Haven't started up a new fic in quite a while. Almost over a year or so, really. Blame my lovely friend, muse, and beta, ArmyWife22079 for she was the one who gave me a challenge I couldn't possibly refuse. Or thank her, if you like this. I spent the last two months working on this ficlet ;)

Here's the challenge: Comfort/Angst fic in which Kagome needs to get back to the Feudal Era after Inuyasha sent her home without the shards. Must be after Rose, Martha, and Donna ("Journey's End"), but before "End of Time" Special. Use of "Allons-y" a must.

Oh, and she asked for a one-shot, but I guess the writer's spirit in me doesn't like length constraints. ^^; Meaning, way longer than a one-shot, so there's like 11 chapters in this, including the prologue and the epilogue. I'd say sorry, but I'm kinda not since I had too much fun writing and I doubt there'll be any complaints (or at least I hope there won't).

Anyway, read, review, and as always, enjoy! This is for you, Amanda! XD

Disclaimer: Trust me, if I owned either Inuyasha or Doctor Who, you would know.

—Prologue—

It wasn't every day that some small girl dropped in on him. Literally. Hands hovering over the unmoving lump clad in what looked to be 16th century Japanese garb currently napping in his lap, his mind flailed a bit.

Honestly, one moment he was prepping the TARDIS for another trip—somewhere, anywhere, someplace new without past memories threatening to overwhelm him when, bam—there she fell. Just a bit over five feet of pink and black made up of four lightly tanned limbs and long, dark hair. She seemed human by the looks of it, but really, who knew? Can't judge a book by its cover and all that.

"Uh." Shifting uncomfortably under the weight against his lap, he cleared his throat at the sight of the girl's eyes fluttering open, faintly noting the peeks of blue he was able to spot.

His given response was positively and equally eloquent. "Ngh."

"What?"

"Ngh. Where am I?"

The Doctor blinked. And stared. And then blinked some more before the realization mingling with nostalgia hit him full force. He let out moan.

"Oh, no, not again."

It took a moment, just a beat, before the guilt-laden grief kicked in. Donna. Donna Noble. The panic followed swiftly. No, no, not again. Is it again? It can't be again.

Swallowing, his face went blank save for the slight burrow of his eyebrows. His eyes shut as he took a deep, shuddering breath before cracking them open to stare at the face of his new passenger.

Could it be a coincidence?

Today was just one of those days that would end with her wishing she had never left the comfort of her room that fateful fucking day on her fifteenth birthday, Kagome just knew it.

The day had begun fine, of course it did, they always did, right up until Inuyasha and she would start arguing. But, no, that was the norm for the most part. Tensions were at its highest what with the final battle with Naraku looming over their heads, so naturally their tempers were easily snapped. Naraku had most of the jewel shards, only a paltry few left in Kagome's care, and it felt as if they were only waiting for the other shoe to drop—or rather, the spider hanyou himself to drop in.

But that day was different. Something went wrong. Something had change, and maybe it had changed days, who knew how many exactly, before then. Inuyasha was colder than usual… more distant, more prone to snap—at Shippo, at Miroku, at her, even at Sango and Kirara.

Honestly though, she should have realized something was terribly wrong when Inuyasha suggested she take a trip home. He was being rational about it all, calm though still distant as he explained that he noticed she was low on supplies, and who knew when Naraku was going to attack or when they'd be able to return to Edo and restock.

It was such a surprise that she wasn't terribly shocked when, right as she stood by the lip of the well and frozen under Inuyasha's palms as he looked down at her with those sad, yet determined puppy eyes of his, he told her in the most serious voice she had ever heard come from his lips that, "You don't belong here. Go home, because you'll just die. You're weak, too weak, and I can't protect you—not anymore. I'm hurting you, I know, and I'm sorry for that—for causing you pain—but I'm not sorry for this. Not if it saves your life."

No; Kagome was stunned, yes, but deep inside she really wasn't shocked per say at his actions—at him trying to send her away. It wasn't the first time, and she would be fooling herself if she thought it'd be the last. She was, however, too blown away to fight against Inuyasha as he snapped the jewel shards from her neck with a sharp claw and—after one of his hands had cradled her cheek for what was meant to be the final time, thumb swiping over her cheekbone—the other hand shoved her.

If anything, it was Inuyasha himself and his methods that stunned her. He was so calm, so determined and calculated. This wasn't a spur of the moment decision—a reaction to some surge of a need to protect her. This wasn't provoked by anything she could think of, really. He had planned this, and she never even had a clue. It was so unlike him, so unexpected—she was completely blindsided. And even if she wasn't too stunned to react, she never would have expected the physical force he used to send her home.

And as she fell back into the well, the sensation of the free-fall snapping out of her shock, fury and vexation filled her veins as a curse sat waiting on the tip of her tongue because oh my fucking God, how many times does he have to do this? Hasn't it gone through that thick skull of his that pushing me into the well without the shards isn't enough to hold me back?

But it was then as she fell that she realized something was off. Her descent through the portal was usually accompanied by wisps of swirling pink particles and a tingling sensation that flushed through her veins, energy she had assumed that came from the jewel. And in this trip, they were present.

But the addition of gold particles mingling with the pink and the compressive feeling as if being squeezed through a hole not quite big enough was new, and not a particularly good new at that.

So, after being put through a good few minutes of that particular sensation, she felt that she was completely justified of what she said when she found herself dumped in some random man's lap.

The young woman's first coherent words to him were: "Why am I sitting in your lap?"

No, "Who are you?" No, "Where am I?" No screams. No gasping or panicking or accusations. Just: "Why am I sitting in your lap?" asked in a polite tone that held the mere hint of dazed curiosity and the even fainter hint of irritation. Honestly though, it was borderline nonchalant if he had to describe it.

His mind, still flailing, only flailed some more at that insight.

Well, the Doctor thought distantly, that is certainly a switch but two can play at that game. "I was wondering the same thing," he replied in his best leveled voice, all the while freaking out and wondering, who are you, who are you, who are you? How did you get here? This is not possible, no, not possible at all. Completely improbable and absolutely unexpected and not supposed to happen!

"Ah," was all she said in return for the moment, wide blue eyes blinking as she took in the interior of his TARDIS, as if she didn't notice where she was just until then, all the while not removing herself from his lap. "I was really hoping you'd know…" she mumbled, before she stiffened suddenly, which made him stiffen as well, until she asked: "You're not, like, evil, right? Not going to kill me?"

His mind whimpered, but he was pretty sure he did a good job of not showing his impending mental breakdown. "Er, no. Wasn't planning on it, really," he told her, though honestly, all he wanted to do was revert to snark and say, "Oh, don't you look comfortable? Make yourself at home, really, don't mind me. Stay as long as you'd like."

But he remained silent as the woman relaxed, flashing him a sheepish smile. "Oh, good, that's a relief," and he suddenly had the random urge to break down in hysterical laughter—and not the good kind.

Because really, she was just trusting him—this little human woman, a girl, really, compared to him, was just trusting his word that he wasn't going to kill her when she had literally just landed on him thirty seconds ago. What in the world was wrong with humans? Had they no sense of survival? How was it that they could survive to the ends of the universe?

With a dark look and a low, dangerous voice just for effect to scare a little bit of survival instinct into her—honestly, it might save her life in the long run to be more wary—he ducked his head, looming into her personal space. Noses nearly touching, he stared directly into her eyes. "You do realize that doesn't mean I won't hurt you. You're trespassing on my ship; for all I know you're here to hurt me—ill intentions and all that. Who's to say I don't drag you off and lock you up right now? Interrogate you?" With what he hoped was a twisted smirk, his voice dropped even lower. "Maybe even torture you?"

But no, that cheeky little human just cocked an eyebrow at him, still casually occupying his lap as if she belonged there, and shot back with a, "Then what are you waiting for?" Taking a dainty finger, she firmly poked his pinstripe-clad shoulder and pushed him back, and he reigned in the urge pout and rub at the tingling point of contact. She then rolled her eyes, as if she knew, and shrugged at him before crossing her arms. "I can tell you're not going to hurt me."

For some reason, that assumption set him off—made him snap. Who was she, this human with her inferior intelligence and a distressingly pitiable lack of self-preservation, to presume that she knew him. He was a killer—he had wiped out his own people and was the cause of a litany of deaths along with numerous others.

He was the reason the woman he loved was trapped in another universe with a metacrisis clone of himself whom had committed genocide; he was the reason his best friend had to be stripped of all memories of their adventures just so that her mind wouldn't have burned; he was the reason he turned a doctor of all things, a person meant to help and heal, into a soldier ready to annihilate the whole planet with its six billion plus residents if only to save the universe.

Just because he didn't look dangerous; just because he didn't carry a weapon didn't mean he wasn't capable of causing irreparable harm—of causing deaths. No, he just inspired others to do the dirty work for him. He all but destroyed everything he touched and held dear, his tainted presence infecting his companions with its incurable disease.

Hands clenching around the grips of his jump seat at his sides, his jaw clenched as he scowled down at the dark-haired girl. "You have no idea how capable I am of doing just that," he growled darkly, no longer pretending.

Yet, she just stared at him, searching, and he faintly noticed the look to her face—to her eyes, and he realized with abrupt intrigue, Oh, wait a tic, maybe she's not just your run-of-the-mill human after all, which he found to be proven true when she responded.

"Oh, probably, I never said you weren't 'capable'," she said, waving him off. Then, she looked him in the eye, a peculiar look to her gaze as she stared and a weary, not-quite smile playing at her lips as she continued in a softened murmur. "But you won't, because however dark your aura may be, it isn't evil."

The Doctor blinked, dark eyes widening and his mind skidding to a halt because out of all things he didn't expect that.

Oh.

Sooo, what do you all think?

I had way, way, way too much fun writing the Doctor's POV in all of this. Way too much fun. XD It's like trying to mimic the thought process of a kid on a sugar-rush—you now, if the kid was a genius haha.

Anyway, I hope you all like it. This should have regular updates, once a week, on Saturdays. Warning, though, that the chapters won't be as long as the one's I'm used to writing. They'll be no less than 1,000 words I think, and no more than 2,000. Barring any hiccups anyway, as while this is all written, I'm still combing over the majority to do some editing.

Anyway, tell me what you think! Till laters!

RainLily^^