The Fragile Fabric of Time

Prologue

The day was bright and clear, the sun just having risen far off in the east. A lone figure emerged from a hutt in Kaede's village, a girl toting a large backpack.

Kagome carefully snuck from one building to another, looking around for her potential stalker. With no one in sight, and no unusual sounds, now was the time to make a break for it.

Off she went, away from the village and towards the well in Inuyasha forest. She really needed to go home, and while she didn't mind argueing with him about it, she hated it when she had to use the "sit" command on Inuyasha.

'So far so good. No sign of Inuyasha anywhere, and the forest sounds lively, which means no one is probably waiting in the bushes.'

One trick that she had picked up in her time in the Feudel era was that small birds and other wildlife normally quieted or fled when potential predators were about, and Inuyasha, being a large and deadly meat eating hanyou, certainly qualified in that category.

Shifting her backpack to fit snugly against her shoulders, Kagome prepared for the final dash through the forest to the well. Absently she thought about the numerous cuts and scrapes on her legs and arms, victims the forest's many vines and branches and other treacherous hazards.

'Here we go!'

With a start that would make a marathon trainer proud, the sixteen year old girl shot off through the forest and into the clearing that held the well.

Only to come to an immediate halt as soon as she hit the clearing and saw what was hovering over the well.

And suddenly, Kagome wished very much for her dear Inuyasha to be there with her.

"Ku Ku Ku, where are you off to, Kagome?" came the low and taunting voice of Naraku, the demon's red eyes running over her suddenly shivering body and taking in her fine legs.

"Nara...ku...," Kagome stammered as her backpack fell to the ground behind her.

"Going home, are we? No worries, Inuyasha won't be around to stop you. He's off chasing Kagura. The woman, for all her treachery, can still prove useful as a decoy now and then," said Naraku, a vile and evil sounding laugh following the end of his statement.

'Naraku knows about where I came from? Where did he get the information from?'

While Kagome's brain pondered this bit of information, totally unaware of the danger she could be in at the moment, Naraku shifted, his barrier dissolving from around him. One of his dragon tentacles uncoiled from his back and hovered it's head over the entrance to the well.

"What are you doing?" Kagome thought to ask when her eyes suddenly became aware of Naraku's movements. Her voice was quaking with the fear she was feeling, although her determination and fire kept her from breaking down completley.

"Ku Ku Ku. Watch and observe," said Naraku, as the dragon tentacle opened it's mouth. Out poured a stream of miasma into the well. After only a few seconds the tentacle closed it's mouth, but not before the well was overflowing with the dangerous purple gas.

"No...the well...," stammered Kagome, a single tear now leaking down her cheek. If the miasma destroyed the well, then she could never return home.

"Oh, what was I thinking? Now you'll never be able to return home, will you? Better make sure, just in case," taunted Naraku, his chuckle following the end of his torturing words.

With lightning speed, he lashed out with a wooden tentacle, the vine wrapping around one of Kagome's legs and dragging the miko to the ground. Kagome hit hard, the air escaping her lungs in a loud whoosh sound. She could only cry in pain and fear as the tentacle dragged her across the grass and dirt, then up into the air.

Naraku had her hanging upside down over the entrance to the well, his miasma filling it's interior.

"Farewell, little miko," said Naraku, a smile covering his face, as his tentacle let go.

Too terrified to answer, Kagome could only let out a little squeak as she plunged into the abyss.

Naraku was watching from above as a blue light engulfed the well, then he could feel the presence of the miko no more. His smile turned downwards into a frown.

'Wretched girl, she escaped. But no matter, she should've gotten a lethal dose of my miasma.'

Satisfied with his work, Naraku wandered off to attend to his other duties of the day.

* * *

Pain.

That was the only thing Kagome felt as she floated through the blue magic of the well in between worlds. The miasma had clung to her skin and burned. It had penetrated into her body through her mouth, her ears, and other entrances. Her wounds had been infested.

The miasma attacked her blood cells, her nervous system, her organs. It dissolved anything that it could get it's hands on, and there was a lot of Kagome for the gas to dissolve.

But it would not end here for the miko, as her powers flared to life. Her body was surrounded by a vassal of white light, purifying energy that battled the miasma.

Kagome's eyes were closed, so she did not notice the flare of the sacred jewel shard around her neck, nor did she notice the various colors the well produced around her. An anamoly was occuring, due to the powers of the miko, and the powers of the sacred jewel. They interacted with the powers of the well.

The results were interesting, to say the least.

Some time in the ancient past, in Mesopotomia, a young man stood by a well, when suddenly white magic came up from it, enveloping him, and dragging him into the well. He managed to get off a single yell, that was answered by his guards. When they arrived to his last known location, he was gone.

Another time in the near future, in Kyoto, an older man had just finished dropping a dead body into a well when a white light came up from it to envelop him, dragging him down the well too.

Yet another time in the distant past, in England, a man, probably older than Kagome, had finished pouring remains down an ancient well. He too, was sucked up by the white light.

Finally, in the far future, a man was walking by a well when the white light came for him.

These four men were transported into the well, and found themselves surrounded by blue light, at the center of which was the white light that was healing Kagome.

The sacred tree sensed that something was wrong, and tried to undo the damage. In the end, the five people were sent hurtling back from where Kagome had come from, into the well of the Feudal Japan.

By this time, the remaining miasma had dissipated into the earth around the well.

* * *

Kagome opened her eyes, slowly at first, then they shot open when she saw where she was.

The last time she remembered, Naraku had dropped her into the well. After that, she remembered nothing.

She stood up, and at that point, became aware that she was not alone. The first thing she saw in front of her was a man, deathly pale complexion, wearing a black undershirt, with a blue uniform over it. He had a sword strapped to his mid-section, and one of his white gloved hands was on it's hilt as he looked at her with deadly intense blue eyes.

Kagome stepped backwards, only to bump into something or someone behind her. Rapidly the miko turned, to see a tall and well built man standing behind her, one with dark wavy hair and a scar running along one eye. The man also had a sword, and also had a hand on it, but for the moment did not draw it as he stared at her. His vision shifted then, staring at something or someone to her left.

Relunctantly, Kagome shifted her gaze away from his threat, to see a third person standing there, again male. This one was tallest of the three so far, and had on a very weird outfit. He had on a white undershirt, with a black suit over that. In addition, he even had a red hat, and red coat on. Strange looking eyes studied her behind orange colored glasses.

Having covered three of four corners, Kagome decided to go for the home run. She turned around yet again, and was not too suprised to see a fourth man standing there. This one was perhaps short compared to the last two, except for his hair, which was jet black and stood straight up. He was very muscular, and wore a set of blue workout clothes, with white gloves and strange white boots with yellow toes.

His eyes were black, and also studied her. At this point though, poor Kagome's head was overloaded, and the miko's eyes rolled up into her head as she fainted and crumpled into a heap at the bottom of the well. With the threat of her seemingly nullified, for the moment, the four men studied each other, none of them looking relaxed in the least.

The four of them jumped into the air, clearing the well, and landing some distance away, each man about ten meters from the well entrance in each direction. They continued to study one another, perhaps waiting for someone to make a move. But finally, one of them did make a move.

* * *

"You are neither vampires nor ghouls," spoke up the strange person in the red hat and coat. His voice was very deep, but not very menacing sounding.

"And what of it?" replied the man with pointy hair, his voice sounding sarcastic in return.

"What of it? Simply that you are not my enemies," spoke the red coated figure, before turning to leave. He stopped, and turned back, lowering his head to show the three men his red eyes.

"By the way, my name is Alucard. Nice meeting your acquantice," said Alucard, before heading off into the forest. As soon as he hit the treeline, he seemed to dissappear from sight.

The human male in the blue uniform was the next to make a move.

"Hmph," he chuckled once, before turning about and leaving himself.

That left the pointy haired figure and the man wearing ancient looking robes.

"Identify yourself," demanded the one wearing ancient robes.

"I am Prince Vegeta. Cross me, and it'll be the last thing you ever do," boasted Vegeta, turning to face the ancient man head on.

"Interesting. My enemies know me as the Prince of Darkness. Should you ever cross me, you'll find out why," spoke the figure.

Both of the remaining men looked at each other with threatening eyes. They turned around at the same time, exposing their backs to one another. Chins held high in the sign of ultimate ego, both of them stalked into the forest, leaving the well alone again.

Just as the last two left, Kagome climbed out of the well, having come to and finding herself at the bottom of the well, alone.

'Maybe that was just a really bad dream'

Making it to the top of the well, she looked around, but saw no one in the clearing around the well.

"Yep, just a bad dream," muttered the miko as she climbed out of the well and headed for her discard backpack nearby.

If only she knew.


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Other Disclaimers as needed: I don't own or will not profit from the works of, in addition to Rumiko Takahashi, Chie Shinohara, Kohta Hirano, the creator of Dragon Ball Z, and the creator of Rourini Kenshin.

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A/N: Before you have me comitted, let me say that there will be a plot to this story. And I'm going to try and keep it non-A/U as much as possible, as far as the characters go.