Update: Chapter edit complete

Disclaimer: I do not own any character's from Inu Yasha as they are all currently in the possession of the very talented Rumiko Takahashi. Please don't sue me, I'm just having fun in their world.

A/N: Yay, Chapter Two's where we get to meet everyone…sort of….

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Chapter Two: Introductions

Opening her eyes, Julia could see the walls of the well before her surprisingly well. My crystal isn't glowing anymore…and the well house is really dark…why can I see the bottom? Come to think of it, there was an awful lot of light as I fell, Julia thought, and why aren't both my legs broken? Shifting to one side so that she could stand up, Julia was suddenly met by an unpleasant surprise.

"Ouch," she yelped, "what was that?" Turning she saw what appeared to be a rib cage half buried in the ground. Looking around more carefully she noticed that there were actually quite a few remains strewn about the bottom of the well. "I guess they really did toss bones down here." Having had enough of the bottom of the well, she put her pendant back on and proceeded to look around for a way out only to quickly discover a perfectly positioned rope. "Okay…so I am not the only one who has been down here recently…" Julia mused as she proceeded to climb the rope, feeling all too much like she was back in gym class. "Why not a rope ladder or something…" she grumbled as she continued to climb, all the while noticing that it was getting much brighter before discovering that the light above her was actually emanating from a clear blue sky. Hanging from the lip of the well Julia looked around at her surroundings. The well was no longer encased in the dark old well-house. It was sitting out in the middle of a field surrounded by a lush green forest.

"What the hell just happened to me?"

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Sesshoumaru walked along at an easy pace, Rin running up ahead to pick flowers of all varieties only to come running back up to Sesshoumaru for approval at her finds. Why does she do that? he silently wondered. Humans are certainly an odd breed. Meanwhile, Jaken trudged slowly behind him, holding Ah and Un's reins, mumbling something about stupid humans. The little toad-like demon would do anything for his Lord Sesshoumaru, but Jaken just could not fathom why it was his lord insisted on keeping this scrap of a human being around. It was a fact that Sesshoumaru found himself wondering about quite often as well.

Sesshoumaru could smell his half-brother closer towards the village that had been the whelp's home for the last fifty years. Sesshoumaru would never admit to needing help, but when the time had come for the Inu Family to defend their lands from those vile felines, Inu Yasha had been sealed to a tree by that damn priestess. Now a new threat - Naraku - was gaining power and threatening to take control of the very land that he, Sesshoumaru, protected, and that was not acceptable. So now he, the great demon Lord Sesshoumaru, found himself seeking out his worthless half-brother to get any information Inu Yasha might have about Naraku's whereabouts. As much as he hated it, he could not find Naraku on his own, and he knew it had something to do with Naraku's most recent transformation. Ever since Naraku had emerged from Mount Hakurei he was somehow able to mask his presence much more efficiently than he had done in the past. Sesshoumaru knew that Inu Yasha and those humans that followed him had some recent dealings with Naraku…something about one of Naraku's new incarnations trapping that human girl his half-brother continued to fawn over. A girl who, Sesshoumaru thought disdainfully obviously had no proper upbringing, traipsing about in that odd garb of hers and smelling like no human ever has.

Thinking along these lines Sesshoumaru suddenly became aware of that peculiar smell. What is she doing separated from Inu Yasha? Sesshoumaru stopped walking to ascertain what was going on. Wait, no… He could tell that the girl that traveled with Inu Yasha was indeed still with his half-brother, further towards the village. Curious about this new development, Sesshoumaru decided that he would have a look.

"Jaken, watch Rin." Without further ado, he appeared to vanish as he took off to discover who this other human could possibly be.

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"Let's go Kagome," cried the impatient half-demon as he tried to lead the way.

"Do you even know which way to go?" Kagome yelled after him, sure that he did not have a clue. Inu Yasha stopped in his tracks but did not turn around, only stood where he was tapping his foot. Laughter could be heard from behind Kagome.

"At least he seems to be in better spirits now," commented the demon hunter as she joined Kagome.

"You're right Sango, he does seem to be moving on," added Miroku as he took a place next to Sango, "or at least trying to forget." Kagome just nodded.

Inu Yasha had once again lost the one he had first loved and there was nothing he could do about it. Kaede had told Kagome that she no longer sensed Kikyo's soul, and Kaede had told Inu Yasha as much in the hopes of easing his pain. But Kagome knew that Inu Yasha had once again blamed himself. They had talked about it shortly after the Akago incident, when the child had tried to put Kagome under his control to get her to look for the Shikon shards. Inu Yasha had been so cute when he was swearing he would never let anything happen to her again, but as she had told him, if he ever had so much as a hint that Kikyo was alive, Inu Yasha would run off to find her. Kagome knew that and accepted it, but that did not mean she had to be happy about it. At least now he's acting like normal.

"Come on guys, let's get going, we don't want him to throw a tantrum." said Kagome as she started towards him. "Shippou, Kirara come on," she called back. Shippou quickly said his good-byes to Kaede, she really was like a grandmother after all, and hopped on Kirara's back.

"You are so impatient, Inu Yasha," scolded Kagome as the group approached him. "It's not like we even know…." but she did not finish her sentence for something had caught her attention.

"Kagome, what is it?" asked Sango, concern in her voice.

"A shard," replied Kagome very quietly, but it got everyone's attention.

"Just one, is it Kohaku?" asked Sango, preparing to jump on Kirara's back.

"No," replied Kagome, seemingly staring off into space. "This one feels different. It doesn't have the same dark taint around it like the one Naraku uses to control Kohaku."

"Can you tell where it is coming from?" asked Inu Yasha, apparently anxious to be doing something. Kagome closed her eyes momentarily and then looked up with a start.

"The well, the jewel shard is at the well!" and all six began to run towards the well.

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Sitting on the rim of the well Julia stared in wonder at her surroundings. Nothing, not so much as a single block of cement, littered the ground. There were birds chirping somewhere off in the trees, but there were no car horns or alarms, no airplanes or traffic. In fact, there was nothing that was not completely natural in the entire area. "I think this is when I would say 'Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore'…well, if I had a dog I would." she joked to herself. "Well, what do I do now? And why am I talking to myself?" Smiling at her small dose of insanity, Julia looked around at the landscape once more. Hmmm, that looks familiar she thought. Almost directly in front of her she could see the top of the giant tree that she'd noticed when she had first arrived at the temple. I may as well head in that direction, she thought, at least I know what is supposed to be there.

Julia had only walked about ten feet when she realized that she was no longer alone in the clearing. Standing off to her right, near the edge of the tree line, was a figure bathed in shadow. Startled momentarily, she backed up a step only to see the figure step forward, but while she stopped the figure continued coming towards her. Soon Julia could see that her visitor was a tall man dressed all in white, save for what looked like armor around his chest. His hair, well past his waist, was as snow white as his clothes, which drew her attention to his face as he approached. She could make out some sort of markings on his cheeks and forehead, but what really captured her attention were his eyes. His eyes seemed to be the color of amber, or fresh honey. Realizing she was staring, Julia gave her head a good shake to clear it and took another step back, an action which caused her visitor to stop his advance.

"Who are you?" she asked, but received no answer. Her visitor's face did not budge in the slightest from the almost bored expression it currently bore. "What do you want?" she tried again, but still he said nothing. "Wha-"

"SESSHOUMARU!" yelled a voice from behind her, cutting off her next question. The owner of the voice seemed to leap over her and landed just in front of her. The new-comer's appearance was just as strange as the person he had identified as Sesshoumaru, only he was dressed all in red. "What are you doing here?" Japanese, they're speaking Japanese. Maybe that was why Sesshoumaru did not respond – I spoke in English. Wow, that was silly of me.

Before Sesshoumaru could get an answer out the boy in red was flanked by three more people, two of which landed on a…giant flying cat? One of them appeared to be, well, a monk while the other two were girls - one wearing what Julia could only describe as a ninja outfit and the other a Japanese school girl's uniform. And what was that quivering ball of fluff at the school girl's feet? Standing there, wide-eyed, Julia knew she must look like a deer caught in some headlights. Who are all these people, and what the hell is going on?!?!

"I asked you a question," growled the boy in red. But Sesshoumaru, with the same unwavering expression, simply stared back at him. "Damn it, Sesshoumaru, if you want to play like that, fine!" the boy growled again, this time reaching for his sword.

"Inu Yasha, do not be rash." came a stoic warning voice from Sesshoumaru, "I have not come to fight you." Inu Yasha? Was this the person that that boy and his mother were referring to? Then the girl in the uniform might be Kagome…

"Then what are you doing here, and why were you chasing this woman?" snarled Inu Yasha, clearly not believing the other man.

"I merely came here to talk with you. The girl was here when I arrived." Sesshoumaru replied in the same bored tone as before. Girl? Who does he think he's calling 'girl'? Julia was about to say something when she suddenly realized that everyone's eyes seemed to now be focused on her. Uh oh.

"Uhhh, hi," she said in English before realizing her mistake. "I mean, hello." she corrected herself with a smile. Now what?

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Kagome quickly looked the new-comer over and realized that she must be from the modern era. As Sesshoumaru still did not know of her magical means of time travel, Kagome moved quickly to cover any clue as to the well's true nature.

"Ohhh." Kagome said loudly as she walked over to the strange girl, stretching her arms out wide. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming till later in the evening." She concluded by hugging the new-comer and whispering 'Just play along' in her ear.

"Uh…right, sorry about that but the trai-" Kagome squeezed the girl's hand, and gave her a 'NO' look. "My ride got me here sooner," she finished lamely. Kagome gave her hand a gentler squeeze and turned to face her comrades.

"Guys, you remember…the friend I was telling you about?" Kagome was met with four blank stares. "Coming to visit me from my village?" She tried to emphasize the word 'my' as much as possible without drawing Sesshoumaru's attention to it. Thankfully, Sango was quick on the uptake and jumped to her rescue.

"Oh, right, that friend!" Sango replied, though with a little more enthusiasm than Kagome really wanted. The boys finally caught on and added their own greetings. Glancing at Sesshoumaru, Kagome could see that his expression had not changed in the slightest. While she knew he probably did not believe them, at least he still did not know about the well.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" asked Inu Yasha, apparently catching on to the delicate situation developing here. Oh, thank you, Inu Yasha thought Kagome. Sesshoumaru took his attention away from the new girl and glanced slowly back at Inu Yasha, though he did not respond immediately. Typical Sesshoumaru thought Kagome.

"You have had some recent dealings with Naraku." Sesshoumaru stated simply. "I want you to tell me what you know of his whereabouts." It was not a request - it was a command, and it was just the kind of thing to set Inu Yasha off.

"Naraku is mine!" spat out Inu Yasha, clearly not happy that his older half-brother was also tracking his prey. "So you can just be on your way and forget about him!"

"You have had your chance to finish him off, and you have failed." The finality in Sesshoumaru's voice was almost frightening. "You can stay here and play with your human woman, but you will leave Naraku, and the protection of the Western Lands, to me." That said, Sesshoumaru turned and began to leave the clearing, ignoring Inu Yasha's dumbstruck look.

"Sesshoumaru, don't you turn your back on me!" yelled Inu Yasha, but his half-brother kept walking at the same slow pace out of the clearing. "You just remember that I will be the one to destroy Naraku, SO DON'T GET IN MY WAY!" Inu Yasha shouted, clearly fighting the urge to draw his sword and charge Sesshoumaru. Instead he watched his half-brother go until he had completely left the clearing. Kagome knew that Inu Yasha still hated Sesshoumaru, and that there had been bad blood there even before she had shown up. But…she could not help but wonder what would happen if they actually tried to work with Sesshoumaru. The demon lord seemed...changed from the first time she had encountered him, no longer lusting after Tetsusaiga, adopting that little human girl she had seen with him, not killing Kohaku, all signs that Sesshoumaru was capable of showing some form of compassion. If only Inu Yasha could see that… Kagome sighed. Perhaps he would, someday, but for now they had other matters to attend to.

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Julia had watched the whole encounter as if she were watching some kind of TV show, it all seemed so fanciful. Clearly those two did not get along, but seemed related in some way, and it was not just their hair. And why would Sesshoumaru specify Kagome as a 'human woman?' It was only after that that she took note of the white fluffy dog ears that adorned Inu Yasha's head, and noticed that the ball of fluff that had been at Kagome's feet was actually a small child with a tail and feet that resembled some kind of canine. And then there was that…cat? Nope, definitely not Kansas.

"So, somebody want to tell me what is going on? And where I am?" Julia asked when she realized that all the attention was now back on her. Everyone but Kagome looked at her like she was something not human herself.

"You're American, aren't you?" asked Kagome.

"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with anything." replied Julia, wanting to get to what the hell was going on.

"Your Japanese is excellent, you can hardly hear your accent," she continued on as if they were chatting over coffee. "I believe that is why my friends are a little unnerved by you. In this time there were no foreigners." Julia gave Kagome the most puzzled look that she could muster. "Why don't we have a seat?" Kagome motioned to the ground and sat in a kneeling position. Julia followed, but chose to sit Indian-style. The others knelt as well, with obvious interest and some caution showing on their features. Inu Yasha, unlike the others, chose to stand a protective distance behind Kagome.

Kagome proceeded to tell Julia about how she had been pulled down the well, about the Jewel of Four Souls, about splitting it, and about their quest to recover the shards. She told Julia of how Naraku had in his possession the almost completed jewel, his control over Sango's brother, and his newest transformation. Julia sat quietly throughout, listening to Kagome tell her story, and if she had not been sitting in a clearing that had once been a stone court yard, looking at the very people Kagome was talking about, she would have thought Kagome was suffering from a very overactive imagination.

"So, if you and Inu Yasha are the only ones that have been able to travel through the well, how did I fall through?" she asked once Kagome had finished her tale.

"You're wearing a pendant right now, aren't you?" asked Kagome.

"Yes," Julia replied, pulling the pendant out from under her shirt, "how did you know that?"

"It is a piece of the Jewel of Four Souls." Kagome replied, pulling out a jar that contained several shards resembling Julia's pendant. "That was how I knew you were here. I sensed its presence when you came out of the well." Julia stared at Kagome, not really sure what to say. "How did you get that shard?" Julia told her the story that her mother had told her when she was child.

"So, you think that when the jewel shattered this piece landed near my ancestor's home?" Kagome nodded. "Does that mean that the reasons my dreams have been coming true is because I have had this stone?"

"I'm not sure." replied Kagome honestly. "The whole jewel will grant a wish, but the shards just seem to increase the power of whoever possesses it."

"It is possible that, since Lady Julia did not wish for anything of a selfish nature, that the shard merely helped her," added Miroku, who had somehow managed to inch closer to Julia as the girls had spoken. "And that could also be the reason that it has not been corrupted as so many of the ones we have found have been." Miroku then took Julia's hand and looked deeply into her eyes. "You must truly possess a pure heart, my lady. Would you be willing to bear my child?" Julia thought he was joking, but seeing the intense look in the monk's eyes, the rapidly reddening face of Sango, and the disbelieving looks the others were giving him, she realized this must not have been the first time the monk had made this kind of proposition.

"You're sweet, but too young for me." she replied honestly. He could not be more that eighteen after all.

"But-" he tried to continue, but at that point the tip of a rather large boomerang came crashing down on his head.

"Sorry about that," Sango apologized as she dragged the now unconscious monk to a safer distance. Okay, so there is definitely something going on between those two thought Julia.

"Aside from Miroku's question," continued Kagome, "I believe he may be right. The shard could find no evil in you to corrupt, so it remained pure." Julia blushed. While she was definitely law-abiding, she had never considered herself pure hearted.

"I see." Julia said rather softly. "So, if you guys are searching for these shards, and Naraku has most of them, and the guy that was here earlier wants to kill him, why aren't you and that guy working together against Naraku?" Julia asked, trying to get the subject away from her supposedly pure heart.

"Oh, well, you see-"

"That is none of your business, so why don't you just hand over the jewel shard and go home?" interrupted Inu Yasha.

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome almost sounded like she was scolding him.

"No," Julia quickly spoke up. The two looked like they were going to launch into quite an argument. "He's right, this really isn't any of my business. I just happened to stumble into all of this." She smiled at seeing the others' puzzled faces. "I'll tell you what, I will give you the shard, as it obviously belongs to you - but - in return, as I am giving up a family heirloom, would you let me travel around with you for a week or so?"

"NO." "Yes." replied Inu Yasha and Kagome in tandem, and then proceeded to glare daggers at each other.

"Are they always like that?" Julia whispered to Sango, putting a hand up to hide her mouth.

"Yes," replied Sango imitating her gesture.

"I heard that!" yelled Inu Yasha as he turned towards her. "Look, this isn't some kind of pleasure trip. There are demons out there that want to kill us! You really want to be a part of that?" he asked and then turned to Kagome. "Do you really want to put her in that kind of danger?" Kagome, who had stood up to argue with Inu Yasha, looked down at her feet and then up at Julia.

"No," she replied. "Inu Yasha is right, it will be dangerous." Julia took that moment to stand so that she could face Inu Yasha, who only happened to be an inch or two taller.

"Look, I wouldn't expect this to be some kind of weekend camping trip. I start work in about a month, and I would love to have a little adventure before I actually start my sure-to-become routine life." Inu Yasha stared at her. "Besides, it is not like I'm defenseless. I can hold my own in a fight." She did a mock fighting stance to emphasize her point. Inu Yasha still did not look amused, but Julia could swear she saw Sango and Miroku hiding smirks, and Kagome was flat-out smiling.

"Miroku, Sango, talk some sense into her!" Inu Yasha pleaded with his companions.

"While I agree that it is not safe," answered Miroku. "I believe that we do owe the lady a favor for parting with her treasure."

"That is true." continued Sango. "It would not be right for us to take the shard and give nothing in return."

"Arrrrg, fine, but if you get eaten, I'm not taking any responsibility." Inu Yasha said, pointing a warning finger at her. Then he turned and crossed his arms in a huff.

"Ah, thank you Inu Yasha," cried Kagome as she hugged him.

"Yeah, yeah," he said shaking both her and a blush off, "let's get going back to the village. It is too late to get started today, anyway." That said, he started back in the direction from which his party had originally entered the clearing.

"Come, Lady Julia, I am sure that Kaede would love to meet you." said Miroku as he attempted to placed a leading arm around her shoulders. However, Sango and Kagome were faster and grabbed Julia's arms, leaving Miroku grasping empty space.

"Yes, I am sure Kaede would love to meet you." Sango added, shooting a nasty glare back at Miroku. Those two are just as bad as Kagome and Inu Yasha thought Julia. Was I ever that bad as a teenager? Then she was literally yanked out of her thoughts by a tug at her hair.

"Ow," she squeaked touching the spot on her head that had been violated. Looking over at Kagome's shoulders she could see Shippou hiding under Kagome's hair.

"Shippou, why did you do that?" scolded Kagome, grabbing the small fox child from her neck and holding him out in front of her.

"I just wanted to see if it was real." he replied rather sheepishly, glancing at Julia's hair. "I've never seen a human with that color of hair before."

"It is quite real." answered Julia in an amused voice. "You see, Shippou, this world is very big, and there are other lands where many different kinds of people live. And in our time," Julia gestured to Kagome and herself, "all of these people are more or less friends and travel all over the world. That is why I learned to speak your language."

"So there are more people that look like you?" Shippou asked, wide-eyed.

"Well, not exactly like me," she answered with a chuckle, "but very similar."

"Where exactly do you come from?" asked Miroku who had suddenly popped up behind her.

"Let me show you." Julia replied, pulling the small backpack off of her shoulders. "Now where is it," she mumbled while digging through the pack's contents. Shippou immediately jumped back up on Kagome's shoulders to try and peer inside Julia's pack. "Ah, here it is," she called, triumphantly pulling out a map of Tokyo and flipping it open. "Oh good, it does have a globe on it. See this," she pointed to a picture of the earth split up into many small circles to accommodate a flat map, "this is Japan, and if you can imagine all of these circles put together to look like a ball, my homeland is here on the other side." Julia indicated a spot on the east coast of America.

"May I?" asked Miroku, putting his hand out towards the map.

"Sure, knock yourself out." replied Julia, handing it to him. He then slowed his pace to look at the map, and Sango dropped back with him. They put their heads together to peer at something that must seem very strange to them. They really do look cute together Julia thought.

"I tried to convince Inu Yasha once that people had traveled to the moon, but he wouldn't believe it." Kagome said, bringing Julia's attention back to the girl walking next to her…and to the sudden extra weight in her arms. Looking down, Julia saw a big bushy tail sticking out of her pack. Reaching down, she gently pulled out a very excited Shippou playing with her cell phone. "Find anything interesting?" she asked with a smile.

"Shippou," scolded Kagome yet again.

"It's alright." assured Julia, simply amused by the little fox as she placed him back on top of her pack.

"So, why do you want to stay with us for a while?" asked Kagome.

"Well…" Julia thought a moment before continuing. "I guess it's just that I've always wanted to have a little adventure. Travel to some remote location, you know, go on a safari or something. But I've spent the first part of my life finishing school, and now I have a great job lined up, but somehow I didn't really leave any time for the adventure. Does that make any sense?"

"I guess so." replied Kagome. "Though I would love to go back to being a normal teenager again, I know I would miss everyone here," she smiled "and you are right, it is definitely an adventure."

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"What have you heard?" asked Naraku as he stood on the embankment overlooking the demon of great hearing's swamp.

"Ah Naraku, that was a very swift reply indeed." croaked out the old demon as he rose from the swamp, muck oozing off of him. "You are indeed anxious for the jewel to be completed."

"I do not have time for this." Naraku growled threateningly. "You summoned me here, so you must have the information I requested. Now tell me what you have heard!"

"Very well, very well," soothed the old demon, "you are correct. I have heard that the shard you seek has finally emerged. A young woman from far away has appeared with it, and she is currently traveling in the company of Inu Yasha."

"So, Inu Yasha has collected the last piece." Naraku mused.

"Not yet." responded the demon. "The woman still carries it, but she will soon go to the village, and she will undoubtedly hand it over then."

"Hmm," smiled Naraku evilly, "you have been most useful, and so I will allow you to live." That shard will be mine thought Naraku as he disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

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A/N: Hope you are liking it so far. Please read and review, more will come regardless, but I'd still appreciate the reviews.