Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of its characters. And if I did, why would I be writing fanfiction?
Moving through the forest with ease, Miroku pushed his dark hair out of his eyes. The brass staff in his hand made virtually no sound despite the rings at its head. His past years of wandering had honed his woodsmen's skills considerably and he took advantage of that as he patrolled.
Sango was probably still somewhere far south of the village on her own expedition to find any sign of Kagome or Inuyasha. So far it seemed the priest's search was completely fruitless. It had been almost four days since Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara had arrived at Kaede's village and there was still no sign of Kagome or the hanyou.
Originally, Miroku had thought that Kagome's miko powers would be able to wake Inuyasha as she had after he had been sealed the first time, but if that had been the case, surely they would have returned by now. He had probably been overly optimistic. Kaede, upon hearing what had happened, had immediately seen this as disastrous.
Suddenly, he spun around. I could have sworn I heard something, he thought, puzzled. No, it wasn't a sound, but a feeling. Miko power…
"Lady Kagome!?" he yelled into the wood. Please be her!
"Miroku." The answer came softly from his left. He turned slowly. Kagome stood about ten yards away from him carrying an inert Inuyasha over her shoulders. She looked awful; strands of black hair were knotted around small twigs, her legs and arms were dirty, and her clothing was torn in several places. The hanyou looked little better.
Kagome swallowed thickly, dropping Inuyasha unceremoniously as she ran forward to hug the priest. Miroku was stunned for a moment, but quickly returned her hug and Kagome was so relieved that she barely even hit him when his hands wandered a bit too far south.
~*~*~*~
Kaede clucked her tongue quietly against the roof of her mouth as she examined Inuyasha's still form. It was as she had feared when Sango and Miroku had first told her their story. Naraku had not been lying when he said he had sealed Inuyasha again. Of course, they were fortunate that no one else had been seriously injured or none of them would have survived.
"Well?" Kagome said from the other side of the hut. She sat quietly waiting as Kaede finished her examination and when she did finally speak, her voice lacked the expected worry. Instead, she merely sounded tired.
Well, that was completely understandable. From what the priest had said, Kagome had been able to survive mainly by using her miko powers to mask her location. That in addition with her resolve to bring the hanyou back, that had made her near impossible to find.
"He is sealed, but Naraku's magic is vastly different than that of my sister," Kaede said slowly. "Breaking the seal will be much more difficult and I fear if we cannot do it soon, it will be permanent."
"Permanent?" Miroku whistled under his breath. "What can we do then?"
Kaede sighed. "I have some idea on how it can be broken, but I will need to talk to you first, Miroku to see if you believe it is feasible. For now though," she glanced at Kagome. "Rest and food are more pressing needs."
"If we are lacking in time," Kagome said, her voice regaining some of her fierceness, "then let's do what we can, now."
With a small smile, Kaede walked back to Inuyasha's cot. She knelt and pulled up the bottom of his left pant leg to reveal a crimson mark snaking around his ankle about two inches thick. Right where Naraku's tentacle had grabbed him. "This is the mark left on Inuyasha from Naraku's spell. As the spell settles into him, the mark will become smaller. When it is completely gone, then the spell will be irreversible. Although I did not see it when it was fresh, I believe it has not changed too dramatically in size. We still have at least a month, perhaps more. You've time to eat and sleep, my dear."
~*~*~*~
Sango sat with her back resting on Kirara's. The cat youkai slept in her larger form, curled up with Shippo, and Sango could feel the vibrations as she purred in her sleep. It was well past midnight when Miroku and Kaede finally immerged from her hut.
The youkai exterminator stood quickly as they approached. Miroku gave her a small smile, which she returned gratefully. Things cannot be so bad then, she thought thankfully.
"Where is Kagome?" Miroku asked as they approached.
"With Inuyasha," Sango replied quietly. The girl had slept away the afternoon and evening and almost an hour ago, Sango had seen her slip back into Kaede's hut. "Do you have a plan?"
Miroku nodded. "But there will be little we can do to help," he said and Sango heard the tinge of regret in his voice. "Come, we'll explain it all at once with you and Kagome." Sango nodded and followed them back.
As she walked into the small hut, Sango immediately noticed that Inuyasha's face had been cleaned of the dirt that had previously smudged it and his clothing had been meticulously straightened. Poor Kagome, Sango thought suddenly. This must be awful for her.
As they entered Kagome made to rise from were she was kneeling, but Kaede quickly gestured her back down as they all sat. Kagome watched her with expectant eyes.
"I've spoken with Miroku and we think we know how we may be able to wake Inuyasha, but it will involve great risk to you, Kagome," Kaede said with a serious undertone to her voice.
"I understand that, Kaede and it will never be an issue," Kagome replied solemnly. "What do I need to do?"
"It is most likely that Naraku bound a bit of his soul to trap Inuyasha's. You will have to find that piece and either purify it or push it out of Inuyasha," Kaede said.
"How?" Kagome asked perplexed. This seemed a bit more advanced than her powers had progressed.
"Well, it's kind of complicated," Miroku said slowly. "But the best way to explain it is that Lady Kaede and I will build a bridge between his soul and yours. Then you should be able to hunt down and expel Naraku's presence from within Inuyasha's dreams."
"What makes it so dangerous?" Kagome asked slowly.
"Well, first off, Naraku could still kill you in there. Secondly, if Inuyasha fails to recognize you, it is possible his soul will drive you out which, for all intensive purposes, will kill you." Miroku quickly added, "I don't think that's likely, though."
Kaede continued, "It's essential that you convince Inuyasha to help you because ultimately, he has control in his own mind. It's just unlikely that he knows that. He probably does not even realize what has happened to him. You will have to make him understand what is happening. I've no idea how his mind works so it will be up to you to figure things out what things are, ok?"
Kagome was silent for a moment. She looked up at them. "Well of course I'll do it."
A/N: Yeah! That only took me three weeks. Hm, sorry about that. I swear I'm not going to just abandon my fic though because it really annoys me when people do that. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, you all make me want to smile for the rest of my natural life (and into my unnatural one, too.) I just finished watching season three of Inuyasha which is rocking and a friend is lending me season four so Hurray! for friends! Let me know if you have any qualms with my story thus far. The main action will start next chappie!!
Also hurray for Halloween. Let me know what you're dressing up as if you're into that sort of thing. I'm just a random tropical person with a Hawaiian shirt, grass skirt, and a snorkel. There is a reason behind it all, but ultimately, it's not that interesting.