I needed to split up chapter 8 because it was going to be too long for me to be able to post. I'm not completely done with chapter 8 but I should be not too long from now. So, I decided to post part one now.

"Oi, Toma."

"Yes, Taiki." The tiger youkai stood firmly at his post not bothering to avert his attention from the task of keeping watch to look at the dragon demon.

"Excuse me for a moment. I've got uh…business to attend to if you know what I mean." Toma wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Of course, but hurry back. Should anything happen I will be sure to inform lord Sesshomaru that it was entirely your fault."

"Sure, sure. I'll only be a second." Taiki slinked his way into the castle and made his way to the facilities. Making sure that he was all alone Taiki called in a low, gravelly whisper. "Akane." Taiki found himself surrounded by purple mist. "Follow them and don't lose sight of them." Without a word in reply the mist whipped around Taiki and dispersed.

After the mist disappeared he quickly relieved himself and returned back to his position at the gate.

"Anything interesting happen?" He playfully punched Toma in the arm. "Any scary demons come to take over the big bad lord of the west's castle?"

"Pffh" Toma's only response was to sharply exhale.

"Alright, alright. Back to standing around doing nothing. I get it." Taiki smirked to himself knowing that if his plans worked in his favor his desires were soon to be his.

/\/\/\/\

Akane followed relatively closely behind Sesshomaru's jumping form. Her misty body spread out as far as she could allow to keep herself from becoming detectable to Sesshomaru. In her misty form she was undetectable to most unless she made her appearance known or if someone was looking for her. She still distanced herself from the inu demon, unsure of his abilities. Akane slowly began to gather herself as they approached the forest of Inuyasha.

Akane watched as Kagome and Sesshomaru were about to enter the well. She did not know why but she felt as though she needed to stop them from descending. She braced herself to attack but as she was about to move in towards the two she was interrupted by Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, let go of me!" She heard the girl yell. Akane was very talented at being nearly undetectable but was horrible at being aware of her surroundings. She did not notice the halfling approach the clearing. Akane witnessed the fight between Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Kagome. She saw the beads ripped from the hanyou's neck. She did not understand the significance of the beads but made note of it to report back to her master. Another downfall of Akane's great ability was that because she needed to keep some distance she also had a difficult time hearing much of what was going on. She could only observe as the stronger youkai knocked the weaker one into a tree causing him to pass out. Before she could intervene the inu and girl jumped down the well. She quickly reformed and moved to follow them as she was ordered. She grasped the edge of the well and swung her body down to the bottom with great force. She reached the bottom of the bone covered well. The girl and the demon lord had completely vanished. It was almost like a reflection of her own abilities, like they had become air. She was careful to sense the air around her. There was no sign of the two. Where had they gone? She looked to the floor of the dry well. She suddenly started to feel claustrophobic in the small dark well. She grasped at her throat as if she was unable to breathe. The bones at the bottom began to terrify her as if she felt they were calling her to become a part of the dreary grave. This was where weak demons went to die. She dispersed into her mist and exited the well as quickly as she could not looking behind her as if a reanimated skeleton would reach up to her ankle and pull her back down into the darkness. Akane was not fond of small spaces. She liked to spread herself out in large areas; areas even miles wide if she was in her misty form.

Akane reformed at the top of the well and delicately landed on the edge. Feeling relieved she examined her surroundings suddenly feeling that her panic may have left her exposed. With luck she was alone with Inuyasha's unconscious body. She looked over to the hanyou. She wasn't sure if she wanted to investigate his body. Assuming he was still alive he could have woken up and found her. Her mission was to follow Sesshomaru and Kagome, not to intervene in her personal life or to communicate with her acquaintances. But she'd never seen a half demon before. She wanted to touch his strange, dog-like, ears. Reverting back to her mist form she spread herself around the area. She allowed a portion of her mist to flow around Inuyasha's body. It was as if each particle of mist had its own awareness. They moved independently and all together at the same time similarly to the way a school of tiny fish would move its way around a shark. Careful not to touch him the mist blew around Inuyasha's ears. Much of the rest of Akane's body began to accumulate near Inuyasha's. She began to solidify next to him. But before she was only able to form her upper half before she heard the voice of a young woman calling out Inuyasha's name.

"Inuyasha? Are you still out here? Have you seen Kagome yet?" Akane willed her body to disperse into tiny particles and floated away from Inuyasha into the wind high up into the trees. She reformed her body near the top of a tree giving her a full view of the clearing around the well. "Inuyasha?" Sango found Inuyasha lying up against the tree, unconscious. "Really, Inuyasha? We're trying to find Kagome and you're taking a…nap?" She looked at Inuyasha's limp body. The tree behind his form was in splinters. "Inuyasha?" She crouched down next to him. "Inu-Inuyasha." She gently started to pat his cheeks as if she could slap life into him. It didn't seem to be working. "Inuyasha!"

"Hhrrmm?" SLAP "Aaaagh! God DAMNIT. Ow!" Sango slapped him as hard as she could just as he was coming to.

"Oh, sorry Inuyasha. You were out cold." She rubbed her hand, which was slightly tingling from the hard slap. "Felt kind of good, though" she half whispered.

"What was that?" Inuyasha sprung up to his feet.

"Ooh nothing. What happened to you?" Inuyasha rubbed a sore spot on his head and scowled.

"It ain't none of your business." Sango grabbed him by the collar

"The hell it isn't!" She began to shake him. "I'm tired of you refusing to cooperate."

"Fine, fine! It was…Sesshmru…" he quietly mumbled.

"What?" She inched closer and put a hand behind her ear.

"I said SESSHOMARU!"

"Ow." She cringed "No need to yell. Why was he here?"

"He… he was here with…Kagome" He mumbled again.

"What?"

"KAGOME. He was here with Kagome. Kagome was here with him. Kagome was with Sesshomaru. At the well. Sesshomaru was here."

"Kagome was here?! What happened"

"I DON'T want to talk about it." He swatted Sango's hand away from his hakama and started to walk away from her. "Feh."

"Don't want to…Oh, I see. So Sesshomaru did this to you." A vein visibly bulged from Inuyasha's forehead.

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

"Hey! Come back here!" Inuyasha started walking toward the village ignoring Sango. Sango sighed in defeat. But where did the two of them go? She looked toward the well and saw something yellow sticking up from the other side of it. Hm? She vaulted over the well to the other side and found Kagome's huge backpack. She can't be far then. Little did Sango know that not only did Kagome forget her bag there once, but after realizing she left it there she forgot it a second time. "Inuyasha!" She yelled after him. "Tell Miroku to boil some water when you get back!" She pulled a cup of instant ramen out of Kagome's bag. Maybe after Inuyasha's had his fill of ramen he'll give up what happened. Sango followed behind Inuyasha slowly listening and watching for any signs that Kagome might still be around.

Akane looked down at the two figures walking away from the area. She couldn't follow them because she knew that Kagome and Sesshomaru entered the well. No matter how long it took she had to follow orders. She was ready to stand watch at the well for as long as she needed to. If they went into that well then they will most likely come out of that well, too. Akane made herself comfortable in the tall tree and watched, perfectly still, with unwavering attention. Doing her absolute best to follow her master's orders she would stay this way until the miko and taiyoukai would return.

End Chapter~ 8 Part 1

Sorry there really wasn't a lot of Kagame and Sesshomaru action but the next part should be all them.

-Grimm