Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters. However, the other characters that appear here are my own.

Chapter 1

Kagome could hear voices from the shrine area floating in through her open window. She looked up from her algebra book, glad for the small distraction.

"Visitors, " she thought. But the voices were not speaking Japanese.

She got up to look out the window. A group of three people stood in the middle of the courtyard. One of them, a Chinese girl, was turning her head as if searching for something. The other two people, a blond-haired man and a woman with mouse-brown hair, were watching her with some concern. They were dressed casually and seemed nothing more than tourists.

"It's around here somewhere," the Chinese girl said. "I can feel it, but I can't pinpoint it."

"Well," the other woman said. "Let's just walk around then, Mavis, and see if the feeling becomes stronger in any one direction. I understand this is all public area except for the house beyond the fence there."

The brown-haired woman looked up at the house just then and spied Kagome looking through her window. She smiled and raised a hand. Kagome waved back.

"I'll send the priest to help you!" she shouted down to the group. It was strange to speak in English. She had only started to study it and was not sure of her accent, but they had seemed to understand her.

Kagome left her room and clattered down the stairs.

"Gramps! Where are you? There's some English tourists at the shrine."

Her grandfather was in the kitchen pouring himself some tea. "Tourists, eh? English? Hmm – been a long time since I used that language. Think you could help me out, Kagome?"

"My English isn't that good either, but I'll give it a shot."

"Ah, well. I'll have to have my tea later." Her grandfather gave the teapot a disappointed look.

When they left the house, it took them a moment to find the tourists. They were standing underneath the sacred tree, looking up at it with interest. The Chinese girl had stepped beyond the small fence surrounding it and had both her hands on the tree's trunk.

"How can I help you?" the old priest asked.

"Ah! Are you the priest here?" the brown-haired woman said, in perfect Japanese. She tossed back her shoulder-length hair and smiled, her grey eyes filled with amusement.

"I am."

"What can you tell me about this tree?"

Oh boy, Kagome thought. That would set her grandfather off for a good hour. As he began to give the history of the shrine, the woman led him off, leaving her companion to watch over the Chinese girl.

"What are you doing?" Kagome asked in shaky English.

The man turned to look at her, smiling. "I don't speak Japanese, miss." Kagome liked him immediately. He had short blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was not what she would have called handsome, but the smile he gave her transformed his face into something else entirely.

"I… try English."

The Chinese girl turned to look at her. "This is a god-tree?"

"Yes."

"I can feel it. It pulses with energy. There's another energy source around here…"

"What you look for?"

"God, Jonathan. You should feel the vibes coming from this girl!"

The Chinese girl jumped back over the fence and approached Kagome. Up close, Kagome could see that she was older than she had first appeared. There was an energy about her that Kagome recognized as spiritual power. The Chinese woman was a sorceress or witch of some sort, but did not give off any negative energy that would have told Kagome that she was evil. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Shrine maiden?"

"Uh – no. I his grand-daughter."

"You have power, girl. Your name?"

"Kagome."

"I'm Mavis. This is Jonathan Windrow and that's his wife Kirsten over there, distracting your grandfather."

"You from … America?"

Mavis laughed. "We're Canadians." She dusted her hands off. "I need to find that energy source, Jonathan. I can feel it calling. The tree has a lot of power, but it's not what I'm looking for."

"Bone-eater's Well," Kagome said, then clapped her hands over her mouth.

"A well, you say." Mavis turned her head sharply to survey her. "What's the matter, girl?"

"Oh – you no want there. Dirty. Boards rotten – break under feet."

"I'll chance it," said Mavis. She suddenly spied the small shrine covering the Well. "Ah-ha! That must be it."

Kagome grabbed her arm. "No go there."

Mavis stopped and stared at her. "What's the problem? I have no intention of harming anything, child. What is it you don't want me to find?"

Kagome's English failed her at this point. Mavis looked at her kindly, then touched her forehead. Kagome felt something flow between them, something warm and non-threatening. No, this woman was curious about the Well's energy and nothing more. There was no evil in her, nor in her companions. And even if Mavis found out what the Well could do, there was probably no way she could use it. As far as Kagome knew, only she and Inuyasha could use the Well to travel back and forth between their respective eras.

"Okay, okay. I show."

Kagome led the way to the Bone-eater's Well and slid open the door. The musty smell had Jonathan coughing a little. Mavis pushed past her and went down the steps to the Well proper. She placed her hands on the edge of the Well and peered in.

"Amazing! Jon, this is it!"

"Oh good. Does this mean you'll stop dragging us all over Tokyo?"

"Oh – be a good sport. Come see."

Jonathan went down the steps and stood beside her. He looked down into the Well. "Gee! Golly gosh! Wow! An empty well. I'm really impressed." The sarcasm in his voice came through clearly to Kagome, although she had a little trouble understanding all that he said.

Mavis looked up into the rafters. "Ah! I can even see the ley lines. There's four…no – six! Six, Jonathan! That's almost unheard of! The node's right above the well."

"Whatever you say, Mavis. I can't see anything."

"What about you, girl? Kagome, is it? Can you see the energy lines?"

Kagome looked up where Mavis was pointing. She could not see any energy lines, but she could sense something.

"This girl has talent," Mavis said approvingly. "Maybe another candidate for Psicorin."

Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, Mavis. We've found the magic node that's been calling you. What's next?"

Mavis put her hands on Kagome's shoulders. "You know about this well, don't you? What is it used for?"

"No!" Kagome pulled away. "Not tell you!"

"Alright, alright," Jonathan said soothingly. "No one's going to hurt you, miss. Mavis – I think we're done here."

An unspoken message passed between them, and Mavis nodded. "As you say, Jonathan."

Without another word, they exited the building and rejoined their companion, who was sitting on a bench with Kagome's grandfather, listening to him lecture.

Kagome stood in the doorway, watching them warily. What did they want? There was something different about them, but she could not put her finger on it. They definitely weren't just tourists. She looked over her shoulder at the Well and shuddered. This Mavis, whoever she was, had power – perhaps enough to activate the Well. Could she cross over to the Feudal era? Kagome shut the door with a decisive click. There was no sense in asking her grandfather to seal the Well – he had very little spiritual power, as Kagome well knew. She did not have the talent to write the seals herself, either. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to go across tonight and warn Miroku at least. He could set wards around the Well that would send an alarm if anyone came through other than herself.