A/N: Oof, that's the first chapter and I hope you will enjoy it. =)

Since neither Lady Taishou's first name nor the family names of Kagome's friends are ever revealed in the manga or anime, I took the liberty to give them the names presented here. Satomi means beautiful and wise while Yukari means beautiful pear tree.

Please tell me what you think of my story and leave a review! =)

Timeless

Chapter 1 - Birthdays

Looking down into the Bone eater's well Kagome sighed. It had been exactly four years ago, on her fifteenth birthday, that she had been pulled down into the Bone eater's well and had met Inuyasha. And it had been nearly three years since she had been to the feudal era. Three painstakingly long years.

After they had defeated Naraku she had been pulled into the Shikon Jewel and Inuyasha had followed her into the void. Yet after wishing for the Shikon no Tama to be destroyed, she had suddenly found herself face down at the bottom of the well in the modern era and no Inuyasha to be seen anywhere. She had tried again and again to cross back into the feudal era but nothing had worked. She was still stuck here, still stuck in the modern era.

She still went to the well every day, trying to get back to the feudal era. She never let her family see how much she missed it though, she knew that it would break their hearts. Letting out another heartfelt sigh she closed the doors behind her and made her way towards the long descent down the stairs that led to the shrine where she was still currently living.

All of her friends had left their parent's home as soon as they had finished high school yet she was unable to distance herself from the shrine. It was the only connection that she had left with the feudal era and she was unwilling to give it up.

Thinking that she might just be developing a permanent sigh, she perked up when she saw Eri Hayagawa wave over at her from the bus stop. Yuka and Ayumi weren't there yet, which was odd considering that it was her birthday today. She decided to shrug it off. They were probably just running a little bit late. After all, they were all only into their second week of college and it was turning out to be more difficult than they had anticipated.

"Happy Birthday Kagome!" Eri shouted as she hugged her tightly. Kagome smiled happily, her nineteenth birthday was something special after all.

"Thank you Eri." Kagome laughed as Eri hugged her tightly again and then proceeded to tell her what they had planned for that day. It seemed as if she wouldn't be able to make it home until early evening at least.

"Here you go Kagome." Eri said as she handed her a small parcel once they had settled down in the bus. "I know it's not much but I really hope you like it." Eri smiled peevishly, apparently slightly embarrassed as Kagome hugged her tightly and thanked her.

Opening the present she gasped. It looked exactly like the Shikon no Tama that she had wished away more than three years ago. Only that it was attached to a necklace.

"It's beautiful." She breathed as she tied it around her neck. "Where on earth did you find this?" Questions burning in her bright eyes she turned to her friend.

Eri scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Actually I found it on the beach around about three years ago." Her friend smiled. "It was just lying there in the sand, covered by seaweed but shining so brightly as the first sun rays of the day hit it. It reminded me of you for some odd reason, so I took it home with me. I meant to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday but somehow I managed to forget it at my grandma's house. So I guess it's a very late eighteenth birthday present. Happy Birthday." Eri grinned at her sheepishly.

"Thank you so much Eri, you don't know how much this means to me." Kagome laughed as Eri blushed slightly.

"It's nothing Kagome, I'm just happy that you're not as ill as you were some time ago anymore."Eri smiled at her and this time it was Kagome's turn to blush. None of her friends would ever know that she had not in fact been ill with all the ridiculous diseases her grandfather had diagnosed but had in fact been travelling back 500 years in time.

Content, both women turned to look out of the window at the crawling traffic and city scape of Tokyo. Turning her face so that Eri wouldn't see her expression, Kagome stared up into the sky. How she wished to see the others from the feudal era again. Fingering the talisman around her neck she wondered what Inuyasha and the others were doing right now.

~.~.~.~.~

"Come on Miroku, we haven't got all day." Inuyasha muttered as both men, along with a fair amount of villagers stared at the warehouse in which a demon had taken up residence.

"Yeah, yeah." Miroku said as he threw two sutras at the door which would force the demon to come out of the warehouse. And it did. Screeching impossibly loud.

Ears twitching in irritation at the high noise, Inuyasha brought Tetsusaiga down on the demon's head, effectively turning it into dust. Sighing he put away his sword as Miroku collected the reward that the village had set and both went off to make their way back to Kaede's village.

It had been nearly three years since they had defeated Naraku and Kagome had vanished, and her abscence pained no one more than it pained Inuyasha. After their encounter with the demons, Naraku and Midoriko within the Shikon no Tama, the world had dissolved around them, and when he had come to he had been staring up into Miroku's, Sango's and Shippo's worried eyes as he had asked them where Kagome was.

Of course they hadn't known, he'd been the only one to return from the void into their era. They didn't even know if Kagome was safe or not. They just knew that she wasn't there.

They had all settled down in Kaede's village to help with repairs as well as trying to find the long sought-after peace. Miroku and Sango had married and were expecting their first child right now. Inuyasha knew that they were expecting twin girls, however had decided not to tell them. He wanted to see Miroku's priceless expression once they were born. And it was considered bad luck anyway to know the gender of the child before it was born.

Apart from when they were on extermination missions, Inuyasha still went to the well each day. For one to try and reach Kagome's era and just to simply see if she was there or if he could catch her smell. So far he had been unsuccessful. What he didn't know was that all of his friends watched him do so each time he did, holding their breaths to see if he was met with success. They all missed Kagome terribly too. She was after all the main reason that all of them had come together and formed a group.

Quite a few things had changed over the past three years. They had all finally settled down. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were also getting on surprisingly well. Both still avoided Lady Taishou like the pest though. And Shippo had met another fox demon under whom he was training to improve his skills. Rin had settled in with Kaede who was teaching her how to live amongst humans so that she could live comfortably with them if she chose to do so in the future. And Kohaku was currently travelling with Sesshomaru to learn how to be a better demon slayer.

Oh yeah, and Koga had married Ayame as well as becoming leader of the wolf tribes. They still saw him around from time to time.

Looking up at the noon sun that was starting to reach its peak Inuyasha felt melancholy. Today was Kagome's birthday and more than anything he wished to see her again. They had met exactly four years ago.

Catching his friend's mood Miroku sighed. Inuyasha was suffering more than he let on and ever would let on. They all missed Kagome greatly and today was her birthday if he remembered correctly. Oh well, there was nothing that they could do but pray that they would be able to see her some day soon. Sango was five months along and she was fervently wishing that Kagome would be there for the birth of the two.

Suddenly Inuyasha stiffened beside him. "Inuyasha?" He turned to his friend as he started to walk once more.

"It's nothing, I just caught a scent of Sesshomaru. He must be somewhere in the area." With a shrug both men set off again, carrying the heavy bags of rice on each of their shoulders, anticipating their arrival at the village.

If he remembered correcly though, Inuyasha had said something in the passing that Sesshomaru's birthday was around this time of the year too. Miroku shook his head. Despite the fact that they got along better now, neither brother was comfortable enough with each other yet that they could just meet and talk. Much less congratulate the other for their birthday. He guessed that some things never changed.

~.~.~.~.~

Inuyasha's nose had been correct. Sesshomaru was in the area. And Miroku was right in his assumption that it had been Sesshomaru's birthday. It had been about two weeks ago. That was after all the sole reason he was here.

His mother, Lady Satomi Taishou, had sent Shoga the flea demon to intercept him and lead him here to meet with one of her delegates. Probably to give him a late birthday present. Sesshomaru sighed. He didn't know why his mother even bothered. Most of the time he avoided her anyway. Maybe old age was making her sentimental. He shuddered at the thought. He did not want to imagine his mother being sentimental or even emotional. It was one of the few things that scared the living daylights out of him. The other being having to be the father of the bride to Rin when the time came. She would reach a marriageable age soon, being twelve at the moment. He was not looking forward to the amount of effort it would bring to him. As well as having to give Rin away of course.

Settling down against a tree he waited, knowing that if he didn't his mother might try to find him personally. And he definitely wanted to avoid that at all costs. Kohaku, now fifteen years of age, was resting against Ah-Un, was enjoying the temporary reprieve from travelling by basking in the sunlight that flitted through the leaves with his eyes closed.

Jaken wasn't too far away either, he had gone off to find some food for himself. Overall it was a very pleasant and calm image, should a complete stranger have chanced upon them.

"Sesshomaru." A female voice woke up all three of them. Sesshomaru slowly opened his eyes only to close them again. A woman was standing incredibly close to him, too close.

"Wake up. Your lady mother sent me with a missive concerning your birthday that passed to weeks ago." Kohaku and Ah-Un were now staring at the woman with interest. She seemed to know Sesshomaru quite well.

"Yukari." Sesshomaru said, finally remembering the name that went with the face. She had been his mother's servant since he had been a pup, arriving there after having been found wandering aimlessly through the forest nearby. Being only three years of age, she had had no memories of who she was, save for her name and where she had approximately come from. The village she had come from had been burned to the ground by passing samurai so his mother, in a rare fit of kindness, had taken her in and then, in not so much kindness, had made her her serving maid. Not that Yukari had ever seemed to mind.

"Well it's good to see that you're finally up. You seem way too lazy for your own good." She just grinned at his growl and handed him the missive.

Scanning the missive he felt his blood run cold. Had his mother gone truly mad now?

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken had returned and after glaring at the whistling Yukari had turned to his master only to find him even paler than usual.

"It seems my mother has decided that you are to be my present this year." He turned to Yukari who just stared at him open-mouthed.

Her silence was most definitely not reassuring.