A/N: Hey, everybody! Welcome back for the second chapter! First off, I'd like to thank you for reading this far into what I've written and published! It means so much to me to have you reading my story and I hope you continue to enjoy it! Feel free to leave a review whenever! Let me know what you think so far! Constructive criticism is welcome as well! Thanks again!

In case my formatting is a bit confusing, anything italicized is typically going to be some sort of internal dialogue - either a memory, dream, or thought. As for words in bold those are often used for a bit of vocal emphasis. A combination of the two is used to present sarcasm.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the original Inuyasha series, nor do I own some of the plot devices pulled from said series. For the future, I do not own any of the characters originating from the Pokemon franchise.

The day seemed to go by smoothly after my adventure into the woods. When I returned to the hut, Lady Kaede was already working with the ill villager. I quickly got to helping her by mashing up a few leaves of the herb I just gathered and making it into a rub. As one patient left, another came in; Kaede and I were kept busy all the way to lunch time. Per our typical routine, Kaede stayed behind at the hut to treat any patients we had while I left for the market to buy food for dinner later on.

The village square was much busier now than it was in the morning. People bustled about trying to get the best deals on various goods. I bought two ready-made bento from Miss Miharu, along with some beef and vegetables to make stew for dinner.

As I began to make my way out of the village center, I noticed a group of around twenty villagers gathered together. They were being rather loud and rowdy.

"What's going on over there?" I asked a random man as he walked by me.

"We've caught a trespasser; we're thinking a spy." The man replied. "She's dressed all funny like, definitely not from around these parts."

"She?"

"Yeah, the trespasser be female. Some of our men found her poking around Inuyasha and the Goshinboku. Sneaky she be."

"What are the villagers doing with her?"

"Well, fer now, we have her tied at the wrists. Better get Lady Kaede's opinion on the matter before we do anything else." The male villager stated before walking off to continue his business.

I glanced back over to the group. It'll be a few minutes before Lady Kaede can get here… I should check it out.

Hastily, I made my way through the gathered crowd until I found myself at the very front, standing between the rowdy, yelling villagers and the "trespasser". Having been suspecting a kunoichi, I was rather surprised at the girl sitting before me. She appeared to be around my age and also looked very much like myself - black hair and brown eyes.

Her outfit was something I hadn't ever even imagined. The girl wore a strange white top that had sleeves ending at the wrists with green, as well as green around the neck. A thick red ribbon came out from beneath the green neck and was tied into a strange knot. The top was tucked into the bottom which seemed to be some kind of wrap that had multiple folds in it and ended above the knee. To finish off the oddness of her outfit, the trespasser wore long tabi that stopped just below her knees, and her feet were covered in brown zori that looked more like wooden chests than zori.

"I say we toss her in the river!" A villager shouted.

"No! We should tie her up and leave her in the forest! That way the demons can finish her off!" Another yelled.

"What if she's a demon?" A woman cried out.

With that single statement, the already noisy crowd got even noisier. I sighed and took another look at the girl. She doesn't look like a demon… Besides, a demon would have put up a better fight… These villagers just want a reason to be violent.

Just as I thought the rowdy mob would get too out of hand, a familiar voice spoke over everybody. "All of you settle down and let me through!" Kaede's voice carried over the many others.

The group parted and Lady Kaede made her way over to where I was standing in front of the captive. "I figured you would be here, Miamei." My guardian stated, "What do we have here?"

"Well, she looks like a girl to me. Some of the villagers think she might be a spy or even a demon."

"Then we might as well find out."

The elderly woman pulled out a large sack and dug her hand inside. She pulled out a powder used for exorcising demons and tossed it at the young girl a few times. This only made the girl angry, if she wasn't already.

"I'm not a demon!" She shouted at us; villagers murmured among the crowd.

"Oh really? Then why were ye found in the forest of Inuyasha?" Kaede asked.

"What if she's a spy like some of the villagers were saying?" I whispered to my elder.

"Then she would be a fool of a ninja." Kaede grumbled.

Lady Kaede and I both turned back to the tied up girl and looked her over once again. I heard the elderly priestess take a sudden breath before she stepped forward to examine the girl. Everything was silent as Kaede inspected the captive closely. Suddenly, the older woman took a step back and turned to the crowd.

"We need not be worried. I believe this girl means us no harm. In order to keep a good watch over her, though, she will be staying with me." Kaede told the crowd.

Gasps ran throughout the group as villagers whispered to each other in shock. Kaede looked at me with a single brown eye - her other one was covered in a black eye patch due to an injury she received as a child.

"Miamei, untie this poor child and bring her back to the hut."

"Y-yes! Of course, Lady Kaede!" I replied as I bent down to undo the ropes around the mysterious girl's wrists. I wonder what Lady Kaede is doing… Is it really safe to bring this stranger into our home?

Once I had the girl untied, I helped her up and led her to the hut. Inside the hut, I realized that the patient Kaede had been working with before I left was gone. The elderly priestess was situation herself beside our firepit, adding kindling into the hole only after she was seated. "Miamei, let's get dinner going. What have you gone and bought for us this time?" Kaede asked, looking up at me with her one eye.

I'd totally forgotten about the food I'd shopped for and glanced down at it in my hands. "Oh, um, I thought we would have stew. Miss Miharu also gave us a couple of bento, so there's no need for rice this time." I replied to my guardian.

"Very well, then. I trust you will make a delicious meal." Kaede then shifted her gaze over to the young girl standing beside me. "Now, what is ye name, child?"

I inched away from the girl in order to begin working on dinner as she replied. "My name is Kagome Higurashi. Where am I?"

"Kagome… What an interesting name. You are in the village of Edo. Did you stray from a nearby village?"

"Did you say Edo? That must mean… Could I have traveled back in time?" Kagome looked at the elderly priestess. "I'm not from another village, let alone this era. I remember falling into a well at my family's shrine, and when I climbed out, I found myself in the forest."

"The well?" I piped up from my new position beside Kaede; I was busy starting a fire to cook the stew. "Do you think she could be talking about the Bone Eater's Well?"

"'Tis the only well I know of in the surrounding woods, so I assume so." Kaede stated thoughtfully. "Kagome, the villagers said ye were found by the Goshinboku. Is this true?"

"Is that the large tree with the sleeping boy?"

"Yea. That boy's name is Inuyasha and he be a half-demon."

"H-he's a demon?" Kagome exclaimed, shock widening her eyes.

"Actually, he's just a half-demon - a being made of half human blood and half demon blood." I replied as I set a pot on my now blistering fire.

"But still a demon nonetheless, which is why the local villagers were so wary of your snooping around him. It doesn't help that these lands are being scarred with wars as we speak. Kingdoms are fighting among themselves and demons have made more attacks on villages than history has ever seen. Spies come and go on a frequent basis, trying to find a weak point in their enemies' defenses. Our village is very cautious about the possibility that Inuyasha may be reawakened in order to attack us." Kaede explained to Kagome.

"This sounds an awful lot like the warring era…" Kagome mumbled to herself. "This Inuyasha guy, what's the deal with him? I know he's a half-demon and all, but how long has he been asleep?"

"Hasn't it been around fifty years now, Lady Kaede?" I asked my elder.

"It doesn't seem like it has been that long, but I believe it has." Kaede replied, "Inuyasha used to terrorize Edo. The village priestess at the time - my elder sister Kikyo - used the rest of her strength to pin him to the tree and place him under a spell. That spell is what keeps him asleep to this day, but we never know when it may break."

More questions were passed back and forth among our trio. Kagome did her best to learn about this history of our small village. She eventually came to the conclusion that she had traveled back nearly five hundred years from her time. Apparently, her family had recently moved into a shrine that would sit where we're at and she had accidentally fallen into the well inside one of the shrine buildings. It was a bit hard to wrap my mind around the fact that she had come from a time in the future. What was it like?

The sky outside of the hut darkened just as the stew finished. We all sat around the warmth of the fire and ate the hot meal. Our conversation didn't stop when dinner was served. Kagome began learning more about Kaede and myself. My elder told the story of how she lost her right eye to a demon when she was a child; this occurred only a few weeks before Lady Kikyo passed away. We also heard about the many duties Kaede had as the village priestess - they went from simple tasks such as healing the sick and placing offerings up at the temple to exorcising and protecting the village from demons.

Once we were done eating, Kaede and I began cleaning up and washing the dishes. As I reached to take Kagome's bowl, the sleeve of my shirt slid down my arm to reveal my birthmark. The pinkish marking didn't go unnoticed by the girl and she quickly grabbed me by the wrist. "What is this?" She asked curiously, looking up at me with questions in her eyes.

"It's just my birthmark," I replied quietly, withdrawing my arm from Kagome's grasp. "I've had it since I was a baby."

"That isn't a normal birthmark."

"You're very right, Kagome." Kaede interjected. "In your time, are there stories about HDPs?"

"Stories? They're more like myths than anything. Nobody believes them anymore." Kagome suddenly looked back at me. "Are you an HDP?"

"Supposedly, yes."

"Supposedly? What do you mean by that?"

"Miamei contains the marking of a very special kind of HDP. Legend has it that she is the one who will cleanse the world from darkness. Unfortunately, even as times get darker, Miamei has struggled to fulfill the role her destiny has presented her with." Lady Kaede explained.

"In other words, my HDP bucket isn't full. I haven't experienced any of the powers that I'm said to hold. I'm pretty much as human as anybody else in this village."

"Your powers will come, Miamei. Remember to be patient."

I was suddenly reminded of my experience at the Goshinboku. It's time to wake up... The part of your soul that contains the power you need in order to become what you need to has been sealed away into the depths of your heart and laid to rest. I can break that seal…

The ground beneath us began to shake and villagers were heard shouting outside. "What is all of that noise about at this time of night?" Kaede asked, standing up onto her feet.

"An earthquake, maybe?" Kagome thought aloud.

"More likely demons than an earthquake, to be honest, Kagome." I replied, following my elder out of the hut.

Outside, we were able to see what was causing the commotion. A couple huts down, a large demon was attacking the villagers. The demon had the top half of a woman with six arms and long black hair that blended in with the night sky, just below her navel, her body changed into that of a long centipede. She slithered between the huts and crashed into the wooden structures. A young warrior on a horse was doing his best to fight off the demon, only to have his noble steed picked up and thrown into the air. The beast landed on the ground before us, completely still.

"It's the demon that I saw in the well!" Kagome shouted.

"That's the one? Are you sure it wasn't something a bit smaller and much less harmful?" I questioned. "What do you think it wants?"

Suddenly, the demon's attention was drawn to us and she smiled darkly. "You, human." She spoke, her black eyes focused on Kagome. "You have what I desire. Give it to me. Give me the Sacred Jewel!"

The demon dove in our direction. All three of us ducked down just in time and the creature flew right over our heads. Fellow villagers had begun to gather around. Arrows flew from their bows at they tried to scare the evil being away.

Did it just say 'Sacred Jewel'? Wasn't that destroyed fifty years ago? I wondered, Apparently, Kaede was just as curious as I was.

"It said 'Sacred Jewel'... Do ye have it in your possession, child?" The priestess asked Kagome.

"I-I don't know. I've only ever heard of it, I haven't ever actually seen the thing." Kagome replied.

"Whether or not you truly have the Jewel doesn't matter, this demon is going to destroy the entire village trying to get it." I stated. "There must be something we can do to stop its rampage."

"Lady Kaede!" A village man shouted, running towards us followed by another male. "We've tried everything! Arrows! Swords! Even fire! Nothing is working against this beast!"

The old priestess thought deeply for but a moment before looking around at all of us with her good eye. "Then we must lead it to the Bone Eater's Well, maybe we can trap it back from whence it came."

"That's the well that I climbed out of! I'll lead it away!" Kagome exclaimed, running off before anybody could stop her.

"Kagome, wait up!" I yelled, chasing after her.

"Miamei, hold on! Get back here where it's safe!" Kaede shouted.

Following my elder's orders, I went against my instincts to follow after my new friend and shuffled back to Kaede's side. I watched hopelessly as the demon stalked Kagome's trail.

"We can't just let Kagome run off on her own, especially with that creature tracking her down!" I cried out.

"Hush, child. We will not allow Kagome to fend for herself." Kaede responded as a villager walked up with a herd of horses. "After that demon!"

Stammering up onto one of the horses, I rode with my fellow villagers towards the forest. Ahead of us, we could see the last segment of the demon's centipede body as it slither between the tree. This isn't the direction of the well… I thought, We're headed right towards the Goshinboku!

Still many yards ahead, through the trees where the Goshinboku was located, a green light emanated from the meadow. "Lady Kaede, that's not normal, is it?" I asked the elderly priestess who rode beside me.

"Nay. Something stranger than what we had anticipated must be happening." She replied, staring intently at the light before us.

Soon, we arrived in the clearing where the Sacred Tree stood tall in the very center. Kagome was positioned beside the tree and the centipede demon had poised to attack. Villagers threw their spears at the beast in an attempt to still its movements.

Kagome appeared to be yelling something at somebody. It was only then that I realized the once frozen form of Inuyasha had begun to move. The half-demon had awoken, but remained pinned to the tree, rendering him immobile.

"Lady Kaede…" I began.

"I know, child. Inuyasha is still alive, even after all of these years." Kaede spoke, her eye trained on the form of the half-demon.

Suddenly, activity came from the centipede demon. The creature shot towards Kagome, arms outstretched to grab the young girl. Kagome screamed and held her hand out, causing a bright light to fill the meadow. The strange power that emanated from Kagome's hand was enough to detach the demon's arms, but not enough to stop it. Strong jaws clenched around Kagome's side, ripping at the flesh and cloth.

"Kagome!" I shouted, nearly running out to save my friend despite the fact that I carried no weapon.

As Kagome cried out in pain, the demon released her, dropping her to the ground. From her wound, a small pink marble flew out from Kagome.

"Could it truly be…?" I gasped.

"'Tis, Miamei. That is the Shikon Jewel." Kaede replied, staring in awe at the tiny jewel.