"What did you say?"
"You heard me. Get on my back."
Kagome's wide eyes blinked repeatedly at the sight of the Lord Inuyasha, terrifying half-yokai, son of the great dog demon crouching down with impatience as he waited for her to heed his command. With his hands outstretched behind him, she realized he wanted her to sit on him piggy-back style; a blush crawled across her face, and she shook her head, taking a step back from the hanyou.
"Don't be silly. I can just walk with the other humans." Kagome shrugged him off, laughing nervously. "There's no need to-"
"I said get on." He turned his head slightly so she could see his amber eyes, half-lidded with bored insistence.
She knew there would be no arguing. With the pressure of their groups' eyes upon her, all waiting for the procession to begin again, every moment she spent arguing was a hold up to each person forced to ensure that the terms of the agreement were settled. Kagome had learned through the morning as she helped to dismantle the camp that completing the betrothal ceremony at the fountain of prosper was an old village belief regarding marriage between demons and humans.
"It's a fountain where the child of a demon and a human is said to have drowned." Sango had explained earlier as the two folded blankets to be stored away for travel, "Villagers are insistent that any human willingly entering any form of courtship with a demon should pray to the spirit of the half-demon child; it is said, this will protect mothers during childbirth, as there is little known about demon to human, well, families."
"Why is that?" Kagome had asked in confusion. There were so many weird creatures here she could hardly keep track, so it didn't seem to her it should matter so much one way or the other.
But Sango explained, "There is a great amount of animosity between demons and humans. Half demon's like Inuyasha have it even harder. Scorned by demons for their humanity, exiled by humanity for their demon qualities. There really is no world of acceptance for a hanyou."
Kagome had looked across the almost torn down site to where Inuyasha stood, haughtily overseeing the workers who handled the tent Kagome had slept in. There were only a few, but she noticed of all the ones who were human, many simply refused to look at or answer Inuyasha directly. Some whispered the moment his back was turned. She thought back to Koga sneering at Inuyasha before running away, betrothed to that disgusting half demon he had said, words dripping malice. She recalled Inuyasha wrapping his suikan around her, bringing in a tray of food and peering at her until she had put away at least half of it, the way he had apologized softly and agreed not to put her back in the restraints, when she really could run off again at any moment.
"No wonder he wants to be a full demon so badly." She had concluded at the time, though she thought it was awfully silly. Inuyasha seemed every bit as strong as Koga. And every bit as thick headed. She'd thought, watching the two of them run headfirst into conflict throughout the morning.
With a sigh of defeat, she slipped onto Inuyasha's back. Before she had even settled, he was up and running, whipping through the plain with a boyish smile on his face. She let out a small shriek and raced to throw her arms around his neck, making him laugh back at her and call, "Hold on!" before speeding even faster. It seemed to her he may even be trying to impress her as he pushed forward with abandon, flying so fast that the rest of their group fell behind very quickly, even Koga, who stared after Inuyasha with a furious expression. Soon it was just the two of them bounding through the fields and forests, the wind whistling in their ears.
"How much longer is this trip?" Kagome asked lightly, hoping he heard her, forgetting of course that with his dog ears he could hear much better than the average demon.
"Only one more night and the better part of the next day." Inuyasha leapt higher than usual, forcing another squeal from Kagome. He chuckled at her, dropping back down with ease, and pressed on. "Why, you scared?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" She moaned, "I'm in a world I don't know surrounded by people and demons who fight worse demons and I'm apparently betrothed to you."
"Is that really so bad?" Inuyasha snorted, "It's not like you had a boyfriend in the village, did ya?"
"I'm not from the village." Kagome flatly responded, then rested her chin on his shoulder mournfully. "Won't you ever listen to me, Inuyasha? Can't you tell I'm not Kikyo? I've been observing you. With your nose, and your ears, and your perception…"
"It doesn't matter if you're Kikyo or not." Inuyasha stopped running for a moment, fixating on the ground as Kagome's mind reeled at his words. She thought for a moment he may be catching his breath, but of course, the hanyou was hardly winded; instead, he became contemplative, lowering his gaze in the very sudden quiet. Even the procession behind them could not be heard. "If you aren't, it's just more trouble for me. You have the jewel; I can smell it. So, whether you are her or not… I don't care."
"So, then, you do know." Kagome wished he would put her down, wished she couldn't feel his hands supporting her without a single tremor. Her feet dangled uselessly over the ground and in a way, it felt like she was back in the hand cuffs. "You know. You know that I'm not Kikyo."
Inuyasha remained silent for only a few seconds before leaping forward and beginning their sprint again. She thought that he may avoid answering the question until she felt him turn his head slightly back, just enough so he was sure to be heard, and uttered,
"Yeah. I know."
Tears stung her eyes. She understood this meant there was no hope of being set free. If Inuyasha knew, and he didn't care, that was it. He was going to take her to the ceremonial grounds, and they were going to pray for their future, and she would be betrothed to a half-demon from another time who only knew that once she was dead, she would be of some use, as long as she was one of two people holding on to some stupid jewel.
"I'm sorry, Kagome." In his voice, she could hear honest regret for her situation, but even hearing her true name out of his lips did nothing to stop the tears from falling, soaking his shoulder as she hid her face and refused to speak another word while the green of the forest smeared into a reminder that soon it would belong to the past.
XOX
"Have a good time, Kagome!" Mama Higurashi called from the back door, waving gently into the early evening. "Don't forget, call if you think you'll be later than expected!"
Kagome turned to wave, smiling with a small laugh at her mother before watching her disappear behind closed doors. Turning toward the street, the girl looked at her closed flip phone to glance at the time. The device had been on a table in her room, and she had asked the small boy in her house what the numbers meant.
"Duh, sis, it's your cellphone. That's the time of day." Souta had rolled his eyes.
An instant sundial then, Kikyo had decided, and only used it as such going forward. Unfortunately, in the early dusk it was hard to tell what the digital numbers had to say, so she simply quickened her pace. It was a double date with someone named Hojo who had claimed to be her boyfriend; the prospect of an actual courtship, of a simple outing with a young, hopeful boy, made her feel younger than she had in all the years she'd been burdened by the jewel and those who sought its power.
Thinking of the jewel, however, made her uneasy, and she took a small detour back to the wellhouse she had emerged from almost a week ago. Here she had called for help until Gramps had come with a ladder, which still stuck out of the well just in case someone was to fall in again. Kagome opened the door to the wellhouse, remembering very clearly how she had felt as the family surrounded her with concern and question. To be embraced, to be a child; she had stopped being Kikyo. She had become the one they kept calling Kagome, are you okay? Kagome, how did you fall in? Kagome, you sure are clumsy…
No betrothals, no yokai, no jewels, no obligations.
Kagome looked down into the well, and there she felt it. A tremor of power so familiar, so distinct, she was absolutely sure of what it was.
The jewel. As she came nearer to the well, she was hit with a wave of nostalgia, the memory of the first time the jewel graced her palm and the same commotion of energy had erupted over her. Down in the well, faintly, the dynamic occurrence seemingly pulled her to jump back into the well and cross timelines; yet whereas the jewel had a soft pink glow to it, this energy was blue, white, the passage of time.
Squinting into the well, she revived the spiritual inclinations that she had buried over the week and focused on the vibrations churning below. Now she knew the power she felt was not the jewel, but the same strange waves of time and connection that surrounded it. The same that had made this well a portal from one world to the other.
"No, Kikyo!" Kaede's voice, calling out in desperation as she had jumped into the well, resounded in her mind.
"The well is the doorway." Kikyo mumbled, touching the soft wood constructed from boughs of the Goshinboku. "But then, what of the jewel?"
Time ticked by as she pondered, staring into the inky blackness that used to house the bones of fallen demons and human soldiers alike. Forgetting all about Hojo, her friends, her date, her family, she tapped her fingers on the well, closing her eyes to reel into the feeling of each powerful wave. When she opened her eyes again, she was Kikyo, she knew this. This girl Kagome, who must be of some connection, must have been on the other side of the well. If they passed at the same time, continuum determined the location of the jewel.
In this case, with Kagome. In the past. With Inuyasha.
Kikyo gripped the edge of the well, gasping as the pieces fell together. The poor girl from the future must have been sent back in her place; who knew what horrible experiences had befallen her? If she hadn't already been dismembered by a demon for possession of the jewel alone, Inuyasha and the villagers would find her, and she would be married to the hanyou in Kikyo's stead.
Swinging her leg over the edge of the well with certainty, Kikyo prepared to jump back into the timeline from which she had come. Taking one last glance over her shoulder out into the world that bustled with vehicles, footsteps, voices and wonders she had just barely come to experience, she said a private goodbye to the possibility of who she could have been as a normal girl, a future girl, the girl who dated Hojo and chatted with friends and… had a little brother.
"Kaede." Kikyo closed her eyes and smiled, knowing where she needed to be.
With that she was gone, and for the second time in such a short period, the destined wellhouse was left with its doors ajar, announcing the vacancy of another Higurashi priestess.