Summary: A shy modern girl finds herself in the wrong place, and called to the wrong time. A time rife with dangerous predators and equally dangerous saviours, neither of which her comfortable life up to now has readied her for. She may not be enough now, but can she be? And in doing so, can she accept herself, and him for what he is?

A/N: So this is technically my first fanfiction, but fret not - that doesn't mean it'll be quite as rough as that title might imply. I first began this story when I was about 11, then finished it when I was about 15, but never formally published it anywhere except a terrible little website I had at the time that has since been taken down - so it doesn't count. I went back to reread it when I was 22 only to find that while I remembered most of the plot, I'd lost the majority of the hard copy - so I decided to start anew and give it reconstructive surgery. So, since more time, effort and skill have gone into this, I hope you like it. I've written it up to about chapter 8 at this point, so I can post every week on Friday or Saturday up till then, but after that I make no promises because I am in university. The interface for this website drives me absolutely crazy so I've posted this story in AO3 as well, and I will always post to AO3 first.

Also, since I don't want the feds coming after me for copyright issues or something equally dramatic-

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original characters who appear in this story; I don't own the rights to InuYasha (though all things considered, this should be fairly obvious).

Chapter 1

The wind ruffled my hair as I shuffled my feet along one Friday evening. It was an unusually warm day in early March and even as I savoured the warmth on my skin from the setting sun I sighed. I had stayed late after school with my friend Kagome to help her tidy the classroom. She had invited me to sleep over this weekend because we'd been so swamped with work at school that we hadn't had the chance to really hang out lately. To be honest I was glad for the opportunity to finally relax, so I hadn't batted an eyelash at the little extra menial labour. Working together it hadn't taken long at all to finish cleaning, so still brimming with energy, Kagome had suggested that we race to her house.

I wasn't really in any clubs, nor was I particularly athletic, but I knew that with all the studying recently Kagome had been just as sedentary as me, so I'd felt a little confident. But as soon as we set out Kagome had tricked me, running in the opposite direction to the bus stop and taking advantage of my confusion to board the bus I'd been too flabbergasted to chase after before it drove off. I'd thought maybe if I took another one with a different route then taken a shortcut on foot that maybe I could catch up, but when I looked at the bus schedule and the emptying road, I saw that there would be no more buses for the day to save me from this mess. So now, with only my pride and my school shoes to propel me, I was walking.

I mashed pavement as hard as I could but after Kagome's little stunt, the cleaning and how tired I'd been lately, I just couldn't muster the energy to really hurry. So when I finally reached the Higurashi shrine, it was well after dark.

The lights in the front were off, so I figured everyone had moved around to the back for dinner. Gravel crunched under my black leather school shoes as I reached the backyard, and lo and behold, the lights were on in the kitchen. Having found signs of life, I figured I was in no hurry, so I breathed in the warm night air of early summer and looked around.

It was a beautiful property, if somewhat modest for a shrine. The Higurashi house was painted a cool beige, and in the back there was an impressive tree Kagome had told me was called Goshinboku. It was tall and the trunk was fat with life, but Kagome had said that it had been around for at least fifty years so the size wasn't much of a surprise. What did surprise me was the shed a little ways from the God tree.

It was somewhat removed from the rest of the property and the dark, dingy wood was stark against the rest of the sterling Higurashi property. I had only been to Kagome's house a few times, and of those she had always been careful to lead me directly in through the front door and stay with me until I'd left. In light of that it was odd that Kagome had been so lax this time, but I supposed all the stress had finally gotten to her. She couldn't keep track of everything all the time, and where was the harm? I could hardly get into trouble just traipsing around her backyard.

So I took no heed, crunching gravel up to the shed and putting my school bag down by the door. My breaths stilled and I looked back at the lights in the kitchen.

They wouldn't be upset if looked around right?

I was beginning to feel a little like a trespasser because I'd never explicitly been escorted into the shed.

I clenched my fists and huffed.

I was being silly. Of course they wouldn't be upset, they didn't need to take me to every room on the property to demonstrate my welcome. I should be smart enough to intuit which rooms seemed off limits and which didn't, and a shed seemed relatively harmless.

I turned and walked through the open door into the darkness.

There was a wooden sort of platform that I was standing on, a wooden ladder and directly below that a sunken space with a wooden well in the middle. I tread slowly to the stairs, my steps light and unsure of the integrity of the dingy wooden floor, but it held. As I walked down the steps, a breeze ruffled the pale grey, pleated skirt of my school uniform against my upper thighs but I didn't think to question its origin in this mostly enclosed space on a relatively still night.

I approached the well and transfixed, I ran my finger along the dark wood of the top that had smoothed with age. My white button-down blouse flapped against my sternum though I'd tucked it into my waistband and my dark brown hair stirred, brushing my tailbone through my skirt. The sweat I hadn't felt beading on my neck and forehead cooled and I sighed in relief.

I wanted more of the wind, I was getting so warm.

I leaned over the lip of the well, shorter locks of my hair falling over my shoulders to sway in the breeze.

Maybe if I just leaned a little closer I could feel the wind better.

"Hisako!"

"Wha-" I whipped around to see Kagome standing in the doorway with her back against the light, her face stricken, and my hand slipped.

"Huh?" My hair flew into my eyes obscuring Kagome, then the ceiling, then I could see nothing at all but I could feel everything.

I was weightless and the wind was tearing at my clothes. The temperature was rapidly dropping and the crown of my head throbbed, as if I was already anticipating the impact. My chest hurt and my breath caught in my throat.

I feel like the usual thing people say in this sort of situation is that they're too young to die, or some other tripe like that. But I didn't feel I was too good for death so much that I was too much of a coward to even wrap my head around it enough to bargain. I expected death but I refused to understand what it would mean.

All I understood was the darkness.

It was all-encompassing, crushing and yet intangible as the air the wind kept stealing from my lungs.

I didn't even know any more if my eyes were open or shut, but then suddenly there was light. Everywhere.

It was blinding at first, but as it dimmed just enough to stop burning my retinas and my eyes adjusted, I saw that it was a soft pink.

Brilliant but gentle like the surface of cherry blossom petals.

I looked around, pushing my thick dark hair from my face to find the source of it, but there was none. There was no beginning or end to it. It just was.

I wondered how such a phenomenon could have occurred on earth, but then I grimaced.

Maybe this wasn't earth. Maybe I'd been so out of it that I hadn't noticed when I'd hit the bottom of the well, just as I hadn't noticed I was no longer falling but floating.

My skirt flapped gently against my pale thighs and I examined my school shoes.

I was dead, so why was I still in uniform? Was this one of those things where I appeared as I expected myself to be; as I'd seen myself last? If I was dead, I felt like I shouldn't even necessarily be humanoid anymore. I didn't really need the shape if I wasn't to be saddled with the burdens of human functioning.

I turned to float on my stomach, peeking through the holes in my hair at the pink abyss. I wanted to see where I was going; I didn't like the idea of just floating along to oblivion, but there was nothing to see but pink light. I swept out my arms and legs, but it didn't seem I could swim myself out of this either.

I was trying to think of a new strategy to break the monotony or at least glean some information when the light began to fade and my face went cold as the blood drained from it.

Why was the light going away - did that mean I was going to hell?

I clenched my fists and I could feel nothing but the pain in my chest as my heart tried to rip a hole through my rib cage.

But I was a good girl. I'd never stolen or killed anyone. I admit that I'd tried to cheat on tests a few times but I'd always felt terrible and apologized after. That wasn't enough reason to send someone to hell, right?

The light faded with my hope and again I was left with only blackness as my feet touched down on solid ground. My nails bit into my palms and I tried to ignore my chest, willing my eyes to adjust because I didn't know what else to do but rely on the senses I'd always used in life.

I supposed hell was quiet then, but I couldn't imagine what purpose damned spirits would have for solid ground.

I was too scared to hold out my arms and feel for anything, so I strained my eyes in the darkness until they hurt. But eventually my efforts paid off and I could see the face of a rock wall. It was made in that clever way some people used to build before they had cement or other adhesive substances: with rocks on top of each other, hand-picked so that they would fit into each other's spaces like a jigsaw puzzle.

I turned around, the soles of my leather shoes slapping softly against the smooth rock floor. The wall formed a small, open topped square, being just a little wider than the width of my arms when they were spread.

This was an odd space to keep a damned soul – like solitary confinement for all eternity.

I stiffened and looked up without really seeing, biting my lip.

Surely I hadn't done anything in life so terrible to deserve eternal solitary confinement?

I flopped onto my bottom, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them as I kept staring upwards, my eyes stinging.

I was an only child; I was used to being alone. Oftentimes I preferred it. But human beings are a social species and dead or alive, I still felt like one.

My vision blurred but I blinked away the moisture.

I didn't know if I could be alone for that long. I couldn't even reflect on what I'd done because I didn't know what had landed me in hell in the first place.

My eyes focused for a moment and I registered pinpricks of light above, as well as green.

There were vines.

I stood up and my eyes followed the vines to where they ended just at my forehead.

How on earth had I not noticed the stars and the vines?

Shaking my head at my useless thoughts, I reached for a vine and pulled on it. They seemed strong enough to support my weight, but would I have the upper body strength to haul myself out of here?

I looked down at my slender, but soft thighs and scowled. Why had I never taken up a sport? I didn't even do anything with the spare time but go home or hang out with Kagome.

Kagome.

I tiled my head up to the relative light of the night sky, my facial muscles relaxing into a frown.

Kagome had seen me fall – she probably thought I was dead.

"Kagome?"

I listened but either I was too far down for her to hear me or she'd already run off to call an ambulance.

I cringed.

God why did I have to get myself into this mess? Now I'd have to deal with an ambulance I didn't need, pay back Kagome's family for calling them and apologize for snooping around.

I sighed.

Kagome would never invite me over again.

Either way, I couldn't stay down here forever. I needed to at least try to get myself out of this well and mitigate the situation. So I pushed back my worries to deal with them later and reached for the vine again, planting one foot on the rough stone and hoisting myself up when I found purchase. I grabbed the vine with my other hand and found a foothold in a looped vine slightly higher up. From what I could see, the rest of the vines were affixed to the wall, so I wouldn't have to strain my thin arms holding myself at an angle all the way up.

I pulled myself as close to the wall as I could, then reached for another looped hand hold, and soon I was scaling the wall. It was certainly one of the most difficult physical exercises I'd ever put myself through but it still wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be, and I suspected the pressure I'd put on myself to hurry up and get out unscathed had made it a bit more trying than it strictly had to be.

When I reached the vine covered lip of the well, I was tired but determined as ever and heaved my sweaty, panting body over the lip to roll onto the grass.

Wait, grass?

I sat up and looked around, the barest breeze drying the sweat dripping from my chin as I noticed the absence of the shed and the shrine.

All other sound was drowned out by the blood beating in my ears as I struggled to my knees.

Where was the shed, the gravel, the shrine?

Where was Kagome?

Where was I?

I stood on shaky legs still damp from my exertion and turned in a full circle.

Nothing. Nothing was the same but Goshinboku. Where was the shrine? It couldn't have gotten up and walked off – buildings didn't work that way.

I kept my eyes on my unfamiliar surroundings but tried my best to settle my breathing. I didn't have to panic – I knew where the God tree was, so that was a place to start. I couldn't find the shrine but maybe I could find the road if I used the tree as a frame of reference.

I huffed a breath and clenched my fists.

I would not sit here and wallow in useless, destructive emotions when I could still move. There was no one else around as far as I could see, so if I wanted help I would have to help myself.

I walked to the tree, and looked back at the well.

I sort of remembered what angle the road had been in relation to the shed and the tree, so I only had to go in that direction.

I swallowed hard and looked back at the tree.

I didn't want to leave it – it was the only familiar thing I could see. It felt stupid to walk away from something like that.

I clenched my teeth.

I didn't have a choice; I couldn't stay here. I had virtually no survival skills and some part of me still expected that someone would come to look for me so I had to at least try to find other people.

I laid my palm and forehead on the trunk of the tree, curling into it.

I had to be brave, Goshinboku couldn't protect me.

I rubbed my fingers against the bark, seeping in the warmth I found there, and soon I was turning my head to press my cheek to it.

Were trees always warm?

I looked up into the massive canopy and took a small step back, frowning.

No, I didn't think they were.

I sighed and turned away, walking toward where I thought the road was hiding. I had enough problems as it was, I didn't have time to be worrying about strange trees that literally warmed to me.

~o0o~

For all of the five minutes I'd been walking, I'd seen a startling lot of foliage for a society as technologically advanced and industrialization happy as ours. It was very odd to see a forest this thick and untouched in an area as urban as the one I'd thought I lived in. Had the government decided to make such a big gesture as to keep a nature reserve this prolific just to please the tree-huggers, they would have made a production of it. Announcing it until the public got tired of hearing about it so that no one would doubt that their tax money had gone to contributing to 20% of the earth's oxygen. It was very odd that I'd never heard anything about this place, and I don't think I'd seen anything like it from Kagome's back yard.

There were even birds chirping and I could see insects marching along on tree trunks.

Some part of me was comforted by the noise because it signified life, but at the same time the loneliness and panic was pressing at my chest more the deeper I walked into this forest.

Why couldn't I find any people?

Why hadn't I found the road yet?

I was sure that I hadn't had to wander this far when I'd come to Kagome's house. I hadn't even found a drop in elevation to give a hint of where the steps to the shrine had been.

What was going on – what had I gotten myself into?

My foot cracked a twig and I flinched.

The grass had been muffling my footsteps for the most part up to this point. And the birdsong had been overshadowing most everything else. That twig snapping shouldn't have been so loud.

I kept walking, some instinct telling me not to give away that I'd noticed anything was wrong even as I strained my ears.

The birds had gone silent.

I'd read in a book once that the forest is only ever quiet when something large or threatening stomps through it. I had been being quiet, and the earlier birdsong was testament to the fact that there was nothing threatening about me, so there must be something else coming.

This was the forest's warning.

My breathing picked up but I kept up my pace.

I didn't know what was out there, if they were human or something else, but either way I wanted to hide my intelligence so I'd keep what little advantage I had. Besides, I didn't know if whoever or whatever it was, was after me. I didn't necessarily need to panic.

I cut off my breath – it'd been getting too loud to hear, and I didn't want whatever was out there to hear me panicking.

A twig snapped and I tripped over the root of a tree, just barely catching myself. I looked down but I didn't see any broken wood.

That hadn't been me.

I started walking again.

I had to keep calm so I could think of contingency plans in case of anything – not that anything was coming to mind at present.

Why couldn't Kagome have been here? She could have helped me come up with something.

I clenched my fists and my brow ridge tensed.

No. I was glad Kagome wasn't here. If anything bad was to happen, I wouldn't want it happening to her too. It was better this way.

A bush behind me rustled and I gasped, turning on my heel to face the sound.