She Who the Prophecy Foretold by Sunset Miko

A World Away

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha & co. belong to the illustrious Rumiko Takahashi. I do, however, own all my original characters and this plotline.

Chapter 1 – A World Away

A girl with impossibly dark hair and sparkling ocean blue eyes sat at a desk in a classroom, surrounded by other students. While it appeared she was listening intently to the teacher speaking at the front of the class, in reality she was far away. She was so far away in fact that her mind was currently 500 years in the past, along with a half-demon who just never seemed to get it. 'I wish he would just open his eyes! I stop her from killing him and he gets mad at me! I just don't understand.'

The distracted girl thought back to three days ago, when she awoke to find Kaede's hut missing one important member.....

'I wonder where he went.' Deciding that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep without knowing he was safe, she decided to go for a short walk. The miko grabbed her bow and arrows after slowly extracting herself from her sleeping bag without waking the kit sleeping beside her.

Kagome had been walking for only a few minutes when she caught sight of a strange glimmer through the trees. As she gazed at it entranced, she felt a sharp pain tugging in her chest, a fairly normal occurrence. Ever since Kikyo was brought to life in a body of clay, bones, and graveyard soil, along with a part of her soul, Kagome had been living with that pain. Missing a part of your soul was excruciating, especially when the missing piece was nearby. The pieces wanted to come together so badly that it felt as if she would be torn apart, but she had learned to live with the day to day pain. It had taken a while, but through meditation with Miroku she learned to push the pain out of the forefront of her mind into the background noise, thus making it bearable. Miroku was the only one in their group that knew of her suffering because he had immediately sensed the missing piece and the agony the strange girl was going through. She had made him promise not to tell anyone, especially Inuyasha, and while the monk agreed he questioned the wisdom of it. But of course, he also understood. She hid her pain to protect Inuyasha, to try to shield him from more pain. She suffered so that he didn't have to.

The tugging continued and immediately Kagome knew that Kikyo was in the direction of the strange glow. Suddenly it clicked in her mind and she took off running. Kikyo was once again trying to drag Inuyasha to hell with her. She pulled her bow from her shoulder while running and notched an arrow without slowing for a second. She released the arrow glowing brightly with her powers and it landed in the ground at the feet of the two embracing figures. Kikyo's eyes flashed with anger at her reincarnation for her constant interference. Inuyasha seemed to suddenly wake from his stupor, never realizing what had been happening to him before Kagome arrived. Upon spotting her, he immediately began to yell at her, calling her a stupid girl and much worse for leaving the safety of Kaede's hut and the protection of the others. He thought she was useless, defenseless, and powerless. Never once did it dawn on him that she just saved his life.

Of course, their fight ended with Kagome going home like always, until either she calmed down or Inuyasha came to apologize and collect her. This time told the others while she gathered her things that she would be back in three days time at sunset.

'Does he want to die? If he dies now, how will we defeat Naraku? I know we need him. I need him. Even if he can never see me as anything but a poor copy of her, I will always see him for who he is; my best friend, my first love, my fiercest protector, and the first one I laid eyes on when I was pulled through the well.'

The girl turned her head to gaze out the classroom window, seeing instead a scene that she would never forget....

As she wandered the area she became increasing afraid. She had no idea where she was and nothing looked familiar.

'I must have hit my head or something,' fifteen year old Kagome groaned to herself. She walked on, now feeling her skull under her hair with her hand, checking for blood, bumps, cuts, or anything to explain this situation. She glanced towards the sky and noticed the top of a tall and very familiar tree.

"The God Tree!" she yelled happily to herself. "I can always find my way home from there!" The girl increased her pace until she was almost running before jolting to a stop when she reached the clearing where the God Tree stood proud and tall. It wasn't at all like she remembered it. Instead of seeing the paper talismans that her grandfather hung around the trunk she saw a strange boy with white hair, dressed all in red, with an arrow stuck in his chest.

Kagome didn't even realize she was moving again until she was standing directly in front of the strange sight. It was like she was drawn in or pulled by a magnetic force. As she looked up at him she noticed something so strange that she had to touch it to believe it. She climbed up on the vines and reached out her hands to softly touch what appeared to be white furry ears perched on top of the boy's head. She rubbed his ears, all the while examining his face. 'He looks like he is just asleep. I must be imagining things. Maybe I'm dreaming. That must be it.'

Suddenly the girl heard someone shout from behind her demanding to know what, not who but what, she was and what business she had in Inuyasha's forest. From there her adventure began. She ended up waking that boy who looked so peacefully asleep and releasing him from the spelled arrow that bound him to the tree, the two together ever since.

With a quick glance at the clock which seemed to have stilled completely, she continued her musing, completely oblivious to the world outside her minds eye.

'He means so much to me. I know he will never love me. I get that now. But he will always be my friend and I just can't let her kill him. Not when he has never really had a chance to live and enjoy life. Things have always been so hard for him. Humans hate his demon blood. Demons hate his human blood. His father died making sure he and his mother survived and then she died when he was still a child.'

A small tear escaped her eye as she imagined Inuyasha as a little boy, so alone and afraid with nowhere to turn. She quickly wiped it away, glancing around to make sure no one saw. It went by unnoticed since everyone else was actually listening to the teacher, unlike Kagome who really needed to considering how much class she missed while scouring the Feudal Era for jewel shards. When she was sure no one has noticed and no more tears would fall she continued on with her thoughts.

'When he found Kikyo, it's no wonder he grabbed hold of her so tight and won't let go. She was the first person who didn't hate him on first sight but even she despises his demon blood. She wanted to change him and he was so desperate he would have done it too, just to be with her.'

Kagome was still furious that Kikyo had once convinced Inuyasha to become human for her in hopes that the jewel would disappear. After much thought and a few very interesting dreams, Kagome had come to the conclusion that no wish would make the jewel disappear because no wish could be completely unselfish. She decided that once it was completed she would have to keep it and find some way to protect it. If Inuyasha had wished to become human it would have backfired. Because of Kikyo's selfish desire to be free of the responsibility of the jewel and Inuyasha's desperate need to not be alone, the wish would not have been pure.

'If only he could see that he has something better now! I would never change him and neither would any of the rest of us. We all think he's perfect just the way he is, even if he is gruff, rude, and rough around the edges. He's family.'

She pictured their group, an odd combination to be sure, but it worked for them. When they started out it was just Kagome and Inuyasha but they ended up picking up new friends along the way, starting with an orphaned kitsune who Kagome loved and now raised as if he were her own. Then they were joined by a lecherous monk with a cursed hand, although the other seemed just as cursed at times when it came to rear ends and self control. Then a demon slayer stayed with them after a great deal persuasion since she felt guilty that she'd been tricked into attacking them. She brought with her Kirara, a fire neko and Sango's constant companion and fighting partner. Now that she thought about it, Shippo tricked them to steal the jewel shards at first, and Miroku kidnapped her. Inuyasha even tried to kill her when he was first released, which ended up earning him a nice new necklace. Her feudal family sure came together in interesting ways but she wouldn't change any of them for the world. She was happy to be able to help Inuyasha be accepted by others.

'Plus he has my family too. Mama adores him, especially his ears. Souta worships him like an idol. Even Gramps has stopped trying to purify him. He needs to see what he has now. It's like he can't see what's right under his nose, even with his 'superior' eye sight. He doesn't need to look anywhere else, especially not in the past. Kikyo could never love him like we do. She could never accept him for who he is. She has no right to drag him to hell with her. He doesn't owe her anything. Naraku was the one who deceived them, not Inuyasha! If they had truly trusted each other then they would never have been fooled. If Naraku tried that on us he would fail. I know he would. Inuyasha and I trust each other more than he and Kikyo ever could. I guess it does no good to get all worked up over it though. Hopefully he'll have calmed down when I go back. I think I'll go back right after school instead of waiting until after dinner. It might be fun to surprise him since he is always complaining about how I'm always late! Yeah, that's what I'll do. It'll show him. Hmmmff.'

Kagome let out a loud sigh which drew the attention of those sitting around her, but only for a second. She was spared the coming inquisition when the bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Relieved, she got up, gathered her things, and left the classroom. She had almost had it to the doors leading out of the school when she heard the voices of her friends.

"Kagome! Kagome, wait up!" Yuka called after her.

"Yeah, Kagome wait for us!" Eri added. Kagome let out another big sigh as she stopped and turned to face them.

"What's the big hurry? We haven't seen you in weeks and then when you came back two days ago we haven't gotten the chance to talk to you! How have you been? Are you feeling better?" Ayumi asked, jogging up to meet her.

Kagome let out yet another sigh. "Yeah guys, I'm fine. I just want to get home is all." Kagome thought for a minute. How was she to get out of here? Then it hit her. "I'm just really...really...tired. I think I need to get home and take a nap."

"Oh, okay..." Eri replied, sounded quite dejected. "We just wanted to invite you for a slumber party this weekend."

"Yeah, we thought it would be fun to catch up and have a girl's night." Yuka looked at her with pitiful puppy eyes and Kagome suddenly felt guilty. These were her friends after all, and here she was avoiding them, lying to them. Her life was simply too complicated!

"I'm sorry guys. That sounds like tons of fun but I really do need to rest. I think I may have overdone it this week. Maybe next time, okay guys?" A collective sigh of disappointment from the three girls was heard before they nodded and sullenly agreed. Kagome gave them a smile and continued on her way out of school.

'I need to talk to Inuyasha about spending a bit more time at home. I'm barely passing math and science. History is a joke! Really, you would think living in the feudal era would help me pass a class based solely on the feudal era, but no! The textbook is nothing like what life's really like in the past. Ha! If they only knew.' Kagome's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she bumped into someone and nearly hit the ground. Before she knew it that someone had a hold of her hands in a very Kouga like fashion. If she didn't know better...well, never mind. She looked up to find the absolute last person she wanted to see on her way home. She was in a hurry, damn it!

Hojo merely smiled at her as he held her hands. "Kagome! It is so nice to bump into you like this!" Kagome gave a half-hearted smile at his weak attempt at humor. "How have you been? Your grandfather said your shingles were very painful. Should you be up and walking about?" Kagome watched as a light blush spread across his cheeks before he quickly released her hands.

" (sigh) Yes, Hojo, I'm alright. I'm just tired. I..."

Hojo cut her off mid-thought. "Oh dear, well then you should be at home in bed. Here, let me carry that for you." Before she could protest Hojo had her book bag over his shoulder and was carefully guiding her along the sidewalk like she would accidently walk right into traffic without his help.

"Really, Hojo! I'm fine. I can carry my own bag."

"Nonsense. Why should you carry it if I am here to do it for you? By the way Kagome..." he paused, rubbing the back of his head with his hand sheepishly. "I was thinking ...Maybe you would... I mean, that is, if you're feeling better...maybe you would...um...join me for a movie, maybe this weekend?" he paused to look at her, trying to gauge her reaction. "I would understand of course if you don't feel well. Maybe a movie is too much."

"Hojo, I'm sorry but I can't this weekend. I'm feeling awfully tired and I have SO much work to catch up on. It was sweet of you to ask though." By now they had reached the foot of the stairs leading up to the shrine and Kagome decided to cut her losses and bolt. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder before starting up the steps. As an afterthought she called back to the surprised teen who was simply staring at her. "I have to be going now! See you some other time! Bye, Hojo!"

She continued her way up the stairs, as Hojo simply looked on. "Hmm. She really shouldn't be running like that in her condition," he muttered to himself before he turned and walked away.

Once Kagome made it into the house she dropped her bag and stood bent over, her hands resting on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. There were altogether too many stairs!