Don't own Naruto or InuYasha, and I'm not making money off this.

Alright, here's the next chapter for, A Wish For Change. Reasons for late update include school, work, and many other things that come with being a senior in high school. Sorry for the lame excuses for not updating any of my stories lately, but I really have been busy with various things. I'll try my very best to update again, but I can not make any promises. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter and end up reviewing.

A Wish For Change

Trapped Or Freed?, Chapter 2

Naruto frowned as he looked to the star filled night sky. Thoughts swirled around in his head, keeping him from rest. For the first time in a while, he was truly confused on what to do. Everything was just so…complicated. Why did shit like this always happen to him?

'Seriously, why in the hell can my life never be simple? No matter what, there's always something.' Naruto though bitterly.

'Oh, quit your bitching.' Kyuubi said abruptly, interrupting Naruto's own thoughts. 'Complicated isn't always bad. Sometimes, how you deal with something is what makes it good or not. You know that the solution to this situation is rather simple.' Kyuubi paused for dramatic affect. 'Stay.'

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'You know that isn't simple. There are many problems with that solution. First off, how in the hell can you expect me to just start from scratch in a completely different world, filled with people and other things that I know nothing about? Second off, knowing our luck, I'll probably end up getting involved in another war or something like that. At least in our world, it was somewhat peaceful and I was left alone.'

'Alright,' Kyuubi said before sighing. 'I can argue those points. The first one is rather easy. Naruto, you've had nothing but scratch your whole life, so it really shouldn't be difficult for you to do it now. As for not knowing about this world, why not just stay with this group. I'm sure they could explain this world to you. Plus, that Kagome was from another time, so they shouldn't be that surprised to discover you're not from this world. Technically, neither is she. Hell, there's some common ground between the two of you. That in and of itself should be enough for you to stay. Trust me, the best shot you got at happiness is in this world and not in ours. And for the second one…Naruto, you were born to protect. No matter what, you protect. Even when it's not your place, you protect. Even if those you are protecting don't deserve it, you protect. It's what you do. And from what we've seen in this world, there should be plenty of things to protect from.' Kyuubi finished in an exasperated tone, tired of trying to convince Naruto of what the smart thing to do was.

Naruto didn't reply, and instead just kept his gaze on the night sky. Did he really have a better chance here?

'Yes.' Kyuubi answered Naruto's rhetorical question.

'Kyuubi…shut up and let me think.' Naruto thought with a tint of anger. Naruto closed his eyes and hung his head when he got no reply. He really didn't know what to make of this. He knew that it would probably be best to just leave, if he could that is. If he did stay, he didn't know what would come. At least in his world, what he got was expected and could be dealt with. He didn't have the slightest clue as to what would happen if he stayed. He did have to admit that he felt something whenever he looked at Kagome. 'Why else would I have dreamed about her.' Naruto thought with the smallest of smiles on his ace. 'And what about that jewel shard that she 'purified' as she called it. I wonder what all that was about.' Naruto suddenly yawned, evidence to lack of rest. 'Man, I'm too tired to think of this shit.'

With that thought, Naruto stood up and walked up the steps into the small cabin he was sharing with Miroku and Inuyasha, ready to get some rest before the following day.

XXX

Naruto hummed as soothing tune to himself as he leaned against a tree that provided the suitable shade that he wanted. Currently, he was waiting for the odd group of people he met the other day to get ready. For what, he hadn't a clue. The well he supposedly teleported through wasn't that far away; it would probably take 5 minutes at most to get there by walking at a calm pace. He originally planned to just get out of the group's hair and just be on his way to back through the well and to his own world. The Kyuubi, however, would have none of that. No matter how much arguing or reasoning Naruto did, the Kyuubi refused to budge on the subject. So now…he honestly wasn't sure of what the plan was. He knew at least that he was going to travel to the well-which was only about a 5 minute walk-and see if it would work for him.

"Naruto?" A soft voice inquired. Naruto opened his eyes and looked up to see Kagome giving him an odd look.

'It would seem that she's ready.' Indeed, Kagome was the only one that was outside, and not inside one of the cabins still gathering their things. She had on the same clothes she did the night before, but now a large yellow backpack hung on her shoulders.. 'Odd. From what I've heard, and sometimes seen, of women, they usually take at least a bit longer than men do. Although, I've only actually seen it when I was twelve, so….' Naruto shook his head to rid of his thoughts. "Yes?" Naruto replied, curious as to what she wanted.

"Are you alright?" She asked in a voice that contained a hint of concern, though you'd be hard pressed to notice it.

Naruto rose an eyebrow at the question. Naruto closed his eyes, and hummed in thought. "Considering everything that I've been through in the past two day," Naruto paused, opened his eyes, and looked back to Kagome. "not really." He finished bluntly. "I have been unexpectedly thrown into a completely different world than my own that I know absolutely nothing about, except that demons roaming around is pretty normal, and may be stuck here forever." Naruto took in a somewhat deep breath. "So yeah, I've had better days." He finished in tired tone. 'Not many, but still.' He added as an afterthought.

Kagome's eyebrows furrowed in obvious concern. "I'm sorry to hear that. You know, the same thing happened to me, so I probably know what you feel like. As Miroku said, I'm not even from this time, so this world was quite a surprise to me when I first came here. And didn't you say that you are a demon?"

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle. "Yes, I did say that, didn't I? Well…oh, how do say this? I'm a 'special case'." Naruto released a breath, and his face gained a more serious expression before continuing. "But I do not know if I can go back to my world yet, and from what I've heard, you are able to travel between this time and yours. I may be trapped here forever." Naruto spoke softly. "However, I do not know this yet, and will only find out by trying to travel through this well." Naruto spoke in a slightly cheerful tone this time.

Before Kagome could even form a reply, the rest of the group began walking towards where the two stood, which was at the edge of an intersection of dirt roads that each lead into various directions. Naruto observed the group and rose an eyebrow at the other female's change in clothes. Sango, instead of wearing her armor in clear view, had a kimono on that had dark pink and very light pink patterns on it, a green skirt, and pair of straw sandals. She still had the giant ass boomerang hung on her back though, which kind of ruined the peaceful look he supposed she was going for.

'Still pretty though.' Naruto thought offhandedly, before blushing ever so slightly, causing him to look back down and have his bangs overshadow his face to hide it. Luckily for Naruto, Sango didn't seem to notice.

"So, what are you planning on doing Naruto?" Miroku asked when he and the rest came to stop in front of Naruto and Kagome.

"Well, I want to go and see if I am able to travel through the well and back to my own world. It would be nice to know if I'm stuck here forever or not.." Naruto stated in a bored voice.

"I see." Miroku nodded in understanding. Before he could continue, Naruto cut him off.

"I can go on my own. As you saw yesterday, I can take care of myself. You don't need to escort me." Naruto said, trying his best to not sound like an ungrateful asshole. Even if he didn't really have anything to be grateful for.

"It's not far from here, so it really wouldn't be a problem for us." Sango said politely with a shrug of her shoulders. "Is it guys?" She asked, turning to the group.

All answered with a sure, or alright. Well except for Inuyasha, who only grumbled an incoherent response; he still didn't like Naruto that much apparently. Naruto, too tired and annoyed to argue, just sighed, nodded, and began to walk into the forest towards the well's location. The others, after some hesitance, soon followed behind him.

The group traveled in relative silence, only being broken by the almost silent whispers of Miroku and Sango. Naruto wasn't really bothered by it; he's dealt with 'the silent treatment' for the better part of his life. Kagome, however, was bothered by the silence.

"Naruto…" Kagome began as she walked ahead of the group and to where Naruto was. "What world do you come from? What was it like?" She asked, here eyes shining with a hint of curiosity. Naruto turned to her and gave her a pointed stare. She recoiled somewhat. "I didn't mean to sound nosy-"

"It's horrible." Naruto cut her off, and gained the attention of the entire group. "It's just as bad, if not worse than this world. Although I can't really be precise about that assumption since I don't know enough about this world. But I do know that my world is full of people similar to me, who would have little trouble defeating a demon like the one I fought last night. Many of them are ruthless, cold-blooded killers though, which is what makes it a horrible place." Naruto finished, still looking at Kagome with a bored stare. "But I'm familiar with my world and know enough about it in order to survive. And while I'm fairly confident that I could survive this world's dangers, I'm not familiar with it, as I just said."

The entire group was silent after Naruto finished speaking. Each had their eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

"What do you mean, 'people like you'?" Kagome asked quietly. The others nodded to her question.

Naruto, this time, gave the girl a deadpan look. "You know," He began lazily. "You lot are asking some pretty personal questions about a guy you just met. The only reason I've told you as much as I have is because I'm either never going to see any of you again, or I'm going to be stuck in this world and will probably see all of you on several occasions." Everyone blushed, except Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara, for their forwardness. Naruto gave a chuckle at their embarrassment.

"Oh hey, would you look at that? We're here."

And true to that, the group just exited the tree line that outlined the clearing in which the well was in. The group stopped walking, but Naruto continued on towards the well.

"So, you're just leaving?" Kagome asked with an ounce of anger. She didn't know why, nor did anyone else. Especially Naruto.

"Listen." Naruto started, not even bothering to turn around or stop walking. "I'll be honest with you. Knowing my luck, there's at least a 90% chance that this won't work, and I'll end up staying here."

'Explain to my why you're doing this again?' Kyuubi questioned out of no where in a clearly angry voice.

'Did you not just hear me? You know just as much as I do that this probably won't work, but I need to know if does. Alright?' Naruto replied as calmly as he could.

"I'll tell you what." Naruto stopped in front of the well, and turned to face the group that was now about half way across the clearing. "If it makes you feel better, and if this works, I'll try and come back through the well and give a goodbye…or something like that." Naruto ended making a random hand gesture. 'Still don't know why I have to though.'

"I still don't understand why in the hell we're even worrying about this guy." Inuyasha said loudly in a rude manner.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too dog-breath." Naruto shot back with a smirk.

"What was that!" Inuyasha growled, baring his fangs.

"Inuyasha." Kagome had that sickly sweet smile on her face again that put chills down each man's spine. Inuyasha gave her a frightened look. "Sit boy." With that Inuyasha's necklace gave off a purple glow, before he shot to ground face first with a grunt.

Naruto simply stared at the ground based dog demon, barely holding back a smile on his face. Before anyone had anytime to react, he moved up beside Kagome and put on his best cheerful look. "Aw…I didn't know you cared Kagome-Chaaan." He finished, drawing out the suffix of her name for effect.

Inuyasha growled, Miroku smirked, Sango looked away in order to hide her smile, and Kagome blushed madly at Naruto's action.

"Wh-what are you talking about now?" Kagome stuttered in response, embarrassed beyond belief at the implication.

Naruto gave a small laugh. "Hehe. I'm just playing with ya." He looked behind him, and down the well. "Anyway, I really should be going. I really don't want to think about what my world is like without me. No one to constantly cause chaos or save the world…" Naruto gave a shudder. "What a terrifying thought."

With that, Naruto sat on the edge of the well and swung his legs around so they were dangling inside the opening. Everyone but Inuyasha looked at Naruto with a somewhat sad face, which greatly bothered Naruto; not the face that Inuyasha wasn't sad, but that the others were sad. One day; they've known him for a single day. Hell, it wasn't even that long, and yet they acted as if they would miss him.

'Eh…Clingy group of people. Well, except for the hanyou, but whatever.' Naruto thought to himself. "I'm not really that good at goodbyes-or anything of the sort really-so the best I can really say is that I regret not getting to know this world more. But as I've said, I'll probably end up being stuck here so, this is perhaps a goodbye." Naruto put his arms on either side of him and pushed himself off the edge of the well and into the dark. He fell for a couple of seconds until he reached the bottom and a purple flash enveloped him. 'Huh…Looks like I won't be seeing them or this world again.'

'You are by far, the biggest fool I have yet to meet in my long lifetime. You know that right?' Kyuubi was not the happiest…being at the moment. 'The one chance you had at happiness, and you just threw it away carelessly!'

'Can it fur ball!' Naruto snapped back. 'I did not belong there, and even if you think differently, you know that just as much as I do. And again, did you not here me? I might end up returning.'

Before either could continue their argument, the flash receded and Naruto landed on the moist ground at the bottom of a well. He looked up only to see a wooden roof at the top of the well.

Naruto sighed. "You know, I have this strange feeling that this is not the well that I came from." He mumbled to himself.

'Same. Man, this just keeps getting stranger and stranger doesn't it?'

With another, this time heavier, sigh, Naruto began to climb the well. "Not a single god damn thing goes my way. Not once!" With a small grunt, Naruto hauled himself on the edge of the well. "Yep, I hate my life." Naruto scowled as he discovered that he was inside a small shed or something like that, with various things on the many shelves that were on the walls.

"Hey, look out!" An obvious kid's voice exclaimed.

Naruto snapped his head to the source of the noise. Before he, a ninja, could even react, a rubber ball the size of his head collided with his face, and forced him to lose his grip. Naturally, according to the laws of physics, he plummeted back to the bottom of the well with a furious scowl held firmly on his face. Yet again, once he reached the bottom, a purple flash appeared and he vanished from the well. This was just getting plain ridiculous.

XXX

(Same time Naruto traveled through the well with Kagome and the rest.)

When it was clear that Naruto had succeeded in traveling through the well, a somewhat somber atmosphere settled in.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" Sango asked out loud with a small frown etched on her features.

"Again, why the hell should we care?" Inuyasha forced out. He wasn't exactly happy that some random guy just popped up, and for some odd reason, everyone seemed to end up liking him. It not only confused the hell out of him, but sort of angered him. They were supposed to be searching for jewel fragments, not helping some stranger. The fact that because of Naruto they had anther shard was completely irrelevant. They would have found it anyway…hopefully.

"Because it was the right thing to do Inuyasha." Miroku had his eyes closed in thought. "What do you think would have happened to Kagome if no one helped her when she first traveled through the well?" Inuyasha opened his mouth, only to close it again. Seeing this, Miroku nodded. "Exactly. And even if he was able to protect himself, he still hadn't a clue of where he was or anything about the well. If not for us, he might not have been able to get back to his world."

"Yeah." Kagome nodded in agreement and understanding. She was frowning at the turn of events. She didn't know why, but when he disappeared, she felt as if something left with him. She didn't quite know what to think of it. "I can't imagine what it would have been like if I was left completely alone in another world I knew nothing about."

They all settled into silence, not really sure of what to say anymore. For all of them, not just Kagome, it was quite strange for all of them to miss someone they literally just met. Before any of them could continue that train of thought though, their attention was brought back to the well when a bright purple flash escaped the well's opening.

A few seconds passed after the flash. Each person and demon, including Inuyasha, stared with wide eyes that were full of disbelief. There on the ground in front of the well sat…Naruto. He was obviously not happy.

'What the hell?' Was the mutual though of everyone. Hell, Kirara's eyes were wide, which was kind of weird for a cat. Even if she was a demon cat.

Again, silence rained over the moment. This time was due to the pure shock that basically stole everyone's ability to form coherent sentences for the moment.

"Well, it worked all right." Naruto started, anger radiating his form. "But I'm pretty damn sure that where I got transported was not where the well I traveled through was. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't even my world I got thrown into. Again." Naruto almost growled out.

"A-are you alright?" Miroku asked with some uncertainty.

Naruto looked up at Miroku as if he were crazy. "'Am I alright?' I think that the answer should be rather evident. But," Naruto pushed himself off the ground. "in order to satisfy your curiosity, no I am not alright." Naruto closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath and then slowly released, trying his best to remain calm. The urge to go on a rampage and destroy everything in sight was almost impossible to resist for him at this point. As if it wasn't bad enough before. "See." Naruto spread his arms out. "I told you, with my luck, I'd probably end up being stuck here anyway." He gave a humorless chuckle. "I guess it's a good thing I suck so much at goodbyes because I never really left, isn't it?" No one answered him.

"Will you be ok?" Asked Kagome gently. Her eyes were shining with concern. She still didn't know why, but felt attracted to Naruto. Not in the way of being drawn by his looks or anything like that, but just drawn to him for some odd reason.

Naruto sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his knows. 'I bet you're just laughing you ass off right now Kyuubi.'

'Hehe. You bet your ass I am.' Kyuubi said breathlessly between chuckles. 'Boy, you are lucky as hell. You tried to do the wrong thing by making the wrong choice, and for once life forces you to take the right choice. To me, this is funny as hell. So yes, I am laughing my ass off.' With that, Kyuubi dissolved into uncontrollable laughter.

'Stupid fox.' Naruto thought, annoyed at how Kyuubi was humored by his misfortunes. He looked to Kagome. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I'll just…I'll just have to make the best of this I guess." 'Been doing it my whole life so it shouldn't be difficult to cope with now.' "Just…Listen, alright?" When it seemed that everyone was listening he continued. "I'm going to get out of your guys' hair for now." Naruto held up his hand when he saw a few of them ready to interrupt him. "Listen. What I want to do is travel around for a bit and get a little familiar with this world, and get used to the fact that I'm stuck here. If you guys want to, I guess I can meet up with you at some point. But for now, I really just want to trek out on my own. I'm better at managing with things like this on my own than with others anyway."

"Are you sure?" Kagome wasn't exactly convinced yet.

"Trust me. Things like this-Well not exactly like this-have happened to me before and I've survived. I'll be perfectly fine. I honestly don't think that I'll run into any trouble I can't handle, so you don't really need to worry or anything like that. Plus, I just told you that if you wanted, I'll meet up with you guys later." Naruto casually waved off any of the concerns they could have for him. 'Seriously, why the hell are they making this more difficult than it has to be?'

"If you're sure." Naruto turned to Sango and gave her a deadpan look. She sighed. "Alright. I guess we don't have the right to stop you anyway."

"Or a reason for that matter."

Naruto narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Inuyasha. "You know, you really need to work on your people skills. Life is a lot easier when you're not an asshole to everyone." Inuyasha only growled in response to Naruto's jab. "So, do you want me to meet up with all of some time in the near future or not?" Naruto asked, getting more and more annoyed as time went on.

Sango, Miroku and Kagome all looked to each other before nodding. "That would be fine I guess. Since you helped us gain a fragment of the Sacred Jewel, we kind of owe you. If you need any help, it would be easier if you knew where to find us." Miroku said after a little bit.

Naruto nodded. "Ok. I don't really care about the, 'you owing me' thing, but whatever. Also, It would help if you could give me directions or possible a map so I could actually know where to meet you."

"Ah! I have an extra map." Kagome took off her large yellow backpack off here shoulders and set in the ground. She shuffle through it until she stood back up with a folded, worn out looking map. "This should help you out." She looked to Miroku. "Should we just set the meeting point at Kaede's village?"

"That would be the most practical plan." Miroku said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Alright then." Kagome walked up to Naruto and stood beside him, unfolded the map and roamed her eyes over it until they landed on a certain spot. "This," She pointed to what appeared to be a small settlement on the map. "is where we usually stop and rest. We usually don't travel very far from it any direction which is why." She neglected to mention the other reasons.

Naruto nodded, and gently took the map from the girl's hands. "Thank you very much." Naruto said gratefully. "This all would a lot harder if I didn't have a map to help navigate."

Kagome blushed slightly. "It's not a problem." She almost patted herself on the back for not stuttering, but didn't because she still could prevent the blushing.

Naruto smiled to himself. For some reason, he could make the girl embarrassed without even trying. It was kind of funny. "Well, I'm gonna get going. But first," Naruto crouched onto the ground, and pointed a finger to Shippo and signaled him to come. Shippo very hesitantly walked in front of Naruto. "You're a Kitsune are you not?" Naruto asked kindly.

"Yes," Shippo answered quietly. "Why?"

Naruto smiled down at the fox demon. "Simple. So am I." With that, Naruto patted Shippo's head, stood up, and began walking off towards the last road he saw. "I'll see you all sometime soon, so don't fret." Naruto waved over his shoulder.

Shippo stood there wide-eyed. Another Kitsune? A smile slowly formed on his cute little face. "Bye Naruto!" Shippo surprisingly yelled with enthusiasm.

Naruto briefly stopped and turned his head back to look at Shippo. He gave smile before continuing on.

'What an very odd group indeed.' Naruto thought.

Well, that's it for this chapter. I'm fairly confident that the next chapter will come out sooner than this one did compared to the first chapter. Not 100% sure though. Please review, and if you want to flame, please try and restrain yourself and instead leave constructive criticism.