"You're rebuilding everything?" Hikari asked, catching a glimpse of a few villagers on nearby huts, hauling boards onto the rooves. 

It wasn't just housing, it was everything. A pit of sympathy floods through the blonde. This happened because of her and Kagome coming through the dry well.

"Mistress Centipede certainly did a significant amount of damage to our village, " Kaede tends to Kagome's side, smearing some medicinal ointment on the puncture wound before placing a patch over it. "I fear it is not the worrisome subject right now. The Shikon Jewel has resurfaced. Evil beings will come for it."

"You mean, demons?" Kagome asked, wincing as she readjusted her school uniform over her belly.

"Not only demons but humans with evil in their hearts as well, " Kaede nods. "In this age of war, if they can get their hands on the Jewel and its spiritual power, they can achieve all of their desires."

Kagome hummed, staying silent for a moment. She looked at Inuyasha, who lay across the floor in a lazy manner, head propped up by his clawed hand.

"So...then why do you want the Jewel? You're strong enough as is."

"Inuyasha is only half-demon, ye see, " Kaede informs, which causes him to punch the floor, breaking the boards.

"You've been going on like that earlier! Do you know me!?" Inuyasha glared at the old woman, whom I may add is quite unfazed by his temper.

"Ye don't recognize me, do ye?" Kaede sighed as if expecting this. "That's not surprising. I am the younger sister of Kikyo, I am Kaede."

"Kaede...?" Inuyasha tested her name on his tongue. "Oh, so you're the brat, huh."

Hikari found it a little funny. Their interaction.

"It has been fifty years since then, " Kaede adds, scratching her chin. "So I have aged as well."

Inuyasha scoffs, almost amused. "Kikyo must be pushing a hundred."

"Kikyo didn't have to worry about aging, because she is dead."

Hikari noticed Inuyasha stiffen as if the news of Kikyo's death is news to him. His face faltered into another expression before it repelled right back to being read less.

"She died the same day she sealed you to that tree."

Seemingly disinterested, Inuyasha laid down once again, "Well, that's a relief!"

He may act all buff and unfazed by this information, but Hikari saw through it. There was something more between this Kikyo woman and Inuyasha, she just felt it in her soul. 

"Don't celebrate too early, Inuyasha, " Kaede tends to the crackling fire in the pit and looks at Kagome. "I now know ye are the reincarnation of my sister Kikyo. It is not only your uncanny appearance, but ye had the Jewel inside your body. That is the best proof."

"Why, oof, Kagome!" Hikari nudges her friend playfully. "This'll give the history nerds a jump for their money, huh?"

"Not so fast, child, " Kaede intervened, causing the blonde to look at her. "It is not only Kagome. There was another priestess who protected the Shikon Jewel as well."

"Huh?" Hikari perks up. "What does that have to do with me?" 

"Lady Aila, " Kaede merely responded. "She too was born with the glorious purpose of protecting the jewel. Much like Kikyo, she had unusually powerful spiritual powers. She died the same day my sister died."

"So...you think I'm the reincarnation of this Aila lady?" Hikari felt a pulsation of familiarity through her. 

"Perhaps. Ye are identical. "

"How did she die, again?" She asks, curiously.

Kaede tenses, the color leaving her face, as if she was sent back to the day of Aila's death. It kind of scared Hikari. Anticipation beat inside her chest, and suddenly there was the ghost of excruciation at her breast.

"She had her heart torn from her chest."

"They're the reincarnations of Lady Kikyo and Lady Aila?" 

Hikari and Kagome were let loose, free to roam the rebuilt village. There were villagers were murmured amongst themselves, talking about the girls their similarities to their previous incarnations.

"Now that you mention it, they are rather noble and solemn." An old man with a garden hoe on his shoulder says.

We're being worshipped! Both girls stiffen when they notice a small crowd clapping their hands in a prayer motion.

Later, after receiving many offerings and gifts from the villagers, the two find themselves lingering toward the calm river and toward a tree where a certain hanyo has perched himself on.

Kagome throws a vegetable at him, and he catches it without acknowledging their presence.

Hikari holds a bunch of turnips on a sling and a bag of apples and other vegetables. 

"What's with the food?" He looks down at them.

"It's an offering from the villagers, " Kagome replies. "Why don't you help us eat it?"

Once Inuyasha gained the courage to sit with the girls at the base of the tree, he just glares at them.

"What are you two plotting?" He watches them suspiciously.

"We're not plotting anything, " Hikari frowned at him, giving him a sour look. "It's called being nice, ya know!"

"Keh! I don't need nice! I want the jewel!" Inuyasha glared.

"Funny, " The blonde tightly smiled at him. "You're not getting it."

Hikari munches on an apple sitting parallel to Kagome, and on the left side of Inuyasha. It was very strange...this time and era. No wonder it all felt familiar. She once lived here, well before her previous incarnation died. She frowns into the fruit, glancing at Inuyasha from her peripheral vision. 

According to Kaede, Aila was murdered. Hikari wanted to assume Inuyasha was the one who did it, but it seemed like he never knew she died. Like how he didn't know Kikyo died. She wouldn't have thought he wasn't innocent, but she saw the way his eyes dulled upon hearing about Kikyo's death.

She wasn't one to pry, but it seems to her that he and this Kikyo were more than a demon and a priestess. Maybe something more...

Something more tragically forbidden.

"You really do look like her."

Inuyasha eyed Hikari, his golden orbs observing her. It was like he was piercing through her soul. He was talking about Aila. Something poked at her chest. So this is what it felt like to be compared to a woman everyone knew and loved?

"I mean, that's how reincarnation works." Hikari shrugged, pretending it didn't bother her.

The silver-haired hanyo sneered with attitude. "Keh! You act like her too! All witty and mouthy."

"Thank you, " Hikari says sarcastically. "That means so much to me!"

"You could do with being more friendly, ya know, " Kagome says, irked.

"Then you're a lot dumber than I thought you were! I ain't shown' you any mercy when I get my hands on the Jewel!" Inuyasha glared at the ebony-haired teenager.

Kagome smiles confidently. "Funny you say that because all I have to do to make you obey is say sit---"

Inuyasha forcibly faceplants into the ground, causing Kagome to cover her mouth with a snort erupting from her. Hikari laughs out shamelessly. 

"Oops~" Kagome grins behind her palm. "Sorry about that!"

The hanyo grumbles incoherently, but Hikari got the feeling he was cursing them, which made it all more hilarious.

"How's the dirt taste, Inuyasha?" The blonde teen smirks, leaning forward on her knees.

"Just wait...I'll get this stupid binding off and you'll both be sorry!" The silver-haired demon peeked at them from over his red-clothed shoulder.

"I'm sure, " Hikari's smirk widened a little. "And, uh, how exactly will you do that?"

"Screw you!" Inuyasha sneers at her but doesn't make any move at her or Kagome. He sits there like a pouting puppy.

"You're not all that scary when you're tamed, " Hikari teases with a giggle. "Don't worry, Inu, we're your new owners. We'll take good care of you!"

The half-demon whipped around so fast, Hikari felt the whiplash. His golden eyes narrow at her distastefully.

"I am not your dog, you wench!"

"Well, you kinda are, " Hikari shrugs nonchalantly, "Technically, you belong to Kagome, with that collar of yours."

"It's not a collar!" 

The blonde teenager laughs and Kagome joins her. They spend the rest of the afternoon teasing Inuyasha about the magical restraint bestowed upon him by Kaede. 

He wasn't very amused by it at all.

The night comes quickly and the sky is moonless with very few stars. The forest is calm, eerily enough. After a day of excitement most teenagers would only ever read about in fantasy novels, Kagome and Hikari rest for the night in Kaede's hut.

While they slept, Inuyasha stood guard.

Hikari rolled to her left side, peering over the dying embers of the firepit, she catches a glimpse out of the window. Dozens of crows are perched on the spine and lining of the huts across the path. The kaw every now and again, hopping in place. But mostly, they just stared.

It was creepy. Very creepy.

Her honey eyes travel to Kagome's sleeping form. Her friend is snuggled under her covers. Maybe it had something to do with the Shikon Jewel currently around her neck.

Exhaling out of her nose, Hikari tries to endure her thoughts and closes her eyes to try and sleep.

Unbeknownst to the blonde, the feeling she has comes from a dark, but a small entity. A three-eyes crow leers through an opening from the roof of Kaede's hut.

Gazing upon Kagome's sleeping body, the crow watches a dim glowing underneath the cover. Before it can snake its way in, a pebble shoots at it, causing it to take flight. More pebbles are shot at it as it takes altitude.

"And stay gone, damn pest!" Inuyasha sneers from his perch a nearby fence, glaring at the flapping silhouette. 

He gracefully leaps to the roof of Kaede's hut, making no sound when he lands on the wooden covering.

Inuyasha continues to guard the hut all night, knowing he had a lot of work cut out for him.

The end!