~Sango's POV~

A faint smell of earth and food awoke me at last from what seemed to be eternal sleep. I opened my eyes and looked around, and for a fleeting instant, almost believed I was still with Kikyou- and then I saw Miroku.

"Miroku!" I tried to jump and hug him, but my ribs screamed in protest and my back made me wince.

"It would be easier if you did not move." Came his reply. No hello?

That was my next question. "Almost, I think six, seven years without crossing paths and I get no hello out of you?"

"Hello." Miroku said. He was calm as was his will to be, but I sensed something was wrong.

"Miroku." However, when he did not reply, I almost started again. He cut me off.

"What were you doing in the presence of soul-catchers?" He asked me. He did not look at me however.

"Oh. I obviously should have said something about that. I don't remember much though." I said.

He was silent. So I continued. "Kikyou is working for Naraku." At this, I finally got a response.

His form tensed, he seemed rigid as a board, and I could tell his stare averted toward the hand that had formally bore the wind tunnel. His hair covered his eyes so I couldn't tell what his thoughts were. I continued.

"She plans to capture all the seven who have the Shikon shards. That means that everyone who was there is in danger from Kikyou." I said. I knew he didn't need to hear it, but I felt the need to say it. "I believe she summoned two of us, though I couldn't exactly tell who it was."

"You would obviously have trouble to tell, seeing as you were already half unconscious by the time you got here. They dropped you in front of my hut." Miroku said.

"Then we are in my village? I heard Kikyou's orders to them. She told them to bring me to my village and the priest, but I assumed she meant Kaede's village." I said.

"I have the right to assume that you have not been anywhere near Kaede's as well then?" He asked finally looking at me.

His eyes were something that I used to be able to define with ease, but now. It seemed to me they were a completely different language of emotion.

"Yes." I replied.

"Why Sango? Why have you stayed so far away?" He asked.

"Why has Kagome? Why has Inuyasha? And Rin, Shippou and Sesshoumaru? Why have any of us?" I said defiantly.

"I would have expected you to." He trailed off and didn't complete his sentence.

"Right, I know, but things are different. We went our separate ways and we thought Kikyou was dead." I said. My voice was strangely quiet.

"Not me. I knew otherwise, as did Inuyasha. Didn't you know, Sango? Weren't you there to see where everyone went?" Miroku asked. Hurt was plainly there.

"No. I didn't even take Kirara with me when I left."

"So I have noticed." Miroku said quite coldly, "Inuyasha knew Kikyou not to be dead about a week after Naraku was gone. He found her scent somehow. He's been going all over Japan trying to lay her soul to rest, and he left us behind at Kaede's. Kagome, who we all knew was in love with Inuyasha, left through the well after three attempts to stop Inuyasha. I haven't seen her since, but she still probably has her shard. Sesshoumaru, Rin and Jaken have all gone their way. I heard that Jaken died in a battle between some youkai attempting to lay claim to the Western Lands, which must mean Sesshoumaru is gone. As to the whereabouts of Rin, Shippou and Kirara, I do not know." Miroku explained.

"Is Inuyasha still looking for Kikyou? I know where she is." I said firstly.

"It's obvious you know, but that means that Kikyou has moved or doesn't care because you no longer have your shard."

I looked, and gasped. "She took my-?!"

"I can understand readily enough as to why she captured you." Miroku said, getting up from beside my bed. I pulled the sheets closer around me.

"Why?"

"Sango, isn't it clear? She wants to regain the Shikon no Tama and call back Naraku from hell." Miroku said, completely blunt.

"We've got to go after her. We must find everyone with a Shikon shard. We must." I said. If Naraku came back, we might not be able to defeat him.

I remember what Kagome had said about us all. "I'll make a note that there are seven shards only. Seven is all. There should also be something in our memories about this. There are seven shards, seven people completely able to defeat Naraku should he try." Kagome had known he would have help.

"No. We should gather the seven and regroup to kill Kikyou. It's time she faced her fate. As for Naraku, if we track down the others before she does, then she won't be able to call him back, and we'll have the clear shot to her." Miroku planned.

"That's a good idea. Let's go as soon as possible." I said.

~Rin's POV~

That foolish youkai trailed behind me silently. He was so familiar. If I could just figure out how I had known him. Had Sesshoumaru known him? Maybe Jaken? No. Sesshoumaru hadn't known many good people and normally kept me from meeting them. Jaken, well, Jaken never let me meet the people he knew for his loathing of my humanity. I struggled to remember.
Kirara was beside me the entire time, but I never took notice because she was almost always there. I felt a breeze grow from feeble to strong and gusty and back again. I knew we were close.

~Shippou's POV~

Every five minutes I would debate whether or not it was safe to call Kirara. What if this was a different youkai? But I was quite sure that this was Sango's pet. My head was throbbing with questions about this girl. I felt as if I had to make conversation, to make her say something, answer my questions, anything.

"What's your name?" I asked when the wind was soft and light. I caught up to her side.

"None of your business." She said, averting her eyes.

"I told you mine, you tell me yours." She sighed.

"My name is Rin." She said before gesturing to Kirara, "And this is-."

"Kirara." I said, "I know."

"How do you know?"

"None of your business." I said and walked a bit faster, then flew up into the sky to get to the demon first. I heard her swear and she broke into a run.

"Kirara!" She called. I heard Kirara transform to her bigger form. Soon they had caught up with me.

"This is not your demon to slay, youkai!" She yelled.

"On the contrary, it is!" "I don't remember it having your name on its ass!" She said, now ruthlessly close.

I sped up, determined to make it to the demon before her.

~Rin's POV~

This youkai was arrogant and cocky. Kirara and I were close, but then, he sped up. I cursed under my breath. I could have sworn I'd known someone just like this. Other than Sesshoumaru of course. Sesshoumaru was different than this. He knew how to keep it in line, and he was never arrogant to me.

"If you don't want me to slay it first, come and catch me!" He yelled back.

"Shippou! You're the most arrogant youkai I've ever met!" I yelled. He just laughed.

"Do I get a prize?"

"Oh shut up!" I called.

We rounded a bend of trees and came across the river that ran to the village. He was still ahead. I was letting him get to me, I could tell. It was an enjoyable moment, as I was almost toying with him. He knew it, just as well as I did. Coming into the bottom of a small nearby castle, I had recognition.

'This is where I used to live with Sesshoumaru.' I thought.

It was. It was the same castle where Sesshoumaru had taken me to live after bringing me back to life. My breath caught in my throat. I had no time, however, to see if he had come back, because the castle was inhabited. It was the youkai we needed to slay.

"Rin!" I heard him yell. Kirara moved just before a blast of fire came our way.

Jumping off, I looked to Shippou. He drew a sword that looked as if it could barely cut firewood, much less kill a powerful youkai. The moment he took it out, I was stunned.

"Shippou, it won't work!" I called.

My warning was useless as the sword transformed before my eyes. Now I remembered. That was Inuyasha's sword! "Tetsusaiga!" I whispered. I took out the sword that used to belong to Sesshoumaru. "The power of Tetsusaiga, and Tensaiga."

"Rin, look out!" I dodged as another jet of flame came passing by.

Realizing Shippou might barely know how to use Tetsusaiga, he would never be able to use the two swords together. I switched swords for the only one I had that would fight. And I was quickly joining the fray.

"Little late are you?"

"Better late than never!" I said to him.

The Shikon shard I possess helped me to move faster than the average human. And it gave me more strength, so that after every time I fell, I just got back up. The fight went on and on.

~Shippou's POV~

Rin was lasting well, especially since she was human. I didn't have to look after Kirara; she was quite capable of that herself. I didn't know how to use Wound of the Wind like Inuyasha, so I was reduced to slash and hack haphazardly.
The youkai was not a hawk as Kikyou had said, but a Bird of Paradise. I remembered my first encounter with them was when Kouga the wolf prince had captured Kagome taking me with her by accident. They were vicious, and I was uneasy about there being only one. From what I learned with that encounter was that these birds traveled with maybe twenty or thirty others at a time.

"Shippou!" I heard Rin call. I looked over at her, "Do you know Wound of the Wind?"

"No! I wasn't taught that!" I called back.

"Just sense the energy!" She instructed.

I stopped hacking at the youkai and tried to focus. Without warning, I began to see colors. Four. Then I saw three, and it narrowed to two.

"What do I do now?"

"Go for the rip in the middle of the energy! Where the two meet!" She called.

She was slashing artistically at the youkai as if she'd been born with the sword in her hands. I watched for the rip. It came. Slashing down the middle I caught it with the sword. Then I heard Rin scream.

~Miroku's POV~

Sango was walking ahead of me, limping ever so slightly. I wondered if we'd make it this time. Of course, I hadn't told Sango that I had never been rid of the wind tunnel in my hand. I felt the hole get just a bit bigger.
The wind tunnel had been growing so slowly it had been unnoticeable. Now I knew and understood. Naraku wasn't coming back; he was already back. In Onigumo's form. Onigumo was Naraku, therefore if Onigumo came back, that meant Naraku was back too. I gazed silently at the blue peaceful sky. No.we won't make it.

~Shippou's POV~

Sheathing Tetsusaiga, I went over to Kirara. I had used the Wound of the Wind. I finally put my hand over Kirara and petted her. Stopping I asked myself what I was doing. I looked at Rin's body. I didn't know yet if she were dead or alive. I sighed.

"Well Kirara, it's good to see you again." I said.

I went over to Rin. Then I remembered who she was and how I knew her.

%! FlashbacK !%

I watched as the little girl went around me in circles, laughing with a gap toothed grin. Kagome and the others were talking to Inuyasha's brother. Then Inuyasha beckoned me forward.

"Rin, this is Shippou. He's about your age." Sango said.

"Hi Shippou!" "Hey Rin!" We both said at the same time. Rin blushed and I laughed.

Kagome knelt down next to us. "I want you two to listen to me very carefully. This is the Shikon no Tama. We need to break it, but since it's so special, and you are too, we want you two to break it together."

"You mean we can break it and not get in trouble?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Yay! This will be fun." Rin giggled.

"When I say three, I want you two to stomp on it, ok?" Kagome instructed, putting the jewel in front of them, "You need to hold hands too."

I made a face at having to hold hands with a girl, but did as Kagome said.

"One. Two. THREE!" Kagome said.

Rin and I stomped on the precious jewel that all of us had worked so hard to piece back together. I was utterly confused, but didn't actually say anything about it.
After breaking it, Rin and I were handed a few pieces. The shards I was given glowed faintly, and fused together. I was dead curious. The adults after a bit of talking, left their separate ways. Rin went to Sesshoumaru and that ugly toad, and I went to Kagome and Inuyasha.

%! End of FlashbacK !%

I was frozen. Rin. She had a Shikon shard. One of the seven who had one in case Naraku came back. That explained why she had Kirara. Actually, no it didn't. I picked her up in my arms. Placing her in front on Kirara, I climbed up behind her.

"Kirara, let's go back to Kaede's village." I said.

Kirara took up into the air, and I held on tightly, clutching Rin.

~No POV~

Kikyou went back to the clearing behind her hut. There she saw the giant cat in the air carrying two people.

"Seems that the bird is dead. Now to tend to Inuyasha." She spoke to herself.

Crouching down on the ground she called upon her miko magic. After she was done she went back inside her hut, saying as she did so:

"Now he will realize my presence and come looking for me."

~Sango's POV~ "Miroku, where do you imagine Inuyasha is?" I asked.

We'd been walking for a while, and was now far away from my village. It seemed to me that Miroku hadn't forgiven me for something. I couldn't understand what, and I hadn't pressed it. He will tell me in his own time.

"I'm unsure of just where he was last, but I believe we should retrace our steps." Miroku said.

"You mean go back to Kikyou's village?" I asked, perplexed.

"No. I mean we should go back to where it was I knew him to be last. I saw him last at Kaede's. We could go from there."

I nodded.

I hadn't been to Kaede's, preferring to keep with my exterminator business down farther south, leaving what happened behind.

"And what about Kagome? Inuyasha's the only one who ever went after her to her own time. She could be anywhere there." I asked.

"We will deal with the predicament that is Kagome later. Inuyasha is first off. Inuyasha should be able to get Kagome, although that might be dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"Think about it Sango. We're older now. Kagome should be in her twenties, and her world is as vast, if not larger, than our own. I understand from Inuyasha that he never had to go far to find her then." Miroku said.

"Alright." I said.

We stopped and made camp that night near a mountain that we knew. These lands were our home; we'd traveled over them so many times that we knew everything so well. But after almost. After so long they seemed so foreign to me. I couldn't understand what was wrong. Miroku was different. He was no longer the lecherous ass whom I'd traveled with before. His carefree air was gone to be replaced with something that didn't suit him. He was serious, concerned about something. He didn't want to tell me.
Leaning against the bark, I was soon asleep, safe in my homeland.

~Miroku's POV~
My thoughts earlier had not exactly disappeared. My conclusion about Kagome hadn't wavered either. Not to mention we didn't know anything about Sesshoumaru and Rin. Shippou we could search for easily enough. Inuyasha wouldn't prove to hard either. I couldn't help but think that we still didn't stand a chance.
Being young had proved our advantage. We were fresh to our task, ready for action. And now? Now we were unsure, no longer at ease with our actions, and it would take us forever to predict a move. This seemed most difficult. It was a battle Naraku wanted after all. The vengeance he'd lost the years before. And Kikyou. What were we supposed to do about Kikyou?!
I felt my calmness disappear. How were we supposed to win?

~Rin's POV~