A/N: Please, don't kill me. But you can review :3
Beta: Cstorm86

The Miko Leads The Way

Walking through a deep forest was no picnic, especially when you had to support an injured and weakened shrine guardian, who refused to stop to rest and denied being unwell, brushing his wounds off as scratches. Well, technically they were scratches, but from a youkai who had claws longer than even Inuyasha's in his hanyou form.

Briefly, Kagome wondered how long they had been trying to get out of the woods. Her body felt tired and sluggish, even after a few short breaks that she and Hojo managed to convince Inuyasha to take. She felt as if they were taking a few steps back for every step forward. It was like back on the road, when she felt as if they had been walking for hours suspended in a timeless moment, not making any real progress, It was only strengthened by the terrain she didn't know, obscured by the trees and darkness. Only the glimmer of the Sacred Tree somewhere ahead of her was keeping her from panicking. This, and the fact that she wasn't alone.

As they walked, Myouga explained to her that the youkai woman had some type of poison coating her talons, one that had brought the fever. But he assured her that he'd sucked it all out of his master.

"Along with a mouthful or two of my blood," Inuyasha muttered sourly.

"Well, yes, my lord," Myouga agreed. "I can't deny it, the taste of the silver inu blood was always my favorite. But your blood tasted nothing like it used to, because of your... condition," he glanced between the hanyou and Kagome. "Speaking of which, your lady miko said that she didn't purify you, my lord, but you are clearly devoid of your youki. What had transpired?"

"Not your business," Inuyasha barked. Kagome bit her lip. This youkai acted as if he knew Inuyasha and Inuyasha seemed to know him as well. But while Myouga spoke with respect and called the hanyou his master, Inuyasha didn't trust him at all. Shouldn't his vassal have known about the new moon?

She'd ask Inuyasha about it, but she was afraid to mind talk to him. What if he realized she'd seen all those memories brought forth by his fever? It was no time to deal with gruff, pouting hanyou, out in the middle of the forest. And it was also not a good place to discuss the details of Inuyasha's form, not when something could overhear them.

"Um," she glanced around as much as she could, but the trees were silent and nothing seemed to be around. "Can we focus on getting to safety? You said this mountain has a Sacred Tree and its presence is just like the aura of the meadow housing our Sacred Tree, but... How can it be? And why did you tell me to find it? Is there a shrine like ours?" she asked.

"Will we be safe there?" Hojo added from behind them. She felt sorry for him, he probably felt overwhelmed even more than her, not having any powers to fend off youkai, with the darkness of the forest almost breathing against his neck while he followed them stumbling and meandering around and under trees that often looked as if they were reaching to grab and hold them.

"The apparent and hidden worlds are mirror images of each other," Myouga said. "Well, at least when it comes to the landscape, unless humans did something drastic to their world like building a tame and flooding an area."

"There's a small village. And a friend dwells there, one that keeps up a barrier against evil around the village," Inuyasha replied. "It... It reaches the Sacred Tree, so yeah, if we get to it, we'll be safe."

His words made Kagome sigh in relief and double her efforts. The Sacred Tree was much closer than before, she knew they could make it to the barrier before anything bad sniffed them out.

.

Of course they didn't make it.

Somehow the distance from the shrine to where they'd met Hojo back in the normal world, there was like a half-day trip up the mountain. Encountering a huge ditch they had to walk around and wasting at least an hour didn't help any. All of them were tired and just wanted to sit and rest for a while, but Inuyasha refused to let them, barking and cursing despite swaying on his feet.

It was the dim, almost shy light of the predawn that saved them from getting caught in a trap. As they walked between the trees, Myouga spotted something between the trunks where they were headed.

"Stop for a moment!" he gasped and Kagome lifted her head from where she was drowsily looking under her feet to avoid tripping over roots. Her eyes followed where the flea was pointing and she gaped at the white netting spread between the trees.

"Fuck," Inuyasha grunted beside her and looked around. "There are more over to the right."

"What is it?" Hojo asked and moved closer to the thick strands.

"You touch it, Holo and you will have to cut your skin off to get you free," Inuyasha barked. The boy leaped back in a hasty retreat. "Spiders are playing with us. The game is to make puny humans try and run while they surround us with their webs. If we get stuck or don't have anywhere to flee, the fuckers will come to paralyze us and wait until we're nice and defenseless before they eat us alive."

Hojo grew green in the face and stepped even more away from the web.

"Gods that's terrible." Kagome swallowed hard. The supernatural could be beautiful, but it could also be dangerous and terrible. "We need to hurry."

"At least they don't wait until you die and get.. easier to eat," Myouga winced at his own words. "Master, I don't sense any ahead, maybe we can make it to the Sacred Tree."

"There's no other way," Inuyasha nodded and looked to Kagome. "Don't worry, I'm dying before they can lay a finger on you."

Somehow this fierce assurance didn't lift her spirit. "I don't want you to get hurt," she whispered, thinking about all those people who'd sent him to fight alone or made him endanger himself for no reason.

They started moving again and Kagome spotted more and more screens made from the sticky, thick threads. They were at first connecting two trees here and there, but soon they started to join in longer screens, usually on their sides, but sometimes ahead of them. They had to watch out for them and walk around them. Hojo kept close to Kagome, and she cast a few concerned glances at his pale, frozen face.

"Will we really be safe from those apparitions when we reach that Tree?" the man asked in a hushed voice. Inuyasha nodded.

"Yes. Nothing vile can approach it and its aura purifies the meadow around it - I think the radius is a few meters longer than the spread of its branches. So, when we're close to it, I want you to grab Kagome and run to it."

"Hey, I can hear you! And I'm not leaving you!" she glared between both males when Hojo inclined his head. "I don't give a damn about that weird chivalry thing you two have, but..."

"But from us three you have to survive no matter what," Inuyasha cut her off. "Spiders infested the forest and you have to dance the Kagura, with a branch of the Tree to ward them away. Besides it's not a matter of chivalry or shit, it's just how it has to be."

"I must agree," Hojo whispered. "We must do our best to stay safe."

Kagome grit her teeth. She'd expected many things, but for those boys, so different from each other, to agree on something so easily... Well, at least Inuyasha seemed to have a plan. She could purify the youkai as soon as she danced with the branch of the Sacred Tree..

It took her a few steps to realize something. 'Inuyasha, I don't know the whole dance yet!'

'Keh, figures. I'll lead you.' was his response and Kagome relaxed. It wasn't the first time he was going to guide her. She was thankful for his help and ashamed she needed it, that she wasn't as skilled and knowledgeable as some of her predecessors.

To push away the dark thoughts about her incompetence she focused on the Sacred Tree, its aura soothing even from afar. She smiled and pointed her hand a bit to the left of their current path.

"There! It's not far now!" she informed the men.

"Thanks gods!" Hojo sighed, but Inuyasha scoffed.

"Don't lose your focus. They will ambush us before we get there," he said and glanced down at Kagome. "You know, what to do, right? If shit gets sideways, you have to wait in the meadow until my friend comes. Her name's Kaede. She can escort you to the well and with her tutoring you can get the well resealed when you go back to the human world."

She eyed him through narrow eyes, but he was looking at the forest, where screens of spider webs were surrounding them in a distance. She couldn't see a gap in the wall of dull silver.

"I am not leaving you behind, Inuyasha," she said firmly. This sounded a bit too much like the last advice of a man planning on doing something extraordinarily stupid.

"Mhm. When I give you a sign, you two go for the meadow. I will be right behind you."

"You're hurt!" she argued. This line sounded even more like a roundabout way to say 'I wanna go die while you run away' and she wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to get to the Tree and not get hurt anymore, even if she had to carry him the rest of the way.

"And yet I am the best fighter among us," he shot back sourly. "Hodo."

"Hojo," Hojo corrected him automatically, with a hint of resignation in his voice. Throughout the whole night Inuyasha had not ever once got his name right and Hojo would be annoyed if he wasn't tired and scared.

Kagome wondered why Inuyasha was intentionally mispronouncing Hojo's name as well, he'd never done that before with anyone else.

"Prepare to run for the big ass tree when we get around this wall," Inuyasha pointed to the long strip of netting that had been shielding them from the left. Kagome's gaze slid over it until she saw a hole, not wider than five meters, not that far away from them. She felt anger rising in her as she watched the passage - the youkai were herding them where they wanted them to go, the walls of their webs restraining them and making it impossible to go anywhere else. She didn't enjoy feeling like a sheep, especially after hearing Inuyasha's short explanation about this particular kind of youkai. They were probably enjoying tormenting them, making them feel trapped by moving their screens closer to their path and without any gaps. Hojo bit his lower lip and nodded, anxiety and fright in his eyes, but also determination.

"I can't sense any spider youkai," Myouga mumbled from his spot on Kagome's shoulder. "They aren't from this area, maybe they're busy cutting off our way behind, not knowing about the Tree's influence?"

They were now maybe ten meters from the gap. She could see the field that was spreading behind it, probably the meadow was much bigger in this place than it was in her home. That was when she suddenly felt a wave of youki coming from behind. She tensed and looked back to see that there were at least a dozen human-like dark shapes running towards them.

"Inuyasha!" she gasped. The beings looked human, but something in their movement was amiss, their limbs bending like they shouldn't and their midsection bulged out in a weird way.

"Horo, go!"

"It's Hojo!" Hojo whimpered as he looked back and saw the beings approaching. Then he bolted towards the gap in the fence. Inuyasha pushed Kagome after him, but she dug her heels in the ground, just for a moment.

'Inu-'

"Go! The Tree!" he barked back at her and gave her a firm shove, making her stumble forwards.

"Yes!" Myouga called urgently. "You have to dance the Kagura, my lady!"

She cast a last glance at the shrine guardian's face, before she gave a sharp nod and ran after Hojo. Behind her, beside the sound of crashing branches and heavy footfalls, she heard the sharp sound of a sword being drawn. Myouga sitting on her shoulder, had tears in his eyes as he gazed upon the bloodstained shirt of his master's youngest son, standing in the middle of the path on wide spread feet, intent on fighting despite his obviously weakened state.

"Oh, master..." he whispered, his voice too low to attract the attention of the woman.

Kagome couldn't look back to check if Inuyasha was really following her, not with what was happening in front of her.

Hojo reached the gap in the web and was about to run through it - 'When did he get so fast?' - when suddenly something stepped in his way. Kagome called his name, her heart pounding as she tried to come up with an idea to save him and the other male behind her.

It was just like the creatures behind - tall, with limbs bending oddly, too slim for a human, but oddly wide around the hips. And from where it's mouth wasa two tusks protruded, under multiple eyes of a spider. It outstretched its arms as if to catch Hojo, revealing that it had more hands than was humanly decent.

Hojo had no chance to slow down. He had no chance to do more than shriek in fright, duck his head down and reach his own hand towards the youkai.

A hand in which he clenched a strip of white paper tied around a piece of bamboo.

The shriek that the creature let loose made Kagome's head hurt and she covered her ears with her hands, slowing just for a moment. Hojo screamed in return, his voice pitched much higher than usual, as he watched from up close the youkai bursting into eerie flames and turning into ash.

The moment the youkai was gone, her legs brought her to Hojo, who was hesitating in front of the pile of pale dust. She grabbed his arm and tugged.

"The Tree!" she called and together they stumbled into the wide field in the middle of which stood the majestic and familiar Sacred Tree. There were no more webs in their path, but she spotted a few creatures running towards them.

Hojo seemed to see them too, because he suddenly pulled her towards the tree. Myouga's urgent voice rang in her ear as she ran after her friend.

A sound made her froze and then turn on her heels.

The creatures weren't all following them, two of them were finishing a new path of web, one sealing the gap in the fence.

The sound came from behind the barrier - a pained cry, as close to a howl a human could get.

"Inuyasha!"

"My lady, hurry!" Myouga hit her shoulder with all his hands and she gasped. She had no time to stand idle, she had to get to the Tree, she had to dance the Kagura, she had to...

'Inuyasha!'

There was no answer.