The Celestial Tiger's Notes: This is what would have been the second part of chapter 6, had I left it all together. Sorry that it's taken so long. I've been very sick with a viral infection and didn't have the strength to sit up and write. Besides, I've learned not to write when I'm sick. It always turns out poorly.

Oh. It was mentioned to me that Keiko's name should be spelled Kayko, according to the official site. I did notice this name discrepancy when I did my preliminary research for writing this story so I did some digging before I ever typed the first word. The spelling 'Kayko' is a Funimation instigation. It is their official site that puts forth this spelling, and they are notorious for slaughtering both names and translations. This being the case, I looked up the characters on the official Japanese site and referenced the kanji for her name. It is the kanji for the name Keiko, which is the real Japanese name. In any case, whichever spelling you use, they're probably both acceptable in fandom. :)

Chapter 7: Getting to Know You

With luck, Kagome had managed to rid herself of her friends and of Hojo and she enjoyed her walk home in peace. She was starting to fall back into the routine of school again and despite still having a ton of catch-up work to do, she was in a much better mood than she had been in two days ago. She even smiled as she felt the sun on her face and the breeze gently lift her hair. 'It's been kinda nice being home for a change,' she thought to herself. 'I nearly forgot what it was like to lead a normal life!'

Kagome hummed softly as she began the climb up the stairs to the shrine. She slowed midway, however, her eyes narrowing slightly as she concentrated. She felt something odd. It wasn't hostile but it was unfamiliar and therefore disconcerting. The feeling increased as she approached her own house and she opened the door cautiously. "Hello?" she called out warily. "Grandfather? Mom? Souta? Are you home?" She then listened intently.

"Yes, Kagome!" replied the voice of her grandfather. "In here!" Kagome followed the sound until she found her family sitting with a rather large group of people.

"Oh, I didn't know we had company……." she started but then her eyes landed on three familiar faces. "YOU!" she exclaimed in alarm.

"YOU!" Yusuke and Kuwabara echoed together. Keiko was silent, but the surprise was evident on her face. Yusuke stood, pointing at Kagome. "That's her? You mean to tell me she's the one who screwed everything up? Figures!"

Kagome's mouth worked silently for a few seconds and then she found her voice again, her face hardening as anger set in. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything wrong! Just who do you think you are coming into our home and making accusations? You're about as rude as they come! I was right, you are a hooligan!"

Yusuke clenched his teeth at her. "And I was right, you are a bitch!"

Keiko reached forward and furiously yanked Yusuke's arm, pulling him back down onto the couch. "Yusuke! I can't believe you just said that!" she said scathingly.

Kuwabara punched Yusuke in the other arm. "Yeah, Urameshi! You're the one that started it…again!"

Everyone looked back and forth between the arguing teenagers. "You…know these people, Kagome?" her grandfather asked in surprise.

Kagome's lips were tight and she looked as if she were struggling not to explode. "Only them," she said pointing to Kuwabara and Keiko, and adding a hateful glare as she pointed at Yusuke. "That is…we've met before."

Yusuke snorted. "Met! You mean you yelled at us!"

Souta snickered before he thought better of it. "That sounds like Kagome alright!" A wicked glare from Kagome and a severe look from Mrs. Higurashi made him shrink back down into his seat.

Kagome then looked around at all of the people staring at her. Why were the loud jerk and his friends here? And who were all of these other people? She was sensing some very strange things and her fury gave way to confusion. "Will somebody PLEASE tell me what's going on?" she wailed.

At this prompt, Koenma stood and bowed politely. "I'm sure that you must be very confused, Kagome. Please sit down…we have a lot to talk about."

Kagome stared for a moment at the pacifier in his mouth. "Why do you have a…" she started to ask, pointing at it.

"Never mind about that," Koenma cut her off hastily. Yusuke snickered under his breath which earned him an elbow from Keiko and a glare from Koenma.

Kagome blinked in surprise but finally sat, staring apprehensively at all of the new faces. Aside from the loud jerk, the guy with the gruff voice, the Keiko girl and the overdressed guy with the pacifier, there was a cheery-looking girl with blue hair, a stern-faced elderly woman who she thought looked familiar, an attractive redhead with a gentle expression, and a little scowling guy with spiky black hair and cold eyes.

Kagome's eyes eventually came back to the guy with the pacifier and he smiled. "Now then," he said when he saw that he had her attention again. "I suppose we should start with introductions. I am Lord Koenma, Prince of the Spirit World."

Kagome blinked slowly, not entirely sure that she had heard him correctly. "Spirit World? You mean the afterlife?" she asked in disbelief. Koenma smiled and nodded. Kagome looked at him strangely. "You're the ruler of the afterlife?" she asked skeptically.

Before Koenma could reply, the girl with the blue hair leaned forward and giggled. "Sort of! He's the prince! His father's the big guy!"

Koenma growled slightly and scowled at the blue-haired girl. "This motor mouth is Botan, and she's here as my assistant," he said, giving her a sharp look.

"Sorry Sir!" Botan responded more subdued, but she still had an air of playfulness in her voice. Then she waved at Kagome cheerfully and said, "Hi! I'm actually a Spirit World ferry girl! What you might call the Grim Reaper! But don't worry, I'm off duty from that job at the moment!"

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "What a relief," she said somewhat flatly. The Grim Reaper was a bubbly, chatty young woman? Yeah, right! She believed that about as much as she believed that this pacifier-sucking weirdo was the guy in charge of the spiritual realm.

Koenma cleared his throat and all eyes returned to him. "To answer your previous question…for all practical purposes, I am the ruler of Spirit World." He glanced at Botan warily but when she showed no more signs of interjecting, he nodded and continued. "Now, I know it must be quite a big deal having me in your house, but please don't grovel at my feet or let my awesome presence intimidate you."

Kagome just couldn't take this guy seriously...and his own friends didn't seem to be helping his credibility. A sound that suspiciously resembled snickering came from the direction of Yusuke and Kuwabara. Even Kurama seemed to be covering his mouth and fighting back the urge to smile. Hiei merely rolled his eyes and huffed.

Koenma glared sourly at them. "Are we forgetting our debts, gentlemen?" he nearly hissed. All four immediately went silent and Koenma nodded arrogantly. "That's better. Now…the rest of you go ahead and introduce yourselves."

When no one else volunteered to go first, the short elderly woman stood. "I am Genkai," she said with a simple bow.

"Genkai? THE Genkai?" Kagome exclaimed. Genkai merely nodded and sat back down. "Wow! No wonder you looked so familiar! It's an honor to meet you!" Kagome breathed. Genkai smiled ever so slightly and gave a tiny head nod.

Souta practically bounced in his chair. "Isn't that cool, Sis? The REAL Genkai! In our home! Can you believe it?" Kagome beamed, sharing her brother's awe.

Any family with a spiritual background had heard of Genkai, a warrior with legendary strength and spiritual power. Considering the ridiculousness of the claims of the two previous identities, Kagome would not have believed this one to be true if she had not seen pictures of Genkai before. But there was no mistake...her appearance was quite unique. This had to be the real Genkai.

That did raise an obvious question, however. Why would the legendary Genkai be sitting in her living room along with the (snicker, snicker) so-called ruler of the Spirit World and the alleged Grim Reaper? And what did any of them have to do with the loud jerk and his friends? She was sure she'd get an explanation sooner or later so she just decided to be patient and go with the flow.

After the excitement over Genkai had abated, the gruff-voiced guy gently took a contended Buyo off of his lap and then stood and bowed dramatically. "I'm Kazuma Kuwabara but you can just call me Kuwabara…everybody else does." He seemed to be a bit of a ham, but he was sort of sweet in a goofy way.

Just then, Buyo started purring and rubbing on his legs. Kuwabara scooped Buyo up and nuzzled him. "I love your cat! He's so cute and squishable!" he said with a silly grin. Then he glanced around and noticed that he was getting strange looks. He hastily set Buyo back down on the floor and shuffled his feet a bit. "Anyway...um...good to meet you formally, Miss."

Kagome resisted the urge to giggle. "Nice to meet you formally too, Kuwabara," she said with a sincere smile.

Kuwabara chuckled and then sat back down. He actually felt relieved. Now that he knew she was the granddaughter of a priest, it explained why he sensed spiritual power from her. He knew he hadn't been imagining things the other day in the restaurant! He made a point to gloat about it later to Urameshi.

Next, it was Yusuke's turned to introduce himself and he crossed his arms instead of standing. "Yusuke Urameshi. My name is known by students in every school in this city. You must have heard of me," he said with a demeaning edge to his voice.

Kagome pursed her lips. "Um…the world's most…obnoxious jerk?" she replied sarcastically. Almost everyone snickered at this. Even Hiei fought the temptation to smirk.

Yusuke glared at her. "Ha ha! Very funny! I'll have you know that I'm feared on the streets as the most dangerous guy in the city!"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "All that proves is that you're a thug."

Yusuke started to turn red as he grew more and more irritated. "Ok…how about this, then…I'm the strongest guy in the world and I've saved this whole world, which includes you in it…so you might want to be a little nicer to me!"

Kagome blinked once at him and then directed her attention to the girl sitting beside him. "Your name was Keiko, wasn't it?" she asked sweetly.

Yusuke sputtered at being so blatantly dismissed but Keiko didn't give him the chance to speak. "Yes," she said, clamping her hand over his mouth. "Keiko Yukimura. Sorry that we have to keep meeting under such unpleasant circumstances." Yusuke mumbled unintelligible sounds into Keiko's hand for a moment and then resorted to pouting.

Kagome then smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said kindly. She definitely liked Keiko. Here was a girl after her own heart. She didn't have a sit command for her jerk but she somehow managed to subdue him nonetheless.

Next, the redhead stood and offered a graceful bow. "Please call me Kurama. It is nice to meet you, Kagome."

Kagome smiled brightly at him. It was odd that he didn't give a last name but at least he was well-mannered! "Wonderful to meet you, Kurama!" she replied warmly.

Kurama returned her smile and then indicated the short young man next sitting next to him. "This is Hiei." Again no last name. Hiei made no effort to acknowledge the introduction. He merely glared at Kurama for drawing attention to him.

Kagome regarded Hiei uncertainly. "Um…nice to meet you?" she tried.

Hiei then spared her a cold glance. "I have no use for pleasantries," he said, his voice quiet but forbidding. Kagome blinked in surprise and quickly turned her attention away from him. She thought in passing that he reminded her of Sesshoumaru.

With all of the introductions finally done on the visitors' parts, Kagome then sighed and shrugged. "Ok…well...I guess there's no need to introduce myself. You all seem to know who I am already."

Koenma, who had finally recovered from being slighted earlier, spoke in response to Kagome's statement. "Yes, we know who you are…and I imagine you'd like to know why we're all here."

Kagome nodded vigorously. Finally she was going to get an explanation! Even if this guy was a joke, she wanted to hear a reason for this...peculiar visit.

Koenma suddenly became very serious, however. The graveness in his eyes made her feel uncomfortable. "We've come," he said austerely, "…because of your journeys in time."

Kagome's heart skipped a beat. "What?" she spurted, hardly able to believe what she'd just heard.

Koenma remained patient. "Let me start again," he said. "We came here because we found evidence of a temporal gate…in other words, a time portal."

Kagome paled and sank back in her seat. 'The well! But how does he know?' She knew that her family wouldn't just volunteer that secret to strangers. But then how did he find out about it? Was it possible that he might just really be who he said he was?

Koenma interrupted her thoughts with a deep sigh and then he continued. "We also found out that someone has been traveling through time, more specifically to the past…some 500 years ago. From what your family tells me, it's you."

Kagome then stiffened, feeling as if she were being scrutinized. She turned to her family. "Then...you told him about everything?" she squeaked, almost hopeful that this was the case.

Her grandfather shook his head. "No, Kagome. The only thing we told him is that you're the one who's been going back in time. He already knew everything else. I was skeptical at first, but while we were waiting on you to come home, we all had a lot of time to talk. I believe that these people are who they say they are."

Kagome gulped, suddenly taking everything very seriously. Then he really was the ruler of Spirit World! The last thing she needed was to be in trouble with the supernatural realm! "Yes…I'm the one…but…but what's the problem?" she stammered. "It's not illegal is it? If I did something wrong, I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

Koenma held up a hand to quiet her. "I know that, but you've accidentally created quite a problem. Something you did is causing history between then and now to change. You see, one of the things we do in Spirit World is…control…the demon population within this world. Originally, we were able to banish most of the malevolent demons that existed here but since you started traveling through time, history is beginning to rewrite itself. From what I can tell, something tipped the balance of power overwhelmingly in the demons' favor."

Kagome slumped back dolefully. "The Shikon Jewel!" she lamented, feeling absolutely miserable.

Koenma's brow furrowed. "Shikon Jewel…why does that sound familiar?" he pondered aloud, a hint of anxiousness in his voice. Then recognition lit his face. "I remember! It's a rather small spherical object, right?" Kagome nodded in confirmation.

Koenma became very thoughtful. "As I recall, it supposedly held unbelievable power and was sought after by human and demon alike…but nothing ever became of it because it was well guarded against theft. Then one day it just disappeared, never to be seen again. None of our records indicate what happened to it." He then looked at Kagome. "Now, after centuries, it suddenly resurfaces…and has some part in this whole mess. Perhaps you'd better explain everything from the beginning, Kagome."

Kagome gulped and then closed her eyes for a moment, drawing in a deep breath. "The time portal you mentioned is through an ancient well within the shrine. The first time I went through it, which was an accident by the way, I was immediately attacked by a demon. It injured me and the jewel came out of my body."

"The jewel was in your body?" Keiko asked in surprise.

Kagome nodded. "Yes. I found out then that I'm the reincarnation of the powerful priestess who had been charged with the task of guarding the jewel. When she died, she took the jewel with her in death. Somehow, because I'm her reincarnation, I ended up…inheriting it. But it was in my body and I didn't even know until it was literally ripped out of me."

Koenma sighed, finally understanding everything. "So when you went back in time, you reintroduced the Shikon Jewel into history," he said heavily.

Kagome nodded. "Yes. The well put me there 50 years after the priestess had died, but everybody was still looking for it."

Koenma's expression then became very grave. "This is very important, Kagome. Where is it now?"

Kagome made a guilty face and then shifted nervously. "Umm…well…I shattered it by accident and…"

Yusuke suddenly sat bolt upright. "Shattered it? What do you mean you shattered it?"

Kagome scowled at him. "I said it was an accident! I was trying to get it away from a demon and it broke into pieces and scattered all across the countryside."

"How did you manage to break it, if I may ask," Kurama asked curiously.

Kagome covered her face with her hands. "I shot an arrow at the demon that was making off with it."

"An arrow?" asked Botan in surprise. "How could an arrow do that?"

Kagome still had her face covered. "I charged it with spiritual power."

"You have that much power?" Kuwabara asked, his eyes wide. "No wonder you set off the tickle feeling!"

Kagome peered through her fingers at him. "Tickle feeling?"

Kuwabara blushed slightly. "Oh...heh heh...that's what I call it when I sense spirit power. I've got a high awareness of that kind of thing."

"Oh," Kagome said, finally pulling her hands away from her face. "Well...I think a lot of mine comes from being the reincarnation of a priestess. I'm not as powerful as her, though." She sighed. "In fact, that day I shattered the jewel, I didn't even know what I was doing. I charged it by accident. Until that day, I didn't even know I had any powers."

"Can you control it now?" asked Kurama. It seemed like an innocent question but every warrior in the group understood the importance of that question. Would she be useful? If so, how useful?

Kagome nodded. "Yes, I can. Pretty well, actually," she replied, daring to feel a little proud of herself.

Kurama smiled at her. "Very good," he complimented. Even Hiei, who had been avoiding making eye contact as much as possible, was now looking at her with the faintest hint of curiosity. He wanted to know how extensive her power was.

Koenma cleared his throat again. "I think we're getting a bit off track here. Ok, so you shattered the jewel, Kagome. What about after that?"

Kagome sat back, looking weary. "Well, along with…some other people from that era, we're trying to collect the shards so that we can reassemble the jewel. We had actually found a good portion of it but a very powerful demon named Naraku got hold of it. Now all we have is a few shards while he's got most of it."

"Naraku?" Koenma asked, his brow furrowing. "Tell us about him."

Kagome sighed heavily. "He's as bad as they come. He's pure evil…powerful, manipulative and bent on making everyone suffer. He wants to complete the jewel and use it to become…all powerful, I guess."

Koenma closed his eyes gravely. "Then it's as I feared. If something isn't done, he could accomplish that goal…and humanity will be destroyed. The changes in history that have already happened are indications that things are heading in that direction."

Kagome gasped. "I had no idea that my going back in time could be responsible for something like that!"

"Not every day you find out you could be responsible for the destruction of the world," Yusuke jeered.

Keiko elbowed Yusuke again. "That's enough! Stop trying to make her feel worse!"

Kagome looked to Koenma. "I'm sure it can be stopped! My friends and I are fighting Naraku as hard as we can and he doesn't have the whole jewel yet! He never will, if we can help it."

Koenma nodded. "It's good to know that you're already trying to do something. We plan to do our part too. That's ultimately why we're here. I'm sending my team with you."

Yusuke clenched a fist and smacked it into his other hand. "Let's go kick this Naraku prick's ass!"

Kagome blinked in surprise. "What? With me?"

Kuwabara grinned. "Yeah, we're all here to help!"

Before Kagome could ask any more questions, Koenma cut her off. "Let me explain," he said hastily. "Yusuke is a spirit detective…he aids the Spirit World by helping us catch malevolent demons that have managed to infiltrate the human world. You see, in this day in age, we don't let demons inhabit this world freely like they use to and Yusuke's job…well…the whole team's job…is to safeguard this world from evil. I called them all to intervene in this situation because we can't afford to take any chances…nothing less than the existence of humanity is at stake."

"I see," Kagome said, trying not to let herself become overwhelmed. But as she took a moment for everything to sink in, her face suddenly sparked with recollection and she looked up at Yusuke. "That explains the crack you made about the demons…the other day…"

Yusuke made an odd face and then sniffed slightly. "Yeah…nobody else was supposed to hear that," he said coolly.

Kagome flushed but then became obstinate. "Yeah, well…you weren't actually being very careful, were you?" she snapped back.

Koenma clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Enough arguing! You're all going to have to learn to work with each other! Now….I think that we've discussed everything so there's no more need to delay. You all need to go as soon as possible." He looked directly at Kagome. "Does the well have a window of activity?"

"Window?" Kagome asked in confusion. "You mean, like only working at a certain time?" Koenma nodded in confirmation and then Kagome shook her head in response. "No, I can go through it any time. I think it has something to do with the jewel's power."

"That would actually explain a lot," Koenma said thoughtfully. "It seems to be linked to every aspect of this mess."

Yusuke then leaned forward. "Hey!" he said, sounding very happy. "Did you guys hear that? The portal will let us come and go at any time!"

"That doesn't mean that I will," Koenma retorted sharply. "You have a mission to do. You're not just going to be allowed to time hop at your leisure!" Yusuke made a sour face and flopped back resentfully. Koenma then tuned back to Kagome. "I don't know when you had originally planned to return, but it really should be today."

Kagome sighed. "Well...I was going to stay home a couple more days...I have so much school work to catch up on...what am I saying? What's homework compared to the fate of humanity?"

Keiko waved briefly at Koenma to get his attention. "Would it be possible to make the same arrangements for Kagome that you did for us?"

Koenma groaned. "Sure, what's one more?" he muttered somewhat sarcastically.

Kagome looked at them in confusion. "What arrangements?"

"I will have your work collected for you so that you can keep up with it more readily," Koenma explained. "Then I'll have Botan deliver it to you about once a week."

"Wait," Kuwabara interrupted. "Botan's not coming with us?"

"Of course not, silly!" Botan replied with a giggle. "I still have a job to do here! Oh, don't worry, I'll see you guys when I make delivery runs!"

Koenma then stood up. "Alright. I am officially declaring this meeting to be over."

Kagome stood almost instantly. "I'll go get ready to go! I'll meet you guys at the well. Can you show it to them?" she asked her grandfather and with that, she ran off to her room.

The old priest stood up. "Follow me," he said solemnly and with that, everyone filed out of the house and made their way to the infamous well.

Additional notes: If you guys have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I might have forgotten to explain some stuff...or something that I thought was straightforward might have been confusing. Anyway, I hope that I was able to communicate what I was trying to without dragging it out excessively.

Also, I'm sure you've noticed that I'm not using the Japanese conventions for name order and I'm not using Japanese terms, i.e. Shikon Jewel instead of Shikon no Tama. That's because I'm treating this as if it's a translation. In a translation, you wouldn't mix Japanese words in with English unless there is no English equivalent for a word or concept. My main reason in doing this is because this story is going to be so big that I really don't want the burden of keeping up with correct Japanese terminology in addition to keeping up with the scope of the plot itself.