AUTHOR'S NOTES:

A. Inuyasha and its original characters were the creation of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not claim them as mine.

B. The additional characters and names featured in this story were my original creations. Please do not copy their characters! The people and names in this story were fictitious. Any similarity was just a coincidence (like Maksim).

C. This is a parallel story to link the Feudal Era and the Modern Time until Kagome's disappearance and return from the well.

CHAPTER 26-B

FEUDAL ERA

Kagome gingerly reached out to the shimmering curtain, she looked at it up and down with suspicion. The other side looked nothing out of the ordinary and her gloved hand passed through without any mishap. But her heart tripped when she suddenly had this crazy feeling that something might jerk her hand from the inside. Feeling childish, she hurriedly retracted her hand out. She walked back about ten paces to get a better view of the size of the barrier and the thing was huge. Ginormous even. She still had to crane her head up to get to see the dome top.

Perhaps it's the rain that's making her reckless and impatient. It hasn't let up and the cold has been seeping into her bones. Her jaw clenched to stop it from chattering while pacing back forth, the action helped put a little heat back to her body. Beyond the domed barrier she could see it was dry. It was oh, so tempting to just slip inside.

In the academy her psychological evaluation would say she needs strong emotional quotient not to give in when every bone in her body wants to find out what's in store behind this dome. Better wait for the rain to let up…better wait for backup…better wait for the voice of reason. Back in New York, she would be itching to storm the place alone. Harris would be her devil's advocate…

"Allen's not here right now, girl…." Kagome murmured to herself. "…it's just us." She snapped to attention when the hooded figure chose that time to show itself from inside the dome. It stood there for a whole ten seconds then turned and slowly walked away as if teasing her and whetting her curiosity. The figure stopped and turned to her again. Kagome held her breath when the figure hooked a gloved finger at her, beckoning her to follow. She stood her ground, her gaze not leaving the phantom as it waited patiently for her. And then, as if giving her more incentive to follow the barrier shimmered open; tantalizing her with dry ground. The specter began walking away again.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" A heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder halting her in her track.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome almost jumped out of her skin. She clutched her chest. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Are you out of your freakin' mind?" He gesticulated wildly. The hanyou stood between her and the dome. "That's a fuckin' trap!" Inuyasha was also soaked as she was. His fluffy dog ears drooping from the cold rain.

"I'm aware of that Inuyasha!" Kagome huffed, scattering water droplets. "I was waiting for reinforcements."

"Keh! There's no one. Seems to me I'm the only help you got."

She paled at the news. "Where are Kouga and Sesshoumaru?" she took a step. "Are they okay?"

"The battle was spread out. But I heard that the dog and the wolf were having it out with the cat. That's all I know." Inuyasha shrugged.

"Why are you here?" Kagome drew the katana, ready for anything. "Shouldn't you be helping Sesshoumaru fight Masahiro instead?"

"No." Inuyasha snorted. "Not if I wanna keep my head." He shrugged at Kagome's frown. "That's a revenge fight, wench, no one's allowed to join in. Besides, you need someone to guard your back."

"Th…tha…thanks." She hated it when her lips trembled from the cold and her voice belied her control. Kagome was beginning to hate this rain. When would it stop? Inuyasha swore again.

"Damn wench." The hanyou cursed. "You're gonna freeze your ass off." Inuyasha tugged off the fire rat shirt and draped it around the surprised woman's shoulders.

"Uh…thanks Inuyasha." Despite herself she was touched by the gesture. She was amazed that the shirt was warm and dry on the inside.

"Keh!" Inuyasha stepped back so she won't feel crowded by his proximity. He was kinda surprised at himself offering his haori at her like that. What does he feel right now? Well, what would he do? Let her freeze to death in this cold rain? Dammit! I'm fucked. I'm getting soft.

It had been months since they got this close and benign thoughts like these wouldn't even cross his mind had this meeting happened a few months ago. Remember, he was assaulting her the first time they met. He would have been chasing her around with a lecherous smile on his face gleeful at finding here alone like this. But not right now. Not anymore.

Damn, it seemed like a long time ago, Inuyasha was surprised. He didn't realize that the mood of their relationship had been changing as the months went on. Their regular close quarter combat lessons helped plant that seed of respect for Kagome and there were even times he forgot his obsession. Instead, he began to enjoy the lessons. He was even gratified to see the wary look vanish from her eyes whenever he comes close and he found that he liked it. One more thing that he liked about her was that the girl's an amazing fighter he got to admit. Fearless. In Inuyasha's book that would most certainly earn a thumbs up and he's one ornery irreverent asshole who respects few people.

He felt that massive surge of power from her, for some reason it worried him to think that she was fighting without Sesshoumaru or Kouga beside her. Fetching both daiyoukai was out of the question at that point; they were just too far and preoccupied. Inuyasha left quick instructions to his right hand man. He didn't even feel torn where to go as he found his feet running towards her direction pushing himself to his limit to get there in time. In time for what, he doesn't know but he knew he had to get there. For all he knew she could be dead. But if she were still alive she would need help. Could he be doing this for some atonement of what he had done to her? Heck, enough of this talk.

"Hey, your friend's waitin' for you." Inuyasha's sharp eyes pierced the fog in the dome. "Who the fuck's that?" Inuyasha strongly reminded Kagome of Ross, a squad member who likes to liven his conversations with a lot of profanity. The sudden memory gave her a jab of nostalgia and she reluctantly pushed it away with a deep breath.

"I don't know but I feel we have met before." Kagome stopped walking. "Where are you going?'

"I'm going with you, wench." He held up a finger, staying a protest. "You can't order me around. I'm not Haru or your wolves." He planted himself squarely in front of her, hands on hips. "It's either I go or you don't. Take your pick, wench."

"Fine." Kagome agreed gruffly sparing Inuyasha the mortification by her mushy show of gratitude. She knew he was trying his best to be nice to her and deep inside she was in fact glad for the hanyou's presence. He actually wasn't the one she expected to show up here. She never expected anyone, period. Inuyasha's fearless, reckless and ruthless fighting style would be a good thing in this situation.

"Sesshoumaru would have my hide if I didn't protect you." He grumbled as he slid his golden gaze on her.

She shook her head stiffly. "Well, you don't have to worry about that. He's not my keeper." Then she added. "Not anymore."

Inuyasha was taken aback at the icy tone. "So that's how it is, huh?" He shook his head and waved her explanation away. "Not my business." He nodded to the statue like apparition in the fog. "Let's not keep him…her, whatever, waiting." He drew out Tetsaiga with a flourish; the hanyou settled the giant fang on his shoulder. "Good thing I know this place." The younger man rolled his shoulders in preparation for whatever is out there waiting for them.

"That's a comfort," Kagome also felt her neck bone crunch as she copied Inuyasha's actions. It released some of the tension she's been feeling. "But how come you do?"

"This is my land."

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"Slow down, Ryo-sama." The houshin's weak voice quivered as he tightened his arms around the neck of the dragon prince. They were flying at breakneck speeds in the air and he discovered that in his state the view from below is making him sick to his stomach.

Miroku had been fighting side by side with the men of the Ookami lord and they were able to marginally win the battle but with a lot of losses. At one point Miroku thought that they would all be slaughtered when their enemies led them to a dead end. The houshin was forced to use his Kazaana but he was poisoned by a swarm of wasps. His hand was turning a bad shade of blue and it was hurting like hell. Everyone was troubled when he fell on his knees in pain with the battle still raging around them it was then that the kami smiled upon their group when the dragon prince found them and turned the tide. He was glad that the Northern prince saw him from the air and took him on his back so both of them could find Kagome.

"We must hurry, sensei. Your wound is getting worse. If we find mom she will help you, right?" the boy looked at him worriedly.

Miroku smiled wanly. "I hope so, Ryo-sama." His breathing was getting heavier like there was a stone on top of it and he was sweating profusely. It took all his strength just to hold on to the back of his student. He looked at his Kazaana hand, the curse of his generation. The only time he could appreciate it was when he was in dire straits and the curse could be used as a weapon. The Kazaana is like a ticking time bomb, time is winding down and soon it would consume him as well like his father and his grandfather before him. His breath hitched at the thought. Often in his maudlin thoughts he would wonder how it felt to be consumed by the wind. What did his father feel as he was being drawn in? Did it hurt? Are you wide-awake as it happened? When you got sucked in what would you expect on the other side? Where does ones soul go within the Kazaana?

Miroku clenched his hand and hoped that Kagome could help him. He closed his eyes. Could she lift the curse from him? The miko-regent might have been the most powerful ever born Shikon no Miko since Midoriko but she was untutored to the full extent of her powers. Lord Kouga would have perished if he had not been there to guide her. Most of her powers come out instinctively but lacking in control and finesse in execution. Miroku decided not to put a lot of hope in the idea that Kagome could help him remove the poison from his hand. On second thoughts, dying from the poisons is quite preferable than being torn apart by the Kazaana. The mere thought had scared him to death.

His mentor told him he needed to find and defeat the being that gave him this curse. A vengeful black miko who fell in love with his grandfather but found out that she had been toyed with. If his male ancestors hadn't been already cursed then he would curse them again. Damn them and their wandering libidos! But he's not supposed to call the kettle black when he had been tainted with the same brush, so to speak.

"Look!" The boy communed to him. From the distance and miles around was enveloped in dark clouds and a thick dark curtain was pouring they could even hear the noise from afar. "I feel mom in there." Miroku took a deep breath of rain-laden air to focus and clear his head. "Are you okay sensei?"

"Yes….yes….I feel better, Ryo-sama. Do not…worry… about me…." But contrary to the short relief his body decided it had enough battling the poison and he slumped upon Ryo's back.

"Sensei!" the boy couldn't feel anything from his teacher and it scared him. The fear of being alone to cope with this dreadful situation threatened to overwhelm the boy but he fought it. He scanned below him for familiar features and aura of people, hoping someone could help them. He's worried that his sensei might fall off his back. He couldn't fly as fast as before and he has got to hurry. He realized that he was too far way from any dragons to commune with them. He only felt this way before he met Kagome and he hated the feeling.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

The shriek of agony just about stopped as the poison whip retracted to clawed fingers.

"Damn it!" Another clawed finger picked up a piece of parchment on the ground. "This is just a shikigami!" Kouga tossed the paper replica back to the muddy ground.

"Hm. The maker is good. Even I didn't notice the difference." Still stoic as ever Sesshoumaru crossed to where Kouga was standing. He bent down to get the discarded paper doll and sniffed it, Kouga looked on curiously.

"So what gave it away?"

"The initial scent had been washed away by the rain and the true scent of the material prevailed." The scrap of paper melted with Sesshoumaru's acid.

"Don't you know how to speak like regular folks?" The wolf lord sniffed. "You know," Kouga held up his hand to stay the arrogant inu daiyoukai's retort. "never mind. Good thing we didn't get far following that fake. What we need to do is find Kagome and make sure she and that kid of hers is in good hands."

"Your wish has come true, wolf." The inu lord pointed to the sky. The familiar silhouette of a young dragon approaches. The prince changed his course when the combined strong aura of the two daiyoukai caught the boy's attention. Sesshoumaru shot to the sky when he spotted something fall from the boy's back, his eyes opened wide when he realized it was a person! An unconscious houshin fell into his outstretched arms midair. Ryo hovered and allowed the inu lord to touch him.

"My lord, we have to find my mother! My sensei's very sick…he was…he was…." The boy's thoughts were getting garbled at the panic he was feeling. He was even on the verge of crying.

"Lord Ryo, calm yourself down or you will not be of help to your sensei." Sesshoumaru allowed his aura to waft to the boy, making him feel secured. All youkai feel the need for each other's presence most especially the young. "Tell me what happened."

"He was poisoned by some wasps." The boy gasped but his panic had subsided now that an adult was here to make decisions and help in defending them. "The Ookami said sensei used his air weapon but the wasps got sucked inside."

"Come with me." Sesshoumaru said as he descended to the ground. "They are called 'Sanyoushou' and yes, they are quite poisonous."

As soon as Ryo touched ground he transformed and began tearing his outer shirt into narrow strips of cloth as Sesshoumaru and Kouga looked on. "Mom taught me about 'first aid'…" the boy explained when he felt the two adult youkai looking at him.

"Explain this 'first aid." Sesshoumaru was amazed at the young boy in checking the houshin's condition and wound systematically like a healer. Ryo pulled the monk's sleeve revealing the dreaded Kazaana, the right arm was turning a darker shade of blue up to the forearm. Good thing the poison was slow moving unlike what happened to Kagome.

"If we're wounded we need to take care of the injury so it will not get worse. Humans do that since they do not heal quickly like us." boy piped up.

"Ah, you mean field dressing. Yes, I know of it." Sesshoumaru took the strips from Ryo knowing now what the boy intends to do. "Take care not to touch his hand, Ryo." The boy nodded as he and Sesshoumaru wrapped the strips around the monk's arm, above the spreading venom, and applied torniquet to dam the flow of venom. "We need to release the pressure later on or he might lose his arm."

"Mom might help him like what she did to Lord Kouga." Sesshoumaru suddenly felt an extreme well of longing surge to see Kagome. "I felt her over there." The boy pointed over at the dark clouds covering the mountain.

Sesshoumaru nodded as he lifted Miroku over to his cloud. "We must hurry." Ryo nodded and retransformed quickly. "Step on the cloud, wolf." Kouga looked down at the shimmering circle of cloud beneath Sesshoumaru's feet.

"You better not dump me from the sky dog…" But despite his protestations the wolf lord stepped on the cloud, surprised that it was solid to the feel.

"Satisfied now, wolf?" Sesshoumaru smirked at the wolf's tentative steps on the youki cloud. The wolf waved him off.

"Just fly, will ya?" The Ookami lord's more intent on finding Kagome that he's willing to set aside his reluctance to be in close proximity with the inu lord. "And step on it." Sesshoumaru gave the other man a death glare but the wolf just plunked himself down on the cotton candy-like cloud and crossed his arms.

"This Sesshoumaru is not your pack horse, wolf." The inu lord muttered as his youki cloud lifted to the skies with Ryo flying beside him. He vowed to dump the annoying ookami from a great height when the timing's right.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Fuchsia, deep reds, blues and other colors paint the trees a kaleidoscope of shades. The sky was a strange tint of metallic gray and the ground was shifting or giving the illusion of shifting. It was unsettling. Imagine yourself inside an undulating snake. Not long after their stomachs protested violently and they spilled whatever contents their stomach had. It went on and on. Strength left their knees from the effort and they slumped on their knees on the ground barely avoiding their own vomit. They gagged as dry heaves wracked them. They heaved until the insides of their stomachs couldn't heave anything out. Kagome closed her eyes but the dizziness had already affected her so much that she could still feel her head spinning. Inuyasha coughed harshly to clear his throat.

"Fuck!" Inuyasha wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and took a deep breath as he slumped on the ground. With a wince, he took the flask of water hooked to his belt. He was about to take a swig but instead offered it to Kagome. She nodded her thanks and took a small amount to wash her mouth and spit it out then a mouthful to soothe her abused throat. Inuyasha noted Kagome's shaking hands and the near empty contents of her stomach. She's not eaten today and probably got wasted when she used up her power.

"What's this?" Kagome sniffed at the brown dry thing Inuyasha handed her.

"Dried meat." He said as he began chewing. It looked like very stiff bacon. She tore almost a half of the jerky and found it pleasant.

"Hm," Kagome chewed with a little effort. "It's like beef jerky." She looked at the hanyou when he chuckled. "Uh…not beef?" She forced herself to swallow hoping that she won't have to puke the food out. She suddenly realized how hungry she was until Inuyasha gave her the meat. She took the offered flask again. "It's better that I don't know, ne?"

"Right." Inuyasha was gratified to see that some color returned to her cheeks and her aura was stronger this time. After taking his fill of water he stood up. "Where the heck are we?" Inuyasha craned his neck up; looking around the strange vista they got themselves into from inside the dome. Kagome wanted to barf again and Inuyasha felt like his equilibrium was shot to hell. Both of them would rather go back to the icy incessant rain than be here, wherever 'here' is. There was no sun but light seemed to be around them lending bizarre shadows between the trees.

Kagome was frowning as she walked beside him. "Do you feel anything?" He whispered. The woman just shook her head as bewildered as he was.

"There's something over there…." Inuyasha pointed to his left where the trees were full of shifting shadows.

"Is it human?" Kagome couldn't sense any youkai aura.

"I'm not sure." Inuyasha inhaled deep to get a reading and growled in frustration. Kagome's frown got deeper but both walked to the source of the faint aura. Then she cried out in pain and would have fallen had Inuyasha not grabbed her arm. "What the…!" He looked around thinking someone attacked the miko. "What is it?" He had the giant sword out front.

"I…I bumped into something." Kagome frowned and reached out in the air where she hurt herself. Where there was supposed to be air her hand encountered something solid. Inuyasha also touched the area and cursed.

"I don't think we should trust what we see here. The place is…shifting." Inuyasha held Tetsaiga out to feel if there's an invisible obstruction in front of them, he found another 'hidden' tree. They skirted the invisible obstructions.

Kagome had to agree as she touched a tree but her hand found air. It was disconcerting. They suddenly thought what if the ground was the same. Rats! "Let's also be careful where we put our feet, Inuyasha, we might break our necks falling into a hole."

"I hate this place." Inuyasha took Kagome's hand. "Walk behind me. I think we're near there." "There" was the aura that Inuyasha had been tracking. But the area, like the rest of the phase-shifting surrounding as Inuyasha said, was not to be trusted. It could be near. It could be far. They would never know.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome tugged at the hanyou's hand but he also saw the same thing. Inuyasha brandished the fang. Their 'friend' came out from behind the tree a few meters in front of them; they froze in their tracks.

"Who are you?" Kagome stepped out from behind Inuyasha even as the hanyou growled in warning and protest, his hand trying to hold her behind him. He gripped her wrist when she moved forward. "What do you want from me?" The being's identity was hard to guess by the dark robe covering it so effectively. It moved with eerie grace, like a ghost. It reminded Kagome of some of the horror movies Souta was fond of watching, it gave her goose bumps.

"Look out!" Kagome felt something 'zing' by her head and both she and Inuyasha tumbled on the ground, she was then inundated by silver hair.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome heard Inuyasha curse painfully. She scrambled away carefully from Inuyasha where an arrow was lodged in his left bicep. Kagome faced the specter while covering Inuyasha with her body and sword fearing that another arrow might be on its way towards them again. "Why did you do that for?" she shouted at the spectre. Behind her, Inuyasha broke the other end of the arrow shaft and pulled it out. Her eyes opened wide when a bow and arrow appeared from under the spectre's robes, and released another arrow with preternatural speed.

~ O ~