Chapter Thirty Five

Her hands hurt from gripping onto Tameka's long fur to prevent falling off the great dog barrelling though the forest with great thuds as the paws hit the ground to leap and bound off again. Akihiko still wrapped to her was warm, and when he got hungry she adjusted her breast so he could feed. Kagome however hadn't eaten all night. Stars blurred past them as they sped from the lands of Sesshomaru, lands that held no safety for them now. They had to find him, he could subdue Seiba should the guards fail. Please don't let them fail.

Blood was splashed upon the walls down the corridor pooling on the floor like an iron smelling river of crimson. This was the last thing he would see. The hell aftermath of Seiba's transformation after she butchered all who dared to stop her. They had fallen to her and she had left the palace to hunt her target. Sasuke's eyes closed for the last time, never to open again. The servants had feared for their lives, though the great dog demon sped past them without a second glance. Seiba killed those who opposed her, the ones that did not were spared. She had a mission, she had to get to the north and kill the human before she reached Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru would kill her for the death she wrought in his palace and attempting to add the woman he cared for to the casualties list. But she would kill the human filth first. Seiba would not die without her revenge.

Sesshomaru was throwing boulders. He had succumbed to his anger and rather childishly was tossing boulders at the northern mountains base throwing as close as he came to a tantrum. Where was the stupid sage's hideout? How could a human best him, hiding what he wanted driving him to insanity? This was worse than when he had tried to find his father's tomb. His pride would not allow him to return empty handed, but was his pride worth being away from his son? From her? Growling he tossed another over sized boulder straight into the mountain base watching the air sounded with an almighty boom at the collision. He turned to find another boulder when he saw something that hadn't been there before. A small crawl space in the mountain base had come into view now that the boulder had been moved. He took a closer look and stiffened. The air around the small hole smelt old, like the opening hadn't allowed fresh air for awhile. It couldn't be.

Sango and Miroku looked up at the palace they had finally reached glowing in the coming light of the dawn. They had decided to travel through the night as they could see the palace in the distance and were too excited to wait. Something felt off. As they reached the gates they saw the slaughtered guards.
"Sango wrap up Itachi to you. Girls stay close to daddy. Maki hold your mother's hand. "
Miroku didn't want them to be separated so he helped his family out of the carriage and slowly opened the gates. Tying the horses to a post near the gate the family walked in seeing the bloodshed. The servants had been spared as many of them were crying. It was just bodies of demon soldiers that littered the ground.
"Where is Kagome?" Sango grabbed the arm of a servant pleading for information.
She nearly passed out when the servant explained what had happened.
"What business do you have here?"
Sango turned from the servant and looked into the eyes of a demon with a stare like Sesshomaru.
"I'm looking for Kagome, she is my friend, I wish to finally meet her son." Sango replied cautiously as Miroku pushed the children behind him.
"I am Haru, come inside. We need to speak."

Haru had travelled toward the east with Kagome's clothes and then tossed them into a river. He decided to return to the palace and see if the guards had been successful in subduing Seiba. It seemed they had not. The palace was now unprotected, with a handful of guards who had survived but most were gravely injured. Haru had to sort out new guards and attempt to clean this palace up, he also had to sort the servants and bring order. He hoped the messenger would find Sesshomaru soon, and that Tameka and Kagome where safe as they escaped. Hopefully their diversion had taken Seiba off the trail long enough to ensure Kagome's safety.

Seiba could faintly smell the human's scent in the air, but it was heading to the east. She was with Haru it seemed. That couldn't be right, Sesshomaru was in the north why would she go east? Her eyes narrowed as she stopped running. They were trying to trick her. Growling she started off again, her paws bringing her closer to the north with each bound.

The messenger had finally reached the northern border, now next task find lord Sesshomaru. He would inquire at the palace first to see if lord Tsusuki knew where he was and go from there. He hoped nothing bad had happened while he was travelling. His mate was a servant in the palace. Jin was his everything. Please let him find the lord soon.

Sesshomaru was having a dilemma. He couldn't fit into the crawl space, normally he would blast his way in, but he didn't want to damage the inside encase it contained what he sought. So he decided to increase the crawl space by slowly chipping away at the rock to widen the opening. Surely this was punishment for acting like a pup. Tsusuki would get a kick out of how he had actually managed to find the sage's hideout, if this indeed was it. Not that he would tell him. If it wasn't the hideout he hoped Tsusuki wasn't fond of the mountain because he would destroy it.

After awhile he had finally made the hole big enough to fit in. So he wriggled down with his hand on his Bakusaiga should he need to defend his person. Once he wriggled far enough he made it into a large cavern. The small opening was to deter people. Perhaps the sage was quite small. Sure enough he saw the baskets of dried herbs that had held over time. A desk with numerous scrolls upon it and a lamp that was long burnt out was near a shelf containing more herbs. Not for the first time in his long life was he thankful for being a demon and being able to see clearly in the dark cavern. The only light came from the opening, it was quite suffocating even for a demon. Then again the man was a sage, he could adapt to any environment. Time to find the scroll.

The sun had risen signalling a new day. Kagome was beyond exhausted and Tameka was as well. They had run all night and through the dawn and exhaustion from being hungry and sleep deprived had finally brought them to a standstill.
"I will have to hunt. You and Akihiko stay here by the river and get washed up. I won't go far."
Tameka had transformed back into her humanoid form and was off to find them some meat to cook. If they stopped Seiba would catch them and they would die. If they didn't stop they would die from exhaustion. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Screwed either way.