When the rain starts to take its toll
You can slow me down


Chest puffing in pride, Kagome grinned as Jiro successfully managed to hit the center of the target with the practice set of arrows she'd bought for him. He'd improved much faster than she'd anticipated. It had taken a few times to figure out what his weapon of choice should be. Miroku had opined that men usually had staffs while women traditionally used arrows but given the unusual circumstances and the fact Kagome had no idea how to use a staff effectively, arrows it was. They'd been at it for about an hour this go round during which Kagome had been complaining about the creatures that still on occasion haunted his nightmares.

"What the hell do those things eat anyway?" Jiro asked as he gave Kagome a disturbed look, "You said they're called soul collectors. What do they do once they collect the souls? They've got to eat them, right? What else would they do with them?"

Whatever Kagome was going to say was stolen from her mouth as she gasped at her relatively new friend.

"I...I don't know what they eat," Kagome admitted, "I never thought about it. But I doubt they eat souls. I mean Kikyo used them for..."

"Yeah and look how that turned out. I think you guys are being naive," Jiro opines as he reached for another arrow and aimed, "Those things are bad news."

"What?"

He let his arrow fly and groaned when he completely missed.

" Soul collector is just code for soul sucker," Jiro sighed as he lowered the bow Kagome had procured for him, "Guarantee you that's what they eat."

"I think we'd notice..."

"You said your friend is acting weird," Jiro cut her off as he gave her a patient look, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe it's those things feeding off her soul or something? Maybe they're eating off her life force and controlling her somehow. Like a psychic vampire."

"A psychic vampire? That's not a thing," Kagome replied skeptically and in the distance she heard Inuyasha snort. Of course he was listening she thought bemusedly.

"Tell that to the x-men universe. Got a whole character with that ability. S'not my fault you're just ignorant," Jiro replied dismissively as he nocked and aimed his arrow, "They feed off emotions and life forces and stuff. Use it to control their victims mind. I'll bring you the comic if you want to read about Selene and all she does to get a better idea."

"You're such a nerd," Kagome sighed as he let the arrow fly, "And the x-men aren't real. Psychic vampires aren'treal. You're just..."

"You are literally dating a demon, but yes, tell me how mutants are stupid," Jiro snorted before nodding once in satisfaction when his arrow nearly hit dead center, "Huh, I'm getting good at this."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. This target doesn't move," Kagome sighed with a shake of her head, "You aren't even putting any power behind it yet."

"Um excuse you but can you randomly produce magic flames? No. No you can't. You just make pink pixie dust and sparkles," Jiro replied snarkily, "Maybe I'm not putting power into it so I don't burn your shrine down."

"Did you just call my ability to fry a demon into dust sparkly dust?!" Kagome huffed in mock offense and in the distance, she heard a loud snort that let her know that yes, Inuyasha was spying.

"Don't you have something better to do?" Kagome snapped as she whirled and narrowed her eyes on that part of the roof just outside her line of vision.

"I think you guys being here answers that question for you to be honest," Jiro supplied and Kagome could almost see in her mind's eye Inuyasha giving the kid a high five.

"I wasn't talking to you," Kagome huffed and Jiro merely grinned.

"Obviously."

"Just fire your stupid arrow," she sighed as she officially gave up on both of them. Inuyasha had been dancing around the question but she was pretty sure by this point Jiro was related to him somehow. Apparently being infuriatingly annoying was a family trait.

"Aren't you a ball of sunshine today?" Jiro teased as he raised the bow and aimed, "I'm telling you that those little assholes are eating away at all your sanity. What a waste it is to lose ones mind when you had so little of one to begin with."

"I can't believe I went on a date with you," Kagome groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Ah but you did date me so..."

"Just fire the stupid arrow."

"Alright. Alright," Jiro laughed good-naturedly as he aimed and let the arrow fly. Despite the progress he was making, the arrow flew right past the target and slid across the smooth tile as it made contact with the ground. Pouting, he didn't need to look at Kagome to know she was giving him a judgy face. He needed to change the subject away from that fail.

"So about Sango," Jiro sighed as he watched Kagome move to collect the arrow, "I think you're not giving her enough credit. She seemed...well not nice but she seemed pretty strong. And like she cared a lot about you guys. I think your number one priority needs to be getting those things away from her."

"She's fine Jiro," Kagome groaned as she walked back and held out the weapon. Jiro shook his head.

"If what you're saying is true, she's not fine," he pointed out, "You said she'd been saying things that surprised you for a while and then she straight up murdered Inuyasha. That last part is as far from fine as you can get."

"Say that's true. Say the soul collectors are to blame. How do you beat them?" Kagome asked after a moment, "How do you break their hold?"

"Beats me," he replied, "I'd start by trying to kill them. Sprinkle garlic on them. Stock up on silver. Shock the ever loving shit out of them. If that doesn't work, I'd say you're screwed."

"Not helpful," Kagome muttered as she walked over to the target and began plucking out the training arrows.

"Well you're the one complaining about the most recent attempt to kill your one true love so excuse me for trying to figure out why this chick who didn't seem all that crazy is suddenly crazy," Jiro hummed with an indifferent shrug, "Shit maybe that's why little miss batshit tried to kill him. Maybe those bastards have a personal vendetta against Inuyasha. He seems to piss a lot of people off but hey, what do I know? I'm new to this whole thing."

Kagome blinked a few times before shaking her head and sighing.

"Sango has always been obsessed with saving her brother," she replied sadly, "She just went too far this time."

"This time," Jiro laughed once is disbelief, "So she's done something like this before?!"

"Well once she stole Inuyasha's sword..."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Inhaling sharply, Miroku sat bolt upright and looked around his new gritty, damp surroundings. A single Candle illuminated the small area he now found himself in. Casting light on the heavy chains weighing down his hands and feet.

There were no windows. No way to discern how much time had passed or even if it was night or day. It was totally disorientating by design. Given enough time, Miroku thought morbidly, a person could forget their own name in there. The isolation was total. No sound, no light, no furniture or cloth of any kind. The only sound an incessant, predictable drip and the crackle of the flame from the single candle barely illuminating anything.

The memory of his smooth palm suddenly rushed to the forefront of his mind and he attempted to yank his hand up to inspect it but found it already uncovered for his viewing pleasure. The wind tunnel was gone. Just when he needed it.

"You're awake," came Kagura's bored voice from behind him and his neck whipped awkwardly around to see his foe, "Relax. We aren't going to kill you. Where would be the fun in that?"

"Then what am I doing here?" he asked scathingly and Kagura let out an exasperated sigh.

"You all really are a bunch of idiots," she snorted softly as she rolled her eyes, "You're bait. Don't you understand that? Either they hand over the jewel or let you die."

Miroku narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. That seemed like a fool hardy plan at best. His friends were many things but they would never do either. They'd rescue him instead.

" Don't look so sure of yourself," she sighed, "Naraku took away your wind tunnel for the moment but try to escape and I'm sure you'll regret it."

Miroku blood ran cold and his confident look faded. He had no doubt in his mind that his wind tunnel would consume him the second he stepped foot out of this prison. Swallowing thickly, he morbidly thought that was a price he was willing to pay if it meant Naraku wouldn't get the jewel and the others survived.

"So you've got a choice to make, don't you?" Kagura continued with a disinterested hum, "Stay here until your friends come with the jewel and die taking them with you. Leave and die by your own hand all alone. Or die in this prison cell. Your choice."

The monk's heart sank further. The prospect of defeating Naraku had always seemed out of reach. Impossible even although it was never spoken of in such a way. There had always been hope that by some miracle they'd all make it out alive. Well, most of them anyway. Just a few hours ago he had been preparing himself for his imminent demise. Trying to find peace in the fact that the wind tunnel would end his life in a few short months. Now he was free from his curse but found himself in a prison of a different kind. One that also came with a death sentence.

Kagura scoffed once as the young man visibly wilted in defeat.

"Broken already?" she sighed, "And here Naraku thought you and your friends were a threat. Pathetic."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Sango sighed heavily as she leaned against the Sacred Tree. Of all the mistakes she'd made in her life, that had been quite possibly the worst. This family meant everything to her and what had she done? Literally murdered a man who had been nothing but endlessly forgiving and loyal despite the fact that the majority of their time together had been her badmouthing him and oh, yeah, stealing his sword then presenting it to Naraku. He was the one who kept telling her they'd save Kohaku and she knew - she knew! - he'd do everything in his power to do just that.

What bothered her too was that the impulse had come out of nowhere. She honestly couldn't explain her rationale. It felt foreign. Angry. Bitter.

To be honest she hadn't felt like herself in a while. Impulses and half-brained ideas bouncing around in her head that she could barely control. It was...

A soul collector skimmed her cheek and she sighed as the anxiety coursing through his veins lessened. Yes, she had messed up but she could make it up to them all. It was a mistake. Not a simple mistake, granted, and one that would take some time to repair but a mistake nonetheless. It wasn't like she'd intentionally tried to kill Inuyasha after all. They'd forgive her in time.

Glancing over at Kaede as she continued organizing her collection of herbs, Sango frowned and cocked her head to the side. The old woman had barely said two words to her and seemed to be watching intently. Today, however, she was dutifully ignoring her.

"Kaede?" Sango murmured quietly and the old woman paused - her hand suspended mid-air with a clay jar securely in its grasp, "Are you upset with me?"

"Nay child," Kaede hummed as she gave the young woman a kind smile and placed the jar on the unsturdy looking shelf, "There is merely much to do and little time in which to do it."

"Why aren't you upset with me?" Sango asked in a small voice before letting out a soft sigh when one of the soul collectors curled up in her lap. Petting it gently, she looked up at the old woman expectantly.

"We all make mistakes child," Kaede opined wisely - her eyes a little too focused on the silver serpent, "Not all of which we are aware have been made."

"I can send them outside if they make you uncomfortable," Sango offered as she followed the old woman's gaze.

"That would be appreciated," Kaede laughed as she gently took another jar off the shelf and began filling it with some of the dried herbs organized on her floor, "Precious little is known about that type of demon. Forgive me for being distrustful."

"You didn't have a problem when Kikyo had them," Sango challenged as a strange spark of anger rushed through her and Kaede gave her a speculating glance.

"Aye they have always concerned me," the elderly woman laughed softly, "Perhaps in my old age, I have become wary of death."

"They aren't going to hurt you," the slayer sighed, "What happened was a mistake. It won't happen again."

"That I do not doubt," Kaede acknowledged as she gently placed the lid back into the small tab container, "But be wary child. Ye more so than the others are prone to despair. Do not let such a thing control ye."

That...How dare she?! She wasn't crazy. That was a weird answer. An infuriating, flippant, completely random answer in fact. While fair that she had a tendency to let herself succumb to her grief and as a result, make mistakes like that most recent fiasco, what that had to do with the price of tea in Japan completely baffled her.

"I'm not..." Sango huffed before trailing off when Kaede continued looking not at her but at the effortlessly floating demons in her home, "Well what am I supposed to do? Ordering them to not follow orders seems a little counterproductive don't you think?"

Startled slightly, the elderly miko gave the young woman a worried look. Cringing, Sango realized Kaede hadn't even been talking about the soul collectors at all. Not really. Why had she said that then? Letting out a long breath, the slayer shifted as Kaede seemed to think very hard about something and after a tense silence, the old woman nodded once to herself.

"I shall need to travel to a nearby village in the coming days," Kaede continued as she grabbed another jar, "A friend of mine has fallen ill. I owe him a visit."

Sango blinked a few times in surprise before giving the woman an appraising look, distracted despite herself.

"A male friend?" the slayer asked with a small smirk, "Have you known him long?"

"Nearly all my life," Kaede replied with a soft laugh when she saw the 'knowing' look the young woman was giving her, "Before ye ask, aye, there was a time that we may have married but that was many years ago and I choose this life instead."

"Do you regret it?"

"I am better suited for this life," Kaede replied a little too quickly, "In a life as long as mine, there were lessons learned and observations made. I do not regret my choices nor does he regret his own."

'I wonder if she means Kikyo and Inuyasha. If she choose this life, not because it was expected of her but because she didn't want to suffer like Kikyo did,' Sango wondered and the thought felt immeasurably sad.

"Did he start a family with someone else?" Sango asked as she began to pet the small silver mass resting on her legs.

"Nay. He follows the path of a priest in a village not too far from here. That was his destiny and this was mine."

Sango nodded and continued watching her elderly friend continue sorting and storing her herbs. Why did she get the feeling there was something else Kaede was doing?

A strange fierce protectiveness washed through her as she glanced at the soul collectors playing outside. Kaede wouldn't just kill them would she? For a moment, just a moment, the slayer's eyes flashed red before turning back into their natural chocolate.

No one was permitted to hurt them. They were hers.