Somewhere in Time

The Past, The Present

"There, there. That's a good girl," a voice was saying soothingly. "Your name is Kagome. Ka-go-me."

Warmth enveloped her body even as she cried. It felt new, strange. The opaque darkness that had wrapped her for what seemed like a lifetime was replaced by a dazzling white light. But there was something else. A pink glow accompanied by a potent and compelling force that she couldn't comprehend in her state of being.

###

"There, there. There, there." She crooned while holding a young, bundled up Souta. She turned to her mother who was knitting a yellow blanket. "Mama, why am I Kagome?"

"Why do you ask?"

She dejectedly watched her sleeping brother. "Because everybody makes fun of me. They sing 'Kagome, Kagome'."

Mama put down her knit and looked at her. "I see. I'm sorry. But I saw it."

"Saw it?"

"Yes. I could see something in this shape shining on your chest." Mama traced a figure on the table. "This star-like figure is known as a Kagome."

###

The Mistress Centipede grabbed Kagome's face, its tongue lolling as it attempted to lick her face. "Let me go!" she shrieked. "That's disgusting!"

To stop the youkai, she reached her hand out desperately. "Let me go!"

A very powerful aura surged towards her palm, manifesting itself into a bright pink light that destroyed one of Mistress Centipede's arms, the same pink glow she saw from long ago.

###

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"What a noisy chit!" Urasue hissed as she poured more light green liquid into the earthen tub where the young priestess was bound with rope.

'What's in this water?' Kagome thought to herself, wrinkling her nose. "It smells of herbs!"

The surface of the leaf-speckled water rippled as she tried not to sink to the bottom of the tub, but for some reason, her body was paralyzed. 'I feel awful... I can't... move...'

She was faintly aware of the sudden burst of light that shrouded the entire earthen cask, and something inside her felt like it was trying to break out.

"Kikyo..." Distantly, she heard Inuyasha whisper in disbelief. He must have seen the clay woman who resembled Kikyo sitting somewhere near, her face blank and empty. And the moment he said her name, the dark matter that seemed to force itself out of Kagome's body manifested itself into several bolts of light that flew towards the clay vessel, bringing Kikyo back to life.

***

Her head was reeling with the memories that suddenly found their way back to her. From the very beginning, the Shikon no Tama had always been with her, playing a part, shaping who she was, eventually becoming the way to open the portal to the past... to Inuyasha.

Along with the jewel, however, was the conviction that she was someone else. For a long time, she was out of step, stumbling through her life. She'd never felt herself, especially when everybody else around her believed she was the dead priestess. My name came from the Shikon no Tama. Kikyo... Kagome... it was as if she was being torn in half, in two separate worlds.

But with Sesshomaru, there was no doubt. She was Kagome. The girl who leapt through time.

She kept this one singular thought in her mind and concentrated on it as she followed the daiyoukai towards the end of the forest trail. He said she must meet the miko who had healed her, but he was keeping mum on the details.