April 1, 2002

Sister, Sister

By Yashira

Chapter 8

The cool collected breeze slid along his silver hair with a ruffling of soft whispers as his perfected walk pushed him along the crumbling dirt path unhindered. With his head held high, Sesshomaru's golden gaze briefly flickered about the surrounding landscape with a barely recognizable twinkle. The village which had once stood here had long since died and disappeared. Eaten it seemed, and overwhelmed by the hungry threads of wild grass and saplings. The foundations of stone and wood were barely discernable in the over-run foliage; it took an exceptionally sharp eye to realize they were even there.

With green web-like fingers hugging the reins of the great two-headed beast which Rin rode, Jaken tentatively glanced about the place and up at his young master. "Sesshomaru-sama, surely you aren't still concerned about that miko? With your awesome strength and power, there's nothing to fear of that-"

Sesshomaru turned abruptly, his gaze exceedingly dark and haughty. "That face died over 50 years ago… the one who wears it now…" he paused and turned amber eyes to the side as he looked up ahead the way with a sudden thoughtful expression. "We will get answers here." He started forward again, towards a spot in the distance that looked suspiciously like a monastery hidden within the trees, "Now move."

***

Sango was screaming, her voice flinging across the burning remains of the surrounding village, in sharp echoes of alarm and panic as she leapt off of Kirara at a run. "Miroku!!!" He was crumpling to the ground, his body thudding down uselessly, when she reached him.

Kagome was beside her in seconds, reaching down a shaking hand to touch the monk's clammy forehead. "Oh gods, he feels cold and hot at once…"

"Kagome-chan, I don't know what to do... he's looks worse than usual." Kirara shoved up beside Sango's legs, lending her warmth and reassurance to her mistress as Sango's arms circled Miroku's shoulders. "We need to get him to Kaede…"

Inuyasha rolled to his feet with an ugly oath on his irritated lips as he drew his hand over his forehead. Dark blood and grime was drawn back as he did so. "That bitch, she is so dead."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked as she dropped the bow she carried, the same bow she'd found laying just outside the hut, as she reached for Miroku's shoulders to help Sango lift him over Kirara. "Release Yashira and come quickly, Miroku is…" ~dying~ She couldn't even say the word, instead she gestured helplessly for him to hurry.

Yashira was twisting about furiously, cursing as heatedly and heavily as Inuyasha was, as the vines that bound her drew ever tighter against her pale skin. Already welts and bruises were showing up along her hands and arms from where the ugly vines cut her circulation and she tossed her head, black hair sliding defiantly over one eye, when Inuyasha made any motion to her. He came to stand in front of her reluctantly, his shadow shutting out the glare from the fires that still raged behind him.

"I… have to help her?" The incredibly in his voice belied the mere disgust in his amber gaze.

"Hurry Inuyasha! PLEASE, for Miroku!" Kagome's cry must have jarred something inside his heart because Inuyasha was snarling and muttering angrily as he quickly slashed the vines that bound Yashira.

***

She watched Kaede and Sango lay Miroku gently on a bed of mats as her words, mere whispers to Inuyasha, ran along the lines of, "He looks … bad. I've never seen him like this."

Sango was busy pouring water into a basin and tearing up some cloths in which to soak them in as Inuyasha grumbled in returned, "He's never taken in so many before." His gaze on Miroku, as he laid there unconsciously between spattering of cold and hot flashes, was purely of concern and uneasiness. "He really does look bad."

"Let me see to him…" Yashira spoke calmly as if subdued, the usual aloofness in her voice temporarily disappearing in the face of this poor man's suffering. She pushed past Inuyasha and Kagome with no more than a thought as she absently rubbed her bruised wrists and arms. "With my powers, I can heal a bit… perhaps remove the poison in his system."

Already Inuyasha was scowling and grumbling, but with one motion of her hand on his chest, Kagome managed to restrain him. "Let her try… it's more than I can do. I can't heal at all."

"Neither could Kikyo," Inuyasha murmured quietly, but it brought a sharp look from Kagome and he turned to look another way as if he had never spoken the miko's name.

Yashira knelt down on the cool ground and moved her fingers softly along Miroku's now burning flesh. He was so very hot. The more Sango dampen his forehead with water from the basin, the more he sweated and moaned incoherently. "He's burning," Yashira took a deep breath, but unexpectedly winced as she jerked her right hand back. "Eya!"

"What's wrong Yashira? " Kagome bolted to her side as Inuyasha and Sango turned startled faces at the sudden exclamation.

She cradled her hand carefully and took ragged breaths, "God… oh gods. It's unnatural… it eats at his being as if its poison, but it… it's so much worst…" Her blue eyes had taken on unnatural hue, almost amber in effect, as she traced her fingers quickly to the necklace she wore. Her breathing came hard and fast, "I… can't… can't do it…" ~It would cause the change… if I did~

Sango reached down and gripped Miroku's hand tightly. "What are we going to do? We can't let him die."

"It was like so much darkness in his blood…" Yashira's voice was stunned and she looked so very pale as she rambled on. Everything about her looked pale... even her raven black hair.

"If we could only remove it," Shippo was crying, his childish voice exclaiming loudly, as he flung his tear-stained face over the blanket at Miroku's side. "I don't want him to die!!!"

Yashira, as if she were still in some sort of trance, murmured something almost incoherent as she staggered to her feet and stumbled backwards. "Averios…"

"What was that?" Kagome reached over to help steady the stunned miko. "Averios, what's that?"

Kaede blinked with surprise, staring at Yashira and Kagome with wide open eyes. "You mean the blessed healing herb?"

Yashira nodded. "You've heard of it too, if we had the Averios it would sooth the darkness in his blood, but... but I heard that the plant went out of existence over 50 years ago…"

"Surely that can't be true," Sango looked as if she would burst into tears of frustration any second now.

Kaede wobbled around Miroku and Sango to stand before Kagome, Yashira and Inuyasha. "There may be one last hope. I knew of a place… the last place it grew freely under…"

"Where was that?" Kagome asked, her voice a reedy whisper as she listened in awe. If there was any way to saved Miroku she would snap at the chance as quickly as she could.

"It was beneath the roots of the Goshinboku." Kaede glanced significantly at Inuyasha and Kagome. "But that was before the time of the sealing…"

Inuyasha looked troubled his golden eyes seemingly locked in another time, "Sealed by Kikyo huh?"

Kagome caught his tone and touched his arm with a soft shake, "Inuyasha…"

Kaede shook her aged head and continued on as if they hadn't interrupted her. "In a way, there was a path, down within the roots which completely disappeared when Inuyasha was sealed…" She saw the confusion in their eyes and wobbled towards the doorway. "Perhaps, it may be best if I show it to you first."

***

They stared attentively, looking down at the roots where they met earth, as Kaede stood in front of the Goshinboku. Within the vines that circled the base of the tree, there looked to be a spot that may have hid a cavernous hole now semi-buried with dirt, stone, and grass.

Inuyasha stared at Kaede with barely contained annoyance and disgust. "Look Kaede-baba, it's just a hole where some squirrel hid its nuts… we shouldn't be wasting our time here when we can be doing something useful to help Miroku."

Yashira turned her face to the side, as she stared down at the mass of roots scrupulously, "I think one of us would get stuck if we tried to squeeze down into that hole…" Her eyes lifted abruptly and fell on the vivid scar of Inuyasha's sealing. The wood looked torn, weathered, and puckered as if someone had begun to pound it with a hatchet, but then stopped for some reason. She frowned. From the small snatches of conversation she'd picked up, this hanyou had had some sort of seal placed on him by Kikyo at this very spot. She was curious about what had happened, but deliberately kept her mouth shut. She hadn't been here the day Kikyo died and she hadn't stayed long enough to learn how she had died. Perhaps that had been an error on her part, but she could not go back and change it now. Besides… if it was important they would mention it again.

"Not unless I cut the tree to pieces…" He pulled out his sword looking at the wood thoughtfully. "I think I can do it in one blow."

"Osuwari." Kagome looked a bit apologetic as Inuyasha slammed hard into the ruthless ground, "I'm sorry, but no cutting down Goshinboku."

Kaede frowned at the imprint which was Inuyasha and shook her head with clear disapproval. "In all my life Inuyasha, you always have to complain. Just dig a little hole by the roots, okay?"

He glared from the impression in the ground, but with the four of them waiting, Yashira, Kagome, Kaede and Shippo -Sango opting to stay behind and tend to Miroku in the meantime- he finally relented. "Fine, but I do so under duress." After a moment of digging he turned to face them, "There it's big enough for Shippo. Come on you little pip-squeak, it's your turn."

"Me?" The kitsune looked nervous as Inuyasha leapt back and crossed his arms impatiently.

"He's right," Kagome acknowledged as she smiled at Shippo for support, "Nee Shippo-chan, you want to go down and give a look around? It's for Miroku afterall."

He slapped his hands together, little fox feet scratching against the floor, as he leapt into the hole head first. "I'll save Miroku with the Averios!" There was a swishing sound as he slid forward, body wriggling as far as he could go before he let out a frighten shriek, "Help, I'm stuck!"

Yashira rolled her eyes and Kagome covered hers. Inuyasha stormed forward and threw his fingers into the hole. Within a moment he jerked Shippo free by the scruff of his tail and waved him around in the open air. "You'll save Miroku eh?"

Shippo was pouting, his eyes going all blurry with tears as Kagome gently took the kitsune from Inuyasha's fingers. "No need to rub it in."

Inuyasha had a self righteous smirk on his face, "Oh yeah, but I told you."

Yashira was flexing her fingers, little showers of white-blue energy dancing along the edges of them as she flick one at Inuyasha. "Be nice about it."

"You bitch," he cursed vehemently as he jumped away from her. One of the sparks bore a painful, yet tiny hole into haori. "If you do that again, I'll give you the Kizu no Kaze, 10 fold!"

Kagome set Shippo down before she immediately wedged herself forward, determined to prevent these two from bashing heads with each other. "Stop it you two, just wait and let me try at least. I think I can push in somewhere here…"

Yashira looked undaunted as Inuyasha let out a sour word, "And you'll just get as stuck as Shippo…" There was a pause as Kagome, shoulders, seemingly stuck, was met with another angry reply from Inuyasha, "I TOLD YOU." However he wasn't quite finished saying that when Kagome gave a startled yelp and abruptly slid forward. "Kagome?"

"It is as I feared, only mikos can go through now…" Kaede's voice was soft, but the seriousness of the tone reminded the others that she was still there. Inuyasha's startled voice was somewhere between a curse and shock.

"WHAT?!"

"But, but that means…" Shippo's eyes watered as he wobbled over to Kaede and hung off her pant leg, "I can't go in and neither can Inuyasha!"

Kaede nodded and yet seemed very thoughtful as she glanced over to the only other woman that now remained with them. "But Yashira can and she could probably take one other person with her. Her miko power has some different taste to it." If she was referring to Yashira's insinuation that she could heal, she did not come out clearly to say that now, but instead Kaede just stared at the girl with clear eyes. If the girl could do that, she could probably do much more.

Yashira was oddly silently, she simply crossed her bruised arms and looked the other way.

"We could just wait for Kagome to come back," Inuyasha began rather dubiously, "I really don't think-"

"Possibly," Kaede began, but there was a tone to her voice that made Inuyasha and Yashira both turn. "But.."

"But what?" His voice had turned snappish; he didn't like playing this game with Kaede. It just unnerved him to no end, "Don't wallow around with it, spit it out!"

Kaede took a guarded breath and let it out slowly. "If it was anything like it was before the time of the sealing, the doorway out that leads back here was elsewhere… and there's more. I was always wary of this hole as a child ever since I learned of the story about the time a wolf hanyou disappearing within and never came back…"

"What the hell does that have to do with Kagome?"

"I... I think I understand," Yashira spoke up suddenly, her tone thoughtful and yet filled with the haughtiness she usually reserved for the youkai she fought with. "Doorway in, is not the doorway out. Kagome is alone in there without anyone to guide her. Feh, so where is the doorway out, Kaede?"

"I don't know. I never went in." and she had the decency to looked slightly embarrassed, "Of the men that went in after that wolf hanyou, only one returned. He came back half-dead from starvation and carried only a hand full of flowers, of which one was the special Averios herb. He never truly recovered from his ordeal and when he tried to show the villagers the spot the others had disappeared through, he could not go in." She took a hard breath and sighed, "Others tried the path, those that manage to go in did not return. Eventually people stopped trying… that was about 200 years ago"

"AND YOU SENT KAGOME IN THERE?!" Inuyasha's face had gone livid as red anger flashed his cheek.

Kaede fixed her eyes on him with a touch of annoyance, "Kagome choose to go in there herself."

"That's true, I saw her do it," Yashira agreed as she cocked her head thoughtfully to the side. "And you're saying it's a one way use so that if she does come back, without the Averios, there's no way for her to go back and get some." Yashira bit at her lower lip absently as she studied the tree. "So basically we have a warded tree that is "one use" and only "one use" to mikos now… with no clear way path. I can see the problem now."

Shippo watched this with huge tear filled eyes, "What are you going to do about Kagome!?" He jumped up and bashed Inuyasha on the head, "This is all your fault!"

"My fault, why you stupid little…"

"I think I can make it," Yashira's voice was flat and serious as she stumbled forward and pushed the dirt and clinging grass roughly aside. "I'll just find-"

Kaede stamped her foot and motioned hurriedly to where Yashira was about to disappear into the hole. "Look, while you argue who knows what trouble Kagome will get into... and if Yashira goes down that hole without you, you're going to get left behind. You got about two seconds before she takes that choice from you."

Inuyasha stopped chasing Shippo and jerked around at Kaede's words, "Eh?"

Yashira paused, blue eyes glancing back at them as her right eyebrow raised querulously, "You're still not suggesting that I-"

"Yashira, please," Kaede looked exceedingly hopeful, "just take him with you. I know you don't like youkai and hanyou, but you can trust him. Kagome trusts him and so do I… well most of the time."

"Oh thanks a lot and NO, I still don't need her!" Inuyasha looked exceedingly disgruntled as Yashira chuckled and with a dismissive shrug she turned to dive forward.

"Suit yourself, I'll say hi to Kagome for you!"

Kaede slapped her forehead with a "why me" gestured before turning away with Shippo at her legs. This was proving to be entirely too long a night. Consequently, she was surprise when she heard a moment later, "Wait, wait!" issuing forth from Inuyasha's lips.

He still looked furious as he padded over to where Yashira waited, but there was almost a desperation to his movements now. He wasn't going to leave Kagome alone when he could get to where she was and protect her… even if that meant he risked humiliating himself by asking this proud miko for her help. He dropped to his knees and reached a hand to hers. The look on his face was fierce and littered with stubbornness.

Yashira didn't seem to help matters as she arched an eyebrow and opened her mouth, but her words did not come.

Both were surprised suddenly when Kaede suddenly stepped in and reached forward to clasped both their hands together, "He's proud like you are… don't make him beg…" Then with a quick shove, she thrust them down.