Chapter 2

Young girl? Young girl, can you hear me?

Kagome slowly came out of the blackness behind her eyelids. She sat up. Two men dressed in tattered armor and an old woman in priestess garb surrounded her. They gasped. "Her eyes! They're just like your sister's, Lady Kaede!"

"Indeed," said Lady Kaede, a drop of sweat running down her face. "Kikyo! . . ."

Kagome noticed she was bandaged up. Blood stained the bandages where she'd been ripped open. "What happened? Who are you people? . . ." she asked. She put a hand to her head. Kagome felt woozy, probably from the blood loss, and everything that'd happened.

"This fell out of your body," said Kaede to Kagome, holding up a purply-pink jewel shaped like a sphere. It was covered with a dark red liquid, probably the shadow demon's blood. She guessed, since she was alive, they'd killed it.

"What is that?" she asked. She took it from Kaede's hand, turning the slimy thing in her fingers. "It's pretty. Wait this fell out of me!"

"Yes. That is the Shikon no Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls. Or in the ancient tongue, the Orb of Despair. That tongue is no longer used, however . . ." Kaede looked at the girl closely. Her eyes were exactly like her late sister's; every fleck of color exactly in place. I could be . . . was it possible? Had her sister finally reincarnated? Into a human form . . . or seemingly human. It was probably just appearances, like Kikyo's had been.

"Where am I?" asked Kagome, looking around.

"You are in Kanta village. We believe you be my sister's reincarnation, the proof being the jewel you hold," said Kaede. The woman had faded brown hair, and eyes that were gray and sharp like a steel blade. Her face hung loosely with her age. She was short and strong, and her hair was long and strait, like Kikyo's had been.

"I've never heard of Kanta village," said Kagome.

"You are in the year 2,344 G.A." Perhaps she needed chronological orientation.

"2,344! . . . Wait . . . What's GA?" asked Kagome. What the hell was going on? 2,344!

"G. A., the Common Era. It marks the time since God came into existence, marring the spiritual world forever. When he is gone, a new age will begin. That is how it is written."

"Wait . . . am I in the past or the future?" she wondered out loud. She was in a bare wooden house. Wasn't the future supposed to be all metal and sterile? And have flying cars? Or something :internal tongue-sticking-out "whatever" face: She'd said something about being the reincarnation of someone . . . God she was woozy.

"What is the year where you come from?" asked Kaede. Kaede wondered if something might be wrong with her.

"2,007 B.C.," said Kagome. She set the Jewel down. "What's going on?" She was feeling a bit better now, and it was time to get some answers, especially about these weird questions.

"I . . . am unfamiliar with that Era marker," said Kaede. She stroked her chin, thoughtfully. "You were attacked by a demon. It desired the Jewel that was hidden inside your body, the Jewel my sister Kikyo was cremated with. The fact that you had the Jewel in your body means you are quite possibly my sister's reincarnation," she said.

"Kikyo . . . that name sounds familiar . . ." Maybe it was the name of some pop star she'd heard? Wait, what was she doing, thinking about pop stars::internal tongue-sticking-out "whatever" face: Where the hell was she, and how was she going to get home? She asked the two questions.

"You are in Kanta village, in the nation of Japan. I don't have a map with me, so I can't be that specific. I do not know how you are going to get home; I do not know where you came from."

But, she'd came out of the well, right? The well in Grandpa's shrine that wasn't there anymore! "I came out of the well," she said. "How can I get back through there? Just jump in?" It didn't seem that simple.

"The well?" said Kaede. "Did either of you see this?" she asked the two men.

"No, Lady!" they said. "We only got there after the demon had appeared!"

"Hmmm," said Kaede, stroking her chin.

"The demon escaped, actually," said the shorter of the two men. "After we got the Shikon no Tama out of it, it ran away into the forest. We were too wrapped up with getting the girl here to send anyone after it."

"Damn," cursed Kaede. "That means other demons will now know the Shikon no Tama is back. They will be coming for it. We have to hide it and the girl!"

"I'm Kagome," said Kagome, slightly irritated that no one had asked her her name.

"Kagome, do you think you can walk? The healing spell I used on you should have worked by now," said Kaede, kneeling by her side. She knelt easily for an old woman, Kagome noticed.

"Y . . . Yeah . . . I think I can," said Kagome, noticing that she felt a lot better. She stood up.

"We need to protect the Jewel," said Kaede. "Go to Inuyasha's Forest. Take this with you," She handed her a purple rosary necklace with bear claws in it. "Find Inuyasha and put it around his neck. Then say a binding word. That will activate the spell I put on it."

"What's the spell?" asked Kagome. This got weirder and weirder all the time. :internal frustrated face:

"It's a binding spell, one that will bind him to you," said Kaede. "Hurry, child, there is no time!"

"I'll go with you," said the taller of the two men in the room. "For protection. Until Inuyasha is on our side."

"Ok, thank you," said Kagome. He could show her the way, too.

The two walked out the door, and Kaede watched them leave. I hope Inuyasha will be easy to tame, she thought. He might refuse to help us if Kikyo's reincarnation is involved.

The wind blew, ruffling the long grass by the roads as Kagome and the taller man walked to the Forest of Inuyasha.