I do not own Inuyasha yet but I have sent a squadron of flying monkies to Japan to stea... borrow the copyright from Rumiko-sama.
Sesshomaru shifted ever so slightly to get just a little more comfortable. He had no idea how long they had been trapped. He expected the humans to fall asleep but it soon became evident that they were use to sitting up with Inuyasha on his human night.
He watched his little brother. How could he stay so calm when he was essentially helpless tonight. Just a mere mortal. Of course Inuyasha had 150 years to get use to this.
Every so often Carolina would look at her watch. Checking the time, she had explained. "Hey Inu, it's 6:00." She stated once more looking at the watch."
Inuyasha nodded then looked at Sesshomaru. "You said it'll take some time to get out of here?"
"Yes."
"Well, lets get going, it's almost sun rise." He stood and his pack did as well. Miroku carried the lantern as Kagome still cradled Shippo, letting him sleep a little longer. Carolina also held Rin as she got to her feet. She still managed to stand quickly with out waking the child. Sesshomaru knew she was anxious to get out of the cave.
After a while Inuyasha's hair turned back to white and his claws and ears returned. Shortly after Shippo yawned and stirred In Kagome's arms. He stretched his little limbs and blinked a couple of times before focusing on Kagome's face. Then realized they were moving.
"Is it morning?" He asked his adopted mother.
"What do you think?" Inuyasha asked irritably.
"Yeah, it's morning." The kitsune replied with out even having to look at Inuyasha. "You know I think I like you better as a human. You're nicer then."
"Feh!"
A few minutes later Rin stirred in Carolina's arms. She yawned and rubbed her eyes in the dim light then seemed to remember they were in a cave. "Are we almost out?"
"Not yet Rin." Sesshomaru answered the tiny child.
"I hope we get out soon. I don't think Suzu likes being in the cave. It's to dark and scary."
Kagome decided they should stop and feed the kids, what difference would another half hour make? Inuyasha was ready to protest until she pulled out ramen and the pot. He figured maybe it would be o.k. to stop just long enough to eat. Once everyone but Carolina and Sesshomaru had eaten, and Inu had stolen a bite of Shippo's ramen just to tease him, they continued down the tunnel.
Then they cam to a spot where the tunnel narrowed drastically. It was so narrow that Sesshomaru removed his shoulder piece and tucked it into his belt with his swords. Then turned to look at Carolina as he realized her breathing had become more rapid and shallow.
She stared at the tunnel with something close to panic in her eyes. He took her hand and led her toward the narrowing. She pulled back and stepped away from it quickly while staring into it's depths. Had this only been a passage that widened after a couple of feet it would have been o.k. But this passage stayed narrow for as far as they could seen in the dim light.
"It's o.k. Carolina." Sesshomaru whispered soothingly to his woman then tried to lead her to the passage again. She was almost in it when she pulled back away in sheer terror, tossing her head and pawing and the ground as she backed away.
Watching, Sango couldn't help but remember the time her father's barn had caught fire. One of the horses had acted just like Carolina when they tried to lead him past the flames.
Sesshomaru was damn near ready to tie Carolina up, toss her over his shoulder, and carry her like a sack of rice down the narrow passage when Sango announced that she had an idea.
"Carolina, you get frightened because you see how narrow the passage is. If you couldn't see it could some one lead you through?"
"I don't know." Carolina replied hesitantly.
"Well, I was thinking if you were blind folded and couldn't see where you were going it wouldn't frighten you as badly. Maybe you could even imagine you were being led through a field." Sango offered.
Carolina mulled it over. It could work. It was the best solution so far. She had a pretty good idea how the dogs would solve the problem if this didn't work.
When Carolina didn't protest the idea Sango took her silence as the go ahead. She got an appropriate piece of cloth from Kagome's back pack, a thin hand towel, and tied it over her eyes. Then Sesshomaru took her hand and led her towards the passage.
She hesitated, stopped, then took another step. Then another. It was slow going at first but they eventually moved down the narrow section at a decent pace. After about half an hour they reached a place where the tunnel widened once more and Sesshomaru removed Carolina's blind fold.
The others all told her how well she did and told Sango what a great idea it was. Then they continued on. When the others turned they're backs to continue Sesshomaru stole a quick kiss and wrapped his arm around her as they continued.
Around lunch time they saw light at the end of the tunnel but quickly realized there was a barrier between them and the exit. As they drew nearer they realized there were two barriers a couple hundred yards apart. Between the two barriers was a thick cloud of miasma.
"Naraku knew about this opening." Sesshomaru hissed. "I could walk right through this. And you could probably cross the distance with some difficulty, little brother. But the humans can not. He knows we can not abandon our humans."
Carolina squinted through the cloud. "Guess again. There is a pool of poison, the mist is rising up from it."
"Yeah, that poison would probably dissolve your legs." Inuyasha grumbled. "I guess we have to go back and dig out. Naraku probably has that rock youkai waiting to pick us off one by one if we do."
Carolina stared at the pool long and hard before saying to her self, "I can purify that." Before anyone could reply she stepped through the barrier and took her true form as she approached the pool.
Kagome gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. "She's a unicorn?" She asked in astonishment. "Of course! What else could have saved the kids, why didn't I figure that out before?"
"You've heard of her kind?" Miroku asked.
"Every one in the future has. They are the most popular creature in European folklore. There are hundreds of movies and books about them. Mostly children's stories, for little girls. One of the things all the stories agree on is that they can heal the sick and injured."
"So she can make the poison go away? Like she did the poison in my leg?" Rin asked looking up at Kagome.
"It's an awful lot of poison Rin." Sango warned the child.
"She can do it" Shippo replied confidently. "She saved both me and Rin. She can do this easy!"
They all fell silent as Carolina reached her destination. Her alicorn began to glow and she lowered her head to the liquid. The glow began to spread through her then through the liquid as well. Seconds ticked by as the glow slowly spread through out. Then it began to creep up the wisps of mist in the air.
Seconds turned to minutes until the entire space was filled with glowing mist. Then the glow subsided, the air was clear and the liquid in the pool was gone. Carolina slowly raised her head. Then she stumbled forward and sank to the ground.
Every one ran to her side. Sesshomaru reached her first and dropped to his knees beside her. As soon as he knew she was breathing he pulled her head into his lap and brushed back her forelock from her eyes.
"Is Carolina-sama going to be o.k. Chichiue?" Rin asked staring down at her and clutching her doll tightly.
"Yes Rin, she is merely resting." Sesshomaru assured his little girl.
"She tried to do to much. She's exhausted." Kagome observed, kneeling at her withers and stroking her long, silky mane.
After several minutes Carolina opened her eyes and struggled to her feet. She was unsteady on her hooves as she started to move toward the exit again. She knew they needed to get away before Naraku showed up and every one understood that. Sesshomaru wished she would shift back to human form so that somebody could carry her.
Kirara watched her then took her larger form. As Carolina stumbled and fell Kirara ducked under her so that the unicorn ended up draped across her own strong back. Carolina made to get back up but Kirara took to the sky so she had no choice but to accept the help.
Once they were sure they were all a safe distance away Kirara set down. Carolina climbed off her back and shifted to human form. Then sat back down in the thick leaves
"Lets go find a good place to camp." Kagome suggested. Every one nodded and left but Sesshomaru.
"I guess Me and Kirara will go hunt down Sesshomaru's dragon and pet frog." Inuyasha offered. "What do you say Kirara?" Kirara roared and gave him a look that he knew meant 'climb on'. And so they went frog hunting together.
Meanwhile Sesshomaru sat down next to Carolina int the leaf litter. "You should rest." He told her. She nodded and laid down with her head in his lap. He stroked her hair and back while she fell into a deep sleep.
Carolina slept through the night and most of the next day. Every one waited patiently for her to get better. Even Inuyasha didn't complain and Jaken didn't dare. The general, if unspoken, agreement was she had nearly killed herself to save her friends.
Sesshomaru was still by her side when she woke up. "How long have I been sleeping?" She asked staring up at him.
"Better than a day." He answered reaching down to stroke her cheek.
"I guess I better figure out what to tell my mama about the well."
"Why is that?"
"By the time I return to my time I'll have missed her phone call. She'll be on the next flight to Tokyo to ask me why face to face."
"I see."
"When Kagome and I return I would like for you to stay near the well. Mama will want to meet you." He nodded and she sat up and kissed him passionately. He returned it with as much passion then kissed down her neck. Then he made him self stop. He wanted to exercise some self control. Esspecially before he met his future mate's mother. And he didn't think covering the girl in love bites would be the best way to make a good first impression on her mother.