Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all things involved belong to Rumiko Takashi.
A/N: Plot bunny attack story... Posting two chapters at once because otherwise it would suck. Enjoys. All feedback appreciated. Cheers.
A light tinkling noise rang throughout the store followed by footfalls on old wood floors was what alerted any other occupants to her entrance.
Kagome's nostrils were immediately assaulted by the smell of incense and distinctly ...mothballs.
'Just like home', she mused.
The fifteen year old wandered through the shop, scanning over the trinkets as wind chimes twirled and their tune followed her. The slightly magical moment was intensified as the sunlight caught on a little pink jewel and she couldn't help but gasp as her eyes landed on the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.
"Ah, the Jewel of Four Souls," came a gravelly voice behind her.
Kagome jumped, the arm that was reaching for the orb immediately coming to her chest as if burned.
She whirled around to face a woman dressed in traditional priestess robes and an eye path adoring her right eye.
The elderly lady chuckled as the newcomer eyed her warily.
"Ye are from the Sunset Shrine." Kagome idly noted it was a statement more than a question but nodded hesitantly anyway.
"I've heard of this jewel... I didn't know it was still around."
"Aye." The woman ambled to the jewel, holding it between her thumb and ring finger up to the light streaming through an adjacent window. The sunlight seemed to intensify as it hit the trinket, and the room was covered in a shining pink light.
Kagome's arm instinctively came up to cover her eyes, but the sight didn't burn them. If anything, the pull to the item grew within her mind.
She lowered the jewel and handed it to the young girl standing beside her, who took it gently in her hand.
"I am Kaede, the owner of this store and the small shrine attached. I only have seen ye in pictures, but you look like Ginzo when he was younger." Kagome gaped.
"You know Gramps?"
Kaede smiled, the skin around her eye crinkling tighter. "Aye. It's been sometime, but I'd know his relatives anywhere. Ye also remind me of my late sister, Kikyo."
'Kikyo... That name sounds familiar...' Kagome pondered, her gaze returning to the orb in her fist.
"Kikyo was the most recent owner of this jewel. And now, it is your turn."
She gaped at Kaede again. "Me?! But how! This is the first time I've ever seen this jewel in real life! The closest I've ever come is the plastic key chains in our gift shop!"
Kaede chuckled again. "But ye feel the pull of it. Humans are not drawn to the jewel, only those with a significant amount of holy powers. And I believe it is what called you into this shop."
Kagome bit her lip. She opened her fist and the jewel rolled in her palm, still beautiful but seemingly calmer.
'Calm... As if an object can have emotions...' Even as ridiculous as it sounded to her, the young girl knew, in the deepest part of her mind, and a stirring in her memories, that it did have emotions.
"Wait .. Does that mean, I... Have holy powers?" Kaede nodded, walking toward a small, almost hidden doorway behind the desk and further back in the shop.
"Aye. And it's only going to get stronger. In a few years, you will turn eighteen, the same age as Kikyo when she became the official Jewel Guardian. Then, you must prove yourself to the Council that you are worthy of this title."
"Hold up, what council? And how do you know when I'll be eighteen? And who says I want this title, anyway? I have a life, you know! I go to school! And the shrine, and my family!" Her flustered ramblings were cut off by another chuckle from her older companion, a sound which was beginning to grate on her usually patient nerves, but the sad hint to it stopped her from flying off the handle.
"My dear Kagome... It's not a choice. This was decided for you fifty years ago."