Author's Note:
Gomen nasai! Forgive me for the delay... I really wanted to get on with this story, but I have managed to have too many things to do once again! I hope you are still there; I have finished with almost everything now and they won't occupy most of my timetable. Not again!

I also hope you like this chapter... Dõmo Arigato Gosaimasu for your patience.

By the way... Personal note: I am sorry to say you are wrong. It is Shippo(u), depending on the way you romanize japanese. After a little conversation with a friend of mine, I made certain which roman pronunciation fitted the japanese best and chose them as my writing style. Apart from that, this is the way you should be able to find the names with sub-titles.

Chapter 18
Past issues left undone...

The night was peaceful after the union of the dueto's hearts. The only thing you could hear was the buzz of crickets, sending their high-pitched tunes up to the sky.

But the group knew not that their peace would be disturbed so soon...

Kaede felt a chill up her spine. Unbeknowest to her, so did the others.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, painting it with the crimson fire that burns within it, scattering a thousand hues all over the sun-lit part of the world, they all felt the chill retreating, as if it lessened in strength. Inuyasha was the first to rise, but before he knew it, everyone in the glade had risen as well; fog was covering it from one end to the other.

Something foul was at bay...

"I don't like this the least. We must hurry out of this place!" Shippo cried.

Miroku spoke up as well. "What shall we do then? There is something evil about this treacherous mist, but I don't know what!"

"Calling it treacherous is a mistake, you know..." Inuyasha answered. "It might help us reach whoever blew it our way. Come on!" And with these words he strode to the direction the fog was coming from.

"Wait, Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted. As her husband halted, she managed to reach him quickly. "Don't you think we should check up on the village?"

"Hmm, perhaps you are right. Kaede-baba, what do you thi...?!"

When Inuyasha stood blinking at the spot Kaede had slept at last night, they all turned to the same general direction.

Only to find out she was missing.

As the elder miko raised her head, the ache that rushed up in it made her wince and shut her eyelids closed. When she finally got better, caesing to pant, she noticed that she was bound on a cold flagstone, chains encircling her arms and legs. It didn't take her much time to realise the links were enchanted to keep her down by excruciating waves of pain running through your body whenever you tried to stand up. She had heard of such a device before...

Turning her head around she noticed a dark figure standing by one wall. She didn't know anything in particular about the person, so she had to be careful.

"So you woke at last. You humans are weak when you get older..." the dark figure said.

Kaede nodded her agreement. "We do get older and bodily weaker as the ages pass, but every creatre has to endure this degredation. This is one of nature's most fundamental laws. 'All must wither and leave someone or something rule in their place.' But so much the wiser we get, and I find this not such a bad exchange..."

"None the wiser I think you are than when you were a child... Wisdom is a power and gift most people never receive. Especially your kind of people... Thou nameth I "hoi polloi", for you dwell and win in numbers, neither power nor intellect!"

Kaede smiled weakly and bitterly. "Thou hafth presented only a part of what my people are. And thou art...?"

The creature laughed. "None of thy concern, bait! Know only this, miko of Inuyasha's forest. I have nothing to tell thee, and thou art not needed; useful, that is what thou art!" He turned his back as he was speaking these words, going out of the room when he had finished. "As much as a worm is to a fisherman."

"... If thou needeth thy precious priestess, thou need only search for me." Inuyasha cocked his head upwards when he had finished reading the note they had found beside Kaede's travelling package. He seemed awfully pale for his usual...

The message stung of youkai, an evil aura surrounding it in dark purple tendrils.

"Is that all it is written?" Miroku inquired. "Does it not say who sent this in particular?"

Inuyasha turned around and looked at the monk. "What exactly do you know of my father's death?"

Kagome gasped at Inuyasha's implication. "You don't mean..."

"I am afraid it's true..." Inuyasha hugged his spouse tightly as the tears flowed freely down her cheecks. "Destiny can't let us just forget the past; every single thing must be dealt with." Raising her chin so that he could look in her eyes, he spoke up again. "We will get over this, all right. No matter what. I cannot let my children suffer the same way I did. Not if I can."

Sango, Miroku and Shippo kept their mouth shut at the couple's exchange. This was very serious...

Still have to scan my sketches... Aye! Anyway, if you do not know of the site, enter google and type "Sengoku Jidai". This is a wonderful site concerning Inuyasha, with a huge pack of things to make good use of. Ja ne!

I know, it was short, but I'll REALLY soon, I swear.