I'm SO sorry this has taken me so long to update. I've been slowly adding chapters to the rest of my stories but just can't seem to find the time to finish any of them, including this one. However, I just finished (YAY!) so I'm posting as soon as possible.

Hermione slammed the book down angrily, startling Ron and Harry from their doze.

"I can't find anything! Anything!"

Ron yawned. They had been in the library for five hours straight now, searching everything from witches to warriors. They had yet to find a single mention of a girl named Higurashi.

"Maybe we should just come back tomorrow."

"Tomorrow could be too late! If Hagrid is right and…"

Harry stared tiredly at the table, silently tuning out the latest argument. Seriously, those two just needed to kiss and make up already. His eyes drifted to the book Hermione had so ungraciously slammed on the table. He sat up abruptly.

"Hermione, Ron. Look at this."

Harry pointed to a picture in the upper right hand corner. It showed a girl in a black cat suit holding a very familiar boomerang over her head. Hermione gestured toward the caption.

"The Hiraikotsu, a boomerang supposedly forged from the bones of demons, was a favorite weapon of the famed demon slayers of feudal Japan. One notable wielder aided the Shikon Miko in her quest to bring together a cursed jewel."

Hermione darted off into the shelves and brought back a heavy tome entitled "Myth and Legend: Feudal Japan." She set the book down and immediately began flipping through the pages, mumbling to herself all the while. Ron and Harry stared at her wordlessly.

Hermione finally stopped, pointing at a selection near the end of the book. Harry leaned over her shoulder and began to read aloud.

And the Shikon Miko gathered to her friends strange and powerful: the last of the demon slayers, a cursed monk, a powerful hanyou, a fox-child, the wolf prince, and the demon lord. Together they battled a ferocious demon born of a bandit's hatred.

The battle lasted many years and many were lost in the fight. Both sides sought possess shards of the Shikon no Tama, the famed Jewel of Four Souls, which was rumored to grant its owner with whatever he or she desired at a price. The terrible demon gathered many shards and tainted them with his evil will.

At the final battle, the demon consumed them, allowing the taint within the corrupted Jewel to spill forth. All the hatred, fear, and anxiety in their hearts arose to kill them and only by the Shikon Miko's power were they saved.

The Shikon Miko and her friends were able to kill the terrible demon but not before he made a wish on the Jewel. The Jewel devoured the Shikon Miko, leaving her in a blank void where her only escape was a wish. Yet, by wishing, she would remain forever trapped within the void to battle the demons therein.

The hanyou followed her into the void and, together, they managed to escape. While the hanyou was returned to his world, the fate of the Shikon Miko is unknown. It is rumored that she returned to the world of her birth, far from all she had come to know.

"Blimey, look at that."

Ron pointed shakily to the illustration on the next page. It depicted a young girl in miko robes, holding a glowing Jewel in her palms. She was framed by fire and water, suspended in a circle of light.

"That's…that's not possible."

The girl looked exactly like the one they had seen in the woods. Hermione pointed to the final line of the tale.

"Look who the author is. Miroku Higurashi."

"What are you three doing?"

The Golden Trio jumped up, twirling in surprise. Harry was the first to speak.

"Pro…Professor Dumbledore! We were only-"

"Looking up Japanese legends? Not a likely hobby for young wizards, is it?"

Hermione spoke up next, flustered.

"Well sir, it was my idea. I had heard of a potion that had been invented by the Japanese in the feudal era and I was interested what the back story might have been."

Dumbledore smiled.

"And so you found this particular tale? Well, what do you think of it?"

Hermione, never one to be flustered for long, replied swiftly.

"Well, very little is known about the race of mikos and monks so I find it…"

Harry stared at Hermione in awe. How she could pull such an amount of information from the air always astounded him…as well as her ability to lie on the spot. After a few moments, Dumbledore nodded and waved them back to their classes.

When they returned the next day, the book was gone.