"Here ye are," A kindly old woman smiled as reassuringly as she could manage as she set a steaming cup of tea in front the flustered girl that sat at across from her in her hut. She had her eyes firmly locked on her hands that were rolled into fists gripping the edge of her green skirt. The graying woman sighed at the young girl's troubled state, though she couldn't blame the child. "Through the tree, ye said?" she asked again, making sure she understood the story she had told her before. The girl nodded, but didn't say any more than she had earlier.

From what the haggard priestess had managed to coax out of the otherworldly girl, she had been with her friend from school, who she had gathered to be Kagome, and had been visiting her home to work on something together. They had decided to work outside and Kagome had gone in the house for a moment so she waited next to the tree the old woman had understood was the sacred tree InuYasha had been bound to. She had gone closer to the tree to examine it, as her own family had a shrine dedicated to many sacred plants and trees, and tripped. Instead of hitting her head against the trunk, she had apparently fallen through the wood and into 'that freaky guy with the dog ears.'

"I'm sorry, Kaede-sama," the girl sighed, her shoulders slumping as she hung her head, "I'm just so confused about everything that's happening. I just don't understand how I could really be in feudal Japan. It doesn't make any since."

The old woman chuckled to herself, "Ye are taking it better than Kagome did, at least. She kept insisting it be a dream." She took a long, hardy drink from her own tea then explained, "Ye be here because the tree ye had fallen through has been standing for centuries. It be linked to your time through the ages it has survived from this world and on through to ye own. Only I don't know how ye fell through."

"But how does Kagome come back then if she doesn't do it through the tree?" the girl became slightly panicked at the idea of being stuck in a world she was so unfamiliar with.

"She uses the Bone Eaters Well," the sagely woman explained, "It be made from the wood of another Tree of Ages and connects to ye time the same way the tree does."

"Seika!" Another girl dressed in the same green school uniform as the brunette in front of Kaede cried as she came through the door of the hut. "Oh my god, I was so worried! I came back outside and you were gone," she sat down beside her school mate and hugged her. "InuYasha said you came out of the tree," she half questioned, half stated as she sat back.

"InuYasha?" Seika mumbled to herself in mild confusion before the strange silver-haired man she had fallen on top of in her arrival walked through the door and threw himself down on the floor in an irritated huff. "That's his name?"

"Seika," Kagome called, drawing her attention back to her statement, "Is that what happened?"

Seika scratched at her long chocolate locks, "Uh, yeah, I don't really understand it."

"Didn't your mom and grandma always say the women in your family were something called earth witches or something?" she asked while rummaging through the bag she had brought with her.

"Well, yeah," she shrugged to herself, "And we have a lot of sacred plants and what not around our family shrine, like you do, but it's not like its true or any-" Kagome thrust an old yellowed letter along with a fresher one in the girls face, interrupting her, "What's this?"

"I freaked out when you disappeared so the first place I went to was your house," the girl explained as she accepted a cup of tea from the elderly woman, "When I explained that I couldn't find you to your mom, she gave me those and said I'd find you in the past. I didn't understand what she meant until InuYasha showed up and said there was someone that was dressed like me here. I guess they say what's supposed to be going on. Your mom was really calm when I told her you were missing, and a little sad. I think she knew something like this was going to happen."

Seika stared at the letters in her hands with serious green eyes full of anxiety. She couldn't say how she knew, but neither of them bore good news. With a deep breath, she opened the newer envelope, assuming it was from her mother.

'My Dear Seika,

I know you must be terribly confused and afraid right now, but don't worry. You are a strong young woman and I know you will do great things with your life. I wish we had more time together, but I know you're ready for what's to come.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner, you simply wouldn't have understood if I had. I didn't believe it when my mother told me, not until I was older and began to see the things you could do. I'm so sorry.

Just know that I love you very much, and I am so proud of you!

Love always,

Your Mother.'

"This sounds like a goodbye letter," she whispered and her heart sank as she let her eyes run over her mother's curly script again. She took a deep breath, tears beginning to sting the corners of her eyes, and tore her attention from her mother's letter in begrudging favor for the old tattered document, taking care while opening it for fear of tearing it.

'I have woken in the night from a wondrous dream. There is to be a magnificent happening some time from now.

The world will have changed dramatically from what it is now, but my family will strive on, strong and ever a part of the earth.

There will be a young girl from this strange new world that will return to these times and do wondrous things.

She will help to make whole a precious shattered gem and bring happiness to a many people with her overwhelmingly powerful gifts from the earth in her life time.

I am convinced this is not simply a dream. I write this in hopes that the day this young girl is birthed to this world, she will believe this story with my help.

Know that whoever you are, you are immensely powerful in so many ways.

May your ancestors watch over and guide you.'

Seika stared at the paper a moment longer before quietly setting it on the table. Kagome looked at her expectantly, waiting to hear what the letters said. Instead, she watched as her usually calm and collected friend let out a shuttered breath, followed shortly by large tears. "Seika? What did they say?" Kagome asked with concern. Surely it couldn't be that bad.

"I'm stuck here," she choked and sobbed into her sleeves, "I don't think I can leave." The girl buried her face in her arms and wept. Kagome noticed InuYasha's subtle escape as she consoled her distraught friend and shook her head. He couldn't even be around a crying woman when he barely knew them. "I don't understand. Why is this happening?"

A/N: For anyone that may recognize some similarities between this and story called 'The Moment a Man's World Stands Still', this is the beginning of that story, the events that lead up to InuYasha and Seika getting to the point that is that oneshot, and the events that occur after.

Like always, updates will not be consistent but I've been working on this one pretty steadily, so hopefully you guys won't have to wait long between chapters. I'll just have to work harder on not updating too frequently so that I'll have something to post when it's actually time to post something XD

I would like to take this opportunity to ask that no one label Seika as a Mary Sue just yet and think she's only going to replace Kagome in the story, because that's not the case at all. Just, please, give Seika the chance to show you that she is her own person and that she's more than just a knock off Kagome.

Let me know what you think so I can get a better idea of what direction to head in.

Love, peace, and chicken grease!

~Nox