"What did the woman give you Kagome?" Shippou came over to her.
"I think they are kimonos, but I am not sure."
Kagome unfolded one to see that it was a plain cotton turquoise kimono with a midnight blue obi. She folded it back up then put it in her bag. Next she unfolded the next one and saw that it was a rose pink kimono with bamboo stems and a green obi. She folded that kimono and put it into her bag then zipped it up. Standing up she put her bag on her back then shouldered her quiver and bow.
"Well let's get going." Kagome turned and walked down the path. They traveled until it was to dark for Kagome, Sango, and Miroku to see. By the time a small fire was going good it was to late for any meat so Kagome only cooked ramen for the group then she laid out her bed. After she ate she went over and sat on her bed.
"So Kouga have you seen Ayame lately?" Shippou asked. Kouga shook his head no.
"She showed up the other day asking him when he was going to hold true to his promise on making her his mate." Hakkaku said. He jumped when Kouga looked at him. "Oh sorry."
"So when are you leaving flea bag?"
"Like Kagome said I and my men will travel until we get where we are going."
"You are not traveling with us clear to the south."
"And I said we are dog breath." Kouga and Inuyasha started yelling back and forth. Inuyasha went somewhat silent when Miroku hit him in the back of the head with his staff then pointed to the sleeping Kagome. "We will settle this later."
The next day as they traveled both Inuyasha and Kouga started the day off throwing insults at each other as soon as the whole group woke up, ate and left. Here it was mid afternoon and they started up their insults again because Kouga helped Kagome to stand up.
"Would you two STOP IT ALREADY!" Kagome walked through the two without stopping.
"I guess sis told them." Ginta said low. Then followed the others and leaving the two behind.
Everyone traveled in silence the rest of the afternoon until they stopped for the evening. Kouga tried to talk to Kagome but she did not return the conversation. She didn't even respond to Inuyasha. Kagome stood up and walked over to check the cooking meat. She turned around to see a little girl run into camp wearing an orange and yellow checkered kimono with a green obi. She froze as the eight underlings leaped to their feet growling and moving towards the girl. Kagome recognized the girl. She was the one who saved the green imp when he tried to take Inuyasha's sword. Seeing the girl terrified and the wolves were getting closer to the girl Kagome went over to her.
"Don't worry they won't hurt you." Kagome turned to look at Kouga. "If they harm her don't bother coming around anymore." The wolves backed off. She looked back at the girl. "Why don't you go sit by that yellow bag over there."
"Ok." The girl walked over and sat down.
"The meat is done." Kagome cut enough for herself and for the girl to get their stomachs full then walked over and sat by her. "Here you are."
"Thank you."
"My name is Kagome. What's yours?" Kagome asked.
"Rin." She put some meat in her mouth. Kagome took a drink of her water then handed it to Rin.
"So where are your parents Rin?"
"They were killed bandits."
"What are you doing out here by yourself?"
"I was looking for food and master Jaken left me. I saw light and thought that I was back to our camp." Rin finished her food and drank more water and yawned.
"Why don't you lay right here and go to sleep." Rin looked down and saw the bedding then laid down and fell asleep. She started making sounds in her sleep so Kagome gently pulled Rin into her lap and leaning her against her chest.
"Who is she Kagome?" Sango asked sitting by Miroku.
"Her name is Rin. I've seen her one other time. I think she travels with..." She watched as a green toad creature dressed in brown and had a staff came running into camp with another person following.
What are you doing here Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha yelled as Sesshoumaru scanned the camp and his eyes stopped on the site of Rin asleep in Kagome's lap. "Did you hear me? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Kagome covered Rin's ears.
"Inuyasha stop yelling!" Kagome voiced.
"Not until he says why he is here then leaves."
"I answer not to a half breed." Kagome saw Inuyasha open his mouth.
"Inuyasha SIT." The beads glowed pink as the hanyou went face down. Then she looked at Sesshoumaru. "She came running into camp thinking it was yours. She said that thing there left her as she was looking for food. We fed her some of our food so she has eaten."
"She lies." Jaken spoke.
"Jaken retrieve Ah-Un."
"Yes Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken left.
"Sesshoumaru, if I may ask why are you here other than to find Rin? Are you traveling south due to the strong aura?"
"Kagome do NOT ask him to join. It's bad enough with flea bag over there." Inuyasha pointed to Kouga.
"Shut up albino mutt." Kouga yelled back.
"Would you two stop! You both are acting like two little children."
"Hmm Kagome." Rin yawned as she opened her eyes.
"Sesshoumaru-sama." Rin left Kagome's lap and went to Sesshoumaru. "This pretty lady kept wolves from coming close to me and gave tasty meat to me to eat. Could we stay a bit longer?" Rin looked up at Sesshoumaru.
"No he can't stay here."
"Do you have to be so rude Inuyasha? It is not just you in this group. If it was not for me being able to see and since the shards we would not of gotten as far as we have and you would be without many things because you would still be pinned to that tree."
"As long as you have that in mind Kagome, if it was not for you the Jewel would not be in pieces in the first place."
"You ungrateful, uncaring user. No wonder you were alone most of your life before Kikyou or I came along. Seeing how you treat others." Kagome grabbed her bow and quiver then went to leave the camp.
"You should listen to your woman." Sesshoumaru spoke.
"I'm not his woman." Kouga went to speak. "I'm not yours either Kouga. I'm not with anyone like that." Finally she left camp not knowing a small girl followed her.
"Can I come with Kagome?" The voice of a girl came behind her. Kagome turned and waved Rin over.
"What is it like for you traveling with Sesshoumaru?"
"Sesshoumaru-sama does not speak much. Master Jaken speaks and yells lots and is mean towards Rin many times, but I am happy." Rin said as she sat on the ground next to a tree with Kagome. "Why don't Kagome travel with Rin."
"There would be no way that I would be able to do that. To get away from Inuyasha for a while to rest would be great." Both girls jumped when the sound of rustling leaves came from behind them.
"Sis are you alright? Why don't you come with us to get away?" Ginta knelt down in front of Kagome and Rin.
"Because you and I both know that Inuyasha will follow and both Kouga and Inuyasha would be at each other's throats and I would be in allot of stress because of it." During Kagome's conversation with Ginta, Rin fell asleep with her head on Kagome's lap. Ginta picked up the girl so Kagome could stand up then handed the child back to Kagome and they headed back to camp. Upon entering the camp Kagome watched Sesshoumaru look towards her. "She is sleeping." He watched Kagome lay Rin down on the make shift bed then she grabbed a blanket, laid down next to Rin and covered them up. "Let her sleep here until morning Sesshoumaru." She voiced as she fell asleep.
"Jaken remain here." Sesshoumaru walked out of camp and out of Inuyasha's range to sense anything. The rest of the group settled in for the night as well.
Inuyasha walked over and sat in the nearest tree. He sat there looking over everyone in the camp. He sat there that way for a few hours before he to let sleep consume him. Towards early morning he found himself on the ground and heard Kagome talking in her sleep. Being as it was close for the sun to rise he started waking everyone up.
The morning meal was caught, cooked and ate. Now everyone was getting everything ready to go when Sesshoumaru entered the camp. The two-headed dragon was behind him.
"Thanks. I hope to see you again." Rin waved then went over to Ah-Un and Sesshoumaru left with the creature following. After the sight of the western lord leaving with a human girl in his company Inuyasha and the others were off heading further south. Walking along Kagome looked up to see two soul stealers fly by.
"Look soul stealers. That means Kikyou is around somewhere. Why don't you go look for her Inuyasha? I know that you seen them and your wanting to go. We will be fine.'
"Kagome, ..."
"Go to her." Kagome smiled at him as he turned to leave.
"Who is she talking about?"
"Kikyou was Inuyasha's love and still is. She's the walking dead who depends on the souls of people that have passed from this world so she can remain here. Those soul stealers steal the souls of the newly dead and brings them to her and get pulled into her body. He goes to her when he sees the soul stealers so he can be alone with her. He prefers his dead lover over Kagome. She's the reason Naraku has a big piece of the jewel. Kikyou took it from Kagome and gave it to him." Shippou told Kouga.
"I'm not sad or hurt by this Shippou because I can't compare and never will to her. If this makes him happy then who am I to say? So I am happy for him truly."
"What should we do Kagome?"
"Well we need to look for a stream, hot spring or pond if possible."
I'll do a quick fly around and check." Kirara and Sango left. The others sat and waited for Sango to return. Ten minutes later Sango returned.
"There is no stream or anything near by that I could find."
"Even though we have allot of day light left we will set up camp over there by those trees." They walked a couple hundred yards until they reached a good spot without big rocks, thorn bushes then set up camp. Kagome and Shippou looked for wood to build a fire later for cooking.
"Kagome we will go and hunt something for the evening meal." Kouga said then knelt down to the underlings and said something and stood back up then he and Ginta and Hakkaku left with four of the eight underlings while four remained behind.
"What do you think we will find when we get to where we are heading?"
"To tell you the truth I am not sure. If it's a youkai with any pieces of the jewel we will deal with it, but if it is Naraku then I doubt that he is still there, but that is yet to see until we get there." Kagome said.
"Hopefully Kikyou does not distract Inuyasha if we have to battle Naraku like she has many times." Miroku stated.
"No kidding. One of these times one of us will seriously be injured or killed." Sango stated before something moved by them. The three turned to see what it was or who it was. They saw that Kouga was standing there with a rather large deer over his shoulders. They fixed it so that it could be put over the fire.
"Are you going to camp here until dog breath decides to leave the dead behind so we can continue on or do we set out in the morning and let him catch up with us?" Kouga asked.
"What do you say guys? Should we wait or should we continue on?" Kagome asked.
"If it was Inuyasha, he would up and leave. Like he did when Kagome talked to that one woman and her family. Kagome had to walk fast to catch up before we left the village." Shippou said.
"Though he is a member of this group we will head out and travel as we would normally." Kagome told everyone.
The following day the group headed out. Kagome wondered if the choice she made was the right one or not. Periodically Sango took to the sky to see where they were at and what lay ahead of them. Sango informed the others that there were three paths to choose from coming up. When they got to the place that they needed to choose which way to go Kagome picked to go to the right. They traveled and the path started to incline. As they followed the path it started to get steeper and steeper. They came close to a sheer drop off so they continued. Seeing as the sun started to go down and not knowing what was ahead they made camp where they were at and continue in the morning.
"You guys stay here and we'll hunt for something to eat."
"So when do you think Inuyasha will catch up with us?" Shippou asked sitting next to Kagome.
"There's no way of knowing when he will meet up with us. It all depends when he chooses to leave Kikyou's side. It could be sometime tonight or a few days." Kagome answered.
"That was some strange sight last night and this morning. With Sesshoumaru coming in search of the child then this morning leaving with her following him." Miroku said.
"Ya I thought he hated humans."
"Last night I asked Rin what it was like to travel with Sesshoumaru. She said that Sesshoumaru does not speak much. Which we know that already. She also said that the one known as Jaken yells allot and is mean to her, but she likes traveling with Sesshoumaru."
"That leads you to think there is a different side to him other than the cold emotionless side. Like he has a kind and gentle side to him as well." Sango said.
"Kouga's returning." Shippou announced. When Kouga returned he placed five fish down in front of Kagome.
"The wood will be here in a bit so you may cook. There is still no sign of the mutt yet." When the other two showed up they saw that there was not much wood. Kouga saw the look on their faces. "We don't want to draw our enemies to us."
The group cooked the fish, talked and ate them. After the fish was ate they put out the fire and everyone except Kouga, Ginta and Hakkaku went to bed while the three sat up and kept watch. During part of the watch Kouga walked over and sat by Kagome and watched her sleep and hold Shippou in her arms like he was her son. Towards morning he sent Ginta and Hakkaku out to catch and clean the game that they would catch and bring it back. Kagome and her friends woke to the smell of cooking food.
"Sango could you do me a favor?"
"What is it Kagome?"
"Could you hold this blanket up so the guys can't see me change my clothes." Sango walked over and took the blanket as Kagome opened her bag and grabbed the rose pink kimono with the bamboo stems on it and the green obi. When she was dressed she went to Sango and took the blanket and folded it. "Thank you Sango."
"Would you want to wait for the mutt a little longer or head out?"
"Let's head out."
Picking up her bag along with her bow and quiver full of arrows they headed further up the hill. When they reached as far as they could and what looked like a dead end, everyone looked around to see if there was another pathway anywhere.
"Hey look over here." Shippou called out from the left. The others walked over to where he was.
"What is it Shippou?"
"Look there's a pathway." Shippou pointed. They say a narrow path with a sheer drop to one side and a stonewall on the other.
"I don't think we can go through there." Sango stated.
"Stay here and I'll check it out." Kouga made his way past the kitsune and out onto the small path. He walked a good distance away then came back. "We can travel that path, but watch your footing. There are allot of loose rocks on the path."
Shippou went first followed by Sango with Kirara on her shoulder then followed by Miroku. Ginta and Hakkaku then went followed by the underlings. The only ones left were Kouga and Kagome. Kouga was walking by facing the direction they had to travel while Kagome had her back to the wall. Kouga stopped and looked back at Kagome and saw that she had her back against the wall and carefully making her way down the path. He turned and walked over to her.
"Take my hand Kagome." She took Kouga's hand. As they neared the other side they felt the gust of the wind.
"Thank you Kouga." They carried on after she took his hand. For about an hour after they left the narrow passage way Kouga knew they were being followed. As they traveled on it started to rain so Kouga wrapped his arm around Kagome to keep her warm but smiled to himself.
"Get your arm off of her!"
"Well the half dog finally showed up. I started to think that I needed to become the new male pack leader of this group. Where as to help protect this group." Kouga watched as anger started to rise in Inuyasha as he walked over to him and Kagome.
"I said get your arm off from being around her."
"You have no clam to her." Kouga stepped away a slight bit which
caused enough room for Inuyasha to circle him. "In fact the only claim
that you have is being washed off by this rain." Inuyasha went for
Kouga but he moved out of the way.
As they continued to fight they forgot their surroundings. Where as they both almost fell off the cliff as they continued. Kagome and the others had to keep moving so they would not get caught up in the fight. At this moment Kagome was trapped close to the edge of the cliff. The group watched in horror as Inuyasha jumped backwards bumping into Kagome sending her over the edge then went towards Kouga.
"KAGOME!" The group yelled as they ran over to were Kagome had been standing. The sudden yell made both Kouga and Inuyasha to stop fighting and rush over as well. Looking over the edge they saw Kagome holding the best she could to a boulder sticking out.
"You stupid mutt look what you made happen." Kouga yelled.
"If you didn't have your arm wrapped around her..."
"Would you two shut up. The important thing right now is to get to Kagome." Shippou yelled at the two.
"Kagome stay clam. We are trying to find a way to get to you since we can't use Kirara until her wounds heal from that badger that attacked her." Sango said.
"Hurry because my hands want to slip."
"Sis do you see any ledges close to you anywhere?" Ginta called down to her.
"I'll look." Kagome looked to her left and saw nothing then to her right again nothing. Looking down all she saw were clouds so she did not know how far up she was. She looked up and saw another rock. "I don't see any, but there is another rock that I think that I might be able to reach."
"Don't try it Kagome." Kouga yelled.
"I've go to do something. Unless you've got some better plan. Because my arms are beginning to hurt." With no other option Kagome reached for the other rock. Moving she prepared herself to pull herself up. "Guys I'm going for it." She took a deep breath then began to pull her body up but as she was about to place her feet on the boulder that she was just at her hands slipped and she fell and disappeared within the clouds.
"KAGOMEEEE!!!" Inuyasha's voice rang out.
Falling from the rock Kagome watched as her friends got smaller and smaller then disappeared as she went through the clouds then a sharp pain shot through her as her body hit ground and began to roll down a slope. She felt the rocks, branches and roots cutting into her flesh. She rolled then once again the ground left from under her then as fast as the ground disappeared it showed back up before everything went black and her head hit the ground before rolling into a trunk of a tree and stopped.
Back at the top of the cliff Inuyasha was still yelling her name as Sango held a crying Shippou. Kouga sent out the underlings to see if there was another way to get down from the cliff other than the way Kagome went or back tracking.
"Inuyasha stop yelling. Help us think about what to do."
"You... you don't think that she's..." Shippou was cut off.
"Don't say such things Shippou." Sango tried to comfort him as she held back tears.
They were still waiting for the underlings to come back as it started to grow dark and started to rain harder. Sango watched as Shippou laid on Kagome's backpack and cried himself to sleep.
"If those wolves don't come soon then I'm going to jump down after her." Inuyasha said.
"Even if you could survive what and how will you see her in the dark? The rain would of washed her scent away. How would you know where she landed at?" Miroku asked.
"The monk is right. We must wait for the underlings to bring back some word. If we were to become wounded then that will hinder us more than this rain is doing. We would not be able to help her." Hakkaku spoke up.
"Well whatever happens we must find her and hope she's not dead for Shippou's and her families sake." Sango looked at the others.
