"What a thing to say - and on my birthday!" Kagome shrieked at InuYasha while turning away from the Goshinboku and furiously sprinting towards the Bone Eater's well.
Once the young woman was beyond sight, the illusion of the hanyou disappeared, revealing a puppet belonging to Naraku. It had been easy to fool the priestess. He had watched her and her half-breed for weeks, learning their routine, how to upset her as the annoying dog did. Now she was leaving again, down the mysterious well. Naraku had yet to figure out where she disappeared to every time she jumped down the mythical well but he had devised a plan to curse it so she couldn't come back. A wicked laugh escaped him as he disappeared moments before InuYasha charged into the small clearing, screaming curses at his fleeting cloud of miasma.
"Naraku, you bastard! Come back and fight me, you coward!" InuYasha swung his transformed Tessaiga towards the cloud of miasma, hoping to damage the evil hanyou. "Damn it! What did you do to Kagome!? Naraku!" The red-clad hanyou sheathed his sword as he sniffed the air to catch Kagome's scent only to realize the miasma in the air had distorted it. Muttering curses under his breath, he crouched down and began to sniff the forest floor for her trail. Oblivious to him, three of his companions were rapidly approaching the clearing as he stood from his crouch, having caught Kagome's scent trail. He lowered his head as he whispered, "If only I'd just gone over when she called…" InuYasha could smell the anger and tears. Whatever that notorious spider had told Kagome had upset her greatly and now she was back in her time.
Kirara landed in Goshinboku's clearing with Miroku and Sango riding on her back. They had all been at Keade's hut when Kagome left to look for InuYasha who had been scouting the forest.
He kept insisting he sensed a demonic presence but could never find what it was or where it was coming from.
She felt he had been gone too long and decided to go check on him, thinking he might have been secretly sulking in his favorite ancient tree after yet another day with no gossip about the Shikon Jewel or the dastardly fiend.
When they heard InuYasha yelling and felt the too familiar presence of Naraku suddenly being in the area, they had rushed to get there, only to find InuYasha with his head down and whispering to himself.
Miroku was the first to speak up as he jumped off Kirara's back to run up to InuYasha, his staff jangling and his wind tunnel poised ready to open in case there was still a threat to be dealt with. "Well? What happened? I want all the details!" He demanded of the sulken hanyou as he lowered his hand. After several long moments without an answer, Miroku shook InuYasha by the shoulders to gain his friend's attention.
"H-how long have you been standing there?" The hanyou stepped back, startled that he hadn't noticed his friends' approach. He had been so lost in himself, worry eating at his heart over Kagome and what Naraku possibly said to her to make her leave.
"Tell me what you saw, for her sake!" Sango nearly cried with concern over InuYasha's let down guard and the fact Kagome was nowhere to be seen.
InuYasha's ears laid flat against his skull as he looked at his friends, unable to hide the fear that was engulfing him, his voice was barely audible as he relinquished the details of what little he had seen to his companions.
Shippo hopped from one foot to the other anxiously as he looked up at InuYasha, his voice wailing. "You idiot, how could you let Kagome leave without saying goodbye?!" The four sullen appearing companions had just returned to Keade's hut and Kagome wasn't with him, so the fox kit automatically assumed InuYasha and Kagome had fought once more.
Surprisingly, Miroku was the one to whack the kit across the head with his staff as InuYasha marched past without saying a word, only lowering his head further to hide the pain in his eyes.
Sango quietly scolded Shippo as she picked him up before informing him what had transpired.
InuYasha sat across the firepit from Keade and quietly explained what happened with Naraku and then discovering there was an evil aura surrounding the Bone Eater's well that he and Miroku couldn't breech.
Keade hummed thoughtfully as she processed the information her young friends revealed. It had been many years since she last dealt with such a situation. "I must visit the well to see what ye two have told me, only then will I know how to help ye get Kagome back through the well."