Author's Note:
Another delay! Arggh! I didn't have any access to any computer the time I would have like to for the past four days!

I was really glad you liked the previous chapter, since I was really worried about your reply to it. I thank you for being there to read it and congratulate you for your patience. Not many people in our days have that, and I was afraid I had lost many readers with my block. Dõmo arigato gosaimasu or, as we Greeks say, hilia efharisto (this is just phonetic in normal roman characters... I know that greek can be difficult for most people, as it is considered to be one of the hardest languages to be taught).

Too many "typos" from my account; gomen! I will have to work this around... When I find the time I will continue correcting any mistakes I have done in the already posted chapters, though I can promise nothing till then.

Chapter 21
The fate of the Jewel

Rin got used to the light quite soon, as her eyes were younger and sharper than the only functional eye of Kaede's. When she managed to see her better, they had a longer conversation concerning their current situation.

"How were you sure he was a hanyou? Did you see any ears or something, for I didn't manage to look at his features very well. The only thing that caught my eye was the fiery hue of his irises and hair... It's the first time I have seen anything like that." Kaede said. Rin nodded once. "I was able to see his ears when he broke in the castle... They are not very easy to notice, since they are scarlet in colour..."

"Can you tell me of the attack you have gone through? I mean, what happened when this hanyou captured you?"

Rin lowered her head; she had the most pained expression on her face, yet she probably didn't even notice. "I was in my room at the castle... Then came that man and did something I quite did not understand, but what matters is that all of a sudden I was enclosed in some sort of pocket or bubble. Even though I could breathe it was rather suffocating to think of it as it was. I still do not understand how was I able to take breaths normally!"

Kaede got a queer look. "What had distracted you enough so as not to notice his arrival?" When she noticed Rin blushing, she went on. "I was sure there was more to your story; forgive me if I seem curious, but it may be crucial, like why had he chosen you as a target?"

Rin was still looking down at her lap when she answered Kaede's question. "I was crying... Rin and Sesshoumarou-sama had an argument, and got back inside and cried..." A soft sob escaped Rin's throat.

"Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to hurt you..." Seeing that Rin was not getting any better, she chose to change the subject. "There are more to this story we still need to talk about, though. For example, can you describe me what had he done when you said that you did not understand what was happening?"

The youth raised her chin in contemplation, leaving aside what had occured between Sesshoumarou and her for the time being, and soon gave her inquiry. "He just waved his right hand at me while he chanted something I could not really make out... Then he got a small piece of gum out of his robes, stretched them wide and squashed it back into a ball. Then the bubble formed around me and I could not do anything else, as the bubble was somewhat opague." The elder miko pondered what might have been the hanyou's gesturing and chanting... 'Could it be some form of unholy power? It seems strange though... I cannot accept the idea of a houshi in the shape of a hanyou with kitsune heritage... And what kind of houshi would he then be? They tend to love deceit to much, whether good-naturedly or maliciously!'

Rin looked hardly at her. "What is the matter, Kaede-sama?" When Kaede didn't answer her, she pressed on. "Something troubles you, I know it!"

Kaede looked at her. "I just cannot figure out the meaning behind some of the riddles that come forth... But there is one possibility I don't even want to think of..." Rin didn't ask her what she meant for her expression was grim.

'I sincerely hope we do not need to fight against a yao ren (1)...'

Magemoru looked at them, hidden in the shadows the chamber so easilly- and handilly- provided. 'I didn't expect her to know of such magic... It seems I have underestimated her. I am most certain none saw me when I neared the village, fifty years ago... If not for that damned Onigumo making Inuyasha and Kikyo fight each other, I might have had the chance to get the Shikon no Tama back then!'

His eyes narrowed at the reminder of these ages past... 'Keh; I will finally have the Shikon no Tama and both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga!' Thinking what had his rival achieved made him wince; his current enemies were good enough to best Naraku, and that made him quite nervous. Bad he made good thought of everything, and he was most certain he would not fail...

Walking in a completely balanced, controlled pace of very small, silent steps, he walked out of the room in this mental projection of himself. He glided through the many chambers of his castle and found his body in his room lying on a mattress on the floor in a supine stance. He knelt by it and lied down, dissolving his vitæ in his corporeal form. A pained expression run through his face, as his consciousness settled back on his body.

As his eyes flattered open, he run his long, slender fingers through his hair... He looked in his currently blurry sight around in deep thought... He had the same problem with Inuyasha in a way. He had been tormented for his heritage from his very childhood, when the other youkai attacked the castle of his ningen father. 'Okaa-san...'

He remembered the days when he was still young by youkai standards... His father's servants told him of how had the lady of the house fallen in love with his father and come to him, soon him being enthralled by her. When she revealed her secret of her ancestry to his father, he told her the truth: he cared not for it, as he was in love with her.

A love that mostly brought Magemoru pain...

"And where is this castle supposed to be, anyway? We have gone all over these mountains for the past days and we have found no trace of it or theirs!" Shippo whined.

"Calm down, kid! We will find them, soon enough. Say, can you break any illusion such as this?" Inuyasha asked him.

"I am not so sure now..." Shippo got grim.

The situation was getting out of hand... They were following the fog for the past days but all of a sudden the fog wisped into nothingness! To add to that, they could find no mountain, let alone the castle on top of it!

Kagome seemed to be deeply in thought. There was something nugging her, but she could not put her finger on it.

Until everything clicked into place.

"Say... what if I 'purified' the whole area?" As all of the youkai of the group turned and looked at her in exasperated looks, she only shook her head. "You can protect yourselves by jumping very high. Will you do that? We have heard of no youkai around these parts and we have certainly seen none of them throughout our travel, so you are the only ones who should be wary of the purification..."

Inuyasha looked at Kagome with pride in his eyes. 'That is a great thought!'

Sesshoumarou also looked at Kagome with appreciation. "It could work, but you realise that your timing should be perfect." Kagome looked back at Sesshoumarou and nodded.

"I will help too, as little as that may be..." Needless to say that a particular person glared at him. "Don't worry, Inuyasha, I have my own wife, remember?" Sango blushed a deep crimson.

"Will you guys get on with it?" Shippo said and took his pink-balloon form, flying up. The next moment the two brothers bent low on the ground, so that they could jump as high as possible, Myouga and Jaken on their hands.

And then they heard a wild crackling from below, as the two bowed clerics, Houshi and Miko alike, touched the ground, blue and pink and red tendrils flying off their bodies and encircling everything around them for a great distance. It took both Kagome and Miroku a lot to keep their energies low on the ground, so that their comapnions would not get hurt. The five up in the sky were rather startled, as they had never thought anything like this could be possible.

"What in the blasing furnaces of hell?" Jaken shouted. He was trully amazed, as his fainting easilly proved. Myouga had another reason to not be that well...

"Inuyasha-sama, order them to stop immediately!"

"Nani?!"

Myouga was very anxious. "If they do not stop right now, they may endanger their lives! They put to much effort to keep all of this down on the ground, and it is too much on its own... Make them stop, Inuyasha-sama!"

As Inuyasha looked on the ground, he had the most worried face imaginable. "Stop!" he shouted, and the tendrils, slowly yet steadilly dissolved into small auras around the two holy personæ down on the ground. As the four youkai and the one hanyou were reaching slowly the ground, both of them looked very startled. Kagome had also taken notice of something else none other had, but it was too late now...

"Inuyasha..." She had a very surprised look on her face, and she was trembling.

"You might have killed yourself there! Don't do this again, all right?"

"Inuyasha... look."

The hanyou noticed then that she had one hand clasped over her chain around her neck where the Shikon no Tama rested all this time after Naraku's defeat. She slowly opened it and then they saw it...

The Shikon no Tama was dissolving into bright particles... When this transformation ended, the particles started dimming and, soon enough, there was nothing left of it.

The world would never again see the Shikon no Tama.

"Yao ren" means "sorcerer".