Chapter 10

It was no small feat to balance the awkward, overfilled basket on her hip in order to free up a hand to draw aside the reed mat—one of the many new and previously obscure skills Kagome had picked up lately.

She ducked inside the small hut that always smelled of drying botanicals and medicinal teas. At her entrance, the small figure hunched in the corner over a low counter looked up.

"Oh hi, Kagome. Welcome back." Kaede wiped her brow on the back of one arm. "That didn't take long at all."

Kagome grinned impishly. "Yeah, this time around it was a lot easier. I also managed to not hurt myself."

Paring little twigs and strips of bark was deceptively dangerous. Kaede rolled her eyes at her poor attempt at a joke but gave Kagome a quirk of a smile, gesturing for her to set down her load at the far end.

After placing the basket beside its brethren, all holding some sort of plant material or another, Kagome shuffled back towards where the young girl was toiling. Plopping both her elbows on the low counter, then her chin atop of her hands, Kagome got comfortable before commencing to pester Kaede.

Although the girl always did send her an exasperated look or two, Kagome knew that secretly Kaede enjoyed the company. With foraging clearly her forte, she'd been delegated to help the two sisters with the gathering and preparation of medicines used for healing. It was only following so closely after Kaede day in and day out that Kagome found how much she worked. And when she did have time off, it seemed like she never much liked to hang around the village children. The reason behind that however, Kagome wasn't so clear on.

For a few minutes she watched the methodical way each dried leaf was picked off its brittle stem into a stone-hewn bowl, which was then grounded down carefully with a rough stone pestle.

"Say, Kaede." Kagome started again. "Did you have a think about what I asked you yesterday?"

Her hands stilled, and she looked up, uncertainty swimming in her eyes. "I…did."

"Great! And?"

"I-I think I'd like to try." The corners of Kaede's lips twitched up at the sound of a loud whoop, as Kagome punched the air above her.

"Awesome!" She beamed back while rubbing her hands together. "We can go the next afternoon you're free. I've asked Inuyasha to scope out a good spot."

Kaede raised one thin eyebrow, clearly amused. "How did you manage to rope him into that?"

"Inuyasha?" Kagome cocked her head. "He just likes to be pretend otherwise, but he's very helpful! Plus," She winked. "I bribed him with food."

The young girl laughed, once more picking up the pestle. Kagome was about to elaborate but was stalled by the rustle of the curtain separating the inner room from the main chamber of the hut.

Stepping through the low arch of the doorway, the long, straight tail of Kikyou's hair swung briefly in front of her hip and then back again. Meeting her eyes, the priestess smiled softly. "Kagome, it is good to find you here. I thought I heard your voice."

"Kikyou-sama.".

"I wish to inform you that I have added onto the regular correspondence to my teacher, a query about the…peculiar circumstance you describe of your arrival here. She is very wise and I pray she will be able to help you. Nakamura-san—a travelling merchant who regularly comes through our villages—delivers my letters." She paused, considering for a second. "How soon to expect a reply however, I cannot say."

What should have been excellent news brought a hollow coldness to percolate into Kagome's core. The seal to all her carefully repressed emotions broke with Kikyou's unexpected announcement.

The telltale pinch burned down her nose, and her throat closed, making it impossible to speak even though she tried swallowing around the lump.

The silence extended beyond the usual length in healthy conversation while Kagome tried to get herself together.

"Thanks!" She managed to squeak out finally, her hands balled into fists at her side to maintain some hold on the emotions that abruptly decided to rear its ugly head.

Kikyou's thin brow raised a minute fraction, but if she noticed what most likely is horribly mangled attempt at a reasonable reaction on Kagome's face, she didn't say a word.

Kaede however, frowned quite obviously. "Kagome…"

"I'll be back later to help out some more, Kaede." Kagome blurted. "Promise!"

She forced a smile, which felt more like a cringe, gave a jerky, awkward bow and basically fled out of the hut.

Once outside, she tried to force herself to slow down, to walk fast but not run, to keep her head down. She really didn't need the village folk to have more to think her strange and keep away.

Kagome successfully staved off her tears until she passed the last of the rice fields. Almost instantaneously though, the moisture spilled over her lids, hot and torrential, down her cheeks.

Small victory, but she'll take it.

Mama always said it's ok to cry, but it won't do to dwell on something you can't fix. Focus on what you can actually do. So that's what Kagome was doing the last month or so, doing. And she was picking up on foraging very well and even kind of getting the hang of simple clothes mending. She'd been practicing in the evenings instead of thinking about her family, or how she might never find a way home, never see them again.

She'd banned herself from crying at night. But maybe she'd gone a little overboard because at this instance, Kagome couldn't stop crying.

Immensely irritated at herself, she dashed the backs of hands over her cheeks, trying to clear her vision a little to continue on the path to the dry well. A path she could probably make out blindfolded by now, from how many times she'd walked it.

Soon coming upon the lopsided structure, overgrown with vines, Kagome only paused for a moment before sitting down on the lip, swinging her legs into the opening to dangle within the well.

A few stray tears dribbled from her face, slipping off into the musty depths. Miserable grey eyes stared down, and they found only piles of bleached bones, long stripped of flesh by scavenging rodents.

Mama's kind, smiling face as she hugged her close, smooshing her face against the ruffles of her apron. Souta's impish grin, sticking his tongue out at her while they raced up the shrine steps. And Ji-chan's long, elaborate stories of the fantastic times of old…. Will she ever get to see them again?

Kagome's hand squeezed the rough wood on either side of her tightly as she contemplated, a few large splinters poking into her skin.

Maybe she should try jumping down the well again…

"Oi! What the fuck are you doing, Kagome?"

Even without turning around, she know who it was. There was only one person—well, two people max— who would come after her in this alternate world.

Inuyasha always seemed to know when she stepped foot into the forest, as if it was his own personal territory and he'd rigged some sort of home alarm system to alert him to intruders.

Right now though, there was actual bite to his voice. Unlike his usual grumbles, he sounded genuinely ticked at her.

Kagome sniffled, and twisted slightly to look up at the irate hanyou. To her surprise, instead of anger, she found his expression mildly panicked. Despite the circumstances, and the sudden sorrow numbing her chest, she felt her lips twitch up at the sight of it. He looked adorable.

His amber gaze was zeroed in on the tear tracks, with the droplets still leaping off the edge of her chin, one in line after the other.

He gulped.

"S-stop that!" His hands came to rest, one on each of her shoulders. "Stop it right now! And get the fuck away from there! Do you actually want to break your leg this time?"

She scrubbed at her tears half-heartedly with a sleeve. It was a pointless gesture really, because as soon as she glanced back down into the shadows, a fresh wave of tears were welling up.

Inuyasha made a garbled sound, then swore loudly.

"I miss my family, Inuyasha." Kagome whispered, eyes straying back to the well bottom. "What if it lets me through this time?"

It could make sense. After all, she hadn't tried since the time Inuyasha fished her back out.

He huffed, then let go of her shoulders, one hand travelling down her arm to her wrist. At his firm grip and slight tug, she lifted her gaze to look at him in inquiry.

Inuyasha had his back to her, crouched low to her seated level on the lip of the well.

"Well, get on, dummy!" He barked. "You said ya wanna try, didn' you?"

Though she'd climbed on his back a few times since they've met, it was still a little awkward. Well, Kagome didn't make a habit of getting piggyback rides as a grown person, only as a child with her dad. … And not going there.

She was never gonna stop crying at this point and Inuyasha might run for the hills. After tossing her into the bushes somewhere.

Having draped her firmly on his back, arms clasped around his shoulders, the hanyou rose, giving her a little heave to settle her weight. With only the slightest coil, he jumped, sending her stomach swooping before neatly plunging into the well shaft. They landed with barely any disruption, only a short cackle of bones stirred by the movement.

The ground was devastatingly solid underneath them. Nothing had changed.

Kagome buried her face into Inuyasha's hair, wanting to block out the suffocating smell of decay and stale air.

He growled lowly, the vibration of it transferring through his back. Then his hands squeezed her legs once before he shot back up towards the bright blue patch of sky, alighting almost exactly where they stood before.

Her emotions were going haywire. Though she tried to bite her cheeks to suppress it, a pathetic sob still managed to claw its way past her throat.

Kagome felt Inuyasha go completely still, his muscles taut beneath her. Her crying really made him uncomfortable, it would seem. Thinking the hanyou might drop her or scold her again, she made to free one hand to wipe uselessly at her face once more. Before she could however, Inuyasha took off running.

Together, they moved at an even lope through the trees. The wind blew through her hair, stirring Inuyasha's moon-spun hair around her, shielding her.

It never occurred to Kagome to worry where Inuyasha was taking her. She simply buried her face into the crook of his neck, dampening his skin with her tears. Doggy ears pressed down into his head, but he didn't say a word. She understood that silence as permission, and took comfort in the warmth he radiated and the woodsy smell of his hair.

The air rushed by, and the leaves rustled, having been disturbed by their movement, creating a calming rhythm of sorts.

Inuyasha's hands held onto her firmly and steadily as he weaved through the forest.

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A/N: A little change in tone from the last chapter but we can't forget poor Kagome is stranded without a way home :(

I've been hella busy the last few weeks… expect some pretty delayed replies to your comments. Seeing them pop up in notifications makes me so happy. Thank you for all your kind words

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.