Even now, the following day, I can still smell the rain and pine that was on his clothes, and the warmth of his strong arms and chest as he enveloped me against his body. It was the nicest feeling I've ever felt. My fingers linger over both my arms where his had wrapped around me, but the tingling is no longer there, just the cloth of my white haori covering my slowly healing body. It's soft against the bruises that are almost faded now – a reminder that I am not in present day Japan.

"How do you recommend we go about searching for Naraku?" Miroku asks.

We all look at him from where we sit around the fire; the monk is at my left side as Inuyasha is on my right. He sitting crossed legged with his staff between his legs and resting on his left shoulder. In his right hand he holds a small cup with a green liquid inside that Kaede gave him to ward off any further effects of the poison. I go back to looking at the clean stew pot that is above the fire pit that isn't lit. This is the first time we've been here when the fire wasn't lit to keep us warm from the cold of night, but luckily, the sun shines through all the windows and the warmth of the spring wind keeps us comfortable.

At my side, Inuyasha thinks over what Miroku asks. His shirt is off and bandages cover his chest and back wounds. It has healed over enough now where there is no longer bleeding, but, that can change if he moves to drastically. The wounds on his cheek are still vibrantly red and won't bleed any longer.

Kaede messes with the bandages on Inuyasha's back, earning a growl from the half demon, "I'll be fine in two to three days!" He whines.

"I suppose our best hope lies in composing ourselves and thinking things through." Miroku continues, since no one answered his question.

"We don't have time for composure!" Inuyasha yells.

"I want to crush Naraku as desperately as you do, Inuyasha! Fifty years ago, he formed a wind tunnel in the hand of my grandfather. And now the curse has carried over the generations to me." He takes the tiny cup from his right hand with his left and looks over his right hand. It no longer throbs or shows any injury. "Work with me, let's go back to where it all started. You mentioned that you fell into Naraku's trap 50 years ago, in this village, correct? So, you must have met him in person?"

"Not exactly," Inuyasha pauses, staring down at the wooden platform we sit on, his eyes wander off to some other place far away as he talks, "I may have met him, but if I did, he was disguised as Kikyo. So I have no idea what he looks like."

"That makes no sense. You don't know Naraku, and yet he despised you enough to disguise himself as Kikyo and leave you for dead." Miroku says.

Kaede tightens the bandages around Inuyasha's midsection, earning a grumpy, "What was that for?!" From Inuyasha.

"I need to speak to ye," Kaede starts, "I have given much thought to this, ever since my sister Kikyo was revived by the evil witch Urasue. Kikyo had told me that it was ye, Inuyasha, who had stolen her sacred Shikon Jewel. Do ye not think it strange? The one who disguised himself as ye could have made off with the jewel, yet he did not." She gently pats his shoulder and stands up, "Come with me."

Inuyasha shrugged on his tops, and blinks as she starts for the door. We all look at one another and shrug, getting up to follow her. She leads us to the left side of the village where a river flows close to the forest edge and the grass is high, up to our waists as we walk through it. The smell of grass and flowers fill my lungs, and insects crawl all over my legs, tickling my bruised flesh, as I brush through the long grass. They leap off for dear life with every step.

"Kikyo harbored a thief who was badly burned in a cave nearby. She made her own decision to do this." Kaede says finally, now that we are half way through the field heading in the direction of a hill with a cave opening that is slightly over grown with vines and hanging moss.

"She was harboring a thief?!" Inuyasha asks stunned, obviously having never known this regardless of his close relationship to the priestess.

Something is making me uncomfortable about this topic. Something twisted and off. But there is nothing I can say about it because I can't put my finger on it. I remain silent and keep behind the group, not wanting to be in the crowd of the topic of Kikyo when I frankly, don't care for the woman – and I am not even sure why.

"Because she pitied him! He was unable to move on his own." She says; it almost sounds like she pitied the man herself, or maybe she is just justifying her sister's choices. The rest of the way, we remain in silence till we make it to the cave opening, walking out of the brush of grass to a rocky hill. The mouth of the cave is overgrown but we can still see pass the vines and moss, into a very dark entry way. There is a deep feeling of anger and evil coming from the cave. Something that screams: danger.

"The man went by the name Onigumo. He suffered from terrible burns, and his face was especially scarred. I know not if he fell from a cliff or how he sustained his injuries. But both legs were broken. Yet despite his severe wounds, Onigumo continued to endure. He did not move again, but he recovered his strength enough to converse. And gradually his true nature emerged. He spoke and asked about the Shikon Jewel and said he wanted Kikyo apprehensive and frightened, but when I told her, she told me to still feel pity for the man for he will never move again. Soon after, Kikyo bound ye to a tree with her arrow."

"Several days later, when I went to visit Onigumo at the cave, I found it had been burned out. Judging by what I saw, the flames must have been intense for Onigumo was unable to move and would have perished in the cave, yet his bones were nowhere to be found. They too must have gone up in flames." Kaede recollects.

I step pass the group to the left wall of the mouth of the cave and press my hand against the cold brown and gray stone. Looking down I can see a spot of land inside in the shape of a man, burned into the rock. It leaves me shivering looking over that haunting place; I can still smell the smoke and sulfur. Like evil rose from hell here, and tore into Onigumo and left its mark on the world after.

"What does this have to do with me? I'm looking for Naraku, and Naraku is a demon, not a human such as this Onigumo person." Inuyasha asks.

"But even humans can turn into demons," I whisper.

"What ya say, Keara?" Inuyasha asks. When I look back at him, he looks genuinely curious.

"No mistaking that. Onigumo may have been evil, but he was human, a scourge to humanity." Kaede says.

The three of them finally come up to the mouth of the cave, pushing pass the vines and moss, and start down a small hill to the ground level where the man-shaped spot lies.

"Lady Kaede, look there! This site alone is free of grass and moss of any kind." Miroku points at the ground with the butt of his staff.

"It's the very spot Onigumo lay injured!"

Miroku covers his nose and flinches back from the spot, "I'm sensing the evil spirit of a demon. An entity which has been left behind here for decades!"

"Impossible!" Kaede responds.

"The spirit in this cave belongs to no human, it's definitely that of a demon." Inuyasha replies.

"Help! Somebody help me!" The voice that screams for help is Shippo's and when I turn to look to see what's going on I see him running from the grass with a pack of four, three eyed brown wolves following him.

Shippo sees me, eyes wide and full of terror, he leaps for my arms and I clutch him close to my chest just in time for Inuyasha to come out from the shadows of the cave and slicing at the wolves until they go flying in random direction.

The ground starts to shake with every step of an upcoming, massive demonic beast. It looks like a wolf but oversized and hunched forward on two feet. His eyes are wide and bloodshot like a drunk alcoholic; mostly blue around the irises and the irises themselves are red. He wears armor all over his body except for his hands, feet, and head. He roars loudly, and then drools as he starts to speak, "Might you be Inuyasha?" His voice is thick, and heavy.

"Whose asking?!"

"I am Royakan, the guardian of hell!" He roars.

Both Kaede and Miroku climb out of the cave just as he announces who he is, earning surprised looks from both of them.

"Are you not the gentle creature that guards the forest?" Kaede asks.

"That was before I was reborn!" He opens his mouth wide and turns to Inuyasha, a pack of wolves with three eyes come plummeting out of his mouth, and as this happens, he manages to speak through the pack of wolves coherently, "Inuyasha, I have come to slay you!"

Inuyasha runs for the crowd of wolves that now continuously flow from the demon's mouth. Where they are coming from is beyond me, but they just keep on coming. Inuyasha slashes and tears through the wolves, whimpers and howls can be heard all over the field as he rids us of them, but the demon is nonstop summoning them.

Miroku steps a few feet in front of Kaede and I, unwrapping the beads from his right wrist, he opens up the cloth that covers the wind tunnel and releases it onto the pack of wolves, sucking some up into his hand and sparing Inuyasha from battling too much with his wound. But Miroku's attack just gains the attention of the wolves, they burst in speed and run for the monk just in time for him to close up his wind tunnel.

Inuyasha slashes through the pack once again, deterring them from overrunning Miroku, but then he falls to one knee and huffs for air. He looks beaten already, and if I can see clear enough, there is a small spot of blood at the midsection of his red kimono top. Barely noticeable, but a little darker than the red cloth.

"My vision is starting to become blurry…" Inuyasha mutters through heavy breaths.

Miroku reopens his wind tunnel and sucks up another running pack of wolves, giving me the opportunity to race to Inuyasha's side once the wolves are distracted. Kneeling down next to him, I look over his midsection to see, that it is indeed reopened. Once the area is clear of wolves, Miroku quickly closes his wind tunnel and dives down to the ground to grab ahold of his staff. Before Royakan can open his mouth again, Miroku throws his staff into the large wolf demon's face, distracting him for the moment, while Miroku reopens his wind tunnel to start sucking in the massive demon.

Royakan roars out, eyes twitching as he rubs his forehead where he was hit. He searches the area for escape as he is slowly dragged forward towards the wind tunnel. Panicking, he lifts up both hands and slams them down into the ground exploding the air with dust and dirt. Rocks feed into Miroku's wind tunnel and when the dust finally settles, Royakan is nowhere to be found.

Once we know for sure Royakan has fled, Kaede rushes over to Inuyasha's left side. "Show me your wounds." She demands.

Miroku also strolls over to us, his eyes firm and serious, "Inuyasha, I sense that Naraku is near. Most likely Royakan has a jewel fragment and, through it, is being manipulated by Naraku."

A jewel shard? How come I didn't see it then…

"Only that could explain such a gentle creature turning evil." Kaede says.

But I didn't sense it…. Sitting back on my butt, I ponder over where I may have missed the shard. It was pretty busy all of a sudden with all the wolves and Inuyasha's wound reopening…. I was pretty distracted.

Inuyasha quickly stands up, brushing pass Kaede and I as he stumbles a few feet forward. "Naraku, where are you? Come out and face me, one on one!" He shouts with all his strength. He pauses abruptly and falls stomach first into the dirt ground. We all panic, and run over to Inuyasha's side, but he's unconscious.

"Inuyasha," I say, but he doesn't stir. He looks peaceful regardless he passed out due to agonizing pain and exhaustion. Gingerly, I brush my fingers through his bangs to check his temperature; he's a little warm, probably from the battle, but it is still concerning. What if it's a fever from not healing properly? What if he's getting worse?

"Royakan may return for another attack. We should flee to the village at once and contemplate our next move!" Kaede says, her eye searching the area for any signs of intruders coming. But she's right, we need to get out of here and prevent Inuyasha from fighting until he can recover fully.

"Open up!" Inuyasha shouts. He's so loud through the thin wooden walls of the shack. After we carried him back to the village, we tied up his arms and hid him away in a shack in order to keep him from going after Naraku while he still needs to recover. But ever since he's woken up he's been kicking at the walls of the hut, making them shake and quiver under his strength. There are wards all over the walls of the little, one room shack, but these wards are to protect him and keep him in, all at once. Inside, Shippo sits with Inuyasha to keep him company, but I didn't think that was a very bright idea, so I choose to sit outside the shack while day turned to night.

He kicks again, the wood rattles together against my back.

Grumbling, I knock on the door, "Please calm down Inuyasha. This has nothing against you. We are just trying to help. You need to relax and recover."

"There is no point, Keara, he's been going at it for hours." Miroku sighs as he approaches with Kaede at his side. Kaede is carrying a pot full of ointment meant to rub onto Inuyasha's wounds to help seal and heal them while he's 'recovering'. When they reach the hut, Miroku opens the door and they both glower down at Inuyasha.

"We're trying to hide you from demons. Making all this racket will render the sealed hut meaningless." Kaede says.

What they mean is: there is a barrier made of plants, string and charms circling the hut that causes the hut to be invisible to any eye but our own. Just in case Royakan were to return, he wouldn't be able to see where we are hiding or accidently walk into us, since the barrier would also deter them. It is the only thing Miroku and Kaede can do to help protect Inuyasha while keeping him locked up for his own safety as well.

"Let me out of here!" Inuyasha replies.

"Inuyasha, please." I start, walking pass the two and entering the tiny hut. I kneel down next to him, earning a confused but subtle look from the half demon. "You need to heal; I don't want to see you hurt anymore."

He stares up at me, eyes wavering and uncertain, but after a few seconds he lets out a frustrated sigh and nods. "Fine."

Miroku and Kaede enter the hut fully and close the sliding door behind them. Kaede places another seal onto the door and comes over to Inuyasha. She unties the ropes from his wrists and helps him shrug off his shirts so she could take care of his wounds. Undoing the bandages, she waits till he lies down on his stomach so she could work on the back wound from the midsection damage first, rubbing the clear ointment all over the wound as carefully as possible.

Miroku sits down next to me as we watch Kaede work her magic. "I am inclined to want to rush after Naraku as well, but first you must recover from your injuries."

"He speaks the truth. Naraku's strength is almost beyond comprehension." Kaede adds in.

"We need you to recover quickly, for we must face Naraku at our strongest. Otherwise I fear that our fates will be short lived." Miroku says sternly.

Inuyasha leans up towards Miroku and growls out, "Are you a man or a mouse? I, for one, am prepared to fight Naraku here and now!"

"Inuyasha, lay back down," I chime in.

He hardly glances at me this time, his eyes focused on the monk who merely smiles in his direction and nods, "You should listen to Keara, put your head down and get yourself some much needed sleep."

Kaede and Miroku sit in prayer inches away from the thin string border that surrounds the hut. They keep calm and concentrated, their eyes never wavering from where ever they are staring, not even as a cold breeze blows by, swaying the tiny plants, string and charms they protect all of us. Up above, the sky coils into dark clouds, covering the once brilliant moon from shining on through, but no thunder or rain follows as the air gets chillier with every second.

Unlike them, I am unable to do anything so instead I keep to the hut with my back resting against the worn wood as I watch where I sit. Inside, Inuyasha lies resting with Shippo to keep him company. Not a word or a movement has been said or made since we left the hut. From here I can just barely hear the two up ahead converse, muttering to each other to keep strong and focused. But then I sense something dark rolling on through the clouds up above, and incomes a pack of three eyed brown wolves flying down towards the invisible barrier.

"Lady Kaede, stay on guard, a malevolent spirit approaches." Miroku says.

"We shall stop him here." Kaede replies.

Unable to see us, or the barrier, the wolves collide head first into the force field. Lightning bursts from their impact, pushing them away and as they scatter I sense the presence of a jewel shard. Searching the tree line, I spot the tiny purple light as it soon approaches the tree border. Out comes Royakan, but different. He's larger, stronger looking with a fiercer appearance on his face with solid red eyes and drool pouring down from his jaws. Every step he takes, the ground rumbles softly. On his forehead I can see the jewel glistening, giving him the power he now holds.

"Inuyasha, where are you hiding?!" He yells. Slowly, he approaches the barrier.

"He's come back! And he's even larger than last time!" I hear Shippo say from up above me. Glancing up the wall to the window, I see his tiny hands holding onto the railings as he peers out.

"Shush, Shippo." I hush.

"Reveal yourself, Inuyasha!"

Royakan puts his face against the barrier, lightning erupts from his touch. He doesn't seem deterred from the push, and instead places a hand against the barrier as well. There is a whistling noise that I barely pick up on, and just as I notice it, Miroku breaks free from his prayer hold and swings his staff at an arrow that comes flying for Kaede's head. The arrow spins up into the air before diving into the ground next to Royakan's foot.

But that doesn't bother the powerful demon. Instead, with Miroku having acted, has broken the barrier and has rendered us visible.

"Inuyasha! I see you!" The large demon leaps into the air, his shadow flying in our direction. Spitting out a curse, I leap out of the way just in time for him to collide with the hut. "There you are!" He yells, thrusting his fists through the wood and roof tiles, exploding the hut to pieces.

Inuyasha leaps out of the debris with his tetsusaiga unsheathed and transformed, he skids across the ground on his feet and grins just the slightest. "I owe you one, Royakan for getting me out of that hut where my so-called friends the monk, hag and the girl, sealed me inside!"

"For your protection, I might add!" Kaede states.

"Gratitude isn't his forte." Miroku adds.

"Girl?" I grumble.

By Royakan's feet, climbing out of the debris comes Shippo, his eyes wide and full of terror. He scurries out of the way and for me, his hands in front of him as he plummets into my legs.

"I've heard enough!" Royakan screeches, slamming his right fist into the ground, causing the land around him to quake.

"Let's get at it!" Inuyasha leaps into the air, swinging back his blade before thrusting it forward, only for Royakan to clamp both hands onto the middle of the sword preventing it from moving any further. He swings his right hand with the blade still in his grip, throwing Tetsusaiga and Inuyasha off into the distance, where the half demon lands and slides along the dirt.

"Inuyasha's been thrown to the ground!" Kaede yells, stunned.

"He may have the will to fight, but his strength hasn't had time to recover yet!" Miroku chimes in.

Royakan takes a step for Inuyasha, and for a brief second, no thoughts run through my head, instead, my feet push me forward. Shippo goes flying to my side and out of my way as I burst full speed ahead, I come sliding in between the two with both my arms spread out at my sides, and the jewel shard dangling on my chest.

"A giant fragment of the sacred jewel!" Royakan shouts.

"Keara, get out of here!" Inuyasha yells from behind me.

Instead, my eyes narrow, challenging Royakan. The massive demon comes running for me, his arm going back behind him before swinging for me. Leaping out of the way just in time for his fist to land in the ground where I once stood. Luckily, I land on my feet, and continue my glaring up at him.

"You won't escape!"

Royakan opens his gigantic mouth, and out comes packs of wolves spilling from his mouth and heading for my direction. One of my feet moves behind me, while the other plants strongly in front. I can feel the growing power in my hands that reside still at my sides, and from my peripherals a purplish light starts to grow from each side.

Come on, I am ready for you.