Author's Note: Another day, another chapter. Already up to Chapter 36, though? This is going to be a looong series, but I am sure you guys won't mind that at all!

When Mina awoke, she didn't understand what had happened. She remembered falling asleep in her bed, upset over Sesshomaru's apathetic attitude toward her. Now she was in a forest, and fairly deep in from what she could see by how close the trees were to each other.

Standing up, she looked around for the person responsible for her disappearance. She expected some bad guy to come out and threaten to kill her. But nothing happened. She began to shake as she realized that someone had kidnapped her just to abandon her in the middle of a dark forest.

Did Masami organize this to get Mina out of her hair? Had Sesshomaru agreed with this? Maybe he knew. Maybe he thought it was a good idea. After all, he had said that he did not care about her. Perhaps he helped leave her in the forest to keep her from distracting him during the season again. Did he hate that mating season made him kiss her?

Mina held back the tears, knowing that they wouldn't help in this situation. She had to make a decision on whether to go back to the castle, or find somewhere else to spend her life. If it was true that they had removed her from the castle, then there was no point going back. If Sesshomaru knew, then that explained why he did not react when she mentioned the hole under her bed. He probably knew that someone would take her away in the night. He probably helped plan it.

She felt a pain in her chest and swallowed hard, blinking back tears. She just wouldn't think about it. Sesshomaru would just have to disappear from her mind. She was back to surviving now.

Mina began walking in the direction that she had been faced when she woke up.

Minako's absence was acknowledged at the castle, but no one thought anything of it until dinner. She had missed three meals, and Jaken knew that her moping was unhealthy if it meant that she would go so long without eating.

When he found her door locked, he knocked and called for her, "Minako! Quit this moping and come out this instant."

When she didn't answer, he knocked louder. After a while, he grew worried, and put his ear up to the door. Perhaps she was sleeping. Such a deep sleep that not even his annoyed shouts would wake her up.

He couldn't hear anything, and although he did not want to disrupt his lord and lady during their final hours of planning, he went to them anyway. What if something was wrong? This was why he didn't like the girl to lock herself in at night.

Masami seemed highly annoyed when he knocked on the door to the study.

"Who dares to disrupt us?" she called out.

Jaken shakily opened the door and stepped in. Her anger faded a bit when she saw that it was the advisor, and looked back to Sesshomaru.

"My lady," he said. "Do you perhaps have a key to Minako's room? She has locked herself in since last night."

Masami sighed loudly and opened a drawer, tossing him a key. "This opens all doors in the castle. I expect you to return it to me immediately after using it. But don't disrupt us, just slide it under the door. We have very limited time before the season begins."

Jaken nodded, bowed, and hurried out of the room. He made his way back to Minako's room and tried the key. The door clicked, and he took a deep breath before opening it and stepping into the room.

"Mina, why are you..."

He found the room empty. Confused, he looked again, checking behind the door and in her closet. The few items she had brought to the castle seemed to still be there, but Mina herself was gone. He wondered how she had managed to lock herself in the room with the window still closed. Feeling a breeze, he bent down and lifted up the sheets of the bed.

Seeing the hole, his stomach tightened.

He was tempted to go to Lord Sesshomaru, but knew the wrath he would face. Instead, he took a deep breath and hopped into the hole, following the tunnel through as far as he could. After a while, it led up to the surface. He climbed the ladder and poked his head out to find himself outside the castle.

"Oh, no," he groaned. "Lord Sesshomaru is going to be so angry with me!"

Jaken looked up into the sky, his eyes suddenly bulging out when he realized how close the moon was to being full. He shrieked, falling back into the hole.

"Oh, no! Lord Sesshomaru is going to kill me!"

He ran through the tunnel until he reached the hole, climbing up and running all the way back to where Masami and Sesshomaru were finishing up their business. Mina being outside in the forest all alone during the season was bad enough. But outside alone during the season while human? Sesshomaru would murder Jaken! Without even knocking, he burst through the study door.

"I said to slide it under!" Masami shouted furiously, her eyes flashing red. She slammed a fist down onto the table.

Sesshomaru stared down at Jaken, curious as to what he was so flustered about.

"My lord," he panted. "Minako...she is gone!"

Masami looked to her future mate for a reaction, but he gave her none. He simply turned back to the papers. "Then find her."

"I wish it were so easy, my lord, but-"

"What I am doing is important, Jaken. Recruit help from the cats if you must," he said. "There are hundreds of capable men and women around the castle who can find her. Masami and I do not have time for this."

"But my lord," Jaken continued, "She is gone. She is not in the castle at all! There is a hole under the bed... I think someone took her!"

This time, Masami missed the look that passed on Sesshomaru's face. His heart seemed to stop and he dropped the pen he had been using. He stood up immediately, leaving the room. Masami jumped up and ran after him.

"Sesshomaru," she exclaimed, "I will send someone to search for her. We have to finish tonight!"

He did not slow down or respond. She caught up to him, and striding by his side, tried to convince him to stay.

"Perhaps she left on her own. She can't be that far."

He turned when he reached Minako's room and went straight for the bed. Masami gasped as he grabbed it with one arm and threw it to the side. He knelt down and touched the hole, gazing down it in silence.

"Sesshomaru," Masami sighed.

"They masked their scent," he said. "There isn't even a trace of her scent in this room."

"Sesshomaru," Masami repeated, setting a hand on his shoulder. She knelt down with him, and he looked back at her. "I know how deeply you care for your wards, but please. We have to finish our business. Keep the human child close, and I will send my best men out to find your other ward."

Jaken shifted uneasily, "I will help in the search, my lord. We will find her!"

"Please, Sesshomaru," Masami said, hugging him and leaning in close. "The season begins tomorrow, we must stay inside and rest. Your young hanyou will be fine."

Sesshomaru stood, still staring at the hole. "Minako is not my ward in the truest sense, Masami."

She looked up at him in surprise, furrowing her brow. "What do you mean?"

He turned his head, staring down at her. She could tell from the worried look in his eyes, one that she had never seen before, that he had been hiding something from her.

"We aren't the only ones entering the season tomorrow."

Masami gasped, taking a step back. "That girl...is a woman?"