Sesshomaru was walking through the woods near his palace when he smelled something—or maybe it was someone—vaguely familiar in the air. Jaken stopped behind him, not sure as to why his master was hesitating. "My lord, what is the matter?" Then it slowly dawned on him, having smelled the aroma as well. "If my nose is correct, someone is trespassing on your private grounds!"

The youkai wanted to roll his eyes at his assistant's delayed observation. "Jaken, do not jump to conclusions. This invader does not pose a threat, but she is injured. I will investigate the matter personally. And you will not follow." Leaving the surprised imp behind, he proceeded to follow the scent that floated on wind currents towards him as quickly as he could. This world has seen strange things, so why do I have a sense of surprise? When he arrived at his destination, any anger towards whoever had come to his borders disappeared.

Meanwhile, the person in question was stumbling through the brush.

I'm almost there, the injured woman thought, as she entered the Western lands. I cannot give up now—I've already made it this far. At that moment, she unexpectedly tripped on an exposed tree stump. Falling forward, she braced herself for impact with the ground, no strength remaining to continue on her quest.

She landed in a pair of arms, strong enough to catch her, but gentle enough to keep her from further pain. She looked up at her rescuer, and seeing his face, smiled. "It has been a long time, Sesshomaru."

=IY=

Back in InuYasha's village, Sakura, Rin, and Kaede were leaving the hut of a new set of parents. It looked like things would go well with mother and baby. They had Kagome to thank for that, with the information she had obtained from her former time. People used to call anyone that made her suggestions crazy. Since she was born in the future, however, she had more knowledge than those in the Feudal Era, and that knowledge was saving more lives than before. All in all, it was turning out to be a pretty good day.

That is, until Sakura saw a bear demon approaching the village.

She looked at Kaede hesitantly, expecting the older miko to draw her bow and shoot it. When she saw that her mentor hadn't moved to do so, she automatically took aim at the encroaching enemy. This time, the arrow didn't merely fly to its' target. It took on a holy aura en route! The second it hit the demon, there was nothing left of it but ashes.

The two girls saw this astonished. Kaede, however, smiled. Though Sakura was unaware of it, Kaede was testing her to ensure that her suspicions were correct. Perhaps the young woman would be fitting to take Kagome's place as the village's official miko. Although she could serve as miko if she married InuYasha, Kagome would no longer be allowed to perform the temple duties. Kaede saw no problem, however, with the young woman helping to train Sakura for the position. And if the glowing arrow a minute ago was any indicator, Midoriko had given her plans—both for the soon-to-be miko and a certain upcoming marriage—her blessing.

"Kaede, why didn't you do anything when we were attacked?" Sakura's confusion was evident in her voice.

"Forgive me, Sakura," the older woman said. "I was simply making sure of my suspicions."

"What suspicions?"

"Nay, child—I cannot tell ye as of yet. I must speak with Lady Kagome about them first."

Suddenly the younger woman's head turned to look behind them. "Something's wrong, Lady Kaede!"

"Oh? What is it?"

"I don't know, but I thought I heard a voice telling me to set up a bed for an injured person."

"What voice, Sakura? I didn't hear anything!" Rin exclaimed.

"Nor I," Kaede confessed.

Sakura looked at them with a mixture of awe and fear. "It wasn't just any voice. It sounded almost…holy. And it said that the person that's been hurt is with Lady Kagome and InuYasha!"

Kaede's remaining eye went wide at that. Midoriko… "Then we must go set things up right now." The three women made their way to Kaede's hut as fast as they could.

=IY=

The serpent towered over the group, looking the transformed Yuuki in the eye. "Your blood has changed—it is no longer that of a half-breed! How is this possible!" It exclaimed.

"Dunno—it just is, I guess," the girl spat back. As she spoke, she had already jumped into the air, grabbed the demon by the tail, and started whipping it around. The group below could hear bones cracking. Then, she ran up its' body and punched its' neck, allowing gravity to take over as they plummeted to the ground. It was dead on impact, but she had to make sure it stayed that way. Yuuki cleared her head and returned to her hanyou form, before limping to Tsuyoi and plunging it into the corpse. The body dissipated as soon as the sword entered it.

The others watched everything transpire with shock. Yuuki had somehow been able to control her transformations. As if telepathic, she told them, "Taka helped me learn to do that." She started to move back to the rest of them, when she felt terribly dizzy. Her hand was still on Tsuyoi's handle, and she tried to remain standing. But without warning she collapsed, the pain of the battle wounds knocking her unconscious.

"Yuuki!" Kagome cried, kneeling next to her friend.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Shippo asked, afraid that she was dying.

"I'm not sure, but we've got to get her help right now."

InuYasha turned to Sango's brother. "Kohaku, how fast can you run?"

"Fast enough to get to the village by sunset," the boy answered.

The man nodded. "I need you to try to keep up with me as best as possible. Shippo, you ride on my shoulder. Kirara," he looked at their two-tailed companion, who had grown into her massive form before she was commanded. "I need you to take Kagome and Yuuki ahead of us to Kaede's place. Let's go!" As soon as he had helped situate the two women on Kirara, InuYasha and the others raced along behind them. Please don't let them get there too late.

Just before sunset, he arrived in the village. Kirara was back in her tiny form, and Sango saw him, Shippo, and Kohaku as they entered. "Are they—"

"Your sister is in Kaede's hut, and Kagome's with her," Sango responded. "It seems that Sakura, one of the village girls, had a premonition that someone traveling with you would be injured and helped Kaede set things up. She's assisting Kaede and Kagome right now."

InuYasha let out a sigh of relief. Then he sat down on the ground, staring ahead unfocused. "This is the second time I failed her."

"What?" Sango said, startled.

"I promised Mother before she died I'd take care of Yuuki. But I ran away like a coward, all over some stupid taunts I got as a kid. Then I renewed that promise, both yesterday and this morning, and not hours later, she's fighting for her life!" He buried his face in his hands. He wasn't crying; just worn out. "I can't be trusted with my own sister's safety; what would make me think I could be trusted with Kagome?"

Unbeknownst to him, Miroku had overheard his self-loathing rant. "You can't be, if you go around moping like this."

He looked at the former monk. "Pfeh—what would you know about it? You never made a promise that serious to anyone."

"What about the one I made to my father? I swore that I would get rid of my family's cursed wind tunnel, and you and the others helped me accomplish that. We failed a few times before we finally won, but we kept going because of the futures we wanted to see. You also failed Kagome many times chasing after someone else, but you still came through for her when it counted. It was your desire to create a future with her that spurred you on to win against Naraku, is that not correct?"

He remembered what he had said to Kagome in the Sacred Tree a week after her return: "I don't know how much pain I caused you when I was going to visit Kikyo all those times, but I know it must have been killing you inside." "I know you love me for who I am—that's evidence alone that you are not Kikyo's reincarnation. You see me as completely human, in spite of my bloodline." "…who would think that someone would try to kiss a guy on the verge of becoming a full-blooded demon? Or yell how she felt for him in front of her enemies while a hostage?" "Yeah—I guess it did," he admitted, a smile slowly making its' way to his face.

His friend patted him on the back. "Then don't give up. And if Yuuki is anything like you, I doubt you'll need to worry about taking care of her a whole lot. Besides, there's someone else, I suspect, that desires that you take care of her for the rest of both your lives."

He stood up and looked Miroku in the eyes. "Thanks—I needed to hear that." With that, he made his way to Kaede's, where he planned to wait outside for answers.