Shippo watched Kagome chance a peek out the window to their room. They kept it dark so that no one who happened to be passing by could see inside. Inuyasha sat in the darkest corner of the room with Tetsusaiga by his side, anxious as always on the nights of the new moon when he became a human and lost his powers.
However, tonight he was antsier than usual. In the village they were staying at, the people had been talking about strange events taking place within their village over the past week. First, the healer's daughter Noriko disappeared in the woods. Then, several villagers awoke during the middle of the night due to a strange noise, only to discover in the morning that many of their livestock had their throats cut. Now, a number of people in the village have come down with some kind of strange illness that left them unable to get out of bed and unusual thin black markings like vines covered their bodies.
The owners of the inn allowed them to stay for the night for free, provided that they were able to put a stop to whatever was causing all this to happen. Inuyasha had resisted at first, but Miroku had pointed out that if they didn't do this, they would have to spend the night outside, and that would leave them all much more vulnerable. So now, while Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo waited inside the room that had sutras put across it to keep any evil demons or spirits out, Miroku and Sango were patrolling in the village with Kilala waiting for any sign of the creature that was the cause of all the misfortune.
"Do you think they're going to be okay?" Shippo asked as he hopped onto the windowsill to look outside. "I sure hope so. We're still not sure exactly what kind of demon or spirit we are dealing with here," Kagome responded as she turned away from the window and sat down on the floor of the room.
"Keh. I don't know what you're so worried about. So long as those two don't do anything stupid, they should be fine," Inuyasha said, although Shippo knew that Inuyasha was just as concerned about them as they were.
"I'm going to go look for them," Shippo said as he jumped out the window and ran off before anyone could stop him. He heard Kagome call for him as he ran, but he did not stop. As he ran through the village, looking for Sango and Miroku, he heard the sound of someone crying. He stopped and followed the sound behind the home of one of the villagers. There he saw a young girl in a pink kimono and a white flower in her brown hair crying over the bodies of dead chickens that had been taken out of their coop and left to be found.
Going over to where she was on her knees on the ground, Shippo came up and patted her on the back saying, "I'm sorry about your chickens. Please don't cry. My friends and I will find the ones who did this and put a stop to it." The girl looked at him and asked, "Are you friends with the monk and the demon slayer?" Pulling himself up to be as tall as he can, he crossed his arms and said, "That's right, and I am their leader, the great Shippo!" Smiling at him, she got up on her feet and said, "Is that right? Well then Shippo, would you like to play a game?" "A game? What kind of a game?" Shippo asked with his head cocked to one side.
Suddenly, he heard Miroku's voice shout, "Shippo, get away from her! It's a trap!" Shippo whirled around to see Miroku running towards him. "Huh? Wh-what do you mean?" he asked when all of a sudden he was yanked off the ground by his hair and grabbed from behind. Shippo gave a yelp, and then gulped when he felt the cold edge of a knife pressed against his throat. He felt something slide slowly down his neck, and for a moment was worried that she had cut him, when Miroku said, "I see you've used that knife on those poor animals again. Release Shippo at once."
It was at that moment when the village healer turned the corner and, looking at the scene before her exclaimed, "Oh my God, Noriko, is that really you? Are you the one who has been doing all of this?" Shippo shivered as the girl gave a high pitched giggle, for it had an unearthly ring to it, and his eyes widened when he looked down and saw the girl's shadow. Noriko's shadow had several short, pointy horns coming out of its head, and a barbed tail that whipped back and forth wildly.
Wait a minute, why can I see her shadow? It's a new moon tonight, so where is this light coming from? That was when he smelled smoke and ash and out of the corner of his eye he saw a large black cloud and what appeared to sparks of flame shooting up into the sky. He could hear the shouts of the villagers, as well as Sango yelling at the villagers to retrieve more water.
"What's wrong mother? I thought you would've been happy to see me after thinking that I had gotten lost in the forest. Or is it that you just don't love me anymore?" Noriko's voice spoke out as she tightened her grip on little Shippo. "Stay back. It appears to be a malevolent spirit has taken possession of your daughter," Miroku said to the woman without looking away. "You're smarter than you look monk. I wouldn't try anything if I were you. Besides, even if you were to hit me, do you really want the girl's death on your hands as well?" Miroku gritted his teeth and made a frustrated sound.
"Hey, you there! Put Shippo down right now!" cried out a voice, and Miroku turned to see it was Kagome with her bow knocked into position with a holy arrow pointed right at Noriko. "Kagome!" Shippo and Miroku said in unison, while the creature possessing Noriko simply gave another high pitched giggle and said, "Ha! As if! The only reason you haven't tried destroying me yet is because of this little runt right here. You wouldn't dare risk hitting him instead."
"You wanna bet?" Kagome said as her arrow went flying straight towards them. Shippo yelled in fear and even his captor gasped in surprise. The arrow flew right past Shippo and hit Noriko straight in the arm, giving off a burst of light as it did so. Noriko screamed in pain as she released Shippo, who scampered off behind Miroku. For a moment Noriko's body shimmered and there was an instant when it appeared that the spirit possessing her body would lose control. In that instant, the little girl's eyes returned from their yellowish color to their natural brown and the girl cried out "Mommy!" in distress before her body was possessed again. The child ran away from them towards the forest, and the others took off in pursuit.
Just as Noriko was reaching the outskirts of the village a chain whipped itself around her and pulled her back onto the ground. Kagome, Shippo, and Miroku saw Sango riding up on Kilala. "Sango, what about the fire that got started in the healer's home?" Miroku asked as Sango began reeling in Noriko, who was busy kicking and screaming on the ground as she struggled to be released.
"The villagers have it under control. Now all we have to do is exorcise it," Sango replied. Then, without provocation, Noriko began laughing in a crazed voice that made everyone turn to stare at her, as though she had gone insane. She looked at them with her yellow eyes, her pupils down to slits, and said, "You fools! By the time you've figured it out, the sun will have already risen, and this girl's body will finally be mine."
"What? What are you saying?" Sango asked. "What do you think I'm saying you little wench? This girl's spirit has been fighting me this entire week for control of this body, and now when the sun finally rises Noriko's soul will have faded away and her body will be all mine." The evil spirit cackled again, saying, "Must hurt like a bitch, doesn't it. You've got me right where you want me, and you can't even save the body and soul of one little girl."
They turned towards the horizon, where the sky had already begun to turn pink. That was when Shippo looked at the ground where Noriko's shadow was, and he saw that there were two of them. One belonged to the real Noriko, which was beginning to fade fast, and the other was that of the evil spirit. Wait a minute, that's it! Shippo pointed towards the latter, shouting, "Kagome! Use your arrow on the shadow, quickly!"
The spirit snarled at him, "You little brat!" before Kagome knocked an arrow into her bow and let it fly, hitting the shadow of the malevolent spirit. It let out a cry of pain before surrendering the body just as the sun rose above the horizon, and it appeared to the others that it disappeared with the light of the sun.
The girl Noriko lay on the ground, exhausted from her week-long fight against the spirit, but as Kagome picked her up and began carrying her back to where her mother was waiting for her in the village, she looked at the little kitsune and said to him, "You're my savior, Shippo. Thank you."
Shippo blushed a bit, stuttering out that it was nothing, when suddenly Inuyasha rushed up towards them and said, "So what happened? Were you able to get rid of it?" Shippo heard Miroku said, "We certainly did, with Shippo's help." "Is that so? Well, I knew all along you guys could handle it," Inuyasha said as they walked together back towards the village.
Not too far from the village, in a clearing in the forest…
"Rin! Rin! Where did that foolish girl run off to?" Jaken grumbled out loud. It was not long after sunrise and Lord Sesshoumaru had already gotten a head start. It was then he heard a rustle in the bushes and he turned behind him to see Rin standing at the edge of the forest, remaining in the shadow.
"Where have you been? We need to get moving. Lord Sesshoumaru is already ahead of us," Jaken scolded her. "I'm sorry Master Jaken, I was just collecting flowers for Lord Sesshoumaru," Rin said in response, although she did not move from her position. "Say, Master Jaken…" "Confound it, what is it girl?" Jaken said a little irritably as he turned back to look at her. Smiling brightly, her eyes taking on an unusual glow, she asked, "Would you like to play a game?"