A/N: Thank you so much to innocentanimefan for their review on chapter 13! :) I know that it's been ages since I updated this but I promised to finish it so I will, the inspiration for the story was simply gone for quite some time. Nevertheless I hope that you enjoy this chapter! :)

RxExR

Timeless

Chapter 14 - Midoriko

"I'm bored." Shippo's voice broke through the monotony of their travels through the woods. It had been a whole day since they had become stranded here in the wrong time and despite their wish to return as quickly as possible, nothing happened. It felt like they were travelling in circles, as if they were trapped in some sort of spell.

And not only had they failed to find their way back, they had not had any luck in their search for Midoriko. She was the only real clue they had that linked the past and the present and Miroku and Kagome were sure that once they met her, they would be able to solve the whole mystery of their being here.

Why they were so convinced about it though was still a mystery to them.

"Have patience Shippo, we'll probably find our way out of the forest soon." Sango smiled reassuringly at the kitsune who just sighed wearily.

"Okay." He murmered, somehow feeling that had he put up any more of a fight then Sango wouldn't have been as accomodating.

"Why don't we rest for the night first and then try again tomorrow?" Kagome looked up at the sky as it began to grow darker. She didn't know about the others, but she felt extremely uncomfortable travelling at night, especially if they were in an era where they knew nobody but the ones that had come with them.

"I think that would be a good idea." Miroku said as he looked over at his wife. She might not want to admit it but she was a pregnant woman and therefore the pregnancy was taking its toll on her, no matter what she might say.

"Hn." Sesshomaru's non-commital answer came a couple of seconds later and the others took that as his consent. They looked over at Jaken to be sure though and saw him sit down against a tree. Yup, that meant that they were going to go and find a good place to sleep now.

"There's a clearing up ahead." Kohaku nodded to the front of them and they all looked that direction to see where he was pointing.

"It looks like a good place." Inuyasha said as he peered around the clearing first to make sure that no one else was there as well. They had nearly had a run-in with some other travellers during the previous day who had thought that they were demons. Which they were but they couldn't exactly go around flaunting that fact in this era.

"Then we'll rest here." Yukari said as she plonked herself at the base of a tree rather ungracefully. Sesshomaru settled himself down next to her and the two of them were asleep almost immediately. Inuyasha had to admit that over the course of the last couple of days he had seen more sides of his brother than he had ever known to even exist.

"The two of them are rather tired, aren't they?" Miroku asked, looking over at Kohaku, Jaken and Ah-Un. The large herbivore had curled itself into what looked like a ball, its eyes shut tightly as its breaths began to grow deeper and longer.

"Yup." Kohaku said as he himself settled at the base of a tree. He would be keeping watch first with Jaken for the next two hours before Sesshomaru and Yukari would take over. They would then pass the duty on to Kagome and Shippo, while the final watch would be held by Inuyasha and Miroku. They had worked out this schedule the previous night, having decided that they would rather be safe than sorry. Sango had of course protested quite loudly about her exclusion from the whole schedule but they had all managed to convince her that it would be better for her if she slept the whole night without having to put up with the extra strain of keeping watch. Kirara and Ah-Un woke up from time to time and assisted their watches but since they were carrying them throughout the day, they had decided that it would be better to let them sleep too. The two demons had been extremely grateful for that particular decision.

"Are they always that..." Miroku thought about what word he could use without insulting the two of them.

"Temperamental?" Kohaku suggested helpfully and Miroku nodded. Kagome and Sango set about making a fire to keep away other creatures during the night and to provide them with additional warmth. The demons and Yukari may be used to resting without the warmth of a fire nearby, but they preferred the additional light in an otherwise pretty dark forest.

"I don't know." Kohaku shrugged, after all, he didn't actually know how long they had known each other, but from what he had seen of the interaction between their two younger counterparts, then the two of them had always been like this. Although maybe not as temperamental as the two of them were now.

"Sesshomaru's always been quite particular about people." Inuyasha had come back from checking the borders of the clearing for anyone, or anything for that matter, that might have been hiding away in the thick shrubs that marked the edge of the clearing. "And even you have to admit that his behaviour around Yukari is rather unusual Jaken." He interjected before the small green goblin could rise to defend his master as he usually did.

"Lord Sesshomaru never mentioned her before I met her when she came with that missive from Lady Satomi." Jaken said tiredly. It had been a long day and all he wanted to do was curl up against Ah-Un and sleep the night away if he were perfectly honest about it.

"They seem to know each other rather well though." Miroku mused as he looked over at their sleeping forms.

"And from what we saw, they've known each other since they were children." Kagome added. She was rather intrigued by Yukari, she wasn't a demon, that much was for certain and yet she had obviously managed to live for several hundred years without aging all that much.

"It is rather complex." Sango agreed as Miroku helped her unpack her futon before moving along to unpack his own and lay it down next to hers. They were a good few metres away from the fire to avoid the possibility of their futons catching flames, but still close enough to profit from the warmth.

"Well, she's definitely been with the old hag as long as I can remember." Inuyasha said and grumbled slightly when Kagome shot him a look for his use of language. Nevertheless she put her futon down next to him and slid underneath its covers with her head on his lap. To say that he was surprised would have been an understatement. And he wasn't the only one.

Truth was, she was tired of dancing around her crush on him. The fact that they had been catapulted into the past twice within a relatively short period of time had shown her just how quickly a situation could change and she wasn't willing to wait any longer.

And with that a sort of comfortable silence fell around the clearing as they all began to doze off, some of them taking longer than others while two of them remained awake to keep watch.

~.~.~.~.~

The sun rose slowly over the horizon the next day and Inuyasha and Miroku watched as the world was gradually bathed in hues of reds, oranges and yellows. As the sunlight peeked through the leaves of the trees the others began to wake. Bird song filled the meadow and the peaceful setting gave Inuyasha hope that they would maybe find their way back to their own time today.

"You feel it too?" Inuyasha turned his head to the side to see Miroku getting up slowly.

"Yup." He nodded. It was all Miroku needed to know. Nobody felt truly well about the whole 'stuck-in-the-past' thing, so the feeling that they would be able to make it to their own time today made the two of them feel hopeful.

"Rise and shine everyone!" Miroku called out as the others groaned. "We have a long day in front of us." And he chuckled when he heard muttered curses flying towards him. None of the people here were morning people by the looks of it.

"Five more minutes mum..." Kagome muttered softly and Inuyasha knelt down beside her and began shaking her gently.

"Kagome... you have to wake up now." His voice was soft and Miroku once again wondered how long it would take those two to get together, it was almost painful to watch. Nevertheless, he had his own sunshine to wake up.

"Sango, sweetheart, you have to get up now." He said as he shook her awake.

"Ugh... What time is it?" She asked, her voice still laden with sleep.

"The sun rose a short while ago." Miroku replied and Sango slowly sat up, cracking the joints in her neck, back and arms as she stretched. The movements always reminded Miroku of Kirara and cats in general.

Kirara herself was stretching, while Shippo was trying valiantly not to fall back asleep. Kohaku was yawning and rubbing his eyes to wipe away any remnants of his sleep, while Jaken was already up and waking Ah-Un as Yukari detangled herself from Sesshomaru who was still not completely awake.

"We should probably get going as soon as the sun has started to rise." Miroku pointed out to the others and sounds of approval met his ears. "I'd say we should also probably eat breakfast quite quickly, Inuyasha and I have been hearing noises in the past hour, well Inuyasha has, my ears aren't as good, and they're moving towards us." That got the others up more quickly and it was soon after that they got up and started to travel down the well worn road that was leading through the forest once more.

It was two hours later that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both stopped and sniffed the air around them carefully. Someone was heading towards them and the scent was female. Maybe it was Midoriko. At least they hoped it was so that they might be able to go back to their own time soon.

"Come on, we need to hide." Yukari said to Sesshomaru, somehow guessing that they believed that Midoriko was coming towards them.

They all watched as the semi-transparent Yukari and Sesshomaru left and hid in the bushes or somewhere within hearing distance as the rest of them worked on making themselves appear more human. If they wanted their plan to work they would have to be convincing.

Kohaku already looked like a warrior guarding someone so he had no problem. Kagome and Miroku were in their priestess and priest clothes respectively so it looked like he was guarding them. Shippo quickly pulled some longer trousers out of his bag to hide his fox legs and flattened his ears down with some sort of shawl. Sango gave Inuyasha her weapons and therefore only looked like a normal pregnant woman, while Shippo looked like a child that was accompanying her.

Inuyasha decided to go along with Jaken, Ah-Un and Kirara as they left to hide as there really was no way to disguise them in any manner and Inuyasha thought that it probably would be best to leave the talking to Miroku and Kagome.

Slowly they all travelled along, some of them on the road, the rest of them in the bushes and the undergrowth of the forest. It wasn't long before they finally reached some crossroads where they also met another priestess who greeted them. Because they had seen the statue before it had vanished, they knew that the woman was Midoriko, despite her weapons.

"Greetings priestess." Miroku and Kagome stated and Midoriko replied in kind. Sango and Shippo merely nodded and made a respectful gesture before appearing to continue down the road as though they weren't travelling with Kagome and Miroku.

They quickly fell into some small talk before talking about their own problems with demons, it appeared as if that was a common topic of the time. Kagome and Miroku used examples of the demon encounters that they had had over the years while Midoriko talked of ones that she had had in this time.

"I was wondering, Priestess Midoriko, whether you knew any helpful herbs in keeping demons away. The standard ones that we are using do not appear to be having any effect anymore." Kagome stated, believing that they couldn't spend too long chatting away, they had to get the information that they needed before getting back to their own time. Miroku on the other hand seemd slightly awed by the woman standing in front of them. Kohaku merely kept the respectful distance that a guard was meant to take and observed the countryside.

"Yes, there are a couple that I tend to use that have proven to be quite helpful over the years, would you like to have some of them so that your shrine is better protected until you manage to grow your own?" Midoriko had been nothing but polite so far and yet Kagome could not shake the feeling that there was more to this woman than she allowed to be seen.

"That would be wonderful." Kagome flashed a bright smile which Miroku also echoed.

"Once the demons are near though, you should eradicate them as quickly as possible." Midoriko continued on, "They are loathsome creatures and their kind should be flushed from this earth. They are nothing but pure evil." The look in her eyes was hard and Kagome nearly flinched at the hatred portrayed deep within them. Miroku's brows furrowed slightly as he contemplated her deep dislike towards demons.

"I suggest that you attempt to make some of the demons believe that you mean well with them and get them to cooperate with you, that way it's easier to kill them all off at once. They will have their defenses down and it will take less of an effort to get rid of them." Midoriko suggested and Kagome thanked her friends back in her own time for dragging her off to the festivals and drama clubs so often so that her true feelings wouldn't show right now and she was able to act as if she agreed with Midoriko.

"Is it really easier that way?" Miroku asked, only Kagome and Kohaku noting the suddenly hard look in his eyes.

"Yes, if I weren't so well known in these parts as someone who offs those foul creatures, I would employ such a tactic myself." Midoriko stated calmly, as if the mere thought of slaughtering so any demons, whether innocent or guilty, didn't bother her at all. "I do have to get going though, I've heard of some demons gathering a little bit east of here. It was a pleasure meeting you, Priestess Kagome and Monk Miroku." She said with a small nod of her head and after their own farewells she left in a direction different to the one that they had come from and they set off down the road that Shippo and Sango had gone, all three of them deep in thought.

Once they rounded the corner they found that the ghost like Yukari and Sesshomaru had rejoined Inuyasha, Kirara, Jaken and Ah-Un who had some out of the bushes to meet up again with Sango and Shippo.

"She obviously hates demons with a passion." Sango said and the other three nodded.

"And the way she talked about infiltrating the demon groups, I'd nearly say that she's done that in our time." Miroku mentioned.

"It probably happened around the time that you vanished with the Shikon no Tama Kagome." Sango began and the others turned to listen, "The jewel is her heart after all so maybe the vanishing of her heart led her to be released from her state as a statue."

"It sounds plausible but we shouldn't make any assumptions before we know better." Yukari commented.

"But these herbs are definitely the ones that we smelt back in our time." Inuyasha pointed at the herbs as if they were an offensive being.

"Hn." Sesshomaru appeared to agree.

"And if they were a personal favourite of Midoriko's then she probably is alive in our time." Sango stated.

"We should get back as soon as possible, we won't know until we return anyway. We do have some ideas about it now though." Miroku said and the others nodded.

The sooner they got home the better.