Chapter 22 – No Way Back

"Kagome... Kagome!" She could hear several voices calling her name. When she opened her eyes, she saw Ayumi, Eri and Yuka looking at her worriedly.

"What happened?" Kagome asked absentmindedly, looking around. She had a really weird dream just now, Yori attacking her and some strange girl with demonic powers saving her, it couldn't have been anything else but a dream, right? The girls looked at each other with relief, but then looked back at her with strict faces.

"That's what we want to know! You suddenly ran away and when we finally caught up, you were lying on the ground unconscious!" Eri scolded her.

"If not for this girl here, who knows what would have happened to you." Ayumi added. Kagome looked at the girl mentioned by Ayumi and she felt strange seeing her standing a bit farther away from her and her friends. At the moment that girl looked perfectly normal, Kagome couldn't even sense any demonic aura from her like she could before, but still. She knew now that it wasn't a dream what just happened. That girl being here was proof enough. But who was she?

"According to her, you were attacked by some thugs. Thankfully, she's practicing martial arts and she was nearby when it happened, so she came to help you, but before she actually reached you, you apparently fainted from all the excitement." Yuka continued, seeing Kagome's puzzled expression.

With Yuka's explanation, Kagome was even more confused. Thugs? Fainting from excitement? Okay, the latter part might be partly true, but what about the first part? That's not how things happened.

"She seems to be fine now, so I'll leave her to you and go my own way." The girl who saved her informed them and with respectful bows and words of thanks coming from Ayumi, Eri and Yuka, she started to walk away. Seeing the distance between them widening, Kagome regained her senses and quickly stood up.

"Wait!" She called out to that girl, but that girl never stopped and Kagome, being still surrounded by her friends, couldn't follow her either. She wanted to know who was that girl, but there was nothing she could do at the moment, so instead she turned her full attention back to her friends and all of them went towards Kagome's house.

Kagome still felt uneasy, even as she was walking home. The fact that she felt like she was followed didn't help either. Was it that girl following them or was it the evil-turned Yori? Maybe she was just imagining things, but she didn't believe that was the case. She didn't let her worries leak out while she was with the girls, but that didn't mean that she wasn't thinking about it.

Kagome was walking the stairs up to her house, convincing the girls that she would be fine the rest of the way and parting with them just below the stairs. As she was reaching the top of the stairs, she could smell something burning and she sped up worried about what might have happened.

What she saw once she climbed all the steps took her breath away. The house and most of the other parts of the shrine were untouched, but when she looked towards the well house, she only saw disaster. There was no trace of the well house left and instead there was just a hole in the ground, the scattered pieces of wood that used to be the well house were still on fire and in front of all that, her grandpa, mum and Souta were looking at it with fear. Kagome immediately ran up to them.

"Are you alright? What happened here?" She asked and her mum turned at her with a nod.

"Yes, we are fine, but we have no idea what happened. We just heard this big explosion and when we left the house this was what we saw. I already called the firemen, they should be here any minute." Her mum informed her and Kagome was at a loss of words. Forget about the damage to the property, if the well was destroyed by this explosion, then she wouldn't be able to go back to the past ever again.

The firemen arrived soon after but even after they put out the fire, Kagome was still miserable. The well was completely gone and she had no way to go back now. She couldn't even contact the people on the other side. What was she supposed to do now?

Suddenly she noticed the presence which was following her before and she quickly looked the way it was coming from. There she saw the girl who saved her before, but the girl wasn't looking at her. Instead she was looking at the place where the well used to be.

"Quite a predicament this, don't you think?" She commented and Kagome just frowned.

"What do you know? And who are you anyway?" Kagome asked and the girl slowly turned at her.

"My name is Katsumi and I am someone who can send you back in place of the well. However, my offer is only one-way ticket. Once I send you back, you will never be able to come back here again." The girl Katsumi informed her and Kagome just gaped at her. This girl could send her back? Was that even possible? How did she even know about the well in the first place? She had many questions, but she was so confused that she couldn't even say any of them aloud.

After a few moments of silence, Katsumi spoke again.

"This is just an offer. If you decide to go back, I will help you. If you decide to stay here, then so be it. But if you are thinking about accepting this offer then maybe you should go talk to your family first." Kagome looked at Katsumi and her racing mind finally started to settle down.

"Going back. You mean you can actually send me to the past?" Kagome asked. She would never think about discussing this matter with a stranger, but Katsumi already gave her more than a hint that she knew about this possibility, so the danger of being labeled as crazy wasn't that imminent.

"That's right. So, which option will you choose?" Katsumi asked and Kagome lowered her head in thought. It didn't take her long to decide.

"I'll be right back, so please just wait for me for a bit." Kagome said with a weak voice and then started to walk towards the house.