Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha. I also don't own Madeleine L'Engle's book A Wrinkle In Time, the title of which I used for this story. Also, this story is in no way based on that book, I just thought the title fit for other reasons (and yes, I know my fic in NO way compares to anything by her).
50 years ago in the Sengoku Jidai:
"Kaede..."
"Yes, sister?"
"I will not survive these injuries. Take the Shikon no Tama and burn it with my remains."
Kaede looked at her sister, aghast. "Why?"
"Do as I say, Kaede. When I die, I don't want to leave you with the responsibilities that I had as guardian of that cursed jewel."
Kaede set her chin in defiance- no way was she letting her sister leave her alone. She pried the Shikon no Tama from Kikyou's fingers and paused for a moment, uncertain. The jewel felt cool against her hand, and she stared at the pale surface. How did one go about making a wish on the Shikon no Tama? Kaede knew what she wanted- she wanted her sister healed. She wanted Kikyou to be able to live a normal life like she had always desired. She wanted her last remaining family to stayby her side.
The jewel knew Kaede's wish as soon as it formed in her mind. The bloody wounds on Kikyou's shoulder closed and her eyes opened as the jewel dissolved in Kaede's childish palm.
Kikyou sat up, bewildered. "Am I dead now?" she asked in a meek voice. 'This is one hell of a strange afterlife,' she thought.
"No, sister! I healed you with the Shikon no Tama!" exclaimed Kaede, bouncing up and down in delight. "I made a wish on it, and it disappeared from the world just like it was supposed to!"
Kikyou looked around, her mind registering her younger sister's gleeful face, the sunshine, chirping birds, and general non-afterlife-ish appearance of the world around her. "What have you done, Kaede?" she demanded.
Kaede stopped jumping up and down, but replied cheerfully nonetheless. "I told you, big sister! I had the Shikon no Tama heal your injuries! Now, you can live, and I won't have to take care of the jewel!"
Well. This was certainly a development. "I told you, Kaede! You were supposed to burn the jewel with my remains! Not use it to keep me from dying!"
Kaede looked a little confused. "But, um... why? I mean, you're alive, and the jewel is gone, so..."
Kikyou howled in frustration. "I was supposed to be the tragic heroine of this story! Now what am I going to do?"
"Well..." began Kaede timidly, "Didn't you always say that you wanted to live the life of a normal woman?"
"How do you know I said that?" asked Kikyou. "I only ever told..." her eyes darkened with anger, but her face reddened, "I only ever told InuYasha! You were spying on us, you little brat!"
Kaede snickered. "I don't see what the big deal is, you two never even made it to first base."
"Shut up and respect your elders!" yelled Kikyou.
"Speaking of InuYasha," said Kaede, "Isn't he still stuck to that tree?"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Kikyou.
"Well, do you wanna let him go or should we just finish him off while he's asleep?" asked Kaede.
Kikyou touched a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Let's just leave him there," she said at length. "After all, how many other villages have their own dog-boy stuck on a tree in their forest? Maybe we can set up a tourist attraction..."
Meanwhile, in the nearby shrubbery:
Naraku, formerly known as Onigumo, didn't know whether to be disappointed or overjoyed. On one hand, his rival for the hand of the beauteous Kikyou was permanently stuck to a tree, and in a few days would most likely have pigeons nesting in his hair. On the other hand, the Shikon no Tama had just been purified by a seven-year-old and he had seen it disappear with his own eyes.
Now, Naraku was nothing if not honorable and he felt that he could not justly ask Kikyou to be his wife without having something to offer her- namely the power that the Shikon no Tama would bestow on him. He didn't doubt that Kikyou would say yes... he just knew that she had been trying to grope him that one time in the cave. Sure, she said she was changing his bandages, but that was just because she was such a shy young maiden. If that wasn't mutual attraction, he didn't know what was.
Still, making Kikyou his wife without giving her he rank and honor she deserved just didn't feel right to him. Naraku resolved to wait until the Shikon no Tama was once again in his grasp. Unknown to the priestesses, the Shikon no Tama hadn't really disappeared for good. The power of the Shikon jewel had merely been released, and sooner or later it would resurface.
Naraku knew this, and he could wait until the day that he found the jewel again.
550 years later in Tokyo:
Kagome Higurashi stepped briskly out of her house. She was late for school. Again. Although why she had to go to school on her birthday was beyond her. Life just wasn't fair sometimes, was it?
"Sis!"
Kagome rolled her eyes. What did her brother want now? 'Oh wait,' she thought. 'What am I saying? I wanted to put off going to school anyways.'
"What is it, Souta?" she asked.
"It's your cat. I think it crawled down into that creepy well," he replied matter-of-factly.
Kagome's eyes took on a slight shade of panic. "Oh no, Buyo!" she cried. "Whatever shall I do? It would probably be best if I skipped school so I could get Buyo out of the well," she informed Souta.
"OK, Sis. Whatever you say. I'll just go tell Mom that you're skipping so she knows to make extra lunch today."
"Wait,"Kagome stopped her younger brother with a tug to his sleeve. "Come with me, will ya? I don't really want to go in the well house by myself."
"Um... alright," agreed Souta. "Let's just hurry it up."
"No problem," Kagome replied, a little out of breath from climbing those god-awful stairs yet another time.
Kagome pried the stiff wooden door on the well house open and peered inside the poorly-lit structure. "Wow, it really smells in there. Are you sure you don't want to go in, Souta?"
"I'll pass on that," Souta said with a firm shake of his head.
"Fine, be that way," groused Kagome, sliding the wooden door further open and stepping inside the little building. "You know, we should get Gramps to clean in here or something," complained Kagome. "If Buyo is in here, he probably already choked on a dust bunny and died."
"Eeek!" Kagome squealed as she felt something brush against her leg. "Buyo, you stupid..." she trailed off, apparently not able to find a suitable word to express her annoyance and instead hefting the obese feline into her arms. "I hope you'll learn that stinky well houses are not places where good kitties go."
Meanwhile, Souta, unable to resist the prank, had crept up behind her and took the moment to jump up behind her with a loud yell.
"BOO!" bellowed Souta.
Kagome shrieked, turning around to face her brother.
"Souta!"
He cringed at the anger in her voice, just as Kagome lost her balance, tripped on the low wooden wall of the old well, and plummeted into it headfirst.
'Oh crap,' thought Souta. 'If she breaks her neck or something, Mom and Gramps are gonna kill me...'
He edged up to the side of the old well and looked inside. "Hey, Kagome... what do you say we don't tell Mom and Gramps about this? Kagome... ?" He looked down the well, blinking his eyes in an attempt to get them to adjust to the poor lighting. No Kagome. He looked again. Still no sister.
Oh, crap.
Well, on the bright side, it looked like Kagome wouldn't be telling anyone about his little prank. Souta looked outside the well house, checking to make sure all was clear before he snuck back into the house and went to his room to play video games.
On the other side of the well:
Buyo let out a pitiful yowl of displeasure at the fact that Kagome's knee was currently planted firmly on his tail.
"Oh Buyo, I'm sorry!" cried Kagome as she promptly removed the offending knee.
Buyo sniffed. 'You'll have to do a little better than that if you want my forgiveness,' he thought, turning his back on the repentant girl.
"Now, don't hold a grudge, Buyo. It's not healthy, you know, and I worry about your health enough as it is. Now, we have to get out of this well so I can go kick Souta's a..." Kagome stopped short- something wasn't right! She thought for a few seconds before something clicked in her mind.
The well wasn't stinky! Therefore, she could no longer be in her well house. A brief glance upward confirmed her suspicion that there was, indeed, no well house covering the well.
"Alright Buyo, let's get out of here now," commanded Kagome, who had decided that she had hit her head a little too hard and wanted to go to the doctor immediately.
Buyo gave her a look.
"Oh, right. You can't climb because of your weight problems," said Kagome. "Wow, this is really a problem. I guess... I could throw you over the side and then climb up after you?"
Buyo responded by sinking his claws into the wooden side of the well and clawing his way out before Kagome could get an even brighter idea.
"Well, there's a problem solved!" chirped Kagome, grasping the convenient vines on the side of the well and using them to hoist her body over the side.
"Oooh! How pretty!" squealed Kagome. Yes indeed, she found this delusion of her partly-concussed mind to be especially appealing. Green leafy forest, clear blue sky, flowers and birds- it was like a park or something, only without litter and screaming kids. Oh, and what was that?
"What kind of weirdo sleeps on a tree? And standing up, at that?" wondered Kagome. She looked a little closer at the red-clad slumberer and gasped. "Are those cat ears?"
She was at the base of the tree and climbing up in a moment, leaning in closer to look at the strange ears. She flinched as her face neared that of the sleeping boy. No cat had that kind of dog-breath. Undeterred, she stretched her fingertips until they brushed the fuzzy silver dog-ears.
The dog-boy's eyes snapped open and Kagome jumped back guiltily, losing her balance and falling off of the tree root.
Dog-boy blinked. "Where the hell am I?" He took a good whiff of the air around him. "Wow... do I ever have a bad case of morning breath..."
Kagome stood up, brushing leaves and dirt from the green pleats of her skirt. "Owww..." she whined. "That's the second time today. I hope I don't wind up with permanent brain damage."
InuYasha gaped at the girl, who was clutching her head and mumbling incoherently on the ground in front of him.
"Kikyou? What the hell happened to your hair?"
AN: Thanks for reading this, everyone. I really hope you liked this story, found it amusing, etc. If you have any suggestions on how I could improve later chapters, please tell me in a review and I'll see what I can do.