The Gateway by Micharu

DayDreaming?

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

~~~

"Grandfather?"

"Yes Kagome?"

"Will you tell me and Souta a bedtime story?"

He had never been able to resist the eight year old when she looked at him with puppy dog eyes. One could say that it was pathetic, the amount of control she could exert over the older man. He was defeated, "I guess I could, do you have any special story in mind?" He already knew what her answer would be. It was the same story she asked him to tell her every other night of her life, he had hoped that she would grow bored of it, he knew that he had. He almost wished that he had never told her this story, except for the fact that it made her so happy to hear it. He didn't even believe the story (and he was quite prone to having complete faith in legends).

"Tell me the story about the shrine!" This was her favorite story. She would often daydream about being swept into the story, but she knew that it was just that, a story.

"O.K. but one would think that you would know that story by heart all the times that you ask me to tell it," perhaps she would take the hint?

"Oh, I do, but you tell it so good" His chest puffed with pride at the young girls words. 'Good, she does listen to me...'

~~~~~

In a time when rocks were still used as weapons and man had just learned to make fire, there were others we shared the land with. Magical creatures roamed freely and mingled with both humans and youkai. They ruled the lands with help from the fairies.

Fairies were the most powerful creatures on earth, but nobody knew this, they didn't use their power much. Often times only being used to aid nature with it's season changes and keep the human and youkai populations working together instead of at war. But regardless of all of their hard work, man and youkai did not seem like they would be able to survive each other.

War came from one man's lust and one girl's surprise.

Haku, a spider youkai, fell in love with a young Midoriko. Midoriko was betrothed to the lord of the lands and couldn't return Haku's affections even if she shared them. Deciding that he would have Midoriko no matter what, he concocted a plan to have her.

One morning, while she was picking herbs in the forest, Haku confronted her and attempted to force himself on her. He may have succeeded had he not been purified. Midoriko, being pure of heart and soul, had become the first miko. None before had this gift, and she hadn't until the attack.

While the youkai agreed that Haku had been in the wrong, they also saw Midoriko as a threat and wanted her gone. Had the humans complied, there never would have been war, but there was no way that they could deliberately end an innocent's life. They didn't feel it fair that she should be punished for something that wasn't her fault, and to that extent, the youkai agreed, however, they did now wish to have such a powerful hazard roaming free, they had no intentions of using their powers on the humans, and yet the humans now had a youkai specific weapon.

Neither side could come to an agreement and war was declared. The war raged for seven years before an end was met. Midoriko, seeing that the war was because of her, went to the fairies to find an end to the war. It was agreed, Midoriko would sacrifice herself to force an end. When she did this, the fairy would create a rift between the magical and human worlds. Most would be given a choice as to which side they wanted to live so long as they swore to peace. All had hopes that one day both worlds would one day be able to rejoin and all could live in peace.

One day, it was told, the reincarnation of Midoriko would find the door and use the key to reunite both worlds. Until then the fairy would just keep silent watch over both worlds, only making themselves known when it was deemed necessary.

~~~~~

"Wow Jii-chan, it gets better and better every time you tell it."

"And you were suppose to be going to sleep little one"

"humph, I know," she looked as though she may resist. She had her arms crossed over her chest and a defiant gleam in her eye, but did as she was told. At least she would get to hear the story again tomorrow, as long as Souta didn't ask grandfather first. He liked some stupid story about a dog demon lord who had swords that could bring people back to life, kill a hundred or open the gates of hell all with a single stroke. As if that is believable.

The next morning came all too early for the young girl. She tried to hide from the sun under her blankets, and it probably would have worked if her mother hadn't been yelling at her to come down.

"Kagome sweetie, breakfast is ready and unless you think you can last until lunch you should get down here and eat," of course she would never really make her daughter go without food, it just made a good threat and it usually worked.

Kagome's stomach had rumbled before her mom even finished what she was saying killing any hopes she might have had about sleeping in. No, she couldn't go that long without food, she would just die. She didn't even take the time to change out of her night gown or brush her hair, food was more important, she could do all of the other stuff after she ate.

"Kagome."

"Yes mother"

"Father and I are going to be working the shrine today, do you think that you can be trusted not to leave the shrine grounds?"

This was the day she had been waiting for, it was the first day of spring and she didn't have to worry about watching her brother so she could play outside all by herself. It was only the shrine, but it was a lot better than being stuck inside or watching Souta all day. Souta was going to one of his playmates birthday parties this morning and it was suppose to be a sleep over, that meant that she would get to hear her story again. The day was already starting to get better.

"Yes momma, I'll be extra good today."

By ten o'clock she had figured out that it wasn't as much fun as it sounded playing all by yourself. She had already done everything that she could think of to keep entertained and it wasn't enough. She had to find something to do before she started wishing that Souta was there to play with! She could not stoop that low, this was her first chance to be away from him since he was born four years ago and she WAS NOT going to waste it.

She looked around and saw a building that she didn't remember being on the shrine grounds. 'Perfect! I can go exploring!' She had made up her mind and decided to go inside and eat a snack incase her inspection of this new building took longer than she thought that it would.

The building looked like all of the other ones on the property from the outside and on the inside it was bare except for a door on the opposite wall. She was very disappointed that she didn't get to make any discoveries. If nothing else she could play make believe, it would make a nice little house, but first to see what was out the back door of her new house. Maybe she could put some pretty flowers there and when her friends come over they can hang out in here. It sounded like a plan to her.

'Tree...tree...tree...bridge...tree...bird...tree...nope nothing special,' once again disappointed that there was nothing fun for her to do, but these woods were still on the shrine grounds. More things to explore, she just hoped that she would find something more interesting than her previous expeditions provided.

She was half way over the bridge before she noticed that the forest she had set out to investigate had been replaced by a garden. It had to be the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, there were flowers that she had never seen before and the smells, while sweet, were not overpowering. The further she walked into the garden, the more amazed she was at her discovery.

In the sky there were dragons and birds that left fire in their wake, she even thought that she saw a horse up there. 'I must be day dreaming again' and as much as she wished that wasn't the case, she knew the truth.

"You girl!"

Kagome turned to see a boy about her age running toward her, "My name is Kagome, it is very rude to walk around calling people girl, boy," it was the most grown up tone she could muster. The boy was cute. He had long silver hair, golden eyes and marks on his cheeks and forehead. He was dressed in a silver pair of hakama with a dark blue happi coat over a white haori. As she stood there scolding him, she developed her first crush.

"It is difficult to call people by name if you don't know it. And don't call me boy, it's Lord Sesshoumaru to you!" his haughty tone was much better than hers, she was almost jealous. "What are you doing out here? Servants are not allowed in the gardens."

"I am not a servant! My family owns the shrine on the other side of that bridge," she gestured toward the bridge and frowned when she saw that now instead of there being a forest and shrine building, there were flowers. "Where did the forest go?"

"It doesn't due to lie," he couldn't smell it on her, but it was either that or she was crazy, "There has always been roses on that side of the bridge." It would not be good to have crazy servants at Mystic Retreat (a youkai version of a spa). He didn't want her to be crazy either, she was cute, for a human...servant.

"I am not lying," she couldn't think of a time when she had been so mad. "I am telling you the truth!"

"If you aren't lying, are you crazy?"

"NO"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she was so going to hit him if he kept this up.

"O.K. I guess. My parents run this place and are always too busy to play with me. Do you want to play with me?" It had been a long time since there was anyone that he could play with. The only other person his age around was his half-brother and he would rather not play with him. It was all Inuyasha's fault that his parents fight all of the time. Sesshoumaru and his mother didn't even know about Inuyasha until his mother died and father had brought him to live with them. His mother hadn't know her husband had a mistress, much less had one for long enough to have a son only a year younger than her own. If Inuyasha hadn't come to live with them, mother never would have known, and his parents wouldn't fight all the time and ignore him.

"Are you going to call me a liar anymore?" She didn't know if she wanted to play with this boy if he was just going to call her names all of the time.

"No, but there aren't many humans here at the retreat that aren't servants, and those that aren't came with youkai guests. So if you really promise that you aren't, then we have to be careful to not get caught." He was prepared to beg her to play with him. He was lonely and was willing to take any company he could get. Maybe she really wasn't a servant, she sure wasn't dressed like one. He had clothes that he had never seen before, she wore a bright yellow type of kimono that only went to her knees and was sleeveless. It had to be the oddest thing he had ever seen, it looked nice, just...different.

"Alright, as long as you don't say anything mean anymore!" 'and he better not try and treat me like a servant either. Wait a minute, did he say that humans were servants?' "What do you mean by humans are servants, what else is there besides humans?" There was an uncertainty in her voice what was difficult to miss, and her scent was beginning to be laced with fear.

"Here, take this, it tells other youkai that you are with me and not to attack you, but you have to give it back before you leave okay?" he handed her a small white ring with sapphire stones running around the center of it when she nodded. She didn't think she had ever seen anything so beautiful and was surprised when the ring shrank to fit her finger, "Not all humans are servants, just most of them, and what do you mean by 'what else is there?' there are lots of other things, there's youkai, fairies, elves, phoenix's, dragons, unicorns..."

Her face paled at his words and she could not now decide if she was scared or angry. She went with the one she felt was the stronger emotion, "But none of those things are real. They are just bedtime stories, we're about the same age, you should be old enough to know that by now," hopefully that would put him in his place. Then they could play and she wouldn't be scared anymore.

Not only did she interrupt him, but she called him a liar after yelling at him for calling her one, "I am a youkai! How can you say that they aren't real when you are standing right in front of one. And look there," his anger rising as he pointed to one of the birds she had been admiring earlier, "That is a phoenix, and there, that is a unicorn. Now, are you just crazy or do you really expect me to believe that you have never seen any of this before?!"

His anger towards her was only adding to her already mounting fear. She knew what she had been told all of her life and it did not include any magical creatures being real, and her grandfathers opinion didn't count. If only he would stop making up stories and tell her the truth! She would be strong, but she was so scared, she wasn't sure she could hold her tears in. 'Be strong...Be strong...' she repeated in her head like mantra. She had to tell him the truth, he didn't know, that was it...She would tell him, so long as she could get it out before she started bawling. "They aren't real, and youkai don't exist." she was screaming, she wasn't suppose to scream, "There's only humans! Stop it" She was sobbing and before she could stop herself she was running back to the bridge. She didn't stop running until she ran face first into the back door of her new play house.

'It wasn't real, I'm still in the forest, I knew it wasn't real' she really did believe herself. There was no way that she could have seen all of the things she just did.

"Kagome dear, it's time for lunch."

Being eager to be surrounded by things and people she knew for sure were real, she ran into the house and forgot all about the ring. There was no way she was going to tell anyone about what happened, she didn't want to be called crazy again.

On the other side of the bridge, Sesshoumaru watched the girl that both infuriated and intrigued him vanish into thin air before she made it to the other side of the bridge. He would have thought it was all a dream if he still had his ring on his finger. The ring was made of his own fang and he was to give it to the girl he wished to court, but he was too young to have any real interest in girls so he would use it to protect his friend. Now she had disappeared with it! He only meant for her to wear it while they were playing so that it could protect her, he didn't want her to keep it, that would make her his *yuck*...girlfriend. His eyes got insanely large at his next thought, 'Or my *gulp* fiancé.'

His father would know what to do, maybe he could get a new one, or find a way to get the other one back. He would just have to tear his father away from his work and ask him, this was way more important than whether Jaken remembered to order the proper herbs for the baths or if Myoga promised a geisha to two different men on one evening.

~~~

Well, I know that it isn't very long, but be patient, this is just the begining. Please let me know what you think about it. I already know that it isn't the best story in the world, but I'm trying.