Oh, herro! I'm sorry for my LONG absence. I've been busy. In other news, guess what January 8th was? My 14th birthday! Yeah me!!!! And, um, I'd like it if you could forget that he kissed her in the first chapter. Seriously. It did nothing for the plot, and it was totally out of character. Thank you for understanding.

Re-cap

The darkness faded into a black laced with reds, and she felt her body shake.

"Kagome," Bankotsu said as he shook her, and tried to wake her up.

He had started to get scared, because her eyes dripped with tears, and she was saying something that he was unable to make out. Her face looked pained.

"Kagome?" Her eyes fluttered open, still dripping tears; she shot up, and screamed,

"DON'T SAY MY NAME!" Bankotsu immediately recognized this as what she had whispered so many times. Kagome looked around her, realizing that it was all a dream, and brought her hands to her face as she sobbed into the night for re-living memories she had tried well and hard to forget...

"Kagome?" His voice was strained, frustrated. She got up, and wiped the tears off her face. She straitened herself out, and wiped her hands on a cloth that she took out from her kimono.

"This never happened, are we clear?" She didn't even look at him.

"Sure." He said with a wary voice.

The next morning, Bankotsu woke up alone. He looked around the Hut, and noticed something he hadn't before. There was a slip covering a part of the back wall. He'd never thought that there would ever be another room, considering the back of the "hut" faces a mountain side. He walked over to it, forgetting the stabbing pain in his abdomen.

He pushed the slip aside and discovered a whole corridor of rooms. They all had slips with different kanji covering them. He stepped into the first one, and found it filled with the bones of demons, some were in a marble bowl; obviously being crushed to powder. Others were strewn about in the midst of knives, waiting to be sharpened into arrow heads.

'Crafty.' He thought.

He stepped out of that room, and into the next one across from it. As he looked, he could see all the powders, labeled, "purification", and "exorcism", and "repel". Others were marked with different things, all in someway relating to demons or antidotes or medicines or common pests. He could see herbs of every color, shape, and size strewn about a cabinet above a small work table. His side stung, but he ignored it. He left that room and went out of the room and back into the corridor.

The next room had no label on it, and he was cautious when he stepped in. It was a strange room, with painted walls, a nice melancholy blue. It had all kinds of reed posters covering the walls, its furniture was nicely sanded down, and it all seemed, so modern. There was a small, shiny, blood red orb hanging on a chain made of demon teeth. He went over to it, perplexed by its alluring light.

"What is thi-?"

"What are you doing back here?" Kagome said, obviously flustered by his intrusion.

"How did you know where to find me?" Kagome pointed to the blood on the floor. Bankotsu looked at his blood-soaked side.

"I followed the red road. You're a fool. You've opened up your wounds again. Now I have to re-bandage them." She gave him a stern look.

"..."

"Follow me." He followed her without protest out of the corridor, and she pointed to his futon. He sat down, and she kneeled next to him.

"Lie down."

"Huh?"

"Lie down." She repeated. He did so, wary of her hands. She pushed him down, and opened his kimono.

"Frisky, are we?" Kagome hit his bleeding side, and in a low whisper he groaned, "Flirty bitch."

"Harsh liability." She smirked in such a suggestive way he flushed pink.

Six and a half months passed, and his bones had all mended, his wounds healed, and he was out in the fields everyday helping Kagome harvest and tend. They were growing radishes, soy, turnips, carrots, and various herbs and other vegetables. Pulling out the turnips were the most problematic.

Kagome had discovered that he'd been poisoned. Whatever it was, danm it to hell, it was winning. His body was slowly deteriorating and she knew it. She was slowly watching him die. It was like before they defeated Naraku, when everyday, she would watch Miroku slowly die. But it had a happy ending. She wasn't so sure about this one.

The days were hot, and Kagome could only work in the fields in the high morning and late evening. Bankotsu helped her as usual, since he simply reminded her that he refused to be a 'liability'.

His body ached, and yet he never complained. She had told him about his poisoning and he took it like a soldier: stone cold and emotionless. Sometimes he would faint because of the silent terrors raging in his body, and Kagome would have to try her best to treat this anonymous assailant.

He woke up early one morning, and yelped in pain. Earlier, the skin around his old side wound had turned a sick blue. The skin had healed, but it was still bleeding on the inside.

"Kagome," He purred, trying to wake her up, "I won't live much longer if we don't find an antidote."

"I know. After all of the herbs I've tried on you, I am finally at a loss." She sat up, and crawled over to sit by his side. She looked out the window, and inspected the soft yellows and blues of the high morn. "We should go and look around the countryside to see if there is anyone who can tell us what you were poisoned with. I can ask the villagers nearby to watch my fields and take care of my abode for a while, but we must not waste time."

"We need 'ta wait until I'm ready."

"I know." She decided to go and prepare a list of what they would need for this journey, and looked over to the slip over the back wall. She turned to get up, but Bankotsu grabbed her hand in a dead lock with his. She ripped her head to the side to look at him.

"I cannot die here, Kagome." The anxiety and fatigue in his eyes made her sewn heart rip a bit at the seams. He was making her blush. Her blood was suddenly rushing, and she looked hard into his eyes with utter astonishment. "I want to live until I am old, not die young a second time." She grasped his hand in hers, her head spinning with delight and confusion. "I must live." His grip on her hand tightened.

"I will not let you die, not yet." Their gazes never faltered.

Kagome set out the next morning to go to Sango's village. It was early morning, and she had left the willful Bankotsu in the village's care. She had just stepped not but ten yards out her door, when she heard Bankotsu call her name.

"Kagome," He yelled. She stopped and turned to him, seeing that he was in the doorway, and now coming to her. "Where are you going?" He blurted out as he caught up to her.

"I am going to a village somewhere in this vicinity to visit a friend. She might know what your ailment is."

He stared at her, and his lips quivered, failing to come up with words. He looked down and muttered something inaudible. He looked up at her again, and said, "How long will you be gone?" His gaze again lowered to the ground.

She looked to the North, at the mountain, to the East, at the rising sun and the harmonious colors of the morning, and to the south, her intended path, which led directly into the Inuyasha forest.

"Most likely a day, maybe less. If you need something, ring the bell on the side of the hut, and a villager will come and attend to you."

"Ok."

"I should get started if I were to make good time. Bye then." She stepped back, and walked toward the forest. He walked to the hut's entrance, and she called out, suddenly remembering, "Bankotsu!" She yelled. He turned in her direction. "A villager will be by in an hour or two to break your fast. Hang tight until then." He nodded, and went back into the hut.

Later...

It was now early afternoon, and Kagome was still traversing in the forest. As she walked, she could hear the gurgling stream beside her tickle her ears. Her quiver bothered her back, and she went back to scratch it, remembering a special moment in her life, one that happened right here; before the misery...

Kagome ran away from him, giggling, and turning to him just to wave and show off her own current happiness. He glided past her with a soft chuckle, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'm not thateasy to catch!" She said as she gracefully slid out of his embrace.

"Are you sure?" He said as he chased after her.

"Positive!" She sped up her pace, and was two feet in front of him. He chased after her, and listened to her soft giggles. He couldn't help but to let a grin slide onto his blissful countenance. She turned around and stopped, waiting for him to come to her. As soon as he was an arm's length away, she grabbed the red collar of his kimono, and pulled his body flush against hers, leaving no space in between. She looked up to his rough and comely face, and took in his pine-like forest aroma. It had a mysterious muskiness, and Kagome was mystified by him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and shoulders, enveloping her in his bodily scent. She melted to him, and laid her head in the crook of his neck. He held he like that for a while, before he could hold it no longer. He nudged her head up, and when she looked into his eyes, he kissed her softly on the lips. Her eyes lit up, and then closed, slowly, looking at his peaceful face. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

She let a smile slip on her face, and then snapped back into reality. She continued to walk along with the company of the stream, for it was her only guide to the village. She felt his aura nearby. She quickly placed a concealment talisman on her chest, and along with her manifestation, her aura and scent were hidden. She continued to walk along the stream, and every once in awhile she could she a flash of red. His kimono. It wasn't until after she had exited the forest that she took the talisman off.

She was still alongside the stream, which had now become a river, and followed it directly into the village. She walked over to Kaede's old hut, and knocked on the side of the door frame before going in.

"It's Kagome," she said softly. As her head entered, she could see Sango, sitting around the fire, stirring something up, and trying to stir it over her growing belly. She turned and looked up, excitement covering her whole face.

"Kagome!" She jumped up and was at her side in a split second. She gave her a big squeeze. "It has been so long since I've last seen you!" Kagome returned the hug, and guided Sango back to her seat next to her pot. "How are you?"

"How am I? Look at you! You've got another in there! How far along are you?"

"Ha, I believe I'm about eight months, and ready to burst. Miroku is so happy." She again tended to the stew.

"I can understand that. Having a big family is all he ever wanted. Where is my little god son, Hiroshi?"

"Oh, I imagine he's out with his father. He's almost two, you know."

"He's growing so fast. Do you think this one will be a girl?"

"I imagine. It'd be nice." She continued to tend to her stew. "You know what this stew is for?"

"I am almost positive that you will tell me anyway."

"You're right. It's for the Festival of the Kamis. Monks, Priests, and Priestesses are all celebrated for their dedication. It's tonight."

"Oh, no, I can not stay! I came for a visit, and a consultation."

"But you must! It's all in yours and Miroku's honor. It wouldn't be right to have it without you!"

"I can't; I am taking care of someone, and they're waiting for me at my house near the mountain."

"Who is?"

"Its Bankotsu. He is still alive." Sango's eyes widened.

"Why are you taking care of him?"

"I took pity on him about two months ago, when I found him badly beaten and poisoned. I've been taking care of him since, and in return he had been helping out with my fields."

"I could have sworn he had died in Mt. Hakurei."

"I did too; but I guess we were wrong. His bones have all mended, but he is still poisoned. I have run out of ideas as to what it could be." Sango got serious.

"Why are you keeping him alive?"

"I can not kill him, I have no reason."

"He's tried to kill you before, do you not remember?"

"He was under Naraku's control. I can't hold that against him."

"Why are you defending him?"

"...I don't know. All I came here for was help, not a lecture."

"Alright. Fine then, what are his symptoms?"

"He gets nauseas when he smells certain herbs, he gets a lot of cramps, and an old wound of his is a nasty blue, even after it has closed."

"Does he ever wake up at night and vomit?"

"Yes, once or twice every month. Do you have an idea yet?"

"Almost. Any diarrhea?"

"I think so; but I've never checked." Sango sighed.

"I love your kimono; the Wisteria is such a pretty red." She added a few more ingredients to the stew, and then looked to Kagome. "He has been poisoned, you were correct."

"What is it?" Sango gave her a stern look.

"Wisteria. Not just any. The high mountain blood wisteria. It looks as if someone is trying to mock you, Priestess Kagome." Kagome's face turned to stone.

"Thank you, Sango. I know what to do now. I think I'll pay your son and Miroku-san a visit."

"Do try and stay, Kagome."

"I might." Kagome got up, and left the hut, fully knowing that she did not intend to stay. She walked over to the middle of town, and spotted Miroku, Hiroshi, and a few other villagers help put up the decoration across the trees. Miroku turned around and looked at her.

"Kagome! What a surprise!" As soon as Hiroshi heard his Godmother's name, he let go of his father's leg, and screamed.

"Aunt Kagome!" He yelped, and ran over to her, jumping up for a hug. Kagome picked him up, and hugged him. She held him like that for a while, just as if her were her own child. "Did'ya bring me a present?"

"Of course I did!" she fished a bag out of her kimono's pocket. "I brought you menko!" he snatched it from her hands, and yelped joyfully.

"Yay! All the other boys will be so jealous!" He gave her another hug, and jumped down from her waist, and ran over to some of his friends, and they all cooed and awed.

"Thank you, Kagome. Another thing for him to lose and me to go and help him find. Again." Kagome laughed.

"Anytime, Miroku. Do you remember what the antidote for a blood wisteria poisoning is?

"Yes- wait, why? You aren't poisoned, are you?"

"No. But Sango will fill you in. What of the antidote?"

"Oh. You'll need to go into the mountains, and get another herb, also poisonous, Anthurium. You'll need to have bees make honey out of its nectar, which is common in the mountains, and get it, then have the victim eat the honey. It will take a few days, and a few fevers, but afterwards, the victim should be okay again." Kagome smiled, and thanked him with a hug.

"I should be off again, thank you, Miroku." With that, she left the village. She entered the forest, and saw a flash of the red kimono.

'No...' She thought. 'I forgot to put on the talisman!'

End of chapter 6.

Cliffhanger. Yes.

Just to clear up anything, the village Kagome is priestess to is not the same as Kaede's old village. She is the priestess to another village on the other side of the Inuyasha forest.

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