Title : Expect the Unexpected - Love is never planned.

Story Summary : Kaname Kururugi and her brother, Michiru, have long since returned to their own time from their adventures with Inuyasha and the gang. While gathering items for the annual festival held at their shrine, they stumbled across the entrance to a portal that took them over 500 years into the past...the Feudal Era. The two soon found out about a generations worth of secrets to their own family that had never been revealed. Now, it's is two years later. The festival is taking place in a mere three days. Have the two forgotten of their travels within the Feudal Era? Or will the festival only remind them more of what could have been?

Disclaimer : Characters of this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi and whoever thought of the other two...Storyline based on PS2 game - Inuyasha The Secret of the Cursed Mask and partially myself.

Prologue

Kaname scowled at her brother from below as he watched her toil away, hard at work. He sat two stories above, watching his favorite show while she helped with the preperations for the festival, occasionally making fun of her in some phony sign-language through his window. "Michiru..." she let out a slight growl as she cursed under her breath. "I'll get you back...you'll see..."

They had been fighting about an hour before this. As always, Michiru had gotten the upperhand of the punishment. He merely had to wash the dishes for the next two weeks. She would've done that anytime...but no. She was stuck with having to carry all the heavy equipment off of the yard and into the back. Ugh...she hated preperations...

Kaname soon finished with her work...only to be bombarded with more.

"Good work, Kaname," her father started, walking out of the house with a garbage bag and a checklist. "Now, tomorrow, I'll need you to take all of these excess cans and put them into the shed. They clutter space for the festival." He followed this statement with a red mark in his book before looking back at his daughter, only to find her giving him her usual horrified expression. "Don't you give me that look," he warned. "I have no idea what has gotten into you! You used to love going into the shed, ever since grandfather told you all of those mysterious stories about our family." He walked away, mumbling about something that sounded like her behavior as of late.

Kaname's insides lurched. The shed? She hadn't been in there since that day when she'd returned from the Feudal Era. She'd dreaded the moment she would have to go back inside it. The thought of it killed her, ate at her from her gut outwards. She'd wished she could forget about that day when she'd lost everything that had mattered to her throughtout her trecherous journey and she had been doing a good job of just that.

And now, after all that avoidance for two years, it'd take just two steps to break her down again.

Kaname walked into the house, hoping that a bath would calm her down, though, as she turned on the water, she realized it didn't help at all. In fact, it made matters worse. Sitting in the tub only gave her more time to think, something which she had avoided doing all this time. She couldn't help it any longer and as the room became foggy, her mind travelled back to that place where her dreams haunted her and wishes almost, just almost came true.

"Kaname!" A voice called out to her. "KANAME!" She spun around as quickly as possible, glancing this way and that, trying to find her way through the dark maze of clouds. "Kaname!" There was a different voice this time, it's echo surrounding her as though it was on a loud surround-sound speaker. She ran through the thick fog, not knowing which way to go, more frightened than she'd ever been in her life. Why do they all sound so worried? Do I know them? Who ARE you? She started to slow up, but as soon as she did, she heard laughter. It was an evil laugh, the kind that sent shivers down your spine and made you wish you were covered up in a blanket or someone's arms or anything to protect yourself with. She ran and ran until...

She fell backwards onto the ground, rubbing her head. She had just noticed she'd bumped into something, when the thing grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up off of the ground. She struggled to breathe, her eyes clouded so much she couldn't see a thing farther than the tip of her nose. A familiar voice was saying something to her, though, she couldn't make it out. She was so sure she was going to die, that she didn't notice the man that had come to save her. She saw something swing past her face, knocking her out of the other person's grasp. Choking for air, the man that had saved her knelt down and took her hands. She recognized him but could not think of his name or where she'd seen him before. When she tried to ask him these things, her voice failed her. He frowned and said soemthing she couldn't quite make out. Then, without warning, a young girl came and swept the man off of his feet and away from her. She tried to call him back, but the words would not come. Tears swelled in her eyes as everything went dark and she was alone...

"Kaname!" Her mother called out from the other side of the door, snapping her out of her slumber. "Are you alright, sweety?"

"Y-yea mom," she replied, wiping her face free of tears that had somehow crept down her cheeks as she slept. "I'm...I'm fine."

"Well, hurry up in there, other people need to use the bathroom, too."

Kaname sighed heavily and slowly raised herself out of the tub to get dressed.

I can't believe I had that same dream again...She thought to herslef as she got into bed. This is crazy. I must do something about it soon before...well...She had gotten lost in the thought as her mind was drifting. I'll think of a way...somehow...

+ž+

"Kaname!" her father called, waiting outside by the cans. "Come on! You've got a job to do!"

She watched her father glance at his watch through the window and sunk onto the couch. I can't do it...she shut her eyes tight. I just can't. She opened them and looked out at her father again, who was checking his checklist over and over again, getting rather aggitated at the fact that she wasn't there yet. I...I...I know I don't want to do it but...She gulped as she rose and slowly, ever so slowly, walked towards to door. She stood at the arch and pushed it open.

"Kaname, THERE you are!" Her father happily passed a bag of cans in her direction as he pulled his pencil back behind his ear. "I need to run some errands. Could you please have this done before the time I return?" Kaname nodded her head slightly and watched as he ran off towards the entrance to their shrine. She picked up the bag and stared towards the shed before starting her trudge towards it's door.

All the avoiding. All that forgetting. All that hurt...she looked down at her shoes. Inuyasha...Kagome...Sango...Shippo...

...Miroku.

She bit back a tear and continued walking. I never got to talk to him after I said that...after I told him...I loved him. Her hold was getting weak. She stopped in front of the shed. Regaining herself, she pushed the door open, dropped the cans inside and ran back to get more. She dropped the next load in and continued like this, load after load for about 15 minutes until she finally shut the door and leaned against the side, thinking about that day.

The thought of never being able to see him again is what was really gnawing away at her. She'd never accepted it as a possibility, always thinking of ways he'd come back to her. And she could never bring herself to face the facts. "I..." I loved him.

Noticing her emotions taking over, she quickly opened the shed and jumped inside, shutting the door behind her. Looking about, she saw with astonishment the small star-shaped symbol on the floor. It was the same as it had been two years ago. Even though the floor had been quite broken, it still looked untouched, almost fresh in a way. Falling to her knees, she bent over it, examining it without even meaning to. I...miss him. She thought. Oh, Miroku I miss you...

"I miss you...so much, Miroku. I wish you were here."

She hadn't thought about Miroku in a long time. Admitting to herself that she missed him gave her a feeling that she neither enjoyed, nor dreaded. It gave her a sort of reassurance, yet at the same time gave her the full pang of giving up something you love. She didn't understand it at all, but decided at that moment that she'd have to learn to deal with it. Clenching her teeth, she let silent tears fall over the symbol and sink into the wood.

"It isn't fair..." she said, barely audible to anyone but herself, even if someone was there. "..."

"IT ISN'T FAIR!" She pulled back her fist and slammed it into the ground. The wood, still being rather rotten, broke apart and sent her down a few feet through. She pulled back out and stood up, grasping her face. "Oh...damn...Look what I've done now..." She quickly wiped her face and threw a towel over the hole. It took her a few moments, but she finally dragged herself out of the shed, closing the door and walking into the house.

Inside, she quietly sat at the table, waiting for her mother to serve her. Instead, she turned to her with a questionable expression.

"Kaname, would you please go get your brother? He hasn't come down from his room."

"Can't you call him down?"

"I've tried three times! He's not answering me. Please, just go get him."

Kaname sighed, stood up, pushed in her chair and walked across the room to the stairs. As she walked down the hall, she had a sudden mental image of her mother calling for her brother, while he quickly jumped out his window. She shook it from her head and started to wonder where such an image would come from as she entered his room. "Michiru...?"

Michiru was staring at the television, which was perched right on the windowsill. She swore that one day it would fall off ever since he'd put it there, yet it hadn't.

"Michiru? Mom's been calling you, why don't you just ans-" but she stopped as she had gotten closer and now saw his face. He wasn't staring at the television. He was staring out the window.

"...Michiru?"

"Someone's out there, Kaname." He said, with an odd tone of intrest. "Take a look..."

Kaname slowly looked over the sill and down at the ground. Sure enough, there was someone at the gate to their shrine, but she was sure she hadn't seen them before.

"So, it's probably just someone coming to pray before the festival. Go ask dad about it." She turned to leave, but he stopped her.

"No, that's not it! Look at her!" He rose and pointed down to where she was.

"Michiru, Mom wa-"

"Mom can wait!" He motioned for her to look closer, his eyes almost begging her to. Kaname, recognizing this, walked over to her place at the window and, after glancing back at her brother, gazed down. She looked carefully at the details on the person, who now seemed to be aimlessly looking about. She noticed the eyes, brown and blazing with ambition, red eyeshadow covering them, the shape of her face, elegant and long, her hair, brown and straight...all-in-all, Kaname found her to be quite beautiful, despite the odd clothes or necklace she was-

...Wait...That necklace! She looked as intently as the window permitted, her nose pressed against the glass. Where had she seen that before? She strained her eyes until they watered. As she noticed more and more things about it, the shape, design, color...she realized she hadn't seen it in over two years but knew instantly what it was.

A talisman.

She gasped and looked up at Michiru. "That talisman!"

"You see!"

"It's- ...Grandpa Kakuju's!" She thought for a moment. "But...how!"

"It must be..."

"It CAN'T be..."

She looked over the girl one more time before joining her brother in saying,

"...Utsugi!"