A/N: Firstly, let me apologize for the wait. Unfortunately in the past couple of months i haven't been able to write as much as i'd like to due to my schedule/traveling and a horrible case of writer's block. It took me a while, but i worked all evening without rest to produce the next installment of Shadows in the Snow. I hope it is worth the wait and i apologize in advance for the cliffy ;)

9. The Lion's Den

When Yori opened her eyes, darkness was all around her. For a moment she was confused. But as soon as she saw the stringy black-haired man holding her arm, she remembered. Naraku; the vile half-demon who sought using the Jewel to take control of the world. The only reason she allowed herself to be taken by this man was the little voice in the back of her mind convincing her that in his possession was bot the Jewel and Kagome.

"Welcome, High Priestess, to my humblest abode." Yori raised an eyebrow before allowing herself to take a look around. Her vision had not completely adjusted to the dim light of the corridor they were standing in. As far as she could see, there was only one door on the floor. She nodded towards it, facing Naraku fully.

"What's in there?" The man smiled.

"A holding chamber." Yori took a step forward so that there bodies were barely centimeters away.

"And what might you be holding, exactly?" The half-demon simply grinned before walking towards the door with Yori following suspiciously. She noticed that before opening the door, he made sure she had a clear view of whatever would be in the room. Yori could tell by the expression on his face that whatever was behind the door was going to either be a complete shock to her, or nothing at all. And when the door slid open, Yori got the shock of he life. She took a step back and resisted the urge to rush into the room. Sitting in the middle of the room was her best friend. Kagome was chained and gagged, blood soaked her uniform in multiple places but a knife wound was evident in her side. Her head was bowed and her hands were held up over her head by shackles. Her feet were bare and when she finally found the strength to look up, Yori's fingernails dug deep into the palms of her hands to stop her from running to help her friend. She knew that if she were to save Kagome, they would never make it out of the castle alive. It took her no more than a second to regain her composure.

"Do you have anything to say?" Naraku stood behind her, his cool breath brushing her ear as he spoke.

"Should I?" Naraku smiled and slid the door closed.

"She's the thief who stole the Sacred Jewel from its home. I found her and imprisoned her here in order to-" Yori cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Please Naraku, let's not play this game. I know your true intentions and desires, they're written in the gleam of your eyes as you speak. Just please take me to the Jewel so I can break the barrier." Though he looked stunned, Yori could feel the anger leaking from his pours. Obviously he hadn't expected her to call him on his bluff. He narrowed his eyes for the slightest fraction of a second before leading up nearby stairs.

As they walked through the castle, the floorboards screamed underneath their weight. It only took her a moment to recognize the sound of tortured and cursed souls and Yori found herself grimacing in an attempt to fight back tears. The whole place reeked of ancient evils. In truth, Yori would have rather been in the pouring rain and subjected to lightning than in this place. But of course she didn't show any of this to Naraku who hand not spoken since they'd left Kagome. But as he slid another door open, he turned to her.

"Here we are." Yori stepping into the room and winced at the difference in lighting. This room was considerably darker, there were no fires to bring light to it. As Yori's eyes adjusted, she noticed there were not even any candles in the room.

"This is your chamber I presume?"

"I thought it'd be obvious. Now about that partnership." The door closed behind her. Instantly Yori could feel her palms begin to sweat and her heart beat faster. But she knew what she had to do and it was far more important than discomfort. With a deep breath, behind her company and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Ah yes." As she'd expected, he turned towards he and with a smile, she pushed him towards the bed in the center of the room. It didn't take very long for him to get the message and he lay on it, balancing Yori on his hips. "You never told me the terms of our deal."

"Are you sure," Naraku's hands traveled to her waist and Yori's heart rate increased as he pulled her closer against him. "You want to find out?" Yori smirked.

"It's what I came her for." It only took a moment for Naraku's lips to make contact with hers. It was a little surprising at first, the feeling of a kiss with the devil. But then... it was awful. All of the dark energy and evils that he contained in his soul began to transfer from Naraku into her. They burned her mouth and she felt her nails as they tore through the man's clothing and made deep welts in his lower torso. Yori felt excitement seep into her mind as she pulled his shirt of. But she knew that if she didn't end this soon, it would destroy her. She would most definitely become one of the things she hated more than anything in the world.

Yori let her hands roam his chest, trying very hard to concentrate on the beating of his heart and not his lips as they traveled down her neck and sent her stomach twisting in knots. It only took a moment before she had their beats in sync and Yori cleared her mind, focusing all of her energy on the hand that was over his heart. And with a sharp intake of breath, she pushed violently into his chest and sent a wave of paralyzing energy into his heart. Yori jumped back just in time to dodge the down sweep of a blade.

"You're far smarter than I gave you credit for." Yori smiled and widened her stance.

"And you're far more foolish." Naraku laughed.

"It was just as fake for you huh? I would never have imagined by the way you responded to me." Yori tsked and shook her head in mock pity.

"No no my dear, that wasn't in response to you. That was in preparation for that." Yori nodded to Naraku's chest. He looked down and anger overtook his features as he noticed the purple-ish liquid sliding down his chest. "That is a toxin that your heart produces as it fights of dangerous infections. The reason why it's on the outside of your body is because the type of paralyzation energy I injected into your heart caused your body to produce more of this toxin than the heart can hold. The energy then feeds off of this excess liquid and spreads throughout your body and it won't be long before your ability to move it stripped from you." A sort of growl escaped Naraku's throat and he lunged for her. Yori dropped to the floor and, propelling herself off of the the ground, flipped over him and landed square in the doorway.

"Oh, and that type of energy will also purify you from head to toe. Did I forget to mention that? Silly me." She tossed him and quick wink and ran to find Kagome.

It didn't take her long to navigate her way through the castle and back to the holding chamber. She threw the door open and rushed inside. Yori grabbed her knife and cut Kagome free of her bindings and took her pulse. it was weak from the loss of blood and she quickly performed a healing session to close the wound in her side. It would only hold her until they were in a safer place and Yori could address the wound properly. Kagome's body was limp and Yori shook her slightly.

"Yori?" The other girl's eyes opened slightly and Yori could sense the fading fire.

"Don't try to talk. I'll get us somewhere safe and then fix you up, I promise." Yori slid Kagome on her back piggy-back style and looped her arms through her legs. Kagome's breathing was heavy and her voice was barely audible.

"Jewel... red room... snake." Kagome was barely able to get the words out before she lost consciousness. Yori nodded her head and ran into the corridor. Using her spiritual powers, she was able to sense the Jewel and in moments, she was in a room covered in red. In the center of the room was the Jewel, sitting high on a pedestal. Something was set off inside Yori, a feeling a skepticism and caution. This is too easy.

Yori stepped into the room and felt a disturbance. But she neared the Jewel regardless, looking around as she did so, desperately searching for what she knew she was missing. Yori found her breath hitching as she reached for the Jewel and right as her fingers brushed against the edge of it, her eyes widened. She jumped up and narrowly avoided a blow to the side. She grabbed the wooden beams that supported the ceiling and flipped onto one. With an aerial view now of the room, she cursed under her breath. Naraku you dirty bastard. Starting up at her with the most vile expression was a demon snake, huge and red, the color of the room. It hissed before camouflaging back into the painted floor and wall. This, was not a problem. Her training prepared her for something like this. She knew how to sense the living things in a room and how to see the ones that blended in with their surroundings. It wouldn't take long for her to find the thing's weakness and drive her sword through it. And it just so happened that it was directly beneath her. Yori unsheathed her sword, took a deep breath and jumped off of the beam, her sword pointed downward. It pierced the head of the snake, forcing it to revert to its original color. The dark green blood that oozed out of the dark snake was acid and it cut through the beast's head, killing it instantly.

"How ironic." Yori cleaned her sword, sheathed it, and pocketed the Sacred Jewel before escaping from the castle and vanishing into the night.

...

Yori sighed. She'd been running for almost thirty minutes, covering what she knew was at least three miles, and she wasn't even close to the abandoned wolves' den. When she'd left, it had been through a portal. She'd had no clue how far away they actually were. But if her guess was correct, it would only take another half hour to get there. It didn't bother her to be running for so long, her training prepared her for something like this as well. But what she was worried about was Kagome. She'd probably gone days without proper care; no food, water, or sleep. It would be absolutely horrible if she were to not make it.

"Hold on Kagome, we're almost there." Yori picked up her pace and cut her time in half. When she finally saw the cliff harboring the cave, her body was drenched in sweat and her legs burned like fire. She knew the real obstacle was still to come- climbing the cliff with Kagome on her back. When the rocks loomed over her head and it was time for her climb to commence, Yori took in a deep breath, tightened Kagome's arms around her neck, gritted her teeth, and started her climb. The rock was hard, jagged, and by the time she reached the top, her hands were a bleeding mess and sore beyond belief. Her shoes were torn to pieces and long scratches painted her body. Her breath was coming fast and when she pulled herself over the ledge, she was surprised to find Koga, Kagura, and Inuyasha holding weapons threateningly down at her.

"Now I know I ran off without any warning, but you're really gonna kill me for it? Even when I worked so hard to bring you back a present." Everyone put away their weapons with half relieved and half annoyed expressions and reached down to help her into the mouth of the cave.

"What kind of present could you possible bring us?" Inuyasha asked pointedly.

"Well, she's about sixteen, five hundred years out of her time, and right now requires serious medical attention." No sooner had she said it did everyone notice the unconscious Kagome on Yori's back. Inuyasha ran to her and gently took her into the cave and set her down next to the fire.

"Where was she?" Koga asked as they sat down and Kagura gave her some food. After all of the physical exertion, Yori couldn't find the strength to sit down.

"Naraku had her. She has a horrible wound in her side and was most likely tortured in the hopes she would brake the barrier around the Jewel for Naraku. But she didn't give in. Knowing Kagome, she would have died first... she almost did."

"Well thank god you rescued her." Inuyasha spoke looked down at Kagome's pained face. "I'll have to heal her, but only when she begins to awaken. She needs to regain some of her strength." Yori looked around for the first time and noticed something odd. "Where is Sesshomaru."

"After you ran off, he went to search for you. He should be back any time now." Kagura said, taking the fish bones from her and tossing them over the side of the cliff. Yori looked to the moon as the wind caressed her face.

"He's back." Sesshomaru stood in the mouth of the cave and Yori ran to him. She threw her arms around him and slammed her lips into his, feeling tears push at the back of her eyes. Then realizing what she'd done, Yori pulled away quickly, her face a fiery red.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what I did that for." Sesshomaru didn't say a word. He took a step towards her and grabbed her waist, pulling her into a tender embrace before placing a sweet kiss on her lips. Yori felt herself melt in his arms and as much as she wanted to revel in the feeling, she knew she couldn't. She pulled away softly.

"I have to tend to Kagome." Sesshomaru breathed in deeply and she felt, rather than knew, he was taking in her scent.

"Of course." Yori nodded her head and went over to Kagome who was stirring slightly, awaking. Yori took Inuyasha's place and sat with her knees under her, placing Kagome's head in his lap as she addressed her side.

"How are you doing?" Yori pulled up Kagome's shirt to see what she was dealing with. It wasn't at all pretty.

"Yori?" The wound was infected and Yori began to drain it.

"What is it?" Yori was so focused on fixing her friend, she had no clue how to react to what Kagome was about to say.

"I know how to get your memory back."