It was dark outside the village, the air cold, the ground damp, but this did not deter her. Her feet moved as though they already knew the path, and they led her to a small shine built on top of a hill in the middle of the village, a shrine she vaguely remembered but could not place.

She was led up the stone steps, through gates and doors until she reached the inside of the shrine and passed through one, two, three passageways and found herself in a tiny room, bathed in the soft glow of candlelight. The only inhabitants were a young woman and a man surrounded by shadows.

The woman held a small child to her chest as she glared fiercely at the man of shadows. "You will not have her."

"Who are you to defy the ruler of the universe? Do not forget, mortal, that it was I who sired the child, and I have the rights to do with my daughter what I please." replied the man in a void, uncaring voice. "I only wish to hold the child for a moment."

The woman looked murderous, but reluctantly handed the child over, letting her hand pass once over the baby's wrappings as the sleeping girl was taken out of her grasp. "...be gentle with my daughter."

It was an insult to his pride, but the man didn't show any reaction at all. He moved the wrappings to clearly show the child's face, and for the first time he showed a reaction.

His eyes flew open, and he dropped the baby as if he had been burned.

The woman cried out as she caught the child and hugged her to her chest. She didn't look up to know that the man was staring at his smoldering hands, to realize that he had been burned.

The woman turned on him again after checking her baby over for injuries. "How dare you!" she hissed, eyes flashing dangerously as her powers flared. "You are unworthy to be called god, you filth! Leave here! You are not welcome within the sight of myself or my daughter!"

He snarled, and the woman's eyes went wide for a moment, before dulling and falling closed as she fell back onto the blankets and lay still, daughter still clasped within her arms.

"Foolish miko..." whispered the man, looking coldly over her body and carefully avoiding the child. He stared for a few moments, and then there was a whirl of shadows and darkness and a painful, blinding light, and Kagome Higurashi woke up.

She blinked at the light seeping in through the doorway, then sighed and let her eyes fall closed again. That dream again... she thought, bringing an arm up to shade her eyes from the light. She vaguely heard her name being called, but she ignored it, her brain already becoming fuzzy in favor of more sleep.

"Kagome!"

The blanket was pulled off, and she yelped at the sudden cold hitting her body. "Get up, sleepyhead," came an amused voice from somewhere above her. "Kaede-sama is calling for you."

Reluctantly, Kagome opened her eyes, immediately closing them again as the bright sun invaded her vision. "Yuka...?"

"Yup!" came the cheerful voice. "C'mon, Kagome, you're never this tired. Did you not sleep well?"

Slowly Kagome sat up, rubbing at her eyes childishly. "I had that dream again." She yawned.

Yuka frowned. "The one about the night your mother died?"

The young miko-in-training nodded. "Yeah. It's so strange, Yuka, so...real." Sighing heavily, but accepting that she wouldn't be able to return to her warm bed, she stood to retrieve her white-and-red miko uniform. It lay crumpled in a heap on the floor, where she had left it, too exhausted to fold it up properly. There had been another attack on the village last night, this time by a kumayokai, and she and Kaede had been up till late trying to purify the thing.

The yokai sure have been acting up a lot lately, Kagome thought after saying a distracted farewell to her friend. I wonder if the gods are angry with us...

Kagome quickly shrugged on her miko uniform and jogged out the door, hoping Kaede wouldn't scold her too badly. She would never understand how the older woman could survive on so little sleep.

She noticed several villagers in the fields eyeing her curiously and slowed her pace considerably as she neared the shrine. Miko did not jog, after all. They were supposed to be refined and respectable, their duties to the gods and their people. Her mother Kikyo had been all that and more, as Kagome was constantly reminded. Kikyo was quiet, dignified, and elegant, while Kagome was too enthusiastic, too bossy, and with too quick a temper. The only similarities between mother and daughter were their looks.

I'm just a miko-in-training, after all, Kagome thought ruefully as she bowed her head, avoiding the stares of the villagers. And I never even met my mother. How can they expect me to be like her?

"Ah, Kagome-chan, there you are," Kaede smiled at her as Kagome approached. Kagome beamed back at her. Kaede was Kagome's aunt, who had taken over head miko duties from her older sister after she was found dead. Kaede was, while not as pretty nor dignified as Kikyo, much beloved by her village and her niece. She had raised Kagome, after all, and played the role of a mother, sister, and friend to the younger girl. And when Kagome turned thirteen, she was more than happy to accept Kaede's offer of training to become the next head miko. While Kagome was extremely grateful to her aunt and would never voice such thoughts out loud, it was not seldom that she found herself wishing she had not taken her up on her offer.

"Good morning, Kaede-sama," Kagome said, bowing slightly. "How is the village recovering from last night's attack?"

"We will be fine. This village is resilient. We have suffered and endured much, Kagome, and a lowly kumayokai will not be the one to break our spirit." Kaede picked up a basket and handed it to Kagome, then picked up the other for herself. "Nonetheless, we'll be collecting some herbs today for the men who were injured last night."

Kagome nodded, then worry crossed her face. "Nothing too bad, right?"

"The worst that came of it was Taniguchi-san's broken arm. It should heal in no time. Don't you worry, child." Kaede smiled at her again. She knew the village had trepidations about Kagome training to become a miko, but her hard work and concern for others proved to Kaede again and again that she would do just fine. "Now come. The herbs we seek are in the meadow."

As they walked, Kagome glanced at her elder and bit her lip, wondering how she was going to tell her about her dream. Kaede knew she had been having dreams about the night her mother died, but Kagome had told no one about the man in her dream, mostly because of who she thought it to be.

"Um...Kaede-sama?" Kagome ventured. "I had that dream again last night..."

Kaede cast her a startled glance. "The one about the night your mother died?"

"Yes..." Kagome faltered. She was a miko of the gods, after all. How was she supposed to tell Kaede that her dreams had been so blasphemous?

She didn't realize that Kaede was still looking at her with concern until she spoke again. "And? I sense you have more to say."

Kagome bit her lip again. "...there's something...I haven't mentioned to you. About the dream."

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"In my dream...there's a man who appears, and tells my mother that he's my father. She looked at him with such hatred, though...and he tried to hold me and his hands got burned, and he dropped me, and...my mother y-yelled at him, and he..." Her voice cracked, and she realized she had begun to shake. "He murdered her."

Kaede was staring at her, but her eyes were wide with fear, not anger or confusion. Abruptly she dropped her basket and placed her hands on Kagome's shoulders. "Kagome-chan. Do you have any idea who this man was?"

Kagome swallowed. This was the part she had been dreading. "H-he...he said he was the ruler of the universe..."

"Naraku-ousama," Kaede whispered, and Kagome nodded.

Naraku-ousama. The Great Lord. The most important god of them all, and Kagome had dreamt that she would do something as awful as murder her mother.

"Your dreams not only accuse Naraku-ousama of murdering onee-sama, but that you are a half-god." Kaede whispered, but her tone was not accusatory.

"Half-god?" Kagome's eyes widened. It had not even occurred to her that her dream implied that she was something so amazing. "Kaede-sama, I'm so sorry, I would never-"

"Shh, child," Kaede interrupted her, releasing her shoulders to brush her cheek gently before letting go. "They are dreams. Dreams of a miko, no less. You have no control over them. You must not feel guilty for them, for they are only dreams."

"But the yokai," Kagome protested. "They've been so active lately, what if my dreams have-"

"Your dreams have not angered the gods," Kaede said gently. "Do not fret, child. This is always an active time of year. It is no fault of yours."

Kaede smiled kindly at her, and Kagome felt a huge burden lift from her shoulders. She smiled back, grin wide with relief. "Thank you, Kaede-sama. I was worried."

"I know, child." She picked up her basket and motioned for Kagome to follow her as they resumed their walk.

"Kaede-sama," Kagome said, her final question niggling in her mind. "Who was my father?"

Kaede sighed. "I don't know, child. Nor do I know who or what was it that killed your mother."

"You still believe she was killed?" Kagome asked in confusion. It was widely accepted that Kikyo had died in her sleep.

"Aye, I do." Kaede said softly. "That was no ordinary death. I felt something in that room the next morning, something...very, very evil."

Kaede's final words turned over and over again in Kagome's mind as they reached the meadow. Something evil? And no one knew who her father was? She gritted her teeth as she began to pick the herbs as Kaede had instructed her to do. Kaede had told her time and time again that Kagome had inherited her mother's amazing miko powers, and that someday she might even be stronger than her mother. She had also told Kagome that miko dreams often meant something, revealing things about the past, present, or future that could not be proven otherwise. What did that mean about this dream? It couldn't mean...

"Kagome-chan!" Kaede called, snapping Kagome out of her thoughts. "There are some closer to the forest, if you could pick them!"

"Okay!" Kagome called back, picking up her basket and making her way to the forest. The forest of Inuyasha, as it was called. Kagome cast the forest a wary look. Inuyasha, The Lord of the Underworld. The most evil god there was. Long ago, he was cast down into this forest by the great god Naraku, banished from the mountain of the gods to rule over the underworld. It was said that sometimes, Inuyasha returned to this spot, swearing vengeance against his siblings...

But that was ridiculous. An old wives' tale meant to scare off children from straying too close to the forest. Kagome shook off those thoughts and bent to pick the herbs, just as she heard Kaede scream from far away. Her head jerked in the direction of her aunt, who was waving frantically while drawing her bow, and Kagome opened her mouth to yell something back before a strong hand clamped over her mouth and the world suddenly went black and cold.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my first Inuyasha fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)

I don't like using too many Japanese terms, but I assume most people know the ones I used, considering they're very common in fanfiction and in the Japanese version. Still, here're just a few translations for y'all who don't watch the sub:

Miko- Shinto priestess

Yokai- demon

Kumayokai- bear demon

-chan - honourific for girls

-sama - honourific indicating respect

-ousama - king

Please review with any questions/comments/complaints! See you next time!