Warnings: None

Daughters of Destiny

Chapter 01:

"Calling My Name"

In the depths of my dreams, someone called my name—but they didn't call me Kagome.

The voice spoke a name for myself I had forgotten, and the name I longed the most to remember. The name's tenor—less the sound of it, more the feeling of memory and ownership and home—floated over the shadows of sleep like a summer wind, curling into the fog of my dreams until the darkness sang with the sound of my misplaced name.

All of which was really fucking weird, I gotta say.

Sitting up in the darkness with a grunt, I rubbed at my nest of bedhead and yawned. A lot of the time I didn't dream at all, just fell into bed and snored like a log (Jii-chan always teased me for it, that old fart). And tonight I hadn't really dreamed, either, aside from that…that echo through the dark. That meaning-laden murmur I barely heard yet couldn't quite bring myself to ignore.

Like I said: fucking weird.

Low voices murmured beyond my bedroom door, hearable with my ears instead of my head and heart this time. I slid from my futon and padded to the door. Pressing my ear against it didn't reveal much: just Jii-chan and Mom talking, up late like usual in the living room.

"…offered to buy it, but I put my foot down," Jii-chan was saying.

"But at that price…" Mom murmured.

"Fooey! Not at any price. Not when we have that crackerjack new lawyer working the case for free—"

Ah. Money talk. The kind of talk they only ever had after I went to bed, since I was just ten (or so they thought) and clearly shouldn't be exposed to such Serious Adult Matters. What a load. Keiko said her parents did the same thing to her when she was ten, though, so it must be normal…I guess. Doesn't make it any less infuriating to be treated like a little kid when you're a formerly 30-year-old married woman, and—

Deep breaths, girl.

Anyway.

I knew enough about my family's hidden money matters to know that the Higurashi temple—the place I called home in my accidental second life—lay at the heart of Tokyo. We were always getting offers from corporations to buy the land (of which there was a lot, lemme tell ya, especially for the middle of Tokyo) as a result. But the land was long since paid off, so we didn't have to worry too much about money. My home was a historical site with government funding, even if it was family-owned, so…

"Still," Mom said, voice oddly tight. "It's worth hearing the figure, isn't it? Especially since…"

They lapsed into silence. My baby brother, Sota, gurgled somewhere in the living room. Probably on Mom's lap, if I had to guess. He was just two years old to my ten years old and spent most of his time glued to our mother. So had I at his age—me and my sister both.

My sister.

My sister, whose name I also didn't remember.

Fucking ugh, right?

I sighed, leaning my forehead against the cool panel of the door. I tried not to think of Her much anymore. Eeyore liked to wallow in the past and talk about all her old friends and stuff (that drama queen), but thinking of Her just made me sad—but not because I couldn't remember her or whatever. Nope. My memory was perfect aside from the whole name thing. I remembered her smirk, her pointed chin, the way she laughed like a hyena, the tilt of her jaw and the way she'd always pushed and prodded at our parents, breaking the rules and toeing the line and dragging me right along with her—but it's not like I'd ever see her face again. And thinking of her deep skin and straight, white teeth only reminded me that I'd never see my face again either, what with us being identical and all.

Thinking of Her reminded me of what I'd lost, more than thinking of my parents did, and somehow even more than thinking of my left-behind husband did…and that oughtta tell ya how close She and I were.

Pathetic, really, how emo I get over Her.

To be honest, the more I thought of Her, the harder it become to pay attention to little Sota, let alone want to become a sister to him. How could I be a sister to someone else when I'd left a sibling behind in my old life—and a twin, at that? We'd been as close as any cliché twins you can think of, always tangled up in each other's lives and dramas, switching places and dressing alike and pulling all the Classic Twin Pranks™ you can think of. Being a twin, I knew how to handle.

But a big sister?

How did one be a big sister to a little brother, anyway?

Keiko could probably figure it out, I thought. She was annoyingly smart like that, plus she'd lucked out and had been born an only child in both her lives. She could probably learn to be a sibling if she had to, though. Heck, she practically already had. Keiko had Yusuke in this life, and he was practically more of a brother to her than Sota was to me. Eeyore took to almost-having-a-sibling like a fish takes to water.

But whatever. It's not like Sota was old enough to see the distance between me and him, anyway. Maybe in a few years, sure, but by then I'd have it all figured out. And if I didn't, I'd just go to Keiko for advice. Good ol' Eeyore would help me out, that's for sure.

So in the end, it was best not to think of Her.

Yeah.

Best not to dwell on Her at all.

Just forget your sister, Tigger. You're better off like that.

I went to sleep fighting Her memory, until the darkness claimed me once again.

When my true name floated through my dreaming again, I was ready for it.

Not ready-ready, of course. It's not like I expected to hear my name again. I'm good, but I'm not that good. It's just that I hadn't quite fallen totally asleep when the sound, the feeling of my name repeated. When I heard the call I sat up at once, head turning on instinct toward the source.

My window.

Moonlight streamed through the open curtains, quicksilver against a dark sky. The futon whumped onto the floor as I stood, but I didn't bother putting it back atop the mattress. I rested my hands on the sill and peered past my reflection, with its large eyes and ratty hair, into the night beyond.

Without really knowing how, I knew where my name had come from…and I knew with even greater certainty I had to see its origin for myself.

My mantra for the night was definitely, "Fucking weird."

Jii-chan had fallen asleep in the living room, slumped over the kotatsu (sans blanket and heater since it was summer) and the paperwork scattered across its top. I took a minute to put a blanket over him before tiptoeing out of the house, outdoor shoes slipped precariously over my toes but not quite pulled up at the heel. Pillow clutched to my chest (because apparently I'd taken that with me for some reason), I tripped and traipsed over the temple's paths, winding deeper and deeper into the heart of the sprawling grounds until a triangular shape appeared against the velvety night sky—a sky stripped of stars thanks to the cold lights of the surrounding city.

The Bone Eater's Well.

My heart leapt near out of my body through my eyeballs at the sight. But it was just a shrine—more like a shack, really—and there was nothing to be scared of.

"Don't be dumb," I scolded as I pushed open the doors. "You've been in here a million times. Two million. And the scariest part about it is the spiders, girlfriend. You're OK."

And that was true—and yet, the shack felt colder than this warm night could explain.

A chill coursed through me, all shivering and creeptastic and gross.

I took a deep breath of stale, musty air and walked to the edge of the well. Ever since I could wander off on my own, ever since I learned to walk in Kagome's body, I'd come here to wonder at the Well. To prod and press at possibility, to see what might happen if Kagome had been aware of the Well's true power and approached its depths early.

Nothing had ever happened, before. All I'd gotten was hay fever and a scolding for my troubles.

Tonight, though, something felt different.

It sounds silly to say that I jumped in on a whim, but that's exactly what I did—and in the process, I learned my hunch wasn't just a hunch, after all.

The air of the Feudal Era, by the way, tastes quite a bit different than the air of 1991 Tokyo…but that's a comparison for another time.

Or another era, as it were.

Get it? Air in the Feudal Era? Era, air-a?

…fine. Be that way. Keiko would've appreciated my pun, though.

Speaking of which…

I had to wait till after school the next day to call Keiko. As if retaking the goddamn fifth grade wasn't maddening enough as it is, the wait made the day drag like a dog's itchy ass across the carpet. I ran home after school at full tilt, all but kicking down the door to the house so I could dart into the kitchen and the phone that lay within. That precious, precious phone that would summon my best friend and send us careening down the path of destiny, barreling toward wonders unknown and adventures untold and—

Only I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself.

The universe certainly didn't let me.

Two feet inside the door, I damn near slammed off of tall, dark barrier that I definitely hadn't expected to find standing in the middle of the goddamn shoe-room—but before I could fall, two large hands lashed out and caught me by the shoulders. Almost got whiplash, it happened so fast…not that Jii-chan cared for my safety just then.

"Kagome!" Jii-chan warbled. "No running in the house!"

As the hands set me gently on my feet, I found myself staring up at a tall man I didn't recognize—a man who looked quite old in Kagome's young eyes, but one who couldn't be much older than thirty in my hidden older ones. His dark suit, pressed, and his dark hair, tidy, were offset by his milky skin…and nope, nothing interesting there aside from a vague sense of handsomeness that Kagome's juvenile brain didn't really give a shit about. Coal black eyes looked me up and down, cool and unamused. He had the face of a total killjoy, like a cliché accountant with a yardstick up the ass who spent Saturday nights at home alone with the latest edition of The New York Times for company. Ho hum, boring. Jii-chan rushed over and ushered me out of the room before I could take in anything else about the stranger, not that I cared, because what-the-hell-ever, I had bigger fish to call on the phone just then.

"You'll have to excuse my granddaughter," Jii-chan said to the stranger. "She's a bit of a tomboy, but I promise she'll be quiet this afternoon." It wasn't often Jii-chan glared at me, but his look just then promised dire punishments and endless bad luck curses in exchange for disobedience. "Won't you, Kagome? This is our new lawyer, and we need to treat him nicely since he's helping us." One accusatory eye nearly bugged out of his ancient skull. "Hmm, Kagome? Will you be quiet this afternoon?"

"I will, but only if you let me have Keiko over tomorrow night for a sleepover!" I said, digging in my heels as he pushed me down the hall.

Pretty sure he only agreed because he wanted to be rid of me, and because he knew the value of a bribe. "Fine, fine!" Jii-chan groused. "But Kagome, you really must be quiet today as well—hey, wait a minute!"

With a cry of glee I ducked under his arm and scampered around his legs, heading back the way I'd come to make a beeline for the kitchen. Mister Lawyer Man watched with one thin brow arched high as I skipped past him to the phone, but I didn't pay attention to the feeling of his appraising eyes (nor Jii-chan's glaring ones) digging holes in my back as I placed my call. Lucky for me, my lucky girl Eeyore answered her phone on the first ring.

"A girl's night, tomorrow?" she said when I babbled my invitation. "Uh, sure. I have a lunch with Kurama that afternoon, but my evening is clear. Let me ask Mom if…" She put the phone against her shoulder and shouted something; her mother's muffled voice replied a moment after. Eeyore picked up the phone again. "She says I can come over for the night. Meet you after my lunch date?"

"Yeah, that's great," I said—and it was. Even if Keiko delayed a little while, at least she was going to come over.

At least she was going to come see this for herself.

Adventure awaits, my good-good buddies!

I hung up the phone and pumped a fist into the air. Jii-chan and Lawyer Dude watched—the former wearing an expression of forced humor, the latter as blank as fresh canvas—as I jumped in place, spinning with joy I couldn't be bothered to explain.

"My, my," Jii-chan grumbled as I turned another pirouette. "My Kagome certainly loves this new friend of hers, doesn't she?"

Mister Lawyer Dude answered with nothing but a tight, polite smile. I didn't pay him or Jii-chan any more mind and merely bounced up the stairs to my room. I'd gotten what I wanted, after all; time to go be quiet just as Jii-chan asked and honor my part of the bribe. Maybe read a book or something to take my mind off the horror of waiting. Even so, waiting would be torture, but soon it would be over.

Soon our adventure—mine and Keiko's both—would begin.

It might sound cliché, but I had a feeling destiny was calling us—and calling me, specifically, by the sound of my long forgotten name.

NOTES:

The problem with writing serially is that sometimes you get halfway through a story and realize it needs a prologue to better make sense of certain things down the road. This is that belated prologue. Whoops! The events above have always been in my head, and at first I didn't think I needed to share them…buuuut I changed my mind. Thanks for abiding my retroactive additions. I'm posting this a week after I posted chapter 5, for those just joining us.

Also yes, Kagome mentioned she was a twin the first time she appeared in Lucky Child. Figured I should expand on Kagome's relationship with her past in a way similar to my exploration of NQK's. Also NQKagome is SO COLLOQUIAL and chattery; she's fun to write, but it's definitely different from NQKeiko.

Will skim through the rest of the fic and make sure this fits, but tomorrow, because I'm going to go collapse now. I wrote nearly 4,000 words of my NaNo project today, then edited 8,000 words of dry business articles for my Real Adult Job, and am just finishing this 2,500 word chapter at midnight. TIME FOR BED. Thanks to all who reviewed chapter 5/reviewed since my last update: Saj te Gyuhyall, Lady Hummingbird, sousie, Crystal Vixen 93, xenocanaan, destinyswindow, Counting Sinful Stars, shen0, rickrossed, Rozexhunter, wennifer-lynn, ahyeon, Lady Ellesmere, WaYaADisi1, Kaiya Azure, SesshomarusLuvr, rya-fire1.