A/N: I was so excited about this story that I worked all day on the second chapter! I wish I could just write continuously. Who needs sleep anyways? Thank you for your reads and reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own any of the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot of this story, though.

Chapter 2-

Worry

"Lord Sesshomaru, Rin will take a bath with Lady Kagome now! Is that okay?"
The girl was practically bouncing in place as she looked to the demon Lord for confirmation. The two girls had just finished eating the fish that had been caught earlier that day. Sitting by the fire waiting for Kagome to finish her meal had pushed the child to extreme boredom.
"Hn."
Sitting lotus style on the ground, the Lord watched as the young girl stood before him, holding the Miko's hand in her own. He did not find any pleasure in having this woman in his camp, but his ward seemed ecstatic to have another human to keep her company. The stench coming from the Miko was beginning to settle around the camp, so maybe bathing wouldn't be too bad of an idea.
"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru! Come on Lady Kagome, Rin will help you wash your hair!"
The girl smiled brightly and pulled Kagome along through the woods towards an open spring. When the two approached the edge, Kagome could see that the water was clear and had a few leaves drifting on its surface. The small spring was surrounded by large rocks, most of them smooth and covered in dark green algae. Reaching her hand to feel the water, she found it was surprisingly cool. She would have to go in slowly though, due to the cuts and bruises afflicting her body. In light of the wounds she had, she was grateful for the spring. The water was sure to feel good in contrast to the summer heat. It may have been night, but the heat of the season still lingered.

"Rin will get some flowers for our bath!" The child ran off towards the trees and began picking at the grass. The flowers she saw there were purple, about the size of her palm, and seemed familiar. Kagome brushed off the feeling and watched as Rin filled her hands with as many of the flowers as she could, laughing to herself all the while.

Kagome smiled at the sight then turned her attention to her soiled and torn clothes. She took notice of her attire; a short green skirt accompanied by a green and white top. The top had long sleeves with green cuffs, and at the top was a green collar with a small red, bow-like sash in the middle. They were both covered in dirt, some kind of black sludge, and grass. On the bright side, at least her clothes weren't torn.

'I wonder why my clothes are so different from theirs…' Kagome shrugged off the question, deciding now wasn't the time to start questioning things again. Pulling off the clothes and the undergarments underneath, she was joined by a now naked Rin; who was holding an armful of purple flowers.

"Okay! Rin has gathered all the flowers for the bath! They will make us smell really, really good!" The girl giggled and threw the flowers into the water handfuls at a time. Smiling wildly after all her purple additions were floating along the top of the water; she then jumped in, splashing water all over Kagome in the process.

"Ahhh!" Kagome winced as she was assaulted by the chilly water. She was definitely not prepared for how cold it was against the rest of her skin. Luckily the water didn't sting her cuts too badly. Composing herself, she decided to hurry and get the first step over with. Reaching a foot towards the spring she slowly stepped into the cool water. She followed with her other foot and began to let her body become submerged. Blinking in surprise, Kagome raised her arms out of the water for a closer look. There was no pain or sting of the water. She knew she had not dreamed up the cuts on her arms, so why was there no pain? Curiously, she stared at her arms; the cuts were still there, but they were glowing a soft pink and slowly healing, as was her broken wrist.

'What the…?' She thought in shock at the sight of her healing body.

"Lady Kagome, are your wounds healing alright?" The small girl waded over to where Kagome stood dumfounded by what was happening.

"Rin… My cuts… My wrist was broken. How did that…" Slightly startled out of her stupor, Kagome looked from her now healed arms to Rin. "How did my body do that?"

"You don't remember? Oh yeah… Your memory… Well… Last time we met you showed Rin these pretty flowers and told me that you could use a spell to make them heal wounds." She pointed to the pink light encircling her now-healed wrist. "See? You did the spell again! Lady Kagome is amazing!" Rin smiled up at Kagome.

"I… I did that…? How is that even possible…?" The woman looked confused and tore her eyes from the child to asses her healed skin. The pink light faded and her body felt much better. All of the cuts and bruises had disappeared from her skin, leaving nothing but a fair smoothness behind.

"It's because Lady Kagome is a Miko!" Rin said matter-of-factly as she played with a near-by flower. "Rin remembers that a Miko is very powerful and can heal all sorts of stuff!" The child smiled and offered Kagome an extra flower that she had managed to catch.

'A Miko… I'm a Miko… But, if I can heal, why can't I heal my mind and return my memories?' Kagome sighed; she did not understand any of this. Shaking her head, she decided not to worry the smiling girl before her. The girl had done so much already for her, it would be rude to hound her about everything. Turning to the girl, she smiled warmly.

"Rin, do you want to wash my hair?"

"Yes!" The girl beamed and practically jumped out of the water. The two began to laugh at each other and proceeded with their bath.

After their bath, the two dried by the fire and laid down against the warm ground. Kagome thought to herself before sleep finally crashed down.

'I will remember. I have to.'

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Inuyasha stop!" Shouted an angry demon slayer.

"Go to hell! I know she went back home and I'm gonna drag the wench back by her hair! I can't believe she took the jewel sharks with her!" Retorted a pissed off half demon.

"She would have told us if she was going back home." A small fox sighed.

"That's right, she also left her back pack here so she couldn't have gone far." Agreed a tired monk.

Four voices rang high in the morning air, all of them filled with frustration. The group had been following behind the angry hanyo; in the opposite direction they needed to go. Ever since they woke up it has been nothing but curse words and exasperated sighs.

"Miroku, please try to talk some sense into that idiot. He obviously doesn't understand anything I say." The dark-haired demon slayer gave a pleading glance to the monk beside her. She knew he of all people could get him to listen; they were both men after all.

"Sango I don't think he wants to understand. He has been mad since he came back this morning. If only Kagome would hurry and come back, she could pacify his anger…" The monk sighed, his purple robes swaying as he stepped in sync with his gold staff.

"Yeah, pacify him with a 'SIT' is what she'd do." The young fox laughed as he rode atop a large twin-tailed cat.

"Shippo's right. I'm almost excited to see that happen." The monk laughed and slowed his pace to walk beside the demon slayer.

"I can HEAR you idiots back there, ya know!" The white-haired hanyo fumed as he walked towards his destination. He had come back this morning ready to continue the quest for Naraku, but Kagome was not there. He figured she was taking a bath, something she did all too much in his opinion, so he waited with the others. They waited for nearly two hours before calling out and searching for her. She was nowhere near the camp, yet her scent still lingered. He had a feeling where she had gone. He knew she spied on him last night. She had followed him when he went to visit his dead lover, Kikyo. He didn't think she would stay the whole duration of his visit. He knew she witnessed him kiss Kikyo. He felt a twinge of guilt, but he couldn't bring himself to follow after her when he heard her run off. Why did he have to choose? It wasn't fair. Having thought that, he figured she probably got angry and went back home until he retrieved her. That's what she would normally do… But it felt different this time. He couldn't sense nor smell her anywhere as he neared the old Bone-Eater's well. Usually he could feel if she had used the well to go back to her home in her time.

'What the hell? Where could she have gone then? She wouldn't just leave us like that, no matter how mad she was.' He stood in front of the well and angrily scratched his head.

"So did she go back?" A calm male voice came from behind him. The monk glanced curiously from the well to the white-haired man beside him.

"No. I don't get it, where the hell did she go? Damn it!" He slammed his fist down against the lip of the well, causing it to shake gently.

"Inuyasha maybe we should look around the forest some more. Was her scent still there when we left?" Sango crossed her arms and looked down worriedly. The monk placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. She smiled lightly at his gesture.

"Keh. Come on before I lose the smell." Inuyasha jumped up and ran to where they had camped the night before. He was getting worried, and that made him even angrier. He quickened his pace, not caring if the rest of the group was falling behind. The sun was beating down on them. The summer heat made running for long periods difficult, the need for water and rest increased as the temperature did. Luckily the wind was blowing today; it would help keep them cool, as well as help find Kagome's scent.

Kagome.

The hanyo stopped. He could smell her.

'Wait… That's…' He began to run and took a sharp left and ended up in a small clearing. He surveyed the area; black chunks and slimy globs of dark blood littered the ground around him. It's a snake demon. Well, was a snake demon. He turned his face to where the smell was coming from.

'Her blood.' Inuyasha jumped to the spot where the scent was strongest. He could see foot prints and what looked like a hand print riddled with a few drops of blood in the dirt. He became anxious. It's not a lot of blood, she was still alive, but where?

'Where could she have gone?' He looked at the pieces of torn flesh on the ground. 'She couldn't have done that… She didn't have her bow or her arrows.'

"No..." His nose caught the scent of another; one person he never wanted to see, especially not with Kagome.

The rest of his group finally caught up and stopped beside him.

"Inuyasha, what the hell? What did you find?" Sango was upset that he had just ran off, but her anger turned into fear when she saw the hanyo's face twisted with rage. Miroku and Sango looked from Inuyasha, to each other, and then back to him. The white-haired man was grasping the dirt and growling towards a certain place in the woods before them. He stood up abruptly and began walking across the small open area and into the woods in front of them. He followed the scent until he found himself at an abandoned camp.

'That son of a bitch!' Inuyasha growled and went to the spot where Kagome's scent was strongest. He couldn't smell blood anymore, which was a relief. He also couldn't smell anyone else's scent mixed in, which was an even better relief. He sat down and tried to get his thoughts straightened out.

'What the hell would she be doing with him? Why had she been bleeding? Where the hell could they have gone?' He mulled it over as he sat there. 'That's right, she was obviously a hostage. The bastard wanted to trade her for Tessaiga.'

"Inuyasha, seriously! What are you doing?! Do you smell Kagome?" The angry demon slayer was in his face now; her brow was furrowed in worry and aggravation.

"She was here… She was hurt, too. He took her. That bastard took her for a hostage!" Inuyasha got up and tightened his fists to try to relieve some of his anger.

"What do you mean he took her? Who is he?" Miroku walked up and gave a questioning look to the fuming man. The monk had a thought; "Naraku?"

"No." Inuyasha shook his head. He rubbed his eyes angrily with his hands and finally looked at the two humans before him.

"Sesshomaru." He spit out; the word dripping with hatred. He started walking in the direction Kagome's scent was lingering in. He was going to kill that bastard for thinking he could just take her like that.

'He wants Tessaiga? Oh, he'll get it. He'll get a belly full of my Backlash Wave!' Grinding his teeth he motioned for the others to follow his lead. No way in hell was he going to waste any more time.

"Sesshomaru…? But why would he want Kagome? I thought he hated humans more than anything?" The little fox piped up from his spot on the large cat demon. He was fidgeting with his tail; his eyes and voice full of worry.

"I see… He is going to use her as a trade for Tessaiga. What a dirty move." Miroku glared at his own words and tried to match Inuyasha's pace. He had to help their friend; there was no telling what that demon lord would do to her.

"That bastard!" Sango slammed her foot down and raced to catch up with the others. "Kirara!" She had her hands in angry fists; how could she let her best friend just walk out of camp on her own? She felt partly responsible and was determined that they would free their friend from the demon lord's grasp.

The group of friends, led by a continuously fuming Inuyasha, quickly followed Kagome's scent. Luckily the trail stuck to the forest and not the sky, so all they had to do was hurry and reach the girl. Having wasted hours of precious time already when they went to the well, they ran. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all rode atop the cat demon. Inuyasha jumped from tree to tree, urging his feet to go faster.

'Kagome… I'm coming, just hold on.'