Chapter 4: Lost and Found

Inuyasha groaned in pain, his arm felt like it was throbbing…The yokai fang! Inuyasha immediately sat up and wavered.

"Ow," he groaned, holding his arm, then paused, something was missing. Turning his head, Inuyasha saw that the fang that had imbedded in his arm was gone! AND it had been bandaged up…but…how?

Inuyasha rolled up his sleeve and sure enough, someone had removed the fang and wrapped up the injury with a torn white cloth. The hanyo sniffed the bandage and blinked. Why did it smell so much like…His eyes widened.

"N-no, it…can't be!"

The hanyo looked wildly around, but only saw the sleeping forms of his friends. Bright sunlight streamed through the shattered remains of the trees that Hachi had crashed through when he collapsed.

"Inuyasha?"

The hanyo turned to see Shippo sitting up, holding his head. There was a small slash on his cheek. "Are you okay?"

Inuyasha blinked and looked at his bandaged arm and pulled the sleeve back into place. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine."

He heard a groan and turned to see Miroku sitting up, wincing in pain.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked.

"No," Sango muttered as she leaned against Kirara.

"I'm starting to feel that flight," Hachi groaned, his back cracking as he unsteadily stood up.

"We'd better take care of our wounds," Miroku said and started to rummage through a pack, pulling out a white box with a red cross.

"Where'd you get that?" Inuyasha asked as the monk opened Kagome's first aid box.

"I found it among her belongings," Miroku said, taking out a roll of gauze. "When we went to look for her."

"Speaking of which," Sango said as she helped put a bandage on Shippo's cheek. "Do you still have the shard?"

Inuyasha reached into his shirt and pulled out the bottle that Kagome had worn around her neck, the final shard inside.

"Yup," he said. "I thought I lost it when we crashed."

"Where are we anyway?" Shippo asked. "It looks much more different than Japan." he then wrapped his arms around himself and shivered.

"Yes," Miroku said, wrapping some gauze around Hachi's wrist. "But where exactly, I don't know."

"Could we have landed in China?" Hachi asked.

Miroku shrugged. "Well we did fly for quite some time,"

"Tell me about it," the raccoon-dog muttered.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and tried to stand up, but grunted in pain and stumbled back.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo shouted. "Don't push yourself! You're hurt!"

"Tell me somethin' I don't know!" the hanyo hissed through clenched teeth and sat back down.

"Inuyasha, we need to rest." Sango said. "We kept going and going and we need to stop for a bit. At least enough time for us to regain our strength!"

"That yokai swarm nearly killed you! And us!" Shippo said.

Inuyasha growled. "Fine, but we start searching in the morning!"

The group nodded and went back to fixing their wounds.

Inuyasha leaned against a tree and examined the bandage on his arm. Who would have removed the fang from his arm and bandage it up while he was unconscious? Why did the cloth smell like…Inuyasha stopped himself. It wasn't as if Kagome had come to them during the night…Right?

"We need to come up with a plan!" Sango said. By now, night had fallen and everyone's wounds had been tended to. "Something that does not involve us just running wild through the forest like idiots!"

"I agree," Miroku said, taking a bite of food. "Maybe we can split up in pairs, but stay close. That way, if one of us spots something, we can get to each other much faster!"

"That could work," Sango said shrugging.

Inuyasha snorted from high up in a tree. He pushed his back against the trunk and looked at the bandage again.

"Inuyasha?" Sango called. "Are you okay?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah," the hanyo muttered. "I'm fine." he then looked at the group and paused. Narrowing his eyes, the hanyo remained still for some moments.

"Hey, where's Shippo?"

Shippo lifted his head and sniffed the air. Slowly, the kitsune padded his way through the strange dense forest, looking around.

"Where are we?" he whispered to himself.

After walking for sometime, the kitsune began to see something through the thick foliage of trees. Sprinting through, Shippo found himself staring at a large and beautiful lake. Behind it, was the crumbling ruins of a once-was castle.

Shippo narrowed his eyes and walked along the edge of the lake. Something about this place, he felt, was familiar. It was faint, but the kitsune felt like he had heard of this place, like a story. Looking down on the set of stone steps he was standing on, Shippo saw three faint large claw marks.

A twig snapping startled the kitsune out of his thoughts. Looking around, Shippo leapt into a set of trees, disappearing in the shadows. His tail twitched as two people appeared out from the forest, one shouting at the other.

"How am I supposed to know where it is?"

Shippo froze; that was Kagome's voice! He then heard a second voice; this one had a dark raspy sound to it.

"You were the one who kept the shards! Where would they have gone?"

Kagome turned to face the speaker, but Shippo could not see him through the trees without revealing himself.

"I don't know! You're the one who kidnapped me! You probably dropped them!"

Slap!

Shippo's claws dug into a tree trunk as Kagome was slapped across the face, hard.

Kagome winced as she touched the forming red mark on her cheek.

"I'm trying to be fair with you," Rothbart snarled. "But my patience is reaching its end!" he then looked up at the sky. "And, it looks like you'll have another day to think things over."

Kagome turned to see the moon disappearing beneath the trees. From underneath the shadows, Shippo watched as Kagome made her way onto the lake.

The kitsune blinked in confusion. "What the hell is going on?" he paused. "I really need to stop listening to Inuyasha!"

As the moonlight faded from the lake, Shippo began realized that the water on which Kagome was standing was glowing!

"Nani?" Shippo thought, and almost fell over as the water swirled around Kagome, blocking her from view. Rothbart stormed away from the lake, grumbling to himself. Shippo watched as a white bird with a long neck appeared out of the water, in the same place where Kagome had been!

"A swan," Shippo whispered and stepped out from underneath the trees. "Oh, Hell. Kagome, what have you gotten into?"

(Now what? Anybody recognize what happened to Kagome? Look familiar? If you're thinkin' what I'm writing, then you're right! Kagome's been placed under the same spell that Odette was under in the Swan Princess (with a slight twist)! And what's with Shippo? Why do you think the lake looks familiar to him? Please review and you'll find out!)