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The trail of human and demon bodies littering the ground inside the mansion indicated that I was going in the right direction. I stepped over them carelessly, paying them no mind. The only thing that I could think of, the only thing that would calm my mind would be to see Kagome alive and well. If any harm came to her, I know not what may happen. She asked me not to leave Shuichi's body until she instructed, but, in my haze of panic, I considered it. Shuichi's body is much slower than my demon fox form. I could have transformed, and… No, stop it. I am here now. I must focus on the task at hand. Her body was not outside in the woods, so she is either alive or they moved her body. I had to know for myself. I had to find her, my Kagome.

My body, however, moved of its own accord when my acute senses picked up the scent of a teammate that was not supposed to be here right now- Hiei. Of course, that would account for the indiscriminate killing and perfectly severed body parts. Unwillingly, I began to follow his scent up a narrow staircase. I arrived in the nick of time to see Yukina begging for Hiei to spare her captor's life. She didn't want to see any more blood spilt for her sake.

However, I looked past the touching yet, somehow, desturbing scene to see Kagome, standing tall and confident, in an arena with Yusuke and Kuwabara. The person whom they were facing was trapped within Kagome's shield and looking positively furious. I was almost surprised to see that he was not banging on the domed walls of the barrier with his sword. A moment later, Kagome shouted, and Kuwabara jolted forward. She had signaled him to do… something. After that, Yusuke fired his spirit gun into Kuwabara's back. The impact lifted Kuwabara off of his feet and accelerated his pace beyond that of human ability. I expected Kagome's shield to drop any instant, but it remained intact. Something had gone horribly wrong.

Kuwabara's sword cut through Kagome's defense and pierced the chest of their opponent through a physical shield he held. Hm. Weird. I thought that I saw him with a sword just a moment ago. I was forced out of these thoughts as I watched Kagome fall to the ground helplessly. Without thinking, I threw myself through the viewing glass that allowed us to see the room beyond privately. A few cuts adorned my skin, but, at the moment, I couldn't care less.

In no time, I was at Kagome's side checking her body for wounds. When I found nothing significant, I placed my hands at her temples and stumbled along trying to find internal injuries. Again, I found nothing. "Dammit!" I growled, punching my fist into the ground near her head. When I removed my throbbing hand, a dent remained in the stone floor. I looked up from my momentary fit, and found that Kagome and I were surrounded by our comrades. My eyes met Hiei's and he shook his head, subtly indicating that she is not conscious like she was last time.

For a minute, I thought that all I could do was despair, but, in a flash, I found my body moving, seemingly of its own accord. I lifted Kagome into my arms bridal style, and held her close to my chest as I bolted through the woods towards Genkai's compound. I could feel that the others were following me, but I ignored everything but my feet hitting the earth and Kagome's comforting weight in my arms. Right now, she was my centering force, the only thing keeping me from losing all sense.

By the time we arrived at Genkai's home, the sun was setting in the distance. Somehow, the older woman had sensed us coming. She was waiting outside with her eyes focused on the spot where we would eventually appear. When we were within earshot, she spoke quickly and in a commanding voice. "Yoko, follow me. The rest of you make yourselves at home. This may take a while."

Master Genkai led me to a silent, Spartan room on the other side of her complex of buildings before speaking. "I need you to share your energy with her. Do it slowly. You may need to sustain this for quite some time."

I obeyed without question, closing my eyes to concentrate as I held Kagome's hands. We sat there for an indefinite amount of time as Genkai worked her magic with the spirit wave technique- an indefinitely versatile move; the idea is that the entire human body becomes a conduit of energy. The spirit wave can be used for everything from in field battle to healing afterwards.

Hours passed by with nothing said and no movement in the room. Finally, as dawn broke and I ran out of spirit energy, Kagome seemed to mumble as if waking from slumber. Both Genkai and I breathed a palpable sigh of relief. With that one sound, Genkai stopped using the spirit wave and patted my shoulder. "You did well." She told me with a small smile. "Don't lose it when she wakes up. She didn't know what would happen."

I was so happy to see that Kagome was alright that I didn't even bother to ask what Genkai meant. Instead, I pulled her close to me on the traditional futon mattress, and fell asleep holding my goddess protectively.

Twenty-four hours, now, I had not been able to move. Poor Yoko was on edge and losing his patience quickly, but he refused to let others near us right now out of some weird, foxy instinct. I could tell that there were certain moments when Shuichi tried to fight for dominance, but Yoko's worry continually won out. Finally, I had to command him to let the switch happen. It wasn't easy. My lips felt like lead when I tried to move them. Let's not even get started on fingers and toes or the fact that certain bodily functions still want to happen even while I'm pretty much paralyzed. I know… TMI, but what couple doesn't pee with the damn door open anyway? Of course, it is a little soon in the relationship to be at that point. Sure, we've known that we're soul mates for a while now, but, between the chaos of high school for Shuichi and junior high for me, we rarely get 'Yoko and I' time other than during our training sessions. Those aren't exactly romantic.

Anyway, I managed to persuade Yoko to let Shuichi be in charge for thirty minutes, long enough to call his mother and assuage her fears about him going missing. Shuichi was only on the phone for a few minutes before hanging up. He turned to me with a sad smile. "What?" I asked, stupidly wasting my energy. Kurama shook his head. He wasn't ready to talk yet. Instead of focusing on him, I decided to distract him. Single words were easier to utter. "Hiei." I mumbled. I figured that Yoko would have to let the short, black haired demon stick around if he showed up while Shuichi was dominant, right?

Well, if nothing else, what worse can happen? I haven't been able to freakin' move anything but my lips for a whole day. We had to fill time somehow.

Shuichi returned with a disgruntled fire demon in tow. Hiei looked like he had been asleep. It was rare to see him so unguarded; I fought to keep from smiling. I needed to save my energy. Desperately, my eyes found Hiei's. "Jagan." I whispered in the strongest voice I could muster.

With that, Shuichi lost control and Yoko took control. "No." He growled in my direction, clearly too angry for more than monosyllabic words.

"Please." I begged. We needed to talk about what happened, and, right now, this is the only way.

Yoko's eyes burned angrily for another moment, then, they closed in resignation. His foxlike nature betraying him. He was curious. He looked at Hiei, warning clear in his fiery eyes. "Fine."

The intrusion on my mind was, as always, strange, but relatively pleasant considering the circumstances. I could only imagine if Hiei did this to someone unwillingly. This could easily be an unpleasant experience. I quickly explained what had happened. How I was only supposed to use the shield in an emergency and Toguro had turned on me. I focused on my panic and how I had blended my two energies successfully. We had practiced this for quite a long time over the past year with only occasional success. I was proud of the accomplishment.

Yoko, hearing Hiei's translation, jumped to his feet- absolutely livid. "You did what?! Did we ever practice using that move with blended energy? There was a reason, Kagome!"

I wanted to shout at the idiot. Instead, I just told Hiei to speak for me. He did so in a monotone. Good man. "She doesn't remember you telling her not to blend her energies while using the orb. She thought that you two were working to get to that point."

Yoko sighed and, as calmly as possible, asked Hiei to leave. When we were alone once again, he spoke softly, kneeling down and stroking my hair behind my ear in a gentle gesture. "The only reason you recovered so quickly last time was because you did not use your demon energy. Since you used both of your energies, it's unlikely that you'll be in any condition to walk for at least a few more days." He sat up and adjusted me into a comfortable position. "You should try to rest. I'm going to consult with Genkai on our strategy from here."

The elderly woman sat across the table from me with a piping hot cup of green tea and a small smirk on her face. "So, you didn't tell her not to combine her spirit and demon energies while using that technique, and you expected her to know why without an explanation?" She asked like I was the biggest idiot in the world.

I put my head on the table in exasperation. Am I really as stupid with women as Genkai just made me out to be? I wish I had Shuichi's patience at this moment. "It's too late to change that. What do I do now that the damage is already done?"

Genkai laughed at me. "You prepare her to recover as quickly as possible in situations like this in the future. There is a dark tournament upcoming this year. I expect that all of the spirit detective team will receive an invitation. She'll need stamina to get through it." She paused in thought for a moment. "I wouldn't normally use this on someone like her, but, if you'd like, I can apply spirit cuffs."

My head perked up in a very animal-like gesture. I played it off as best as I could, and sat up fully, listening. "Why would you not recommend them?" I inquired.

The Master sipped her tea and spoke. "There are two reasons. First, Kagome's spirit energy is already vast. Her downfall is in that it doesn't regenerate at the speed that it does for others. Where Yusuke can be back at one hundred percent after a good night's sleep, Kagome takes two or three days. Second, Kagome's powers are far from the neutral type that is expected of most mikos. Instead, her powers become stronger when she is angry or particularly desperate. If she were to lose control after having spirit cuffs on her for any significant amount of time, she could easily outlast anybody trying to take her down."

Nodding to indicate my determination, I stood. "Kagome will be walking by the end of the day, and we will both be staying here for a while in order to train her to build her energy back to full power after one night of sleep. No spirit cuffs."

Genkai nodded, trying to hide her silent laughter. "I'll make her some coffee. She's going to be pissed at you."

I chuckled in a very 'Shuichi' way. "Yes, but she'll thank me later."