Prologue:

A messenger zoomed through the night, avoiding street, car and even the feeble light the moon cast upon a sleeping suburb of Tokyo. Her wings beat frantically, but the human world was quickly draining her strength and if she didn't return soon, she'd be one dead pixie. She breathed a sigh of relief when her eyes alighted upon Sunset Shrine. Her task was nearly complete.

Inside the humble shrine lay a college girl in her bed fitfully sleeping: tossing and turning, and nearly falling off her bed at one point. With her raven tresses splayed out across her pillow and her hands clutching her sheet, the pixie was happy to awaken her from her nightmare. How the young pixie did this, however, leaves much to be desired.

"Kagome! Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" pixie wailed as the girl woke with a start and looked around for the sound. Her brow lifted in annoyance at the intrusion, the sweat on it gleaming in the partial moonlight.

"Oh it's you again. Couldn't you have come when it was day? It's…" Her voice trailed off, looking at the digital alarm clock resting on her nightstand, "2:56, and I have a strict, 'nothing before my morning coffee' regimen, and I have a huge test this morn-" but she was interrupted by the overexcited pixie.

"But this one can't wait! It's from King Phillus, and he said it was urgent. Only for you 'cuz no other priestess would do!"

The dark haired girl stiffly rose from her bed; yawning and running a hand through her tousled locks while donning a robe and slippers over her tank top and flannel bottoms. If King Phillus was involved, she thought, there was bound to be something big going on. She sat down heavily on the chair stationed next to her dressing table, mentally sighing at the fact that she'd never get any sleep and would probably miss her test. Heck, if things went the way it did last time Piff was sent here, she wouldn't even be in the same dimension while it was going on.

"Thanks for the flattery but I think King Phillus knows that I'm not even fully certified-" But once again Kagome was cut off by the pixie, now it was hopping up and down, upsetting the numerous items on Kagome's shelf.

"No no no! Because you're tied up into all this too! King Phillus is sure of it!"

"Calm down Piff, and get off of my sutras, they're still drying." Kagome said as she inspected the kanji on some of the crumpled papers.

"Great. Now it says 'double' instead of 'destroy'. That'll be a huge help while exorcising a demon." She muttered in dark undertones just before the pixie tossed a thick envelope at her stomach, her reflexes the only thing saving her from a bruised tummy.

She unwrapped the package while Piff sat upon her shoulder, waiting to see what the king of the Other Realm wanted to say so badly that it couldn't wait until a decent hour. Kagome gingerly pulled out the first page to see a piece of stationary with what looked to be a hand drawn illustration that explained whatever message King Phillus was trying to convey. The letter itself was written in a lurid green ink with her name written in purple bubble letters at the top.

Kagome,

It said. Kagome sweat dropped as she thought about how much it looked like some of the letters she had sent and received. In middle school.

I write this to you in high hopes that you are well and that your beard grows ever longer! Ha! That was a Dungeons and Dragons joke. If you're not a D&Der, like me, you could never possibly understand it. How boring your life must be with out the wonders of Dungeons and Dragons. Did I tell you that my 12th level paladin fought a chromatic dragon? It was awesome. I mean, I died, but what a way to die! I think my dungeon master, Larry, is out to get me because I'm prettier than him. But who isn't? The man needs a new shirt, I've never seen him without that off-yellow and green one on.

Here was a crude drawing of Larry dying a very terrible death. It involved spears and a slow acting poison among other things.

But anyway, your lack of D & D knowledge aside, I write to you because a terrible prophecy has been uncovered at our Sector of Secrecy. But no one ever goes in there but my wife and she just found it today. I don't know how she can stand all that dust in there. I won't step foot into my own basement without my Allegra 24 hour allergy medication in full effect. So you can imagine the hideous amount of dust in there .I'm also allergic to iguana dander, but that's a long story on how I learned this, involving a shovel, a mango and 13 bags of the off brand Froot Loops.(You know, the kind that tastes like sawdust)

Well, anyway, she found this long winded prophecy and it went like this:

In a time…

Okay, let's scratch that. It's too long for me to copy it down, but basically it says that a priestess in need of a test, (Hey! That rhymes! Cool!) will find herself in a struggle involving the Shikon no Tama and the four different reincarnated souls within. These would represent Love, Courage, Friendship, and Wisdom. So, she would have to combine these souls to create a power so strong; it could defeat a great evil. Which is great, 'cuz that demon gang leader Naraku is one bad dude. And he killed my paternal 3rd cousin. So he's got to go down. And I figured that since Naraku is gaining so much power ( or 'street cred' whichever one you prefer) and you could be 'the priestess in need of a test' or whatnot, 'cuz you've failed your certification exam like 20 times. That is a record number of failings in case you were wondering. We've been able to track the Shikon souls down to Tokyo but after that, we're lost. So your mission, should you accept it, (but you really don't have a choice in the matter) will be to track down these reincarnations of the Shikon. And remember: The Shikon jewel's souls' and the dark forces have been fighting for over 500 years, the spirits are bound to have been corrupted somewhat. Don't presume that the spirits' name dictates their character or actions. Their true powers will only be released when the priestess (A.K.A. Kagome/you) unlocks it.

So let me know when you find all those souls and stuff.

May your cup always refill itself, and the wyverns never capture your lava lamp of imperial sage-dom,

King Phill-dawg

P.S.: Do you like my new name? Yea, I thought of it by myself. I rock, I know. Does it remind you of a Philly cheese steak combined with a chili cheese dog? Yea, I wanted it to.

Later!

By this time Kagome had sweat dropped a puddle around her and was scratching her head at the apparent insanity of the Other Realm's ruler. She then mentally refreshed herself on the mystical Shikon no Tama: Jewel of Four Souls. The Jewel had been lost over 500 years ago in an epic battle over good and evil… and to that was the extent of Kagome's knowledge of the gem. Ancient Myths and Fables sounded like a fun class for her extra-curricular class for miko certification at Kyokotsu School of Magical Arts… but it wasn't. The teacher had a lovely voice, one that could, and did, lull her to sleep every single class period. That probably had some sort of affect on her inability to pass the miko certification exam…

She sighed and pulled out all the papers behind the Kings… erm… interesting one, praying that someone else had written them. Inside she found some profiles of some individuals that may fit the bill of one of the reincarnated souls. First she'd find these people, then, she'd figure out a way to defeat Naraku with their souls. But first and foremost, she had to get some sleep.

Kagome laid the papers on her desk and flopped onto her bed; not bothering to take her robe or slippers off, and was dead to the world in 2 minuets. This left Piff to steal away quietly into the breaking day.