Message from the Authoress((PLEASE READ!)): Well, here we go, after way too long a delay. I meant to get this up closer to the middle of this past week, but, being a high school student, I had to work on it between assignments in class, as at home I was preoccupied with the game Radiata Stories and finishing the twelve manga that are due at the library in three days, as well as making scans of said manga to send to a friend out of the country... ^.^; Then I had to run my draft by my editor. Yes, I have an editor even for fanfics... I dunno if that's professional or just plain pathetic... As he is ALSO a high school student with literally all the same classes as me, (and I didn't want to let that notebook out of my sight...), he had just as little time to proofread for me. So now, without further ado, chapter two! About goddamn time! XD

Side note:Any time a word or phrase is followed by an asterisk (*) that is a sign to refer to my translation notes. For this particular chapter, the translation notes will be in a seperate "chapter", as there are quite a few for this chapter. A majority, if not all, of the following chapters will probably have few enough for me to simply place them at the end of the chapter.

When Amane regained consciousness, she didn't open her eyes right away. Keeping them closed, she used her remaining sensessr surroundings, as she'd been taught by her buchou* in the kendo* club. (Author Note:I thought fighting with JUST the shikigami would be uneventful for Amane & Utsugi. So, I made Amane a memeber of her school's kendo club so she could have an actual weapon. My editor questioned the importance of putting an author note here, but he's only seen the anime, never played the game, and I feel that, while not crucial, this is mildly important to explain to those readers who HAVE played the game...) She was lying on the ground, and she knew wherever she was, she was outside. She could hear birds chirping all around her, the rustling of the wind through the leaves, and she felt the grass tickling her arms and legs. After a few moments, she opened her blue eyes and sat up. Gazing around, she saw what her other senses had confirmed; she was in a forest. Suddenly, she remembered her brother.

"Akito?"she jumped to her feet, looking around franctically. "Akito! Where are you?"

No response came, and Amane became worried for her twin's safety.

"I hope he's okay... What if he was hurt? Or killed? Oh, Akito..."

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Amane began wandering in search of a way out of the forest. After an hour of wandering aimlessly, she came across and unusual sight.

A middle-aged man was looking through the forest, seeming to be in search of something.

"Oh, a person! Maybe he can help me find a way out of this forest!"

She took a step to approach the man, then stopped when she noticed his clothing.

"Huh? A kimono? Why is he wearing a kimono?"

The man glanced up suddenly, gasping when he saw the girl.

"Demon!"

"Wh-what? I'm not..."

"The man drew the sword at his hip. "Demon! Where have you taken my daughter?"

"Dammit... I don't have my shinai*...I hafta get out of here!"

Amane immediately turned and took off. After running for nearly an hour, she stopped in a clearing to catch her breath.

"Whew... I think I lost him. Thank goodness..."

There was a rustling in the bushes to the side, and Amane gasped and jumped back.

"Wh-who's there?"she demanded. Something emerged from the bushes, and Amane's eyes widened in horror.

The being had a vaguely human-like build. But it was certainly not human. Its skin was green, and it had a single, blood red eye. Atop it's head was a tiny, white horn.

"Ah, I thought I smelled a human. I was just getting hungry, too."

"Oh, my God..."Amane took a shaky step back. "Is that... a demon?"

Still stepping back, Amane tripped over a rock, falling hard on her bottom. She watched, trembling, as the demon advanced on her. Unseen by the human girl, a strange white aura began to surround her body. She felt an odd warmth spreading across her body, one that would perhaps be comforting if not for the dire situation. As the demon drew closer, she flung one hand out in front of her, palm forward toward the creature.

"No! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

The next thing Amane knew, everything had gone dark...

Am... Am I... dead?

"Hey!"said a male voice. "You awake yet?"

What...?

Amane's eyes slowly fluttered open to find a young man her age-perhapes a year or two older than herself-standing over her. He had golden eyes, and long, silver hair nearly down to his waist. He wore a crimson kimono* and hakama* over a white nakajuuban*. Around his neck hung a necklace of purple beads and some sort of animal fangs. He seemed to be, more or less, normal... until Amane noticed that he had claws, fangs, and silver dog ears atop his head!

"Yah! A demon!"Amane screeched, crawling backwards away from the boy. "Don't eat me!"

"Calm down!"the boy huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Nobody's gonna eat you."

"But... but you have dog ears and fangs!"

"Oh, whatever... Anyway, that was great! What kinda technique was that?"

"Huh? Technique?"

"Yeah! You beat that demon by shining that light on him!"

"Huh? Oh... that's right..."she murmured to herself. "I was being chased by a demon... I thought I was gonna die... and then that light..."

"Hey..."the boy said suddenly. "Your clothes look like Kagome's clothes... You're from the present, aren't you?"

"Huh? The present?"

"Yeah. The present You know, the present!"

"I'm... not really sure I get what's going on."

The boy scoffed. "Kagome can explain it better than I can."

"Who's Kagome?"

"Kaede's Village isn't too far from here. C'mon, let's go."

Amane nodded hesitantly before standing

Amane followed the silver -haired boy into the village, glancing around at the unfamiliar surroundings. It was an old-fashioned Japanese village, and everyone she saw was wearing a kimono.

"What in the world is this place?"

"InuYasha!"

Amane and the boy looked up at the sound of the voice to find a girl running over. The girl was a year or two younger than Amane, with amber eyes and long, black hair. She was a sailor-style junior high school uniform in green witha red scarf. When she came to a stop before Amane and the boy, she was glaring daggers at him.

"InuYasha, Where were you? We needed your help defeating a demon! You're never there when we need you..."

He scoffed. "If you're talking about those small demons, I already handled it."

The girl frowned, then turned to Amane. "Hm? Who's this?"

This girl looks normal...

"Please! Can you tell me where I am? I can't find my brother, everyone is dressed weird, I was even attacked by a demon! I don't know what's going on!"

"Woah! Calm down!"the dark-haired girl said, hands on Amane's shoulders. "Deep breaths. There. Good. Now... what's your name?"

"Kururugi Amane. I'm a first year at Tomoeda Senior High*."

"Alright. I'm Higurashi Kagome*. I'm a third year at Jyuuban Junior High. And this is InuYasha."

"Can you please tell me what's going on here?"

Kagome nodded. "Now that you're calm, yes. Now listen very carefully. This isn't the present."

"Not the present? What do you mean?"

"We're in the Hoken Jidai*."

"H-Hoken Jidai* You mean the time of Oda Nobunaga*? And when guns first came to Japan?"

"That's right." Kagome nodded.

Amane stared in horror at the younger girl, before promptly fainting.

My, how time flies when you keep falling unconscious... Amane thought bitterly. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and sat up. She found she was in one of the village huts, lying on and old-fashioned futon.

"You okay?"asked a voice. Amane turned to see a little boy standing beside her. He was very small, probably wouldn't even reach her knees were she standing. He had jade green eyes, and his orangish brown hair was pulled backina ponytail with a light blue ribbon. He wore a blue kimono with a leaf pattern in an even lighter shade of blue. Over the kimono he wore a dark blue hakama and a fur vest. His ears were slightly pointed, and his feet seemed to have the appearance of a fox's hind paws. Protruding from his rear end was a fluffy fox tail.

"Who... who are you?" Amane asked.

"My name's Shippou!"the boy smiled brightly. "Are you okay? Kagome said you fainted."

"I'm fine."she smiled softly. "Just a little... in shock is all. Oh, my name's Amane."

"Nice to meetcha! You came from the present like Kagome, right?"

"Mm-hmm. Shippou-chan... um... exactly what are you?"

"Me? I'm a kitsune*!"

"A kitsune...?"Amane blined slowly in surprise.

"Ah, ye be awake."

Amane glanced up again to see an old woman enterring the hut. She wore the traditional white kimono and red hakama of a shinto priestess. Her right eye must have been injured, for it was covered with an eyepatch, and the visible one was amber. In her youth, her hair must have been either black or brown, as the paling hair tied at the nape of her neck still had a faint brown tint.

"Um... yes, I'm awake..."

The woman kneeled beside the futon Amane sat on.

"Your name is Amane, aye? I am priestess Kaede."

"A... priestess...?"

Kaede nodded. "I've heard from Kagome. Ye be from the present as well?"

"H-hai*... Tell me... Is this really the Hoken Jidai?"

"Aye, it is, child. Tell me how ye came to be here."

"I'm not really sure... Akito and I were in the storehouse..."she gasped. "Akito! I have to find my brother!"

"Relax, child! Ye will not find your brother simply running around like a chicken with it's head cut off."

"But... but Akito..."

"Feh, just another noisy girl..."

Amane looked up to find Kagome and InuYasha standing in the dorrway of the hut.

"Maybe," Kagome suggested. "You should check the area where you first woke up."

"But I was in such a panic... I don't even remember where that was now!"

"Feh, useless..."InuYasha scoffed.

"Wait! I saw a man there! He thought I was a demon, and he was carrying a sword."

"This be a simple farming village."said Kaede. "None of our men carry swords. Save for InuYasha."

"Maybe the next village over."said Kagome. "Akebi Village."

"Then I guess that's where I'm headed."said Amane.

"We'll come with you."

"What?"shouted InuYasha.

"Oh, InuYasha, stop complaining. We can't just abandon her."

"Thank you, Kagome..."murmured Amane. "Now... if I could just get a sword..."

Even copying from a notebook, that took longer to type than I expected. XP Sorry if I messed up Kaede's way of talking. I tried my best... T_T Oh, and you may have noticed I made the shikigami white... In my opinion, it makes more sense for a regular shikigami not associated with an element to be colorless or white, and simply for the shikigami connected to the element of fire to be red. So that's how I'm writing it. Hope you like! Please don't flame me... T.T