After much deliberation, I've decided to change some of the names. Some can slide by, like the names of the demons, but really. A girl in 14th century England just would not be named Kagome.

So, you can either try to figure out who is who through your own devices, or skip to the bottom of this and read the key.

I'm also going to start making end-of-the-chapter-glossaries for odd words I sometimes use in the story.

Disclaimer: Inu-yasha is Rumiko Takahashi's charge, yo.

*---*

A flicker of terror swept through her, and then there was only nausea. Her lips pursed in a grimace before opening in a disheartened sigh. She could discern nothing, feeling only sick and confused.

"No." The voice shot through her, running up her spine like an infusion of ice water, and she gasped, cracking apart her lids and flitting disoriented glances about the entire scene. Her vision was slowly restoring itself, and she could see the various colors: brown, red, peach, amber, and a great length of white. Was this Hell? If so, where was the fire? Or had she.had she been sent to the lowest hell, the hell of ice and snow?

"No what, witch?" The white shifted, and the girl realized with a start that it was a continuous shank of hair. White hair? But the face it belonged too wasn't wrinkled in the slightest.

She heard a groan and stiffened, realizing after a second it wasn't her own noise of discomfort. Finally she realized there were two other people in the scene, and they were talking to each other, not her.

"It's not Kikyo. That's impossible."

A growl. For the third time, the girl grew tense. Just what manner of creatures were these? They didn't sound human.and why was their speech so halted? Were they peasants? .Had they the sickness, as well?

"In any matter, the girl is injured. Here, aid me in lifting her to my pallet." A pause and some shuffling, then the girl felt her stomach clench over itself as she was lifted from the floor and set down a few feet over on something soft. "Girl. Are you awake?"

"Of course the chit's awake. She's been groaning this whole damn time like a whore in heat. Why don't you ask her if-"

"Do not raise your voice to me in such an impudent matter, pup." A loud 'tmp!' followed by the sh-sh-ing of disturbed hair sounded in the room, and she turned her gaze to the white-haired one, watching him rub his sore head with something akin to amusement.

"Look. She's smiling. The bitch can't be hurting too badly."

The other voice-she now recognized it as belonging to an aged female-made a noise similar to a grunt of aggravation, and the girl gasped when a cool, damp towel was placed on her forehead. "Tell me, girl. Can you speak? What is your name?"

"Ve-" she stopped just in time, sparing a moment to look from face to face accusingly. "Tell me what manner of creatures you are first."

"She speaks with the tongue of a noblewoman," the elder noted with an approving nod. The girl smiled to herself, somehow vainly pleased that even outlandish infidels such as these could recognize her status. "Fine then, girl. I am the sorceress Kaede, and this is Inu-yasha. You were brought here, to our time, through a divination spell gone awry."

For a moment her heart seemed to forget its beat, and she stared at the woman with suspicious wonder at her obvious insanity. "You mean to tell me," she enunciated carefully, pushing herself off the table and trying in vain to ignore the swimming of her mind's intestines, "That I have been brought to a different era, by a product of witchcraft, and not only that but by error? What sort of daft simpleton do you take me for?!"

The male smirked as the older woman Kaede frowned, pushing a finger to her temple distractedly. "I see this is going to be harder than first I thought."

"I'll go make some drinks," the male said, walking off into another room.

The girl felt something being pushed into her back, and turned around to see Kaede supporting her with a pillow. "You'd best get comfortable. I have a lot to say, and it's going to take time to tell it all. Now, since I've given you our proper introductions, why don't you return the gesture?"

After a moment of distrustful staring, the girl nodded curtly. "I am the Lady Vera, daughter of Sir Micah, son of Michael, Lay Leader of St. Francis' Church." She finished with a practiced smile, mouth slightly open as she caught her breath. Kaede was smiling softly, amused by the girl's pride in her title.

"Very well, then, Vera. Are you in comfort? Good. Let's start with the beginning."

--

Inu-yasha clutched at the pot handle, acutely feeling the texture of the baked clay as it pushed into the flesh of his palm. He was angry, both at the girl, and at himself. How could he cause such a mess with his own imbecilic blunderings? He refused to acknowledge his liability in front of the others, but he knew full well this was all his fault. And now they had an insolent little noblewoman on their hands, with no idea how to return her to her time or even if they wanted to. How could any creature with a soul return the girl to such a time of disruption and sickness?

Luckily for him, Inu-yasha was certain he had no soul.

Reaching into the shelves of the kitchen, Inu-yasha located the marked crock and pulled out the container of cider. The air inside gave a small pop as he yanked the securing cord off, peeling back the leather and resisting a deep sniff as the scent of the cider wafted throughout the kitchen.

Voices drifted through the open doorway, but his keen ears could make out every word as clearly as if he were standing right beside them. Kaede was telling the girl about the truth of magic and otherworldly creatures, and the girl was refusing to believe it. What was she, a religious nut? No surprise that humans, even humans of the future, were as close-minded as ever. No problem, though; it made it easier for his kind to stay out of the public eye, and therefore, out of danger.

"Vera." Kaede said suddenly, startling Inu-yasha from his musings. Vera? Was that the girl's name? He must have missed it. Remembering his duties, he carried the opened jar over to a countertop and began pouring measured amounts into the pot used for heating.

"You must calm down and listen to me. We're not going to hurt you. We want to help you get back to your time. However, in order to accomplish this, we need your cooperation. Do you understand me?"

Glancing through the doorway, Inu-yasha paused to watch the girl tremble. For all her bravado, she was still just a child. A child, and a human. "Feh. What a weakling."

He was stalling, and he knew it. Yet it was so interesting to listen to their conversation when they couldn't tell he was aware of their every breath. They spoke freer, especially the girl, which was no surprise. A religious nut like her would be terrified of the big, bad demon.

"A Daemon?!" Inu-yasha's head snapped towards the opening, his gaze immediately meeting the fearful blue-gray eyes of the girl. He almost dropped the pot in surprise, instead holding it close to his chest, subconsciously protective of anything he could put between himself and the nonbeliever. Why was she just now staring at him as if he had grown a body of thorns?

"Yes. But do not worry yourself; he will not harm you. While not all, there are some demons who do not wish harm to-"

"A daemon?" the girl cried again, pronouncing the word differently than Kaede. Her hands flew up and after a jumbled moment of movement, she had managed to cross her right pointing finger horizontally over her left pointing finger as it shoved upward, and Inu-yasha stared at the symbol in confusion only a fraction of a second before immediately recognizing it and growling in response.

"I shall see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!" Vera began chanting in a frantic hiss, alternating between thrusting holy finger formulations in his direction and inching backwards on the platform, away from him. Inu- yasha spared a moment to look at Kaede, who sat shaking her head and mumbling something about 'just killing the damn chit'. He had to smile at that.

However her ululations were gaining amplitude, and Inu-yasha's mouth again creased in an angry scowl. He set the crock down with a loud 'clonk' and started marching towards the girl, pushing tables out of his way as he went and fully intending to rip that tongue out of her mouth and give it to Kaede for dinner. He was only a few steps away when Kaede stretched her arm forward and touched his stomach briefly before whispering a few words, and Inu-yasha leaned on the pallet's edge as he suddenly felt all his strength drain away. He sent a furious look towards the magician, but she was already preoccupied grabbing the girl's flailing wrists and forcing her into silence with commanding words.

Vera gasped and Inu-yasha looked up; she had managed to wrench one arm free, and was now pointing at his inhuman ears with open-mouthed outrage. "How dare you force me to associate with this spawn of Satan!?" she demanded, facing the 'Satan-spawn' but speaking to Kaede. "Do you wish to send me to Hell for eternity?!"

"Oh, for the Goddess' sake, there is no hell!! That's just foolishness invented by the Christian priests to keep the followers in line." With a frighteningly intense glare in the girl's direction, Kaede lost her temper, saying what she had wanted to the whole time. "Now shut up, you undeserving little brat, or else I'll let Inu-yasha kill you here on the spot! *Will you shut up!!*" She added loudly as the girl began screaming. Startled, Vera choked to a stop.

"*Now then.* I think I have an idea of how to return you to your time, but the object I need is very rare and hard to find. I'm far too old to go looking myself; you'll have to follow my instructions and fetch it from the woods to the southeast, and I suggest you take Inu-yasha along for protection. This world is not nearly as safe as you have been lead to believe."

"What? No way, hag!" Inu-yasha vented, simultaneous with Vera's accosted "How dare you even suggest such a thing!" Kaede quieted them both with a gesture that rendered them involuntarily voiceless.

"You will do as I say, or you will die! Listen to me, both of you. Vera has the sickness as well. This charm I speak of will not only cure her, but could cure the entire English country, if she manages to bring it back with her to her time. However, if you do *not* find the charm, Vera's sickness will spread, and the entire of England will be contaminated with it in this era, as well!"

"No way." The whiteness of Inu-yasha's hair seemed to pale slightly, as he stared at the aged woman with a face totally devoid of color. "Everyone? Even demons?"

"Everyone," Kaede confirmed, head bowed. Her eyes opened and she slid her gaze upward to stare first at Inu-yasha, then Vera, her stare so intense that it appeared she was branding each one's soul. "If you do not find the charm, everyone will die."

"Why did you have to come here?!" Inu-yasha charged Vera suddenly, voice near to cracking as he forced her eyes to meet with his own. "Why did you have to ruin everything?"

"I-I-" Vera stuttered, for perhaps the first time in her life finding herself without anything to say. "I'm.sorry."

"Sorry *isn't going to cut it!!*" Vera gasped in shock and pain as the man pushed her roughly backward, and she hit her spine on the edge of the pallet as she keeled over. Kaede watched the scene with a bitterly impassive eye, herself angered and dismayed by the girl's coming.

"You must do it, both of you. You must go as soon as possible," Kaede warned.

"To Hell with that! I'm going right now! You-" Vera's eyes narrowed as he addressed her with a clawed finger. "You stay right here. I won't have you infecting any more of my subjects." Barely taking the time to grab his cloak from the stand by the main door, he threw it open and stalked out. Kaede looked after him and raised a hand as if in preparation to say something, but reconsidered and again faced Vera.

"Subjects?" Vera asked, looking at Kaede with brows quirked in curiosity.

"Yes. Inu-yasha is currently acting as the King of England. Now, I suggest you go after him before he disappears into the forest forever."

With a breathless nod, Vera hopped off the pallet. The lower half of the door splintered as she slammed it against the outside wall and pounded after in his wake.

*---*

I apologize for the relative shortness of this chapter, but the next subject I'm going to broach is a long and complicated one, and I didn't want to cut it short for fear of making this chapter extend over 3,000 words, nor intimidate people out of reading it through sheer size. You probably won't have to wait too much longer for the next chapter, though, seeing as how tomorrow is the last day of classes and I'll have basically nothing else to work on (at least, nothing I'll be willing to finish).

I also apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but first I didn't know how to go about writing it, then I had a plan but no will to write it, then today I had the most beautiful epiphany.

Anyway. I hope this story is still interesting? I know the characters are very uncharacteristic in comparison to their original characters in the actual series, but like I said at the beginning, for the devices of this plot and my own writing style, some things have to be changed.

And now, as promised, the key:

Vera- Kagome. Originally I was going to name her after an Angel in the Christian Bible, but I couldn't find any female names I liked. Finally I settled on Vera, though if that didn't fit I was going to use Elizabeth or Bethany.

So far that's the only name change, but here's for the odd words:

Daemon: Christian- type demon, mainly, a direct descendant of Satan.

Demon: any kind of diabolical or nonhuman and nonfae creature; the definitions vary greatly, but this is the one I use.

I promise there will be more Fluffmeister in just a few chapters. Be patient with me. I also promise he will remain eternally cool.

Until next chapter.