Word Count: 1,773 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter:  I’d Come for You by Nickelback

Previously:

Kagome looks down and says softly, “I’m not to be given chance to say goodbye am I?”

The small shake of the woman standing in front of her tells her the answer.  She looks back at the field, then takes a deep breath.  She nods.

The group is released, but before any of them can move, a voice is heard. “Kagome’s wish has been deemed unselfish and worthy.  The jewel of the four souls is no more.  Choose wisely, you have been given one wish from the Kami’s.”

And with that, the group stares at the spot where Kagome is, as it flashes again and then in a flash, disintegrates into tiny particles.

The roar that came from the Lord of the West deafens the group and sends the whole of Japan in a flurry to hide from the pain of the Youkai Lord.

Now:

Kagome wakes up to an alarm.  It disorientates her since Sesshomaru had made so Inuyasha could not be able to wake her as he used to. She had also finished school through testing out.  Her eyes are bleary and she rubs them as she stretches out and turns off the alarm.

As she slowly comes back to the earth, she realizes that having an alarm wake her is upsetting.  And she also remembers the last thing she saw was Sesshomaru’s eyes before the world had burst in front of her.  She frowns as she remembers that his eyes were turning red and she wonders why. The fight was over, it was time for her to go back.  She had talked with him about it at some time…hadn’t she?

She shakes her head as she wearily gets out of bed, looking at herself and seeing none of the damage she had taken when she had been fighting.  She had been concerned since she knew a lot of the cuts and such had been with Naraku’s miasma.  If she had been knocked out long enough, her healing abilities might not have healed the infections from those as they worked to keep her alive.

Frowning over it, she looks out the window, and notices the cherry buds on the tree outside her room and is further confused.  Looking over her shoulder she soon see’s the date on the calendar and sits down hard.

The year is of her 15^th birthday, and she would have a hard time believing in chance that it would not be that same day.  Not the way her life works.

She pulls up her knees as she wraps her arms around them, trying to understand what is going on and why she had to return to this time.  What happened?  Did what the Kamis fear to happen pass?  And how is bringing her back to this time going to fix all of that?

Before she can get much farther in her thoughts, her mother knocks on the door, “Kagome?” She opens the door slightly to look in on her daughter.

She looks up at her, and her mother softly gasps. “Kagome…”

She smiles at her mother, trying to remember that she is the only one who had lived the last three years.  And trying with all she could to try to remember that long ago day in her life.

But her mother comes and kneels before her, taking her hands in hers. “Kagome, what happened?”

Kagome turns her head and asks, “Huh?”

Shaking her head, her mother tells her, “I woke this morning and found out that the last three years are gone.  I thought it was just me, but, Kagome, you… your eyes.” She cannot believe the change to Kagome.  The eyes are just too startling.

Her eyes widen as she gets up and runs to the bathroom. What she sees in the mirror doesn’t at first surprise her until she sees her eyes.  They are a dark indigo color, not the chocolate brown that she has had all her life.  Then she looks to her side, and seeing a picture on the side of the mirror, and then looking back at herself, she gasps with her hands over her face.

“Kami!”

Her mother comes in and puts her hands on her shoulders. “Kagome, it may be your 15^th birthday again, but you don’t look like you are 15 anymore.  And why the change to your eyes?” She watches Kagome’s eyes as she wanders over her appearance and back to the picture that if their memory is right, was taken a couple of weeks ago in this timeline.

A ghostly apparition appears and Kagome gasps.  “Midoriko!”

The warrior priestess smiles at Kagome but the look in her eye is sad. “Kagome, what we feared would happen, did.  The Kami’s brought you back to this time, as it is the only time you can fix this.  To help you, three people have retained their memories to help you accomplish this.  You and your mother are two of them.”

She looks away sadly then tells Kagome, “Avoid going outside today, you know what will happen.  We need you to train, and I will do this.  Later today will be soon enough.  Today had to be the day we brought you back to.  But there are other changes that will happen.”

The two Higurashi woman look at each other and nod.

The priestess smiles at them.  This will be hard.  “The well will work to transport Kagome back.  After that, it will transfer items, but no living beings will be able to pass through.  The timeline cannot suffer another change to it, and the well was never supposed to be used as you did originally.  But it had been thought too cruel to separate you from your family at your age.  This time, it cannot stand the transfers back and forth.”

She closes her eyes.  She opens them again to look at her reincarnation. “This time, you will be aware of who you are, and will know what you can be.  The person who is supposed to be at your side will be waiting for you when you go through the well.  He will also tell you what happened, since he lived it before the Kami’s reset history.  Unfortunately, a couple things will remain the same.”

“One. The Jewel is inside of you. However, you are now the Jewel.  It is too powerful to be brought back, but in this line, it has not been wished back. So instead, they made the Jewel you.  There is no way to cut it out of you, there is no way to use you for wishes or power.  Your soul is now the Jewel.  In fact, we suspect it has always been, since you are my reincarnation, not Kikyo’s.  And since the Jewel is my soul, well, you can see the paradox.”

Kagome nods as she makes her way through the logic of that statement.

Midoriko smiles and tells her, “Two.  You need to release Inuyasha.  You will find that you will not need him, but he has to be released.  We do not know how he will react.  He is an unknown factor in this, the Kami’s have no control over him.  You will be told why when you go through the well.” Her face has a shadow of sadness as she knows the pain her reincarnation will go through once she realizes what Inuyasha has done.

“Three. And the last one. You will be mated, and will live to come back to this time.  This is part of the reason the well cannot be used.  The time in this area is already stretched too thin.  History is not what you have learned.  You will be there, and will see the true history.  And you will be responsible for changing it.  Do you understand, Kagome?  It is not my soul on the line, nor defeating a hanyou be the end result.  You will be fighting for a long time.  But.  The Kamis have given you great power, you will be the equal of your mate.  Your reward will be him.  And he has been waiting for you for a long time, Kagome.” Her face smiles as she smiles, knowing that what is waiting for Kagome is nothing more than her fate.

Her mother is hugging her as Kagome stands there shocked.  “Was it all for nothing?” She thinks back to all the pain she hand her friends had suffered to rid the world of the jewel the first time.

Midoriko shakes her head. “You saved the world once.  It just happens that it needs saving again.  Will you answer the call of the Kamis?”

Closing her eyes, Kagome sags in her mother’s arms. “Yes.”

Midoriko nods. “In two hours, you need to be back here.  I will put you asleep until the same time tomorrow.  By the time you wake you will have the knowledge and the skills you need.  Your mate will have the weapons you need with him when he meets you. For now, make the plans you need to, and spend some time with your family.  I will be here waiting.”

She fades away, leaving mother and daughter to each other.

In two hours, Kagome is taking a deep breath before she enters her room again.

She and her mother had planned for what she will take with her.  Her mother had picked up on the fact that items will be able to be passed through, so they are hoping that she can let her mother know if there is anything that needed to be sent to her.  But they both know that this is going to be rare, with the knowledge that anything they send through the well will tax the time line even more.  Her mother is right now out shopping for items that can go back with her and alternatives.  She is particularly looking for books to show how to do things.  The both of them acknowledge the knowledge couldn’t be given out to many, but there is no reason she can’t have anything that does not have history in it.

She opens the door and closing it, moves to her bed to sit.  As she seats herself, Midoriko appears before her, smiling. “Again, you make smart choices.  The information you are gathering will be allowed through.  But for now, lay back and close your eyes.  This will be intense to say the least.” A look crosses her face, but she is satisfied with finally be able to rest.

With that Kagome lays on her bed and closes her eyes.  Then she felt as though someone is lying down on her, then through her.  The pain is intense, it is though her muscles are being worked in super speed.  The feeling persists as the lowering feeling proceeds over her body until her mind is overlain with the sense.

Unable to scream, Kagome lay there, her back arching as her body is overcome with the sensation.  Then came the voice of Midoriko telling her, “Shhhh.  Everything will be over soon.”

Frantic, Kagome asks in her mind, “What is going on?”

The feeling of some hugging her come over her, as Midoriko tells her, “The last gift of the Kami’s.  My souls is yours, and therefore, this is able to be done.  My memories, my years of being trained as the last warrior priestess is being transferred from my soul to yours, from my mind to yours, my body to yours.  When you wake tomorrow, you will know all I know.” And with this, she coaxes Kagome’s active brain to a sleep state, in order to pass the last of the information to her.

With that, Midoriko prays with all her abilities that this will be enough.  When she goes back, she won’t be mistaken for Kikyo, she will be as her true self.  As Kagome.  The Mate of the most powerful Taiyoukai the world will ever know.

Final Count: 2,042 words

Fairfarren~Wendy