family secrets of the Priesthood. It seemed Gramps never ran out of things to tell her, and Kagome never ran out of questions to ask.

"Ka-go-me." She tried out the name under her breath, though it felt wrong; she still clung to her own name with childish fortitude. Kikyo her brain reminded her, but she shook her head and greeted the three approaching friends with a smile.

"It's good to see you Kagome!" The girl with the short curly hair chirped, hooking her arm around Kagome's and gently pulling her along. "It's awful we don't have one class together; Yuka is so lucky!"

"I took some very specific courses this year." Yuka nodded. "It's because of that, that Kagome and I get to see each other all semester long!"

"You'll have to study hard if you want to beat entrance exams." The one named Eri warned, "I heard that one teacher you both have first period is a real stickler. What was their name? Ayumi, didn't you have them last year?"

"And next semester." Ayumi groaned, linking her arm with Kagome's other free one. "I'll fill you in."

The chatter continued as the girls proceeded down the street, making their way toward their homes. Kagome listened and tried to take in all she could; since arriving in this new world, she had been surprised to find a few unique characteristics of the place; most importantly, the jewel had vanished. She assumed this meant that leaving the past with the jewel had caused it to disappear from existence. While she wondered if it was possible that she would not be able to return to her world, it did mean that she had been successful in her attempt to escape, and to keep the jewel from Inuyasha.

Aside that, there were all sorts of expectations to have to follow, a routine of classes, lessons, meals, and studies. She had already decided to give her all to the lessons provided, though they were plentiful and varied, and unlike any schooling she had ever known to exist. There were a lot of words being used that she didn't understand, but this only intrigued her further.

And of course, there was the event of having arrived at a shrine filled with pictures of her, somehow printed and displayed in full colour as though in real life, and the people residing in the home there claimed her as their own. Her family. It all made sense. She wasn't entirely sure how she had done it, but she had managed to escape to another timeline. And here, her name was Kagome. Her brother was Souta. Her friends were Eri, Ayumi and Yuka.

Hoisting her bag on her shoulder, she struggled under the weight of the textbook within. It seemed she would have a lot to catch up, but she was sure she could do it. She was free now, and never had she been free with so many options ahead of her.

A/N: Thanks for reading, favouriting and reviewing! I know I've been uploading pretty frequently, I got ahead of myself writing as I'm testing out a few new things and seeing how they work for me. I just find writing relaxing, and I've always enjoyed a good awful harlequin, so now I just write them. Had one going on here before that I deleted, sorry; maybe I'll try a rewrite one day, but this is just a new weird therapeutic thing I'm doing so we'll see. Anyways, new chapters coming soon!