Action scenes aren't really my thing when it comes to writing, but there was a clear need for at least one in the fic – otherwise, it wouldn't be action and adventure, would it now? – and so the first opportunity came here, when the heroes are in no small trouble. Hehe. Hopefully, this turns out to general satisfaction – though I suppose every hint of KagYouko-ness is satisfying to both the readers and myself. Aside from that, I hope you don't kill me because of the cliffhanger – remember, if you do, you'll never find out how this story ends! Hehe.

Anyway, every review you send helps me and encourages me to post more often, as college starts at the end of September and then I'll likely have some problems with updating regularly.

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Defying gravity

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"He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them."

- Sun Tzu

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The cage was broken.

But in a somewhat surprising move, the bound pair wasn't the first target of the enraged hanyou. Free of his cage, he leapt at the two demonic children – but once he got close, the barrier wall protecting them blew him back to the "players", which was far from good. Especially as Kagome had called his name previously, bringing his attention back to them. Then, she screamed, because in his state, facing the kitsune to whom she was now bound, InuYasha didn't really understand what was happening and lunged himself at them.

Perhaps he intended to free "Kikyo", but Youko didn't intend to stick around long enough to find out. They had only two advantages: one, InuYasha's aim was severely impaired in this state and two, contrary to the priestess's state, the fox demon was not nearly as helpless as their enemies would have liked – he happened to have excellent reflexes. In fact, if InuYasha hadn't pulled out his sword at the last second, the two of them would have escaped with one less scratch on the kitsune's face, which healed within an instant.

Kagome was facing problems with landing on her feet after the leap they took and even her minor weigh was proving somewhat of a hindrance in terms of balance for the fox demon. After a few tries, he was able to accustom himself to the slight change of equilibrium and the priestess stopped yelping whenever they evaded the fang-like sword. It certainly wasn't either of their preferred style of combat.

"So what's the plan?!" Kagome yelled, mid-air, slightly nauseous now.

Youko didn't bother with an answer. He had waited long enough and examined the technique – or lack of it – the dog demon was using sufficiently. Judging by his erratic movement, they would be able to use him somehow. And if that sword had broken a holy barrier on the first try, then it should also work on their bonds. At long last, he managed to test his theory – with a major swipe; InuYasha struck the energetic bind securing the manacle on Youko's right wrist in place. The youki beam crackled and sparkled before throwing the hanyou back, exploding into pieces in the process. But, most importantly, it lost contact with the orb and the manacle around the kitsune's wrist vanished at the expense of a small wound.

He wasted no time.

As he was able to move now, he quickly turned around and pried Kagome's stiff fingers from the fake jewel she was still gripping in her right palm, ignoring her yelp. But it was supposed to have suggested danger, not pain, and Youko crashed against the nearest wall from the force of InuYasha's attack. Thinking quicker than ever, Kagome remembered one long-forgotten trick she had in store, but had never gotten close enough to use. Now was the time for drastic measures.

With her free hand – her right was still somewhat numb and she felt that in his hurry, the kitsune had clearly come close to breaking at least one of her fingers, which was hardly a comforting thought for an archer – she reached for an object in her bag, drawing a peculiar black and white series of beads. She used her powers to fasten it around InuYasha's neck; the hanyou tried to pry the rosary off, to no avail. And then, finding inspiration in her partner-of-sorts, who sat up in the rubble, ready to return the pleasure of getting closer to the wall, she bellowed the subjugation command at the top of her lungs.

"SIT!"

And the hanyou was sent crashing into the ground, face-fist. There was a moment of silence; Youko, on his feet again, eyed the priestess warily, but she had already rounded up on Hakudoshi.

"The game is over and you lose! It ends here!" she yelled, returning the bow to her hands with trembling fingers.

The white demon-boy was almost unfazed by her threat. "Only death ends this game." he noted, his eyes still shining.

Youko noticed that Kanna had vanished from her sibling's side and the second he spent searching for her cost him the chance to warn Kagome. The girl almost materialized in front of the priestess, mirror raised at her eye-level. Kagome, with no idea what the mirror was capable of, unwillingly glanced into it. The pinkish barrier prevented Youko from knocking the mirror from Kanna's hands, but something happened that none of them had anticipated.

Though the priestess now had eyes that were almost blank and the light of her soul began to drift into the mirror, the transfer continued even when the energy seemed to spill from the shimmering surface. And Kagome, her face suddenly regaining concentration, slowly directed her gaze into the empty eyes of the demon-child, who, if possible, looked surprised. It seemed to take all her strength, arms shaking, but she managed to draw an arrow and take aim.

But she appeared to miss her target; rushing past the lily in Kanna's hair, the arrow hit the barrier around Hakudoshi and, with a great blast of light, managed to push its way through, narrowly missing the boy, who was clearly startled.

"What are you doing?!" he called to his sister. "Absorb her soul, Kanna!"

"It's too large…" her whisper-like voice replied, empty as her eyes, devoid of concern, but with a hint of stunned surprise. "I have to release the souls… or the mirror will crack…" And, certainly enough, a long crack appeared on the glowing surface of the mirror. With a great flash of light, Kanna expelled the souls within the mirror in order to preserve it. The light of her soul hit Kagome square in the chest, causing her to collapse to her knees.

But Hakudoshi was unsatisfied, letting out a sound that was almost growl-like. In his hands, he twirled the halberd-like weapon into an offensive position. "If you cannot take her soul, I'll take her head!"

The greatest light erupted from the mirror as Hakudoshi leapt up. But before he could take a swipe at Kagome's head, he was knocked away by InuYasha, who let out an incoherent scream of rage, clearly intent on ripping the demon-child to shreds. With surprising aim, the hanyou severed the arm holding the naginata at the ready.

"So, the dog bites its master. Futile." Hakudoshi noted, but then he saw that the naginata had vanished and looked in Youko's general direction just in time to see a long vine wrapped around the weapon snap the blade off of it.

InuYasha attacked with new fervour, but Hakudoshi was dangerous even without his weapon. Meters away, Kagome scrambled to all fours and grabbed her bow again. Kanna had vanished and Youko had decided to observe the artless battle for the moment before making a choice.

The priestess didn't wait. She knew her time had come – inwardly, she prayed to Midoriko to give her strength and a good aim – and so she fired one last arrow, after which she really had no energy for more. It soared towards the two combatants and hit Hakudoshi soundly, but it seemed to injure InuYasha as well – apparently, she hadn't controlled the amount of energy she wanted to release well enough. Youko caught sight of the still intact head of Hakudoshi soaring away on its own accord. It avoided his whip, but InuYasha was hot on its tail, momentarily forgetting both "Kikyo" and her "attacker".

The wasps, unnoticed until then, carried off the limp body of Botan, promptly vanishing with their master. Kagome tried her best to get up and shoot off after the demon, but when she had to lean against the remains of the naginata for support, she realized that it would be a no-go. After all the trouble they had gone through, not only was Hakudoshi going to escape again, oh no – he still had Botan with him, which meant they could have yet another merry round of this insane game.

Her hand on the support staff slipped, but someone caught her and half-dragged, half-carried her to sit on the stone altar where Botan had been minutes previously. It turned out to be, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, none other than Youko Kurama.

"I sincerely hope you don't have any more of those rosaries." he said, and though he was serious, something in Kagome lightened up.

"They're called the Beads of Subjugation and no, I don't. But maybe I should have brought a spare." she retorted, her mind more on the mental image on Hakudoshi slamming into the floor than anything else. "We have seriously got to stop saving each other's lives like this." she mumbled, inspecting her sore fingers.

"And when, little priestess, have you saved my life, pray tell?" the kitsune asked, picking up and inspecting the sphere of crystallized youki that had imprisoned them at a crucial moment. It was clearly a creation of that Naraku, as the youki had to have come from him. Kagome used her regained strength to glare at him, which he blissfully ignored. "But I don't know." He flashed her a brief glance, his eyes laughing at her. "I think I'm beginning to like traps involving you and handcuffs."

Her ignorance could be either attributed to her innocence or her attempt to say what she wanted to say. "I guess I should thank you for getting us out of that one. I don't suppose you'd be interested in working for Reikai?" she asked, without any real conviction.

His reply was somewhat more accurate than she had expected. "I doubt even you would be, given the choice."

"Point taken." A sigh. "Well, no one ever said this was a risk-free job… could we by chance call this a truce until Naraku is dealt with?" she asked hopefully. It would certainly be one large problem off her back. And having Youko Kurama as an ally, temporary or otherwise, was certainly a profitable arrangement.

Of course, it would help if he cared to wipe that smirk off his face. "You're only offering that because you are too weak to fight me now." he said, assessing the situation with precision.

For a priestess, she certainly knew how to glare well. "I'm really starting to hate you when you're so…"

"Right?" the fox demon suggested, completely unfazed by her glare, which was faltering somewhat.

Stupid cute fox ears. How was she supposed to stay focused on her defensive speech when they were so close and distracting? Where were the good old days when fuzzy ears and a tail meant "I'm an innocent little furry creature, come pet me"? Everything about him was more of the "I might be danger incarnate, but you can't deny your primal attraction to me" kind. And when even she noticed it, it was serious.

Naturally, she was fiercely against the attraction theory, but still…

"Cocky. Even in this state, I can still take you." she warned, but it was clearly an empty threat – anyone could see that she was exhausted from the soul draining and would need time to recover.

But her determination was what was so memorable about her and instead of being annoyed or superior, Youko found her challenging tone likable. "Perhaps I'll hold you to your word someday."

Before the priestess could wonder or respond, the soft sound of a single set of footsteps reached the kitsune's ears and he whirled around abruptly. It was Kanna; she had reappeared from whatever shadows she had retreated to after her debacle with the mirror and now, she was vanishing through a different corridor than Hakudoshi's head had flown through. It was a quick moment of choice – and Youko took after the white girl without hesitation. The priestess was in no condition to be helpful at the moment and if he caught Kanna…

"Hey! Don't leave me here! KURAMA!" Kagome quickly yelled after she realized what was going on, but even slipping off the stone altar tired her somewhat. Still, she didn't want to admit to being helpless and she certainly had no intention of staying there alone if – if – she happened to need help. Just in case.

Of course, she didn't really receive a reply – not even a word of parting, really, which she noted rather grudgingly. She didn't really know what to think about that and resolved to first get out of the labyrinth. Or perhaps recover her strength before attempting to do anything at all, she decided, though she was already feeling somewhat better.

In a more distant part of the dungeons, Sango was fortunate enough to wake up a few moments before Miroku did – somehow, despite their separation, they had eventually ended up in the same part of the dungeons. They too had encountered Kanna and lost their souls in the process, though they had fought the spell. Nevertheless, whether by chance or by intention, they were the ones to run into the fleeing Hakudoshi – or rather, what was left of him – before anyone else. But their recovery was swifter than Kagome's and they had had more time to regain their strength.

Still, she was concerned when she found him collapsed on the ground not too far from her and immediately crawled towards him on all fours – she couldn't be certain what had happened, but she attempted to wake him, which ended up as such attempts at gentleness with him usually did – by the revelation that he was hardly as unconscious as he seemed, and while he was a superb actor, the yelp of pain and the slap mark on his cheek were far from faked.

Afterwards, they were finally able to focus on the matter at hand – finding both Kagome and Hakudoshi, hopefully not together, or hopefully the former safe and the latter deceased. Somehow…

Their key problem with the white demon-boy had been that they had never been able to destroy him completely, courtesy of the wasps that seemed to follow him whenever he went. But this time, the head flew ahead of the wasps, without its protection. Though they didn't know it, the demon had managed to shake InuYasha off in the maze of tunnels and was now trying to return to his creator to rest and be recreated in peace, knowing that he was hardly in condition to fight.

But if there was one thing he hadn't counted with, it was the swift recovery of the houshi and the taijiya, especially their quick wits. Sango was the first who noticed it and quickly called at her companion with her customary "Houshi-sama! Look!" And Miroku was quick on the uptake. The wasps appeared a moment later, but they kept their distance, which showed that something was wrong. They weren't flying to defend their master – besides, the body of Botan also became visible on their wings.

It was time.

Miroku had never specified the exact demon that had placed the curse on him, but it was common knowledge in Reikai that his hand was cursed not only because of the rather lecherous instincts of the monk. In life, the hole in his hand that could such everything into its black abyss had been beyond his control and would have eventually consumed him as well. But in death – for he had died of poison rather than of the cursed wound – the expansion of the curse had been halted by the skilled healers of Reikai. Thus it was now only a weapon; one that couldn't hurt him any longer, but an effective tool when needed.

Of course, it had to be watched intently and used carefully. And it turned out that the wasps that followed Hakudoshi had a rather bad effect on him when he sucked them in. but this time, when the wasps retreated and Hakudoshi was nothing but a mere head, there was nothing stopping him from performing the deed that he was actually somewhat eager to do after the trouble the demon had caused them. After all, he had allowed the kazaana to consume dozens of demons at once. One more was nothing.

Hakudoshi noticed the intentions of his enemies too late. But he knew that they weren't the cause of this treachery – he realized that Naraku had found out about the machinations of him and his other half, which had no doubt been taken back into the body of their creator. And thus, as there was no need for the younger white child to be absorbed, death was to be his punishment for betrayal. After all, with the Shikon no Tama at hand and Kagome as a lifeless doll at his command, he would never again need to obey Naraku. But Kanna had been in on this treachery as well, he realized. Kanna, who had no feelings and had not resisted when he had prodded her mind…

The time had come. And he, defenceless to prevent it from happening, felt only a gush of wind pulling at his hair, taking him deeper and deeper into an unending abyss…

Sango threw Hiraikotsu as precisely as she could at the wasps, trying not to harm the unconscious ferry girl, but it seemed that the insects saw no further point in keeping her and released her, thus buying the time to escape their attackers. The slayer didn't have the chance to catch both Botan and Hiraikotsu, but Miroku managed to seal his wind tunnel and catch her without much trouble. At first, Sango thought it was rather noble of him, even though something about the sight of the monk holding Botan – whom she considered a friend – like that irked her.

She noticed the truth of the matter at about the same time as the waking ferry girl did – Botan gave a yelp and tried to jump out of the monk's arms with much more energy than she ought to possess after such an ordeal. And Sango, clenching her teeth, prepared her fist for a hit at point-blank range.

"How dare you take advantage of an unconscious woman, you perverted houshi!" she snapped, helping Botan to her feet while the red-faced monk tried to put on an expression of innocence.

Botan, rather disoriented, groaned slightly. She had a terrible headache. Then, she remembered how she had been forced to look into that strange mirror and all had gone blank… "…and then I woke up here!" she concluded, her face still slightly flushed.

"No need to worry; we've finally dealt with Hakudoshi." Sango assured her, glaring at Miroku just for the sake of displaying her dissatisfaction. "Are you feeling all right, Botan-chan?"

"I'll be okay, don't worry about me." Then, the ferry girl paled slightly. "But where's Kagome-chan? Did you get separated?"

"Yes, but now that Hakudoshi is dead, I think the enchantments around these ruins will lift as well." Miroku noted, re-entering his "monk mode" upon struggling to avoid Sango's pointed glare. In any case, he seemed to take on the burden of leadership while Kagome was gone quite effectively. He closed his eyes and focused for a moment, like he usually did when searching for a demon's strong youki. And, finally, he found the direction. "I found her energy – she isn't too far away from us and seems to be waiting for us to find her. She seems all right." he said reassuringly when both women seemed concerned – Sango actually lessened her glare in favour of a concerned look.

"Then lead the way!"

Botan seemed to regain her usual bubbly manner quickly for someone who had had their soul sucked out of their body in such a brutal fashion and summoned her oar to take off after Miroku. She wanted to offer Sango a ride, but the slayer politely declined, both because she was used to Kirara (who had unfortunately remained outside, securing the entrance) and because she was slightly unsure how well the ferry girl would be able to manage her oar – thus refusing for both their sakes.

It took them several minutes to find the great hall where Kagome was resting and regaining her strength. Once she had managed to stand up, she noticed something strange in the rubble from where the fox demon had risen after being spectacularly hurled against the wall. Pushing a few larger stones aside, she discovered with surprise that it was what had been given and taken from her so long ago – the fan of the wind witch, Kagura. After a few seconds of musing over why he would keep it, she supposed that it was because of the scent all demons were giving off. It was likely that this was giving off the smell of Kagura and thus, of Naraku as well.

Perhaps she could show it to Kirara to memorize, she decided, and thus resolved to keep it. After all, besides having had the fan for quite some time, the kitsune had snatched the youki orb; he wouldn't be missing this. At least, it wasn't too likely. For a few moments, she managed to entertain herself with the thought of someone like him carrying a woman's fan around as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but it didn't last too long.

In her attempts to store and restore her power, she almost hadn't sensed the three otherwise familiar presences zooming towards her position at great speed before she heard two sets of rapid footsteps and a swooshing sound. That was how the others found her – leaning against the broken naginata, but obviously all right, though she looked a little worse for the wear than she had been when they had ended up separated. Her bow was on the ground nearby and she looked twice as tired as she felt.

She was startled for a moment before hearing the familiar cries of her name, calming her despite their panicky nature. In her current state, she would have had problems fending off even the most mediocre demons effectively.

"Kagome-chan!" Sango ran immediately to her best friend, who fortunately seemed generally all right. "What happened here?"

"Nothing too uncustomary when it comes to Hakudoshi. Wait!" Kagome paled slightly. "He escaped and InuYasha was after him! Did you guys see either of them?"

Miroku, who inspected the damaged blade of Hakudoshi's former weapon, frowned somewhat. "Hakudoshi is no more; I'll take the liberty of assuming you were the one to almost destroy him again, Kagome-sama." A nod. "Well, the head that was escaping flew past us and we were fortunate enough to strike when we had the chance. But we didn't see InuYasha anywhere nearby. I don't sense him even now… it is likely he lost his quarry. These ruins are very odd."

"Wasn't Hakudoshi the one infusing the power into the ruins?" Sango asked, in the obvious hopes that the enchantments – for lack of a better word – had lifted already.

But the monk didn't seem at all convinced of that as he tossed the blade aside. "In any case, as we have Botan-san and the jewel back," he spared the aforementioned object a brief glance, as it was glowing softly as usual around Kagome's neck, "we should be heading out of here. Even with Hakudoshi destroyed, I sense several strong demonic auras in the vicinity and with Kagome-sama as she is, it would be a risky battle for us."

It was the truth; admittedly, Kagome was physically the weakest of the three of them, which, when added to the fact that her powers were nearly depleted because she still hadn't recovered completely, made her somewhat of a liability. Moreover, they couldn't afford to lose her.

"You'll be riding with me, Kagome-chan." Botan suggested with surprising decisiveness. "You'll just have to hold tighter than you did last time, that's all."

But the priestess wasn't that concerned about herself. "Sure, but are you all right, Botan-chan? You were being carried off by those wasps when I saw you last and you looked ill…"

"That surprised us as well." Sango interjected. "They were flying after Hakudoshi and had the chance to protect him from houshi-sama's kazaana, if they wanted to. The curious thing is that they seemed to hold back on purpose… as if they didn't want to save him."

"Why would they do that?"

"Maybe they didn't want to risk having Botan-san sucked in alongside them." Miroku suggested, but it was a doubtful argument. "After all, she was kidnapped precisely because Hakudoshi wanted us to follow her into this trap."

The ferry girl looked slightly miserable and guilt-ridden after that, but Kagome shook her head, remembering something Hakudoshi had said. I don't understand why Naraku bothers keeping him…

"What if… what if Naraku himself wanted to get rid of Hakudoshi?" she suggested. Perhaps it was too much of a far-fetched conspiracy theory, but she had to say it.

"You mean that he was past his usefulness or something like that?" Sango asked, but without much conviction. "I don't know, Kagome-chan; he was always able to trick us very well."

"Precisely, and we've already established that these offshoots of Naraku have their own minds and wills. So let's say that Hakudoshi decided that the life of a servant was not the one he intended to lead and had no intention of giving Naraku the jewel, if he managed to obtain it!"

The taijiya still looked sceptical, Botan had a quizzical expression, but Miroku seemed to consider the suggestion.

"It is a plausible possibility." he said finally, "But I suggest we discuss it once we're safe in Reikai and not in the middle of youkai-infested ruins. Do you need help, Kagome-sama?" the monk asked innocently as Kagome tried to mount Botan's oar. Sango gave him an extra hit just in case, though she knew that he would have been zapped by the jewel's purify had he tried anything. "Very well then – let us depart."

Their passage through the ruins was much quicker than it had been previously, as they did their best to remain together – it appeared that the ruins either lost their power or weren't opposed to allowing the people who tried to get out to remain together – only those going in were separated. Either way, it didn't really matter, as long as they were able to get out.

The landscape around the ruins remained the same, but the weather appeared to be changing. A chilly wind had picked up, storm clouds appeared in the distance and all of them – save for Botan, perhaps, who traveled to Makai only when picking them up occasionally – were well aware that storms in the demon realm could last for days. Literally.

Kirara was waiting patiently for them at the entrance, curled up in a corner, jumping up when she sensed them coming. There was no demon in sight of even Miroku's powers, which was a comforting thought, but not comforting enough to make them want to stay where they were.

There was a brief argument about who would be riding with whom on the way home – naturally, any woman who had known Miroku for over a minute would be jumpy about having to ride with him. Botan rather thought she'd have vivid nightmares of her rescue for months to come. But still, neither the oar nor Kirara could actually handle three people at the same time and so it required a bit of a sacrifice from one of them. Botan said bluntly that she was out of the question.

In the end, to speed things up and save himself from another slap, Miroku suggested that he and Kagome ride on Kirara while Sango joined Botan on the oar. "After all, Kagome-sama is immune to my cursed hand courtesy of the jewel." he reasoned, vividly remembering the nauseating and rather painful flash of purity he had received upon their first meeting. Sango, while shooting him a suspicious glance, grudgingly agree with that plan.

Kagome wasn't really listening to the whole conversation. She was still trying her best to make sense of all that had happened. The demise of Hakudoshi and all that had happened, the planned trap, the way the wasps had abandoned Naraku's creation at a crucial moment… the blasé way with which Hakudoshi had been discarded and the mysterious Kanna, who had vanished so quickly, as if she were unconcerned with any of the proceedings…

And then there was her rickety attempt to somehow seal an alliance with Youko Kurama – an unfinished attempt, to say the least. She still wasn't entirely certain what the thief's true intentions were, besides the fact that he clearly wanted to find Naraku as much as she did, though clearly for different and more selfish reasons. Hopefully, their next encounter – and Kagome was almost certain that they would meet again, though it was questionable when and where – would be as productive as this last one in terms of cooperation, though it would help if their cooperation would be enforced by a death-trap.

Come to think of it, where had InuYasha vanished to? Perhaps he had simply gotten lost in the catacombs and Naraku would come to reclaim him… Kagome was strangely angered by this. They had come so close to finally getting him and saving him – or at least restraining him – and once more, they were leaving empty-handed. In fact, they were no closer to even finding InuYasha, let alone Naraku, than they had been before.

Sometimes, she thought these trips to Makai were actually contra productive most of the time.

"So, the heroes sweep into action and save the damsel in distress from her impending doom. How utterly pathetic." A woman's voice drawled lazily from above, waking Kagome from her reverie just in time to see a somewhat familiar creature jumped from the stone gateway to lower ground in front of them.

Her new kimono was somewhat less elaborate in terms of embroidery patterns and decorations. It was white, almost simple, with mauve stripes snaking around the demon's feminine figure with grace, perhaps giving off the effect of hypnotic spirals. Small ornaments were also present on the fabric, in a surprisingly warm yellowish cream colour, representing something quite like the object she had lost some time ago. Her feet were bare, but she didn't seem to mind the cold stone.

"Though I suppose I should be thankful to you people for destroying that brat." She wrinkled her nose slightly, her upper lip stiff in a sneer-like expression of victory. "Honestly, I could never stand all that ridiculous bragging he always did."

Only Kagome recognized the creature, but it was enough to get her on her feet. She didn't understand what was going on – after all, they had seen to it that the wind demon had been destroyed. The priestess had seen the death plant – though she didn't know its name – pierce her body. There was no way in heaven or hell even a demon could have survived such a fatal blow. And yet there was the familiar smirk and sassy manner, the eyes that gave off no reflection…

"Kagura!" the priestess half-gasped, half-cried. She had thoroughly forgotten that the wind witch was weaponless, but she didn't care to find out what other abilities the first Naraku-spawned creature she had encountered had. The fact that she was alive was astonishing enough.

The face of the witch was malevolence itself when she saw three weapons raised against her, at the ready to attack her if she did one wrong move. "Now, now, is this the way to treat a weaponless woman about to offer you the bargain of your life?" The priestess didn't look too convinced, but she was as confused as ever. Her companions were much more wary, as they clearly knew who they were dealing with from the blue-eyed woman's tales. Troublesome bunch, the witch thought with a click of her tongue and then frowned, a bit displeased. "And where did you leave that kitsune you've been travelling with? He was cute."

Botan, being the only one not keeping her eyes on Kagura, idly wondered whether Kagome always blushed furiously when she was, well, furious. The priestess paid that no heed, however; she seemed to have recovered from her fainting spell as well. "What bargain are you talking about?" she demanded, refusing to get sidetracked.

The witch's smirk broadened, her eyes almost glittering. "A bargain that secures a win-win situation for both of us." she said, completely ignoring Kagome's companions, as if they were beneath her notice. "An offer you can't refuse."

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AN: Come on; push that little blue button in the bottom left corner of the page. You know you want to… don't make me use Jedi Mind Tricks… (grin)