DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha and am in no way associated with its owners, so please don't sue me.

Added A/N: Weird, but I wrote this long before episodes 147-48 aired.

The Past Past:

Kaede walked into the hut and set her basket of herbs down. She stared to call for Kikyou, but stopped when she saw her sister sitting on the floor, her form only an outline in the dim morning light. Kikyou was focusing on something, her head bowed and her hands in front of her. Kaede stood and watched, wishing that someday she could be a great miko like her sister.

Kikyou was in deep concentration, casting some sort of spell. She began chanting under her breath, and beads that were scattered on the floor began to glow. They suddenly rose into the air, flying around Kikyou several times before floating in an odd arrangement in front of her. She quickly moved her fingers in a complex pattern, and the beads moved to hover by her face, forming a circle. As she clapped her hands together, the beads shone a brilliant purple for an instant before they fell lifelessly to the floor. Kikyou put her hands in her lap and then raised her head. She looked to the floor, and then to the door where Kaede stood.

"Did you see me make the rosary?"

"Yes, it was very good! But what was it, nee-sama?"

"It's a special subduing spell," Kikyou answered, rising to her feet. She picked up the beads, now bound together with magic. "One can put a spell like this onto many things, but I chose this rosary." She handed Kaede the beads to look at.

"But what's it for?"

"Inuyasha."

"The demon?"

"The half-demon," her sister corrected.

"Yes, but he's tried to steal the Shikon jewel so many times! Why don't you kill him? He's going to attack us again!"

"Inuyasha doesn't need to be killed. He's never tried to harm anyone when he's come after the jewel. If he becomes a problem, I'll use the rosary on him." Her sister's voice softened, and it sounded almost sad. "And I have no wish to kill someone so like myself. He's trapped into his place by the world." Kikyou looked down for a moment, before she took the rosary and hung it on a peg. "Now, Kaede," she said, brightening, "let's see what herbs you found. I'll tell you about the charms they can be used in."

"Even subduing ones?"

"If you like. They're much too complicated for you to do now, but I can tell you how they work."

Kaede happily picked up the basket of herbs, and followed her sister outside.

The beads hung on their peg, never used and eventually almost forgotten.

The Present Past:

Kaede rushed back into her hut to get her bow and arrows, and whatever other talismans she could quickly grab. It was the most dangerous thing that had happened in the village in years, and she wasn't sure that her powers would truly be enough. The strange girl Kagome had disappeared into the night with the centipede demon not far behind her. Kaede took several demon wardings and started out the door, before something glistening in the firelight caught her eye.

The last thing that Kikyou had made before she died—a rosary of purple beads. It still hung on the same peg that Kikyou had left it on, untouched. It was useless in their current situation, as the spell was cast specifically for Inuyasha, who was long sealed. Kaede had only kept it because she couldn't bring herself to dispose of the last things that her sister's fingers had touched.

She started out the door, but she turned around and grabbed the rosary as an afterthought. There was something odd about the girl who looked so much like Kikyou. She had just run into the forest and could even see its aura, and had been mysteriously discovered next to Inuyasha himself that very day. Then there was the possibility that the jewel itself was in this world again, though Kagome said that she had no knowledge of it.

Kaede almost put the rosary back, but holding the beads seemed to calm the eeriness that she felt. She quickly tucked it into her clothing. Then she went to where the men were waiting and climbed on her horse, leading the party into the night.