14th Chapter: We Meet Again
When morning came as a soft colorless light that filtered through the castle windows, Naraku's plan had already been set in motion. Kagura had done as she was told, and just before daybreak, she found herself standing in front of a gigantic pit of black-skinned serpents. Their small heads wove and bobbed in deadly, hypnotic dances, their purple tongues flicking out of cruel, expressionless faces as she stood before them, waiting. They were a mass of venomous hisses. She watched as their long smooth bodies slipped and wrapped over each other in ever-lasting, circular movements. Kagura could barely contain her disgust.
"Naraku has bid you all to find the half demon Inuyasha." She informed them over the cruel hissing. Millions of unintelligent beady black eyes trained instantly on her with unnerving intensity. "When you find him, you are to attempt to kill him, and any other wretched being accompanying him who steps into your path." She chose her words carefully, perfectly conscious that the Samyosho were buzzing in the thick green foliage of the surrounding forest. "The wasps of hell, Naraku's spies, the Samyosho, will follow you to him, and then inform Naraku of his whereabouts. You are to keep the hanyou in one spot so we may easily locate him." Her voice rang clear in the morning. The demons seemed to know what she was telling them. She was only telling them half of the truth.
'You are a distraction,' she thought to herself, 'only objects being used to keep Inuyasha in one place so that we can find him and kill him. The chances are that you'll all be slaughtered by the Tetsuigia and Inuyasha's wind scar…' Kagura lingered on her inner voice's words for a moment before pushing the thoughts away. She had never much liked snakes anyway.
"You have your orders," Kagura said, pulling a feather from her hair and enjoying the gust of wind it created as it unfolded to life-size before her. She stepped up on it without hesitation; its softness was comforting beneath her feet. "Do your job, and do it well." She said over her shoulder as she let her feather launch itself up into the sky, leaving the ocean of hissing scales below her. Now, she only had to wait for Naraku to further deceive the girl.
Kagome had had the dream again. That same dream that someone of hers was mourning over her, was crying for her… was aching. She could feel his pain in her own heart, and it nearly drove her to tears in her sleep. She needed to be with him, to be held by him, to be protected. He was calling for her… she wasn't whole without him, where was he?
Kagome woke up with a gasp, her body covered in a cold slick sweat and her heart pounding in her chest. Unaware of the way her white-knuckled hands gripped the sheets at her thighs, she tried to get herself calm. She listened, frightened as she realized that her breaths were coming in quick, ragged gasps. What was wrong with her? Why had she had that dream again? Hadn't she had found Naraku…? Throwing the sheets off of her body, Kagome made her way to the stone basin in the corner of her room, splashing her face with water to try and calm herself down.
"Ok, breathe, Sayuri…"She whispered to herself as she felt the chilling water slide down the gentle arches of her face and drip from the tip of her nose back into the basin. "Just, breathe…" She said, taking a deep breath. It was no good. She was still upset. Her hands were clenching the rim of the stone bowl with surprising force. She could feel the grainy granite cutting into her soft palms and fingers. But for some reason, she felt more comfortable that way. The slight pain grounded her.
Slowly opening her dark eyes, she stared at her reflection in the water. She looked shaken. Turning away, she wiped her face off with her sleeve and went to the window. It looked to be a few hours after dawn, and the sun was just starting to burn through the thin layer of pearly mist that the night had left behind. She stared at it for a while, trying to push aside the feeling of restlessness that the dream had invoked inside her. She bit her lip as she realized how insecure she still was. And then there was this whole Inuyasha ordeal…
'Inuyasha…' The name was so strange… it was… important. It was almost a catalyst for a chain reaction of feelings. Something buried deep down inside her stirred… maybe it was her memory. She just didn't understand why Inuyasha's name would make her feel that way. Why would it trigger her memories? Why not Naraku? Or Tetsuya? Why Inuyasha?
"I must have," she said softly to herself, staring at her pale hands, "I must have had some sort of traumatizing experience with him, if just speaking his name is enough to get to me." She turned her new idea over and over in her mind, but there was something about it she couldn't quite grasp. "Am I truly capable of hating someone so much?" She asked herself, wondering what Inuyasha could have done to scar her so. "Was I such a bitter person?"
"Oh, so you are awake."
Kagome gasped, her heart rate, which had just managed to come back down, shot back up again, and she whipped around to see Tetsuya standing in the doorframe. She let her breath come back to her when she saw his face. "Tetsuya, you scared me to death."
He chuckled, "I imagine so. Come on, scaredy cat, your breakfast is ready."
Kagome wrinkled her nose at his new nickname for her. She wasn't so sure she approved of it, but breakfast sounded wonderful. She started towards him and the open door, when she stopped, a thought occurring to her.
"Oh," she said, studying her nightgown and the heavy blue robe that was draped around her shoulders. "I'm wearing my nightgown." She could feel her own blush rising on her snow-colored cheeks.
Tetsuya frowned in mock disapproval. "Oh Buddha forbid," he said, lowering his voice. "Then you must not be allowed to eat anything at all!" He declared, a laugh hidden somewhere inside his copper-green eyes. "You shall starve to death before you enter your own kitchen in a robe and nightgown! We shall never allow it!" In the end he broke into a smile and nodded his head toward the kitchen, laughing: "Come on, silly." And headed down the hall.
Kagome smiled and covered a laugh, her self-consciousness vanishing with Tetsuya's joke. He had looked so funny, trying to be mean and serious. The face didn't suit him at all. He was too kind.
"So did you sleep well?" Tetsuya asked, as he piled various breakfast foods on Kagome's plate. They all smelled like heaven to her, and she was convinced that Tetsuya was the best chef she had ever run into, memory or no memory. No one else's food could compare to this. She noticed that he always added a little bit of cinnamon to his food, pinching it into powder between his fingers and then sprinkling it over the dish before serving it. Maybe that was his secret ingredient.
"I slept… well." She said, hesitating as she remembered the way she had woken up. She decided to let it go. It was probably still nerves from discovering that she really was in love with Naraku. She was sure that after a while, when she became comfortable, and realized that this was where she belonged, the dream would go away.
"Did you hear the tree frogs last night?" Tetsuya asked, starting in on his breakfast.
Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Tree frogs?"
Tetsuya looked surprised. "You didn't hear them? They were noisy as anything."
Kagome smiled, picking up her chopsticks and starting to eat as well. "I wish I had heard them."
Tetsuya smiled, "I'm sure that eventually you will."
"I'm glad." She said, taking a bite of her delicious meal. "You know, last night I – Tetsuya!"
"What?" His head jerked up from his plate, startled, his dark red hair falling a little into his green eyes.
"Oh, sorry." Kagome said, unable to keep the smile off of her face. "I didn't mean to scare you, but come here and look." Kagome stood and made her way over to the open window. "Isn't this beautiful?" She said, pointing delicately to the upper right hand corner.
Tetsuya stood, and made his way slowly to the window beside her to study what she was pointing at.
"It's a spider web." He said, bluntly, apparently unimpressed.
"It's beautiful." Kagome said. "It must have rained last night when we were asleep, look." She traced over the thin silken lines that were ever so carefully spindled together. Little droplets of sparkling due glimmered in the morning sun, making the threads shine like fragile strands of pearls. It was one of those rare beauties that nature provided once in a lifetime, and Kagome couldn't help but stare at it. "I wonder where the spider is." Kagome said absently, caught up still in the way the morning set the web aglow.
"He's waiting."
Kagome listened to Tetsuya as she watched the web, not yet catching the coldness in his voice. "Waiting?"
"Yes." Tetsuya replied. "It is, after all, his trap."
"But it's beautiful." Kagome said, still unable to take her eyes off of it.
"That doesn't mean it's not deadly." Tetsuya's words seemed to be darkening, which was strange. It contradicted everything Kagome knew about him, his strong, gentleness was suddenly gone, replaced by something else. It was weird…
"Don't let yourself get caught up in the sparkles and shine, Sayuri." Tetsuya said from behind her, as Kagome began to frown. The man behind her didn't sound like Tetsuya at all. Not the one she knew. "The beauty of the web is just a distraction." He continued, "To keep you from understanding what it really is. It may seem beautiful now, but anything that allows itself to get distracted that beauty, will only realize that the web is a death trap when by the time it's too late, and the spider will have succeeded in taking another innocent's life." By now, it seemed as if a stranger were talking to her. A stranger with Tetsuya's voice. "It's all done through trickery, Kagome, don't let yourself be drawn in..."
Kagome felt her body grow cold as she listened to Tetsuya. He was begging to scare her. She turned around to look at him, and for a moment, she saw something different in his usually pleasant face. Something that scared her. It was as if he were forcefully urging her to realize something. It was as if he were… warning her.
"Tetsuya," She said slowly. "What are you talking about?"
As soon as she asked, whatever she had seen disappeared, and Tetsuya returned to his carefree self. His face instantly melted back into his kind, strong expression. He even laughed. "Nothing, Sayuri." He said turning back to the breakfast table, as if nothing had happened. "I guess I just don't like spiders that much." He said with a chuckle. "Silly childhood paranoia."
"Um, ok." She said quietly.
"Come on, let's eat." Tetsuya said, picking up his chopsticks and motioning to her seat, which she took silently. She was still unnerved.
She had only just picked up her chopsticks when the door to the kitchen opened with a crashing slam. Tetsuya jumped up, his chopsticks clattering to the floor. Kagome's head snapped around to meet whoever had interrupted breakfast, and came face to face with startlingly crimson eyes.
"Kagura." Tetsuya said, his voice firm but giving way to slight traces of concern. "Is everything alright?"
"My young Lord, and Lady." Kagura said, bowing her head respectfully before meeting their gaze again. "It's the demon Inuyasha," Kagome felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart jolting beneath her chest. "He's been found." If Kagome had been able to pay attention to anything but her own reaction, she would have noticed the shocked and infuriated look that came to Tetsuya's face… she would have noticed that his fists were clenched white.
"Where is he?" Tetsuya's voice was cold. It wasn't so much a question than an order, maybe even a threat.
"Close." Kagura said. "He is very close indeed."
"Miroku, hurry up! We don't need breakfast!" Inuyasha called over his shoulder to his friend, who was sitting in the grassy ditch, turning over little bits of meat in the dirt.
"Ah, Inuyasha," The monk said without bothering to look up, "you know what they say about an empty stomach."
"No I don't know, but if you don't hurry it up I'm gonna gut your empty stomach out! Now come on!"
The violet-eyed monk sighed. It was early in the morning. And he had awoken hungry. Unfortunately it appeared that none of the bait he was setting out for the snakes was working. It appeared fate would just be playing against him today. "Very well, then." He said, coming to a stand and stretching before dusting himself off. "Where to then?"
"We haven't made nearly as much progress as we should have." Inuyasha announced. "We're supposed to have gotten much farther from that little rainy village back there."
"I thought that the people there were very pleasant." Miroku said, remembering the house in which he had stayed a little over a month ago. "Oh yes, if I do recall correctly, you were not patient enough to thoroughly enjoy their hospitality." Inuyasha shot a golden-eyed glare Miroku's way before choosing to ignore the comment. For once he didn't feel like arguing with his friend. "If memory serves me correctly, which, it often does, then I may say its safe to believe that that very village now has no shortage of firewood and lumber, courtesy of a certain sword-bearing hanyou."
"Do we have to bring up the fact that I'm half human every hour?" Inuyasha asked, semi-annoyed.
"Is there a problem with being a hanyou?" Miroku asked, testing out his friend.
"No, there isn't!" Inuyasha shot back, "I just don't understand why we have to keep bringing it up. I don't remind you that you're a human every other second."
Miroku raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Is there a problem with being a human?"
"Would you stop with that?" Inuyasha asked, this time turning around fully and coming to a stop to face Miroku. "It's getting damn annoying!"
Miroku let a small smile play over his lips. "Ah, but it's so much fun."
Inuyasha turned around grumbling, his hands held together beneath his sleeves and braced at his chest as he mumbled something about "stupid lecherous monks…" when very abruptly, he stopped, his hands dropping to his side and lowering to his Tetsuigia. "Don't move."
Miroku didn't need the order. He could sense the massive hoard of demons coming towards them. "Can you detect what kind they are?"
"Oh yeah," Inuyasha said with a nasty spit, soon he was covering his nose with his left hand. "Snakes, lots of them."
Miroku blinked in surprise, glancing back to the side of the road where he had left the little bits of meat earlier. "Perhaps my snake bait as worked well after all." He said grimly. "Though this is not exactly what I had in mind."
"No time for jokes, Monk." Inuyasha said. "Where's Sango?"
"She's still looking for the next village on Kilala." Miroku said. "She should be-"
The firecat's roar echoed though the air as if on cue, cutting Miroku off. Soon Kilala's fiery form could be seen loping through the cerulean blue sky towards them. She emerged from the wisps of a white, cotton cloud and landed gracefully beside Miroku, who reached up to help Sango off the fire demon's back. But Sango slid off without his help. Miroku smiled when she sent him a look; she had never been one to play the helpless maiden. "Sango, welcome back. I hope you fared well?"
Unlike when she had left, Sango was now dressed in a tight, black material that clung to her figure, leaving little to his imagination. Her long brown hair had been pulled up into a high ponytail and cascaded over her shoulders and back. Red cloth strapped light pink plates of demon bone to her shoulders, elbows, and knees, and a thin piece of pink fabric was held to the front of her uniform to protect her front. A small, golden pin hung over her heart to indicate her clan of demon slayers. She was ready for combat.
"The nearest village is still the one we left a month ago." Sango said. "We've been making slow progress."
"Keh." Both slayer and monk ignored the 'told-you-so'-snort their companion replied with.
"But there's another problem." Sango said, her voice darkening and her grip on the Hiraikotsu tightening. "There's a-"
She was interrupted by the sound of metal slashing as Inuyasha drew the Tetsuigia from its hilt. "We know. I can smell them."
"There's a lot of them, Inuyasha." Sango grimly. "More than I've ever seen together in my entire career of slaying. It's not normal to have a pack that big."
"So maybe they have a jewel shard or something." Inuyasha said, brushing aside her warning. "I'm not complaining… I've been itching for a good fight."
"Inuyasha," Sango said slowly, her brows furrowing as she slid her mask on over her mouth and nose, her voice came out deeper when she had it on, "there must be thousands of them."
"Keh."
Miroku sighed, bracing himself and his staff so that they were ready for a fight. Like he said earlier… fate was just going to play against him today…
They had been fighting the snakes for twenty minutes before Miroku decided to finally resort to using his wind tunnel. Twenty minutes of bloodshed, hissing, death and stabbing into what had turned out to be a gigantic coiling mass of scaly, biting flesh. And he was sick of it. "Everybody behind me!" he declared, obediently, Sango and Inuyasha fell behind him, though he could hear Inuyasha grumbling about something or rather about hating to stand behind anyone. Miroku held back a smile and planted his feet firmly in the ground.
Holding out his right hand, he yanked on the blue prayer beads that covered his palm, the thin piece of purple fabric falling open to reveal a black hole. A portal to oblivion placed in the center of his palm, that instantly began to suck in the snake demons. They hissed and coiled in the air as they were sucked into his palm, a strong wind blowing at Miroku's hair and billowing out his robes as he watched the snakes fall to their deaths. He had done this hundreds of times, and he was prepared for their wriggling, desperate attempts to escape. What he hadn't been ready for was the Samyosho.
The first one slipped into his wind tunnel without him even noticing. But he felt it instantly, as the paralyzing venom shot up his arm. He watched in shock as the second and third ones flew right into his wind tunnel and then five more, before he finally pulled back. "Samyosho…" He breathed softly, surprised that he was already losing his voice. Their poison was fast.
"Miroku!" Sango was instantly by his side as his knees gave out on him and he collapsed on the ground. His legs were cold and numb, and his head was swimming with nausea. He felt his breathing start to slow. 'Dammit…'
Sango's cold hands were resting on his shoulders as he did his best to turn his head and smile at her. "Houshi, are you alright?" Her beautiful dark eyes were so worried, so concerned. He wanted nothing more than to just reach out and kiss her. Instead he just smiled as best he could, hoping it wouldn't turn out like a grimace. He could tell she was not convinced.
"I need to get you back to the last village," Sango said, a bit of desperation apparent in her voice as she pulled him up to a shaky stand, throwing one of his arms around her shoulder. "Inuyasha, help me with him!"
When Sango reached Miroku, his deep violet eyes had already began to fade. She had seen the effects of the Samyosho poison only once before, on the day when she had almost killed her little brother. She had been so sure on that day that she was going to lose Miroku forever, and she had promised herself afterwards that from then on she would do everything in her power to keep him from falling into that kind of danger ever again. She had broken another one of her promises yet again.
His skin was burning hot against her touch, and his violet eyes were distant, his breathing dangerously shallow. Her heart plummeted. She refused to lose anyone else. "Miroku, are you alright?" She asked, desperately. 'Please…' She thought as she waited for his answer. 'Tell me you're alright…'
He tried to smile at her. But it wasn't the usual, charming smile that he always had ready for her or any other woman that passed him by. This one was forced, and he was in pain. Sango held back her tears as best she could. "I need to get you to the last village." She thought out loud, wondering if they would have the right antidotes to relieve him of the poison. She tried desperately to hold up his limp figure as he leaned against her, but she wasn't quite strong enough; the monk's muscular body was growing slacker by the second. "Inuyasha," She desperately turned to the hanyou still standing behind her. "Help me with him!"
Inuyasha wasn't looking at her. He wasn't even looking at Miroku. He was staring at the Samyosho, his gaze alone was enough to kill. "Naraku…" his voice was dangerously low.
"Inuyasha!"
His silver hair whipped around as he came to face her, seeming to notice that Miroku had been poisoned for the first time. "Inuyasha, please, ignore them for now, help me get Miroku to the last village!" She couldn't keep the begging tone out of her voice. If she lost Miroku too, on top of everything else… she just couldn't.
Inuyasha's looked torn. She could tell what was running through his brain. He was deciding, in his soul, whether he should avenge Kagome or save Miroku. Thank the Gods he still had some sense left in him. In a flash he was beside Sango, helping her support Miroku while she sighed gratefully. With Inuyasha helping her they still had a chance.
"Take him to the next village on Kilala." Inuyasha said shortly as Sango climbed up onto Kilala's back. Her demon was covered in thick, red serpent's blood, and the smell was revolting. But she had to ignore it for now. "I'll meet you there as soon as I can." Inuyasha said, placing the weakening man in front of Sango where he had the least chance of falling off. "And-" Inuyasha's voice caught and his golden eyes became distant. She wondered what was wrong. Finally, as if forcing himself, Inuyasha brought himself forwards and snatched Kagome's yellow backpack from Kilala's neck. Sango felt a wave of sadness crash into her chest.
"And try to use something in there." Inuyasha said, handing the large yellow backpack to Sango as quickly as possible, trying to get the memories that came with touching something of Kagome's out of his head. "It saved him the first time…"
"I don't know which one to use." Sango admitted, her hands shaking as she took the yellow bag.
"Neither do I." Inuyasha said. "Just try anything."
"Inuyasha are you sure-"
"Just do it!" The hanyou snapped, suddenly angry. "He's running out of time!"
"Right." Sango said with a small nod. "Kilala, take us to the last village!"
Kilala seemed to understand her as always, though she never quite knew how. In a moment, the firecat was soaring through the air, heading back to the small rainy village they had come from a month ago.
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Inuyasha called as he turned back to the snakes. Most of them were gone, thanks to Miroku's wind tunnel. There was no more threat from them, but he needed to do something. He stared into the woods, listening for the buzzing of the Samyosho. He could smell them. He could hear them. He had to keep himself from grabbing his sword and slaughtering them all.
"I know you're in there, you filthy insects." He spat, his voice malicious and full of hate. "And you can go back to Naraku and tell him that I still haven't forgotten what he did to Kagome a year ago... I'll never forget. And I'm coming for her revenge." He said, sheathing his sword. "Tell him to be expecting me." He said before turning and launching himself into the trees. He could move faster to the village if he didn't take the main road. He needed to know if Miroku was ok.
"So, we're going to a village?" Kagome asked as she sat on the abnormally large feather. It was unnerving to be sitting on something that she knew shouldn't be capable of holding up her weight. But Kagura, Naraku and Tetsuya had all assured her that she would be fine.
"Yes." Kagura said bluntly. She stood in front of Kagome, her fan held up to cover half of her face. "Naraku's resources inform him that he had once again invaded one of his villages.
"Is he," Kagome faltered on her words "is he killing people again?"
"Most likely."
Kagome felt her heart drop to her stomach. She didn't know if she was ready to fight a demon yet. But at the same time, she couldn't leave Naraku's villagers to die because she was afraid. The only thing was, she didn't remember anything about spiritual powers or how to use them. She didn't even know if she still had them. She sure didn't feel like a priestess at the moment… maybe she had lost them somehow when Naraku put her in the amber. Maybe she wasn't even qualified to be a priestess anymore. What if she disappointed everyone? What if Inuyasha killed her?
"Don't be so nervous, Sayuri." Kagura practically scolded her. "Something tells me that the filthy hanyou won't be able to lay a finger on you."
"You think so?" Kagome asked, shifting nervously on the feather, trying heard not to look down.
A grim look crossed Kagura's face and she looked off into the distance. "I'm sure of it."
For some reason, Kagome felt like she was missing something. She was dressed in a dark blue kimono, bright red and pink flowers and circles painted in the material. The sides were slit higher than she preferred, showing up to her mid-thigh when she walked. Kagura once again had prepared her, and she had also been given a beautifully crafted bow and arrow from Tetsuya, who told her that they were hers, and that he had been holding onto them for her since she returned to them. The arrow heads were crafted from beautifully shaped silver, intricate designs were carved into the wood of the arrow shafts and into the arch of the bow. They were so beautiful, that she didn't have the heart to tell Tetsuya that she didn't remember how to use them.
"Stop daydreaming, Sayuri." Kagura's voice cut easily through the wind that Kagome seemed to have to shout through to be heard. She wondered why the woman was so comfortable when she was about fifty feet in the air on a giant feather. She had been told that Kagura was a wind sorceress, but still… she had thought that this would be frightening to anyone. But apparently not Kagura. She wondered if anything scared the red-eyed woman. "Come stand in front of me." Kagura commanded.
Doing her best to keep herself from looking down, Kagome tried to swallow her nerves and made her way in front of the woman, who cut her fan gently to the side, creating a small wind that threatened to push her forwards.
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked, confused as soon as she caught her balance.
"I'm sending him a message." Kagura said, her voice void of any emotion. "He knows you're here."
Kagome swallowed, trying to keep from throwing up in her nervousness. She was sure she was ready for this. And she couldn't decide if him knowing that she was coming was something that was very, very good, or very, very bad. She bit her lip, fidgeting with her fingers, she was in way over her head…
"Is he going to be alright?" Inuyasha demanded as he burst into the hut to which he had tracked Sango and Miroku's scents.
Sango was sitting beside an unconscious Miroku, little tears streaming down her cheeks as she held the sleeping man's hand. "They think he's going to be ok." Sango said, without bothering to look up. "I gave him something from… the future." Sango said, noticing the way Inuyasha visibly flinched. "He said he was feeling better before he passed out."
"That idiot monk!" Inuyasha practically yelled. "He didn't even notice those insects flying at him until it was too late!" he turned away from the scene; frustrated that another one of his friends was in danger. "I just-" he seemed to suddenly realize he was being unreasonable, because his whole body tensed, and then relaxed as he sighed, putting and hand to his head and leaning against the wall. He growled slightly with the tension he still felt, but yelling wouldn't do any good. "As long as he's going to be alright." He said, gritting his teeth. "I'll be damned if Naraku hurts anyone else."
Sango turned her head away from Inuyasha, and looked back to Miroku. "Inuyasha, do you-" Suddenly the hanyou was up, his whole body was tensed, his golden eyes wide.
"Inuyasha," Sango started to stand up, letting go of Miroku's hand and taking her Hiraikotsu off of the ground. "What's wrong?"
'No…' He stood there frozen for an eternity, staring with wide eyes. 'It's … it's not possible…' "Her scent." He whispered. "Her scent was here..."
Sango looked confused as Inuyasha shot to the door, throwing aside the curtain. She followed after him, to find him running from the house into the street that stretched though the town. His entire body was practically shaking when she reached him. "Inuyasha, what's wrong?" Sango asked, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. He flinched when she touched him, making her draw back. "Who was here?"
Suddenly a long, low growl rose up from his throat, startling with her. "Kagura," he drawled. "What is she doing here?"
Sango looked up to see a large white feather floating lazily towards them. Perched on its tip was a woman, her kimono billowing out behind her in the breeze she was creating. When she was close enough, Sango could see the pale white skin and crimson eyes. It was Kagura. She gripped her Hiraikotsu in her hand, ready for a battle. If it was the demon's intention to take or harm Miroku while he was injured, Sango would make sure she stood in the way. She would rather die than let Miroku fall into Naraku's clutches. She was aware of the wind that was blowing from behind her, making her hair flutter into her face, and she wondered how Inuyasha had been able to detect Kagura's scent when she had been downwind of him. She was sure that at the moment he couldn't smell anything because of the direction of the wind. It was probable that Kagura had made it that way.
"Inuyasha," Kagura called, her voice was cocky and defiant. Neither Sango nor Inuyasha could stand it. "Naraku bids you to stop terrorizing his villagers, and leave."
Both the slayer and the hanyou blinked.
"What?"
"Leave his village, hanyou, and let his people alone in peace."
"Keh," Inuyasha glared his fierce amber eyes. "I don't know what the hell it is you're blabbering on about now, but if you wanna get off that ridiculous feather of yours and fight me I ain't got no complaints. I haven't seen your twisted face in what? An entire year? It's about time you dragged your sorry ass back out here to die."
A wicked smile spread across Kagura's face, a knowing smile. Inuyasha didn't like it at all. "I'm not fighting you this day, half-breed," she closed her fan with a snap and tucked it into her sash, putting away her weapon. "She is." Kagura moved to the side in one graceful movement, revealing a young girl standing behind her with long dark hair…
Inuyasha's felt as if he had been struck in the chest with both his brother's sword and Totosai's sledgehammer at once. His breath was knocked out of him and he felt his body freeze with shock. He didn't believe it… he couldn't believe it… it wasn't possible. It wasn't…. "Kagome…"