"Where's Miroku?" asked Kagome.

Inuyasha looked askance at her. "Why? It's much better without that jerk around."

"Ohhh, he went off after that ninja girl again," creaked old Miyouga from Inuyasha's shoulder. The flea-youkai then bent his head to bite Inuyasha, and the hanyou smacked him for it. Miyouga fell, paper like, to the ground.

"What about Shippo? I know he isn't chasing girls," continued Kagome.

"He thought he saw something, so went off to look into it. He probably got distracted by something shiny--you know how that kitsune is," answered Inuyasha dismissively. "He'll probably catch up with us when we get back to the village."

Kagome was spending time in the past to learn from Kaede how to be a guardian priestess. They had almost finished gathering the shards of the Shikon no Tama, and it needed to be purified once completely reassembled. It also had to be defended from the various youkai who would come seeking it and the power it could grant. Kaede was too old to be a good defender, and she didn't have the power to purify the Shikon no Tama herself. These tasks would fall to Kagome and Inuyasha. The hanyou would be the perfect defender, and Kagome would have the power necessary to cleanse it with the proper training.

She was to spend the next couple of days in the village, then return to her home time to resume school. She would come back to continue her training with Kaede when summer vacation came around. Meanwhile, Inuyasha would defend the village and the nearly reassembled Shikon no Tama. It wouldn't do for any youkai to get a hold of it.

Arriving at the village, Kagome went straight to Kaede's house. Inuyasha was close behind. It wasn't until after dinner was finished and Miroku finally arrived that Kagome realized that she still hadn't seen Shippo since much earlier that day.

"He was still with you when I left around noon," said the monk in response to Kagome's question on the matter. "Why, did he get separated from you at some point?"

"He just went off to see something by himself. He'll be fine; his is a youkai, after all," said Inuyasha.

Kagome didn't look convinced. "He should have been back by now. I'm worried. He's still just a child."

"You worry too much, Kagome," groused Inuyasha. Miroku looked like he agreed with the hanyou.

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a loud sound outside. Shortly thereafter, a small child ran in. "Kaede! Inuyasha! Kagome! There's a youkai attacking the village!" she shouted breathlessly.

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku ran outside; Kaede followed behind, slow with her age. At the edge of the village, they found one hut already in flames. Standing about twenty meters outside of the village was the giant oni that served Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha's half brother was standing in his typical place on the oni's left shoulder. "Ah, Inuyasha. I was wondering if you were going to come out," said Sesshoumaru with disdain.

"What are you doing here, bastard?" growled Inuyasha.

"Is that any way to greet your older brother? And I came bearing you a gift..."

Inuyasha increased his defensive posture; the last time his half-brother came with a "gift", it turned out to be a demon posing as his mother--and she almost killed Inuyasha. This time, however, when the giant oni opened its right hand, it revealed a cage with two small figures lying in the bottom of it. Jaken let loose a shrill laugh. "I captured your little friends: the kitsune and the strange fuzzy youkai!"

Sesshoumaru smiled. "As you can see, they are fine...for now. If you want them to remain so, give me the reconstituted Shikon no Tama and the Tetsusaiga. Otherwise..." The oni clenched the fist holding the cage, crushing it. Kagome screamed and Inuyasha took an aggressive and horror-stricken step forward before they noticed that two small torsos poked out of the top of the fist. They recognized Shippo's unconscious form, but not the girl next to him. Both children had blue sealing wards on their foreheads. Sesshoumaru leapt to the ground, and the oni turned and walked away, Jaken chasing behind. Sesshoumaru forestalls Inuyasha's demands that he return Shippo with a raise of his hand. "Next time, if I don't get what I want, the little youkai children will be crushed." With that, the dog-demon turned and leapt away so quickly he seemed to vanish.

Kagome collapsed to the ground in tears. "I knew he was in trouble! Why did he go off alone?"

"He should have been fine this close to the village," growled Inuyasha. "It wasn't your fault, Kagome. Besides, we'll just have to rescue him."

"Who was that other child that your brother had, Inuyasha?" asked Kaede, who had maintained her composure and noticed that there were two.

This brought Kagome back to reality. "I don't know," she said, remembering the little girl. "She didn't look familiar. Oh, no! That demon has captured a helpless girl along with Shippo!"

Inuyasha looked thoughtful as he responded, "No, she was definitely a youkai... she didn't smell human. Her scent was more that of a cat--or a rabbit. I wasn't sure which. She also had the same type of ward on her forehead that Shippo did. Why would Jaken bother warding a mortal? The question is: where did she come from?"

"Wait. Didn't you say that Shippo went off to investigate something he'd seen?" asked Miroku. At Inuyasha's nod, he continued, "Maybe she was what he saw. She could even have been bait for a trap!"

Kagome looked shocked at the idea. "But, if she was in on it, why would Sesshoumaru use her as a hostage?"

"I don't know. Maybe to trick us. Or maybe she outlived her usefulness," answered Miroku.

Kaede interrupted their conversation. "That's not important right now. Even if you fail to save your friend and he kills them when you don't give him what he wants, Inuyasha's brother won't give up. We need to get the Shikon no Tama to safety. Kagome, perhaps taking it back to your own time would be wise."

"But I can't just leave Shippo here! I can't leave it back there and still get back here--I need it to traverse the well!" argued Kagome.

Inuyasha put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll rescue the little pest. We can't let Sesshoumaru get what he's after. Much as I hate to admit it, Kaede's right."

"No! I'm not just leaving you guys here and that's final!" shouted Kagome.

Inuyasha picked her up forcefully and put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. This engendered indignant shrieks from the young woman, and a little laughter from Miroku. "You're going home and that's final," declared the hanyou. "You'd just get in the way here, anyway," he said a few minutes later.

Kagome became really upset at this insult, and finally used her ultimate weapon to win any fight with Inuyasha: "Sit!"

The rosary around Inuyasha's neck glowed and pulled him violently to the ground. When the stunned half youkai was able to push himself to his feet, he saw Kagome had already made it quite some distance back towards the village. He leapt to catch her again, but she must have heard or seen him coming. When he was at the top of his jump, she shouted "Sit!" again, robbing him of all forward momentum and slamming him into the ground once more.

Fortunately, Miroku was waiting for her. "Kagome," he began, "They are right. For everyone's safety, you must take the Shikon no Tama back to your own time again, where Sesshoumaru and other youkai won't know to look for it. Leave the rescue of Shippo to us. This is the most important thing you can do at this time."

Looking nearly defeated, Kagome gave one last argument: "But we still have a few shards left to find."

Miroku nodded. "Yes, we do, and when we have Shippo back, Inuyasha can come get you to go looking for the remaining pieces and to complete your training with Kaede."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, Kagome agreed. As she passed him heading towards the Bone-Eater's Well, she apologized to Inuyasha for saying "Sit." She then had to apologize again as the rosary responded to that casual use of the word.

At the well, Kagome turned to the two young men with her. "Goodbye, Miroku, Inuyasha. Rescue Shippo and come get me. I'll worry about you otherwise." She turned and jumped into the well.

Ryoko and Sota's mother entered the room holding the Bone-Eater's well just in time to find a young girl about Tenchi's age climbing out of it. Upon seeing her, the mother said, "Kagome! You're back early!" Seeing the look on her daughter's face, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" answered the girl before realizing that there was a stranger present. "Um, I'll tell you later."

Ryoko was not feeling particularly patient at this point. Looking slightly angry, she asked, "So you're Sota's sister. I know all about your well and its secrets. Tell us what's the problem."

Looking first to her mother for reassurance, Kagome explained, "A dog-demon named Sesshoumaru kidnapped Shippo, and is demanding the Shikon no Tama and Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga in exchange for their lives. I brought the Shikon back here for safe keeping."

"Is that all?" Ryoko looked disdainful. "Get outta my way!" she ordered, rising into the air with power crackling from each gem.

Clutching a bead around her neck protectively, Kagome jumped backwards. "A youkai? In the shrine? How can this be? You won't get the Shikon from me!"

"I don't give a damn about your stupid Shikon no whatever-it-is," yelled Ryoko, truly irate now and barely restraining herself from blasting the girl who was still blocking her way. "My servant fell into that well, and I need to go and find her!"

Kagome looked at Ryoko, and her countenance changed from one of angry fear to pity tinged with fear. "Your servant isn't a small, fuzzy girl, is she?"

Ryoko stopped crackling with power and looked at the young priestess warily. "That is one of her forms. Why?"

"Sesshoumaru had her, too. She was his other hostage."

Now, Ryoko was livid. "So, he captured my Ryo-Ohki, did he? If he harmed one whisker, I'll destroy him! No, I think I'll do that anyway." Flying over the well, she looked back at Kagome once more to ask, "You said he was a dog-demon?" At Kagome's nod, Ryoko smiled viciously. "That shouldn't be too hard to find..." With that last statement, she flew straight down the well at full speed.

As she went through, she knew it was working this time. Not only did she see the darkness streaked with blue trans-dimensional energy, but she felt her gems resonating with the power of the well. When she hit bottom, she immediately pushed off, flying rapidly out of the well and into an outdoor scene. Looking around, she noticed a young man with white hair in a red robe standing nearby. Upon closer examination, she noticed that he had dog's ears. "Sesshoumaru!" she called by way of a challenge before raising both hand in front of her, palms out. When the dog-demon turned to face her, looking startled, she let loose an energy blast, powered by both her wrist gems.

The blast left a hemi-spherical crater five meters in diameter in the ground.

A/N: Tune in next week for…

(yeah, I know I'm evil, leaving you with a cliffhanger like this. I promise, I know what's happening next and will have a new chapter up soon.)