Disclaimer: I do not own either Inuyasha or Rurouni Kenshin.
Chapter 2.
Alanor sat quietly while he listened to Kagome's tale. He was sitting in the hut of this woman Kaede who apparently was this village's protector. He listened as Kagome told him of her coming to the past, her being the reincarnation of a dead priestess named Kikyo, the Jewel of Four Souls, and the battles she and her friends had endured to reconstruct and to protect the jewel. She also told him of the jewel's origins, at least as far as she knew.
Alanor absorbed all this while he reached into the air and conjured one of his books from his special library. Opening it he leafed slowly through the pages while Kagome spoke. "So that's where the jewel came from it was inside the body of this priestess and it came out while she was fighting some demons. The flea could tell you more if he was here." Kagome finally finished.
"I have no reason to doubt your tale my lady, but that is not the jewels true origin. It was merely one step in its history." Alanor said finally finding the reference he needed. "The Jewel of Four Souls as you call it has several different names. Some call it the 'spirit orb', some the 'demon orb', and others call it 'the eye of power'. We'll stick to 'sacred jewel' now for convenience sake."
"You mean you know about the jewel?" Kagome said startled.
"Yes, apparently it has a very long history, a history that predates most other artifacts. It is one of the more dangerous ones too. No wonder demons are out to possess it." Alanor flipped through the history. "Apparently this jewel fell to earth around the dawn of time. A young woman who was out foraging and nearly starved to death then swallowed it. Since that time, it has been past down through her reincarnations granting each power in order to protect itself. This priestess you mention who had it within her body was probably one of the reincarnations of that first young woman. The jewel was probably transferred to the reincarnations of this Kikyo's soul when it was burned with her body."
"What all can the jewel do?" Kagome said perplexed. "We know it can make demons more powerful, but can it do other things? Kikyo wanted to use it to make Inuyasha human."
"I'm afraid that would have been impossible." Alanor said. He looked at the dog demon, which looked as if he were ready to throw up. "The jewels only power is amplification of innate abilities whether evil or good. The jewel that was within your body amplified your own innate magical abilities just as it did Kikyo's. Otherwise, your powers would be trivial."
"I don't know where you get that I have so much power. I mean I'm just a teenager from Tokyo. The only things I can do are shoot arrows that can hurt demons and go through the well." Kagome looked a little disturbed by this as well.
"That's because you are untrained. Thanks to the jewel, the power you hold within yourself is massive, possibly even excelling my own. You have the ability to become more powerful than you are right now. Only time will tell, I highly recommend that you look into it too." Alanor pressed the point hard. He wasn't about to let the Earth be destroyed because some slip of a girl from the future couldn't channel her powers effectively and couldn't protect the jewel.
"I don't know how you managed to get the jewel back, but now it's your responsibility. You are going to have to defend it."
Kagome looked at Alanor with horror written all across her face. "What do you mean? I just want to go home and return to my life of being a normal girl without having to fight off demons all the time!"
"I'm afraid that is not an option. As long as the jewel exists, it will draw demons to this world in search of it. They will seek out whoever defends the jewel and seek to destroy them in order to take possession of it. As heartless as it sounds, no matter where you go, there will always be demons trying to take the jewel from you. You might delude yourself into thinking that they have lost you, but sooner or later they will always find you. No matter where or in what time you hide, they will always come." Alanor looked at Kagome and for a moment pity crossed his features. It was a horrible fate for someone so young; his heart ached for the child.
Kagome was now crying. Alanor watched as the dog demon moved over to her and put his arms around her. Concern was evident on his features, but the girl seemed surprised. After a few moments however she quietly sobbed into his chest. "You mean if I go home to my own time the demons will eventually come there to get the jewel as well?"
"Yes."
"It's O.K. Kagome, I'll never let any demons take the jewel from you." The dog demon leaned into Kagome and then looked at Alanor. The look he gave him would have bored holes through solid stone with its intensity.
Alanor sighed. He couldn't let this little slip of a girl do this alone either, at least not without some substantial help. After all, the previous protectors of the jewel had all failed as well. He had to make sure it would be safe. "I can help you as well child. I can teach you to draw on the power you have within yourself and allow you to use them more effectively."
Kagome sniffed a moment against the chest of her dog demon. "What do I need to do?"
"Gather as much power as you can to defend the jewel, both for yourself and your allies. Train hard and make taking the jewel next to impossible for the forces of evil. It matters little what time period you defend the jewel in, but since your time is unaccustomed to dealing with demons I would suggest you remain here. Trips to your own time should be limited to visits." Alanor smiled trying to encourage her. "Look at it this way. Most young people from your time leave home to start out on their own at some point in their lives, this will simply be yours. It isn't like you'll never see your family again. You could even bring them with you if necessary."
"I can't. Only Inuyasha and I have been able to traverse the well." Kagome said sadly.
"This well of yours is most likely a node of some sort. Powerful beings are able to activate such things by their mere presence." Alanor looked at the dog demon. Apparently, there was more power there than he was giving him credit for. "With training you could be made to control the well enough to bring people through and even to adjust your travel. Remember though that time is a relative thing, it is periodic. You can't travel back for only a few moments, that's nearly impossible. The power required becomes too great. The best you can hope for is to be able to reach certain time periods. By that time the power requirements lessen enough to allow it to become feasible."
Kagome nodded as she followed along, "Oh I get it, so you mean it's easier for me to activate the well going back and forth between my time and feudal Japan than it would be for me to go back to yesterday?"
"Yes, but not only that, it is also difficult to move out side of the specific period of time you're dealing with. The bridge between your time and this one has a certain length. Changing that length so you can try to slip around the time restrictions to time travel are nearly as impossible as going back for a few minutes." Alanor said sagely.
"How long is a period?" Kagome asked confused. "I don't know exactly." Alanor confessed. "No one has ever managed to accurately measure it. We do know that it tends to be several decades. Just remember going between time periods is one thing, but you will arrive on the corresponding day of one time period that is reflected in the same day of the time period you leave. It's called the Law of Conservation of Temporal Mechanics. It's very important. The law can be broken but takes massive amounts of energy that neither you or I combined could muster."
Kagome nodded. "I guess I had better go home and let my family know what I'm going to be doing then. They won't be happy to find out that I'm dropping out of school though."
Alanor thought for a moment. "You shouldn't have to give up your education simply because of this."
"Any ideas how I can still graduate while spending nearly all of my time in the past?"
"Well, since your family has been explaining your absence from school as illness, we can simply tell your teachers that your grandfather has decided to have you schooled at home by a private tutor."
"Yeah right. Like my family could afford a private tutor!" Kagome said doubtfully.
"I assure you my rates are VERY reasonable." Alanor said dryly.
"You?"
"You had someone else in mind? I need to teach you how to use your powers. Teaching you simple things like mathematics and the like won't be overly difficult for someone like myself." Alanor said.
"Aren't you from this time period?" Kaede interjected.
"Yes, from a place called Brittania in this time period. I crossed the European and Asian continents to get here and find you. I am human, but I belong to an order of men western cultures call 'wizards'. We have some members of our order who have traveled to your time and actually lived there. We generally try to experience all time periods so that we can learn to react with people from any period. We also educate ourselves as much as possible. You are from Tokyo, are you not?"
Kagome looked startled. "Yes I'm from Tokyo."
"Where is this 'Tokyo'?" Sango asked interested.
"You're in it right now." Alanor said amused. "This village will grow into a huge city by Kagome's time. It will be called Tokyo in that time, though it will not always be named that."
"I wouldn't mind seeing Kagome's time." Miroku piped up from where Sango had helped him to sit.
"You just want to see all the women running around in skirts as short as Kagome's you pervert." Shippou shot at him.
"Regardless, I should be able to teach you better than your own time, since not only my own arts but a great deal of history gets lost over the years. You'll have better historical knowledge than most college professors by the time I'm done with you. For now though rest. It will take me some time to gather the books you are going to need for your new education. In the meantime, why don't you show me this well of yours?"
Sango and Miroku stayed behind while Alanor followed the rest of them to the well. He was a bit surprised when he saw it. It was a fairly potent magical nexus point. He and his brothers didn't have a great deal of information on the eastern practices of magic, but maybe it was time to start paying more attention.
"Very well, this can be your first lesson then on how to control time travel. The trick is to concentrate on a person or an event that occurs in the time period that you are aiming for. If you want to take someone with you, you merely have to hold their hand as you initiate the jump and imagine their presence in the time period as well. That's the gist of it, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. We'll try it a few times before I let you do it on your own."
The afternoon passed quietly as Alanor taught Kagome how to move back and forth. Finally, she seemed to have the basics down so he bid her farewell after he returned with them to the hut.
"I will leave in the morning to return to my dwelling where I will gather the books I need. I should be able to return in about three weeks." Alanor said wearily as he stopped outside the hut. "I think I shall sleep by the river. The air is clean and the night is warm enough and I don't get the chance very often."
"Thank you, Alanor-sensei." Kagome said bowing to him. "I look forward to learning from you." Alanor merely smiled and went down to the river.