Interlude 13- Back to the Village


Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi


Later that same day, Inuyasha and friends finally returned to Kaede's village, where they decided to take this time to rest. As soon as they came back, they were greeted by Kaede, who was relieved to see that they had made it back safely, once again. However, it was during this time that Kagome regaled the elderly priestess about the trials they had undergone, from Miroku's Wind Tunnel getting injured to Naraku almost tricking Sango into betraying everyone, and she didn't neglect to tell Kaede about Kirara being poisoned, either.

Needless to say, Kaede was quite shocked to hear these things and quickly gestured Sango inside the hut so that she and Kirara could rest. Sango seemed fine for the most part, although it later turned out that she needed stitches in order to completely close her wound. The best Kagome did was clean it out and stop the bleeding, but Kaede soon took care of the rest. She also advised that Sango not move for a few days, just to make sure that her wound had completely healed.

Speaking of Sango, she lied on the futon that Kaede had laid out for her, covered by a suikan while Kirara lied curled up at her side, twitching and mewling weakly.

"...It'll be okay, Kirara," Sango whispered as she stroked the nekomata's fur. "I'm so sorry you're in so much pain."

"Sango?"

Sango turned to see Kagome walk up to her, holding a small cup of some sort. It looked like it was filled with something that was all crushed and mushed up.

"Here," Kagome said as she set down the cup. "It's an herbal remedy that Kaede made. She said it might not cure Kirara completely, but it should at least ease her pain a little. See if you can feed it to her."

"Thank you," said Sango as she took the cup and held it up to her feline companion. "Here, Kirara. This might help a bit."

Though she was in pain, Kirara obeyed and opened her mouth, allowing Sango to feed her the concoction.

"There you go," the demon slayer praised. "Good girl."

"Well, at least she can eat a little," Kagome said with a smile. "That's good, right?"

"Yes," Sango replied before she sighed, sadly. "Still...I just hope we manage to cure her...aside from Kohaku, Kirara's my only family. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her, too."

Kagome's eyes softened and a frown soon appeared on her face. She knew that Sango had already been through so much: losing her family, her entire village, realizing that her brother had been brought back to life as a mindless puppet for their archenemy, and to top it all off, her dear friend was probably inching slowly toward death. It was a miracle in itself that Sango didn't feel like she wanted to end it all, now.

"I'm so sorry, Sango," Kagome said. "I wish that I could do more."

"You've already done everything you can!" Sango said. "And I'm grateful even for that...Kagome, please, don't think that any of this is your fault. Naraku is the one responsible for all of this."

"You're right," Kagome nodded. "I just hope that Kirara can hold out."

"...So do I," Sango said while she gently stroked Kirara's fur, trying her best to comfort the ailing nekomata as she lied on her side, the small cup of medicine having been ingested.

XXX

"Damn..." Inuyasha cursed as he stood near the stream, gathering some clean water for Kirara to drink in a bottle. "I hate this feeling."

"What feeling?" asked Shippo.

"That I still couldn't stop Naraku," Inuyasha said as he took the bottle out of the stream. "Sango still got injured and Kirara's been poisoned...and meanwhile, he still manages to escape!" He growled as he squeezed his free hand into a fist. "It makes me feel like I really am a failure..."

"You're not a failure, Inuyasha!" Shippo argued, causing the half-demon to look at him. "Even though your plan didn't work completely, you still managed to fight back, right?"

"It doesn't matter if Naraku gets away in the end," Inuyasha said.

Shippo bit his lip as he cast his eyes to the ground, then glanced back at Inuyasha. He just wanted to try and cheer him up, but it seemed that his efforts only ended in failure.

"Well...at least we're alive," Shippo said. "That's something, right? And it's because of Kagome that Naraku's been weakened, too!"

"...That's true," Inuyasha said. "I guess I should just count my blessings, then."

"See?" asked Shippo, his eyes brightening a bit. "It's not a lost cause, after all!"

"He does have a point, Master!"

Inuyasha's ears perked up and he looked down at his left shoulder to see Myoga appear.

"Myoga?" he asked. "Where've you been all this time?"

"Uh...well, you know," Myoga said, nervously. "I was just...err..."

"Never mind," Inuyasha deadpanned.

"I couldn't help but overhear about Kirara's plight, though," Myoga said, sympathetically. "This must be some very strong poison if she hasn't recovered yet."

"Hey, I just had a thought!" Shippo piped up. "Myoga, can't you just suck the poison out of Kirara? You know, like how you sucked the poison out of Inuyasha when he was poisoned by the Spider Head Leader?"

"I'm afraid this is an entirely different matter, Shippo," Myoga said while crossing his arms. "First of all, in her current form, Kirara is too small for me to suck out any poison. I could end up making her anemic...and besides, if it's taking this long for her to recover, the poison might be too much even for me."

"Oh..." Shippo muttered, sadly. "I see."

"Back to square one, then," Inuyasha said...but then he raised his brows and his eyes lit up in realization. "Hey...Myoga, you're good at gathering information, right?"

"Uh...well, I suppose, sire," Myoga answered.

"I want you to go out and see if you can find out something that might be able to help Kirara," said Inuyasha. "You can do at least, can't you?"

"Well...it might take me a while," Myoga answered, "but I'll do what I can, Master Inuyasha."

With that said, the tiny flea demon soon hopped away into the grass.

"...I hope he finds something," Shippo said, worriedly.

"Myoga may be a coward," Inuyasha began, "but he can be useful sometimes, I guess."

XXX

XXX

Concurrently, in another part of the hut...

"She did that?!" Kaede asked.

"It's the truth, Lady Kaede," said Miroku as he sat before her. "Just as we were about to perish in Naraku's miasma, Kagome suddenly stood up and shot several arrows at him. The arrows themselves contained enough spiritual power to purify the miasma as well as destroy Naraku's body, leaving him as just a disembodied head."

"Unbelievable...!" Kaede whispered in disbelief. "I suspected that Kagome had great spiritual power just as my elder sister did...but even Kikyo did not have powers of this caliber!"

"I noticed something else," said Miroku. "This happened because Naraku continued to mock Inuyasha. The action caused Kagome to be so full of rage, she relentlessly attacked him without pause." He narrowed his eyes. "A similar occurrence happened during the battle with Rōyakan...when Kagome returned to our era after Inuyasha sent her away. Just as it seemed that Inuyasha was about to be defeated, when Kagome appeared, he suddenly regained his strength and stamina and was able to turn the tide."

"I do see the resemblances, now," Kaede said. "It appears that Inuyasha and Kagome draw strength from each other."

"So it seems," Miroku said.

"No doubt that Naraku will attempt to exploit this, somehow," said Kaede before she looked up at Miroku. "I believe that the next time ye encounter him, he might go after Kagome, next. I advise that ye all be on your guard."

"Of course, Lady Kaede," said Miroku. "We'll make sure of it."

'I used to believe that Kagome and Kikyo were one and the same,' thought Kaede. 'However...it appears that Kagome's spiritual powers are growing at a far faster rate than Kikyo's ever did. At the rate she's going...she might even surpass my own sister.'


This one was a little hard to do, but I think I managed it.

Review, please!