Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha..........but I do own this plot so please don't steal!

A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this up, but thankfully summer vaca will be here in 8 days. Yay! Now who's not happy about that?





"Kesshite Doriimingu"

chapter three

Miko-Sorceress Midoriko



Kagome lay awake that night thinking. She hadn't eaten much and her head was just spinning with questions.

What were they going to do? How would this effect all of them? What would her family think? How could she go back them at all?

She needed to clear her head so she stood up and quietly walked out the door.

It was a clear night. The air was cool and crisp and there wasn't a cloud to be seen as the crickets added their own touch.

Kagome breathed deeply and shivered a little rubbing her arms. It was refreshing, yet still a bit cool. She began to walk slow.

Kagome walked silently in thought and found herself at the lake, which made her pensive. She started to stare off into the dark, losing herself in in the peace as her eyes seemed to glaze over.

She had been staring for a minute or so before she noticed a familiar feeling that tinged her sense's. Kagome turned around to find none other than Inuyasha perched up on the limb of a tree.

He wasn't looking at her but he knew she was there undoubtably; his senses would have seen to that. But he didn't seem to acknowledge her and Kagome was speach less because of their earlier conflict.

Suddenly Inuyasha looked down; she froze.

There wasn't really anything she could say but the silence was awkward

Kagome shuffled her hands and averted his gaze.

"I-I'm sorry, Inuyasha; earlier I didn't mean to- I was out of line."

Kagome griped her hands tightly and trembled, totally terrified that he might hate her for be so useless.

To her surprise though, when she did look up Inuyasha was standing before her with a facade that seemed thoughtful and possibly sad.

"No Kagome. I'm sorry." Kagome was almost shocked, but too relieved to relish the thought for long.

Inuyasha looked down on her with the same remorseful look.

"I didn't mean to..." He paused searching for an adequate word.

"snap. I shouldn't have yelled. . .I'm sorry."

He finished and searched her eyes for response.

Kagome couldn't be more relived but with the problem at hand she was still sad because the fact of the matter was, though they had resolved their misunderstanding, Inuyasha still had approximately twenty eight days to live.

With a weak smile Kagome reflected a lot of her feelings.

"Inuyasha," she stepped toward him a little.

"Thank you."

That was all that needed to be said.

Kagome stepped forward and embraced him warmly, closing her eyes and spilling her previously unshed tears while he held her back.

"It's not fair," she sobbed.

"You; this can't happen I- I don't want to lose you."

That simple statement all but destroyed the front Inuyasha had built up over the years, and for the first time in decades Inuyasha began to sob.



* * *



"Dear..." Kaede sighed to herself in the main room of her home. Both Inuyasha and Kagome were gone and she assumed they were talking somewhere.

Under any other circumstances they would work this out, she was sure; but with the development of Inuyasha's condition, there is so much more to be bargained with and figured... it was uncertain.

"May God help us..." she spoke quietly to herself. When she said this though there was a small whimper and as she looked to the door Shippo walked in and shifted in the doorway.

"What is wrong child? You should be sleeping, should you not?" Kaede asked kindly.

The small kitsune stood in place uncertainly.

"I woke up. I couldn't find Kagome." he quieted his voice as if he were twisting the truth a bit. Kaede smiled and beaconed him closer.

"You can sleep with me until she returns." Shippo gratefully accepted and hurried over to snuggle into Kaede's blanket.

Her offer had been a bit more knowledgeable though; she could tell that Shippo was stressed about the last few days like the rest of them, and he was only a child.

"Thank you Kaede-baba." Kaede smiled at him.

"Of course."

She watched him cuddle into the blanket, then returned her gaze and thoughts to the window. What could they do?

As she contemplated, a firefly flew by and something came to her.

There was something they could do. One person who could possibly help. It may be incredibly risky, but it was their only chance.

She would tell Inuyasha and the others in the morning. Hopefully Kagome and him would be back by then.



* * *



The next morning Kagome awoke to the sound of Kaede preparing breakfast. She sat up a little to find herself in the main room and remembered.

Inuyasha and she had come back late last night from talking. Kagome had returned recluently to her sleeping bag, while Inuyasha returned to the roof.

As she looked around silently Inuyasha walked in, and everything went silent.

No one moved or spoke untill Inuyasha rolled his eyes at them and sat down in the corner, as if nothing was wrong.

The rest of them went back to what they were doing, not wanting to interfere, but Kaede stood up.

"Inuyasha," he looked up suddenly.

"Kagome," Kagome blinked and looked too.

"I have something very important to tell you two," she looked around to the other three in the household.
Everyone looked at her with blank expressions.

"I know of one way that you may possibly purge Inuyasha of his illness."

Inuyasha shot up.

"Calm down please, it's not that easy." Inuyasha only continued to stand and Kaede continued regardless to him.

"There is a woman whom I knew as a child. She was a miko at the age of ten when I knew her, but she was in training to be a sorceress."

They hung on her every word as she regaled them.

"She had incredibly powerful magic to begin with and could heal most anything, but left approximately fifty years ago to find a place of solitude training."

"During that time she learned the most powerful medicines and healing spells, along with the most destructive ones. But I kept in touch with her up until five years ago when she began another quest, and at that time she knew well over a hundred times more than me."

Inuyasha looked ready to bolt.

"The proposition is, she may have a spell for this; but,"

"There's always a but." Inuyasha muttered sitting back down. Kaede merely looked at him then continued.

"But she lives in Shimonoseki, on the far western side of Japan. It is very secluded there and even then she lives in the mountains; but it is the only alternative."

As she finished there was an eery silence that settled. Nobody dared say anything waiting for Inuyasha to speak up; but he sat motionless in the corner ignoring them.

Then to everyone's surprise, Kagome got up.

Even Inuyasha looked up as she walked up to Kaede.

"Kaede," she said. "I'll go to Shimonoseki."

Inuyasha stared in shock.

"Nooooo!" everyone was startled as Shippo squealed in protest and latched himself to Kagome's side.

"No Kagome!" he yelled.

"I wont let you go; by your self." Kagome blinked.

She was sure Shippo wouldn't want her to go at all; to risk her life for Inuyasha. But instead, he was offering to come along? He had always been afraid to fight or brave unnecessary danger...Could it be that he liked Inuyasha more than he let anyone believe?

Sango stood up breaking her thoughts and Miroku followed her as well.

"I will go with you too Kagome." Sango told her.

"I would never leave you ladies on your own, I'm coming too." Miroku piped and was gently nudged by Sango.

Inuyasha blinked and sported an annoyed expression. "Keh, and do you suppose that all you bleeding hearts are going to go out to try and save me on your own? Fat chance, I'm coming too."

He stood up sending over his triumphed smirk to the group.

Kagome smiled. They were like a real family, they all were. They needed each other and somewhere inside all of them, they knew it. But right now it was okay to hide that fact.

Kagome smiled even wider and hurried to her supplies to re-pack. She would need a lighter load and only first aid and some food was necessary.

Everyone seemed to get the message and got their own things packed up as well. Though before going to the other room, Kagome turned to Kaede.

"Kaede thank you."

She smiled. "Of course dear." She was about to back to work but stopped at another thought.

"Oh, Kaede; what is the sorceress's name?" Kaede's face smoothed over in calm.

"Midoriko."



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Wooh, now didn't that just kill ya? Probably not, it's just me since i had to kick myself to get writing again. Triple quadruple sorry's again. Summer's almost here though! Yay!

~SNOW