The Memory Remains
Chapter 1- Dream Fragments
The forest was silent, neither animal nor plant daring to move, lest they disturb the two women standing in the clearing. At first glance, an observer would be tempted to believe the two were identical twins, but a closer inspection would reveal just how different the two were. One was dressed in loose feudal ear pants and skirt, the other in a modern-day schoolgirls skirt and shirt. Both carried bows, but neither was ready to loose their arrows. They had come for different reasons. One came from a deep-rooted love, pure and true, the other came in a mix of love tempered with hate, vengeful and arrogant. Slowly, both women set their bows aside on the ground, and stepped towards each other, closing the distance between them.
The woman wearing the modern skirt withdrew from her pocket a glittering pink orb, slightly larger than a marble, showing it to the second woman. The other woman nodded, and they stepped apart again. Eyes shut tight; she clutched the sphere close to her heart and wished with her entire being on the jewel. When she opened her eyes again the other woman was gone, and the world around her shifted so rapidly that she dropped to her knees in an attempt to make the world stay upright. Around her the trees grew younger and more dense, and blurs of color rushed around her at high speed. The only thing that appeared and didn't immediately disappear was a boy, pinned to one of the trees with an arrow, with white hair and dog's ears. At the sight of him in his enchanted sleep, the girl called out his name one last timer, her voice thick with unspoken love and sadness at her imminent parting. "Inu-yasha..." Her cry died as she gasped in shock when a loud scream rent through the air.
@@@######@@@Loud crying jolted a much older, much more world-weary Kagome from her dreams. Sitting up in bed, she shook her head to clear it of memories of the past. Kagome rolled out of bed and walked over to her closet. Hanging from the closet door was a faded red bathrobe, which she slipped into, tying it snuggly around her waist. A quick look around the room told Kagome that she wasn't going to find her slippers, so she padded barefoot across the hall into her son's room. "Ssssssshhhhhhh... it's ok, Momma's here now, it'll all be ok..." she muttered as she sat on the small bed and took a dark-haired child into her arms. The boy buried his head in her shoulder, and Kagome could feel his hot tears through her bathrobe. "It was the man again, momma. The puppy-dog man. He was stuck to the tree momma, he was crying." The small boy gushed through hic-cups as he looked up at Kagome.
Immediately the urge to rush to the old well to save Inuyasha again welled up inside Kagome, but she pushed it down and placed a kiss on her son's forehead. "Yasha, it's ok, it was just a dream. Do you want me to sit with you until you fall asleep?" She asked, smoothing the boy's hair out. He nodded beneath her hand, then ordered her to sing him a lullaby. Kagome smiled at her son and began to sing a song her mother had sung to her when she had troubled dreams. When the boy was asleep Kagome fixed the covers around him and slipped softly from the room.
Silently Kagome went down the stairs, through the kitchen, where she pulled on a heavy, woolen cloak over her bathrobe, and outside, into the shrine courtyard. When her grandfather had died her mother had taken Souta with her when she moved into the city apartment, leaving Kagome to run and care for the shrine herself. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself climbing down the ladder she had put in the well for easy access to the bottom. She reached the bottom, and shivered. Slowly, she raised her hands before her. With a burst of concentration and power, her hands glowed with a pink light, which traveled up her arms, down her body, and pooled out around her feet, making the ground shimmer with an unnatural light, but nothing happened. A sigh escaped Kagome, she dropped her concentration, and the light faded. She slumped against the wall to sit, leaning against the wall of the well, saddened, but not surprised, by her inability to get back to the feudal era.
A few moments later a voice startled her from her thoughts. "I heard Yasha crying, and figured I'd find you down here once he settled down." The voice's owner jumped down into the well. Kagome turned her head to get a better view of the man and smiled up at him. "He had a bad dream. Again." She said softly. As he moved to sit next to her and slip a comforting arm around her shoulders, he considered her words. "I take it it was the dream about Inuyasha again, yes?" he paused before continuing. "You had one as well Kagome, did you not? He is gone. You may meet him again, if it is fated. But you cannot continue this Kagome. You are becoming far too old before your time." He lapsed back into silence. Kagome thought for some time on his words, then stood. "You're right, of course, I have to try and live my life without dwelling on the past. Inuyasha would want me to do that much. Besides, I have to be strong for our little Yasha." She smiled at the man again, this smile brighter than the previous, and began to climb up the ladder. Silently, the man followed her closely and began to climb after her.
Halfway up the ladder, Kagome felt a familiar weight settle on her backside. With a startled yip, she turned and to bonk the top of her companion's head with a shout of "Lecher! Can't you keep your hands to yourself for once!" startling the man beneath her so badly he toppled from the ladder, landing on his bottom. Kagome finished her climb to the top of the well before turning around to lecture him again. "I swear Miroku, if you don't stop your lecherous behavior, and Yasha picks up on it, I will knock you back to the feudal ear!" She laughed as she helped the monk up the last few steps of the ladder, him laughing with her. Together they walked back to the main house, and went into the kitchen where they spent the rest of the night drinking tea and reminiscing.