4

Robin's eyes widened as the high hill of the Higurashi shrine rose up in front of them. The little flurry of movement she and Amon had been following appeared again at the bottom of the staircase. Robin groaned inwardly. There were no words to describe her dislike for those stairs. She wanted to ask Amon if they could stop and rest first but she knew what he would say. She glanced at him as she kept moving. He was several paces in front of her as expected. He'd always been the faster runner. He didn't seem to slow down as he hit the stairs. Robin followed him as best she could. She knew that he wouldn't wait if she fell behind. By the time she reached the top of the stairs, he was already standing with his gun trained on the closed door of the well-house on one side of the shrine. He glanced at her as she came up beside him. Ordinarily, he would have told her to burn down the little building with the witch inside it. But he wanted to avoid damaging Kagome's home.

"Petra," Amon snarled, "There's only one way out of there."

At first, nothing happened. Amon and Robin stood motionless outside, watching. There was a scuffling inside as Petra moved. But instead of the door opening, there was a faint pink glow around the door frame and then silence again. Amon moved first. Taking a huge risk, he pulled open the well-house door and found the little building empty. The old wooden well stood alone in the middle of the dirt floor below the short staircase. Robin went down the stairs and approached the well. Below the wooden beams, there were stone walls stretching down into darkness. Amon came to the other side of the well and nodded to her. She shot a small burst of fire down the shaft, revealing only dirt at the bottom.

"That's impossible," Robin said. "How did he get out without us seeing him?"

"Maybe we did see him," Amon replied cryptically.

Robin stared at him for a moment, not understanding.

"Kagome never told us where her time portal was," Amon reminded her.

They both looked down the well again, trying to reconcile what they saw with what they knew to be true. Could it be true? Robin didn't have time to really think about it before Amon hopped on top of the wood frame and plunged down into the darkness. Pink light flashed in Robin's eyes and she knew he was gone. She didn't know exactly what she'd find on the other side of the portal, but she knew that she couldn't let Amon face it alone. She hit the dirt floor of the well and fell to her knees. Nothing happened. No, she thought, this can't be right. Was she stuck down here? She lit a tiny flame to see by. There was a narrow ladder leading back up to the top, but that wasn't what caught Robin's attention. It was the jewel shard lying in the dirt. It must have fallen out of Amon's pocket as he fell. She knew she shouldn't touch it, but she couldn't just leave it here. As she bent to pick up the shard she was unprepared for what would happen. The moment she closed her hand on the stone, the pink light flashed again. It was all around her, pink and purple in every shade. And she realized she wasn't touching the ground anymore. A moment of panic swept over her and she clutched the shard tighter in her hand. The ride didn't last long and suddenly, she was on the ground again. But it was different now. There was moonlight streaming down from the top of the well, as if the roof over it had disappeared. And there were vines crawling down the walls. Robin had never liked climbing trees, but it looked like she didn't have a choice. There was no ladder. As she climbed, she wondered if she would see Amon at the top. If he was able to track the witch, he wouldn't hesitate. But apparently, he couldn't. His dark outline was the first thing she saw when she poked her head up out of the well. He was just standing there in the middle of the forest clearing where the well stood. He turned around when he heard Robin moving.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Not where, when," he said.

"What century is this?" she asked.

"The sixteenth," he replied.

5

Inuyasha lifted his nose to the night sky, sniffing curiously

"What is it?" Kagome asked, raising her voice slightly over the crackling fire.

"I thought I smelled something familiar," he said.

"Really? What?"

"It's nothing."

Kagome frowned. Why did he always have to be secretive like that?

"You want to go look?" she asked.

"No," he said quickly.

She was glad that the others had gone to bed early. Having them there would have only complicated things. She stood up from her seat by the fire and was about to start talking when something stopped her. It was a jewel shard, close by too.

"Inuyasha," she said. "We have to check this out. There's a jewel shard out there."

"Really? Where?"

"Close to the well, I think."

She jumped on his back and they took off at the speed of thought.

"There's another shard," she said as they got closer.

One shard just appearing like that was highly unusual, but two shards appearing separately was unheard of.

"Could someone be baiting us?" Kagome asked, wondering if they should have woken the others.

"Doesn't matter, we're going anyway," Inuyasha said.

6

Amon held his hand out to Robin. He knew she had it. He wasn't surprised that she had followed him down the well. But he didn't understand why she needed a jewel shard to use the portal and he didn't. Robin gave up the shard without a word. Amon made a mental note to give it back to her for the return trip. But that would be after they tracked down Volando Petra. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to do that now. The only sound coming from his com unit was static so he pulled it off his ear and stuffed it in his pocket along with the shard. With grass under his shoes instead of concrete and starlight instead of streetlights, he felt a bit lost. He had to admit that, even if it was only to himself. He also had to admit that it was comforting to not be alone there. Even though she was only standing nearby and staring up at the sky, Robin's presence made him feel better somehow, more in control. Everything was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

"Well, well. I thought I smelled something," a familiar voice sneered from the dark tree line.

"Inuyasha, be nice."

Inuyasha and Kagome were walking towards the well, as if nothing were strange about this situation.

"You have a jewel shard," Kagome said. "That's how you got through the well."

"We were chasing a witch," Robin explained.

"And he led you here? He has a shard too, like the others?" Inuyasha asked.

Robin nodded.

"But I didn't need a shard to activate the portal," Amon broke in.

Inuyasha and Kagome looked at each other.

"That makes sense since you're related to him," Kagome said, looking at Amon but pointing at Inuyasha.

"What?!" Inuyasha protested.

"But I think you're from Sesshomaru's side of the family," she continued.

"Well, that's obvious," Inuyasha grumbled.

Robin turned from Kagome to Amon and back again.

"Are you saying he's…?"

"Part dog demon. Yeah," Kagome confirmed.

"What exactly do you mean?" Amon asked, narrowing his eyes.

Kagome looked up at the sky full of stars overhead.

"We'll explain once we get inside," she said. "It's not safe to stand out here at night."

"Why not?" Robin asked as they all started walking.

"There might be demons around," Inuyasha said.

"What about the witch?" Amon asked.

"We'll get the others and see what we can do tonight," Inuyasha said. "But we'll probably have to wait and pick up his trail in the morning. Like Kagome said, it's not safe to be out here at night."