Before Kagome fell into a whole new adventure, she and her friends had just barely scraped out of one.

In the late afternoon sunshine, their small party walked along the familiar dusty road leading back Kaede's village. They moved slowly for once, each of them exhausted, lost in thoughts and memories. Sango and Kirara took point, the neko carried the injured slayer. A lucky strike from a snake youkai had put her leg out of commission for at least two weeks.

Behind them strode Miroku with Shippo draped over his shoulder. Both monk and kitsune were silent; the former occasionally glancing at his cursed hand while the latter dozed.

And bringing up the rear came Inuyasha and Kagome. He'd insisted on carrying her on his back after the incident with Garamaru. His pride wouldn't allow him to admit it but Kagome knew her best friend well enough that the encounter had shaken him badly. He'd been clingy the whole journey back; she knew it was serious when he didn't fight her once when she tentatively asked him about returning to the village to resupply.

He shifted his hands to get a better grip on her thigh, flexing his fingers as he did so, his thumb absently sweeping back and forth over the red fabric of her hakama. Kagome leaned her head closer to his neck. She tucked her nose between his neck and shoulder; her lips tilted in a smile at the subsonic rumble that vibrated through his body and into her own.

"Inuyasha?"

He turned his head slightly in acknowledgment.

"Are you feeling any better?"

He snorted. "Shouldn't I be asking you that wench? You're the one who almost turned into moth food."

Kagome rolled her eyes and propped her chin on his shoulder. The rumble started again and she smiled. He probably wasn't even aware he was doing it; not that she was going to draw attention to it. It was a soothing sound, and it usually only happened when he was utterly and completely relaxed or distressed. Maybe it was a self-soothing thing. Either way, she liked it and it made her feel safe.

"Maybe so, but you were alone out there while we were trapped. I know I would have been scared if it'd been you."

For a few moments, they trudged on in silence before he slowed his pace until they fell further behind the group out of earshot. His hands tightened briefly on her thighs before he opened his mouth.

"I was."

Kagome bit back a gasp at his admission. It was so rare that the hanyou ever opened about his feelings that it was imperative she didn't interrupt lest he change his mind and clam up again.

"I'm supposed to protect you. It's what's made me try so hard to be stronger." She felt him take a shuddering breath. "And when you were wrapped up in that bastard's cocoon, I felt so fucking helpless. It's my job to protect you and I fucking couldn't."

Her heart broke at the slight catch in his voice. She squeezed him as best she could from her place on his back, burrowing her head deeper into the junction of his neck and shoulder.

"But you did, Inuyasha," she reassured. "You rescued all of us. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here now."

He shook his head. "You still suffered. I should've been stronger, faster. You were stuck in that bastard's illusion and I couldn't get to you in time."

To his surprise, she let out a pretty convincing growl. She'd obviously been spending too much time with him. Before he could try to deflect the conversation to a less heavy topic she reached up and tweaked his ear.

"What the fuck was that for?" He yelped.

"Because you're being an idiot." He opened his mouth as if to argue but she cut him off, "There was no way any of us could have predicted what he was going to do to us. And even if we did I doubt we would have been able to prevent it anyway. What matters is we did get out of it and we're still here – all thanks to you. You've always protected us as best you can, Inuyasha, but sometimes things get out of our control. And even then, you always manage to get us out of trouble anyway. So, stop blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

A low roll of thunder sounded from above and Kagome looked up to see that clouds had rolled in, dark and heavy with impending rain. A soft breeze toyed with their hair mixing moonlight and midnight. Glancing up, Inuyasha sped up slightly but keeping somewhat a distance between them and their friends.

"If something were to happen to you… I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"Nothing is going to happen to me, Inuyasha. I promised you I'd stay by your side, didn't I? And I've got you. I don't know why it hasn't sunk into that thick skull of yours yet but I have total faith in you. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

He huffed a laughed. "Keh. I know. The most stubborn wench I know." After a brief pause, he sobered. "Just… I need you with me, Kagome. I can't lose you."

"You're not going to lose me, idiot. You're my best friend," she replied with a firm poke to his side. He grunted, slanting a half-hearted glare out of the corner of his eye. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'll try to be more careful from now on."

Some of the tension in his shoulders eased. A sudden crash of thunder broke their comfortable silence followed by a dazzling streak of lightning. Without another word, Inuyasha broke into a run without so much as jostling her in a race against the rain.

The band of adventurers arrived just in the nick of time to Kaede's hut before the heavens opened up. The elder priestess shepherded Sango inside to begin treating her leg properly, while Miroku and Shippo planted themselves around the fire. Kagome moved to do the same. Just before Inuyasha brushed by her she felt a large warm hand quickly grip her own. She gave him a firm squeeze before releasing him. It wasn't too long before he and Shippo started bickering over the last of the ninja food.

With a contented sigh, Kagome took her place beside the fire as well, looking affectionately at her friends. Inuyasha caught her eye and she winked. To her delight, a dusting of pink tinted his cheeks and he turned away with a 'keh!'

Satisfied, she turned her attention to Sango and Kaede, breaking out her medical kit in order to assist. For once everything was as it should be.

The rain let up sometime before dusk, fading to a fine mist. Her friends were relaxing, for once completely content and bellies full. In his customary corner Inuyasha dozed, Kirara and Shippo both curled in his lap, while Sango and Miroku spoke quietly, heads close together. Kagome smiled softly at the sight. Kaede had stepped out a little while earlier to attend to one of her various patients.

She allowed herself a long, luxurious stretch and stood. Sango glanced over at her, brow raised in a question.

"I'm going to go for a walk," she said quietly, mindful of the napping demons. The slayer nodded and returned to her conversation.

Toeing on the rice sandals Kaede had been gracious enough to lend her, she pulled back the matting and stepped into the night.

For a while she wandered aimlessly, simply content to take in the quiet night. The normally busy village had wound down for the evening. The few villagers she did see were making their way to their homes. Most called out cheerful greetings as they passed. She smiled back and returned to her thoughts.

Before long Kagome realized her feet had taken her to the god-tree. On quiet feet, she padded closer, deftly climbing the roots to place her hand on the scarred wood.

The tree had always been a fixture in her life. She'd learned to climb in that tree, spent many an afternoon underneath its branches reading and lazing about. It had been her refuge when her father died and was a solid pillar when she would hide behind it to cry. It had been there for every important milestone of her life, a silent sentinel, providing a sense of peace to the shrine. For as long as her family could remember the tree had been there.

To other people, it may have been just a tree – a magnificent one what with its ancient history. But to Kagome, it was the most important tree in her life. It was beneath its boughs that she had met her best friend. The hanyou had been sealed to it in an enchanted sleep for the alleged crime of betraying the village's priestess and stealing the Shikon no Tama. And yet despite the accusations, the tree had protected him in a way, cradling his prone body with thick vines. Kagome wasn't sure if the tree was sentient – or at least not in the way anyone would quite recognize as intelligent – but her grandfather had always told her that the tree was special. It was a guardian of the shrine and the land around it, a sacred, almost holy place.

And if that were so and if her grandfather hadn't been just rambling, then why had the tree been so accepting of its inadvertent prisoner? Surely it would have rejected him in some way, not shielded him.

Kagome pressed her forehead against the warm wood and closed her eyes. She had next to no control of her reiki but sometimes if she was in the right place she could call up the smallest of flickers. Concentrating, she did just that, brushing against the well of power she knew was there but just as always barely out of her reach.

The tree thrummed in response. She leaned closer to it, placing her hands flat on the rough bark. Gentle energy flowed through her palms and into her body, soothing and quieting her various aches and racing thoughts. She didn't know how long she stood there but eventually the energy from the tree receded. Taking that as her cue to leave, Kagome dropped down from it and turned.

An eerie familiar glow shined through the trees on the edge of the clearing for the well. She stood there frozen, watching as Shinidamachū glided silently through the air. She watched as one broke away from it's brethren and turned towards her. Automatically she reached for her bow only to find it wasn't there.

The soul collector twisted in the air around her but made no aggressive movements. Once it was sure it had her attention it moved toward the well clearing, occasionally looking back at her.

Does it… want me to follow it?

Slowly she picked her way through the forest and stopped just before the edge of the clearing.

Kikyo sat on the lip of the well.

The elder priestess made no move to acknowledge her. Kagome thought perhaps she hadn't been noticed, then immediately dismissed that thought. The soul collector had been sent by its mistress.

"If you're looking for Inuyasha, he's not here," she said finally. "He's back in the village."

The dead priestess slanted her eyes in her direction.

"I am not here for Inuyasha."

Her brows furrowed. "Kaede then? She's assisting with a birth right now, but I'm sure she'd make time for you if you showed up."

"I am not here for my sister either," she replied. "I'm here for you."

Her blood turned to ice in her veins.

"You wish to speak with… me?"

Kikyo turned her head to face her fully. Kagome felt very much like a bug under a microscope under the elder miko's scrutiny. Her dark eyes dragged slowly up and down and Kagome had to fight the urge to fidget, suddenly very self-conscious of the fact she too had donned the traditional miko garb. There really hadn't been a choice what with her spare changes of clothes were either ruined or in desperate need of a wash. The change had brought with it uncomfortable stares – even Kaede had done a double-take. The resemblance to her predecessor was undeniable. When she finished her appraisal of her reincarnation it was impossible to tell what she thought from her blank expression.

"Did you know that this is where Inuyasha and I first met?"

Kagome blinked, startled by the unexpected conversational gambit, but nonetheless shook her head. The elder priestess tilted her head back as if considering the star-strewn sky.

"It was here at this very spot. I had heard a cry and came to see what assistance I could offer, only to find an annoyed half-demon standing in the remains of the mantis demon he had slain." Her lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile. "He hadn't realized that those particular demons tend to die quite messily and as such was covered in gore."

"Right after I freed him from the seal, he slew Madame Centipede – but I was the one who got showered in youkai guts," she replied with a grimace.

Kikyo nodded. Her fingers brushed the aged wood of the well she was perched on idly before flattening her palm. The well hummed in response. "Yes, I would imagine so. He was always rather enthusiastic in battle. I am… glad to know at least that much hasn't changed."

She turned her attention back to the well, again running her fingers over the aged wood. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Kagome could have sworn she saw sparks.

"This well was constructed from the wood of the Tree of Ages, the very one Inuyasha was sealed too," Kikyo continued, her usually monotone voice taking on a wistful quality. "Its vital life force had lain dormant for years beyond counting. And then, inexplicably, a little over a year ago it suddenly became active once more."

"A year ago? But what could have caused it –" Kagome gasped. "That's when I first came through the well, on my fifteenth birthday!"

A single soul collector glided silently over their heads, and with a pale hand Kikyo reached out to the creature. It dropped a soul into her waiting palm glowing brightly before it was absorbed.

"A curious thing, is it no? But perhaps not so easily unexplained."

"I've always wondered why it let me through," Kagome admitted. It'd been one of the most puzzling things she'd yet to solve. Even Miroku, their resident expert on various spiritual subjects had only been able to guess at the reason.

"The answer is simple enough. You are my reincarnation, born with the Shikon no Tama in your very flesh. No matter how large or devasting, the universe has its own ways of righting wrongs. It is only appropriate that it is my reincarnation to be the one to mend my mistakes."

Kaede had theorized the same thing. And in a way, it made perfect sense. While she and Kikyo were different people who'd led very different lives, they shared a soul – and in that way they were connected, a single soul expressing itself in different ways with each incarnation. Kikyo had died and did not have the chance to atone for her wrongdoings. So, in order to restore balance, it fell on Kagome's shoulders to resolve them.

It didn't seem fair or right at all. But the universe did not care about fairness or being right. It boiled down to the balancing of the scales, and Kagome had been chosen to be the instrument in doing so.

Kikyo laughed but it was a humorless, bitter thing. With one last pat to the lip of the well she stood.

"And yet I wonder – what will you do once this wrong has been rectified? You are an outsider who chanced upon this world of ours. You do not belong here." Her dark eyes glinted slightly in the soft light emitting from the soul collectors above. "But I would also imagine you don't quite belong in your own world either, anymore, do you?"

Kagome stood there, stunned. In a single sentence, the elder priestess had summed up the creeping fear she'd recently become aware of. She walked a fine line between her duties to the past and those of her future, struggling to keep the balance. But in her attempts, she had found herself alienated from both timelines. She was too modern, too outspoken for the feudal era. And she knew she could never settle for the mundane life of her own world, having seen and done far, far too much beyond the average imagination.

It was a painful thought. She'd worked so hard to do her best to keep up with both her lives, clinging to them with a fierceness that it was a wonder she hadn't burnt out. The very idea that all that effort had been for nothing? It didn't seem fair.

She was a fish out of water – or rather a priestess out of time.

The elder priestess flicked a loose strand over her shoulder as she gazed out into the darkness of the forest. After a moment she turned her attention to Kagome once more.

"You don't belong here. You know this to be true. Yet, here you are, clinging to a silly girls dream of adventure, barely capable of keeping yourself alive."

Her heart clenched in her chest. "My friends need me," she whispered. "They care about me."

"Perhaps. But affection is not a good enough reason to continue being a hindrance."

Kagome blinked back tears. Looking up she asked, "Why are you saying these things to me? I don't understand! What have I ever done to you?"

Kikyo arched a brow. "I am doing you a kindness."

"Kindness? In what way is this kindness?"

"I speak only the truth. Your friends do you a disservice by not telling you these things."

Something snapped. Blinking back furious tears, she stepped closer to the miko, unaware of the pink sparks snapping around her clenched fists.

"What happened to it being appropriate that I am here to fix your mistakes? If I was so incapable, why did the powers that be bring me here, centuries before I was born? Obviously, I'm capable enough to be chosen to fix this mess!"

With narrowed eyes Kikyo replied, "The only thing that is capable about you is that we share a soul. Your powers come from me. Your appearance, your abilities – all of it is from me. You are merely a copy and a poor one at that."

Kagome threw her hands up. "Be that as it may, the fact remains that you screwed up badly enough that your copy," she spat, "had to be dragged back to fix your mistakes. I didn't ask to be born or to take your place."

Something flickered in the other woman's eyes. The sudden realization of what it was floored her. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? You think I'm taking over your life."

"Aren't you?" She asked tartly. "You've taken my duties, my place as a priestess, my family – even Inuyasha."

A flicker of compassion bloomed in Kagome's chest. It was clear as day now. Kikyo was grieving.

She'd heard the stories of course. It'd been Kikyo's one true desire to lay down her mantle as a priestess and live as a normal woman. A husband, children, an ordinary life. But that was not to be. She'd been graced with holy powers so strong that she had been unanimously chosen as the protector of the Shikon no Tama. That had been the last chain shackling her to a life of duty.

And then she crossed paths with a half-demon.

In her heart, Kagome didn't believe the two were as deeply in love as they thought they were. Two lonely souls had come together, one an outcast due to his birth, the other a priestess put on a pedestal that she didn't even want. It was natural that they had come together.

Kikyo had wanted to use the jewel to make Inuyasha human. Kagome had also been upset by that. Not only was it a selfish wish, but it was also a complete disregard to Inuyasha's feelings. She'd known him long enough to understand how much he despised his human nights. Despite his feeling of inadequacy as a half-demon, he embraced his demonic heritage, even enjoyed it. Kikyo's desire would have robbed him of the one thing he even liked about himself, all so she could be rid of the jewel and be able to drop her responsibilities.

It was no wonder the bond between them had been shattered so easily. They didn't even trust each other enough to accept the other just the way they were.

She'd died bitter, trapped in a life she'd never wanted, angry about her one chance to escape it stolen from her. It was a tragic ending to an equally sad tale. But the past was done and all they could do is look towards the future.

"Kikyo… I could never take your place in Inuyasha's heart. He's made it clear it belongs to you. But that doesn't mean I'm going to step aside just because you're upset I'm in his life. He's my best friend… and I made a promise to stick with him." She looked at the ground. "You of all people know how much it would hurt him if the people who love him were to abandon him."

A gust of wind blew through the meadow, teasing at the voluminous sleeves of their robes, causing Kagome to shudder from the sudden chill. She walked backward until her knees hit something hard; she dropped onto the lip of the well. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes and despite squeezing them tightly a rogue tear managed to escape.

"I'm not trying to take anything from you, Kikyo. I'm just trying to keep my head above water and do what needs to be done."

The elder woman huffed. "You are a selfish, foolish girl to have made such a promise. Are you so naïve as to think you would be allowed to stay here once your quest is done?"

A cold shiver crawled up her spine. "What are you saying, Kikyo?"

"Do you truly not understand? You do not belong here. As soon as your 'usefulness'" she said with clear distaste, "runs its course, you will be returned to where you belong."

No. It can't be! I couldn't abandon my friends like that!

"You are my copy in every way, Kagome. Including how our tales end."

"I don't believe that – nothing is set in stone," she said stubbornly. Her chin quivered despite her words. "Our choices are what define our lives, not some foretold destiny."

Kikyo laughed. "A child's view of things. But I cannot begrudge you that – you are just barely on the cusp of adulthood." She stepped forward slowly, stopping a handful of paces away. "Let me give you some advice: you are not strong enough to fight the whims of fate. Accept your lot in life with dignity. You are weak, an imitation, a child playing at being a hero. Do not think you can ever rise above your station."

Tilting her chin up in defiance, "That's where you and I differ, Kikyo. You settled. I'm not going to let the idea of fate and destiny shackle me. You have to take what you want if you want it bad enough – and I'll fight even if it kills me. Maybe I'm just stubborn like Inuyasha says. But at the end of the day I refuse to give up and have someone dictate my life. It's my life. And no one can take that away from me."

Kikyo's mouth twisted in an ugly scowl. Without a single word, she lifted her hands, and Kagome's body tingled with the rush of alien energy. Beneath her, the well shuddered, emitting sparks of light from the aged wood.

"You have no place here," Kikyo snapped. "Since you refuse to see reason, I will enlighten you. Return to your home, Kagome. You are not needed here."

Quick as a snake she gripped Kagome's shoulders and shoved. The younger miko shrieked as she fell backward down the well shaft. Blue lights bloomed to embrace her as she fell unharmed into the time slip.

Wordlessly Kikyo carved a spell into the wood of the well overlaid by an ofuda. It disappeared into the wood with a flash of light. Before she could finish a shout came from behind her. Slapping the wood in frustration, she beckoned her soul collectors to carry her away. The spell to seal the time portal was incredibly complex, and she wasn't sure if it would maintain its integrity unfinished as it was.

After a few moments of deliberating she decided she would return to finish what she had started. But first she would need to recover her energy. The soul collectors set her down in a low hanging branch of an ancient tree, curved just so to comfortably sit in. With blank eyes she watched her servants as they drifted too and fro. Finally, several returned. She eyes shut in disgust as they dropped the souls into her waiting body.

How far she had fallen to be reduced to this.

But in the end, it didn't matter. Kagome was gone, and she was now free to retake back what was rightfully hers.

A/N: To make this clear - this is an Inu no Taisho/Kagome fic. But we have a ways to go before that romance comes about. For now, Kagome is still swept up in puppy love, and it will be some time before she learns about the kind of love and bond that comes with your other half. She's 16 and needs some time to grow up a smidge.