Author's Note: Sorry for the slow update. CAT 6, AP, IB tests, blah blah blah. Not to mention I rewrote this chapter a few times because I didn't like it. Actually, I still don't like it, but oh well… I'll rewrite it again later. Maybe.

Hey, Chri, your link to that page on Nobunaga was very interesting. Thanks! And all you people out there who are actually reading this: read Chri's story. It's called Settle the Score. It's really, really, really good. (And I usually don't make recommendations like this, so this tells you how good it is.)

A God's Game

Chapter VII: It Begins with Death

            Kagome landed roughly on the bottom of the well with Inuyasha, trying to prop him up and keep him from falling on his face. Not long after they arrived in her world, Inuyasha stood up by himself again, his back straight and a familiar scowl on his face. She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. The way Inuyasha had been a moment before… She didn't ever want to see him like that again. She couldn't stand to see he who always held himself together to be suddenly dependent and vulnerable.

            So she watched in quiet relief as he flexed his fingers, feeling the blood of his father free in his veins again. He looked at her, seemingly questioning her with his eyes.

            "What?" she asked, glad to see those warm, golden eyes of his glowing with life again.

            "Ah… It's nothing," he said, deciding not to ask her. He didn't want her to keep on worrying about him. He could see beneath that smile of hers, and knew that even now, she worried. But he wanted to know what had happened in the last few minutes.

            He remembered them talking about him being under someone's spell, and Myouga had said that it may have been connected to whatever motive it had been behind the band of Oni and their strange powder. But everything after that seemed foggy to him. He had tried his best to stay awake and alert, but little by little, something had wore him away until he felt the urge to sleep irresistible. He knew that he shouldn't, couldn't, and wouldn't fall asleep, but it was like he had been slowly dragged away from his consciousness. The last few minutes that he had spent talking to his friends was like a dream that was slowly, but surely being forgotten at that very moment. He remembered giving Miroku the powder, then coming here, and wondered if there was something else that he had forgotten.

            It kind of reminded him of the times Kagome had tried to defend herself for falling asleep when she was studying for her "tests." He remembered one time he had seen her fall asleep on her book, and decided not to wake her up, only to get her yelling at him in the morning for not keeping her awake. And when questioned as to why she had fallen asleep if she didn't want to, she had simply said that she couldn't resist. To think that he had thought her a fool then, only to have the same thing occur to him…

            "Inuyasha?" Kagome asked again, getting worried when he didn't respond. He seemed to suddenly remember where he was.

            "All right," he growled, looking dangerous. "I'm going to kick the ass of whoever did this to me," he said, seemingly embarrassed about something and angry at the same time. Kagome wondered what was wrong with him now.

            "Inuyasha, let's go tell my mom that you're here," Kagome said, climbing out of the well. Inuyasha leapt up after her. He looked down at the well, and she thought he looked as if he wanted to go back to the other world. But why would he? He was safer here, and wouldn't be affected by the spell, as he should know after their discussion before. So why? Kagome thought. It wasn't that he didn't like her home, did he?

            In truth, he was curious about what was happening in the other world. Were Miroku and the others really going to figure out a way to help him? He turned and saw Kagome looking a little distressed. What was wrong now? He tried to look at her straight in the face, but she turned her head and started walking off towards her house, seeming as if she were hurt by something.

            "Oi, Kagome," he called out, walking after her. "What's wrong?"

            "You just have to stay here a while," Kagome said, still not facing him. "It won't be too long."

            He stopped in his steps. What did she mean by that? She didn't want him here? Was that what she was trying to say?

            "Inuyasha, what—?"

            "It's not like anyone is forcing you to keep me here," he said, his voice sounding irritated.

            "What do you mean?" asked Kagome, frowning. Does Inuyasha think I don't want him to stay? Kagome thought. But why would he think that? I thought he didn't want to stay here.

            "No one forced me to allow you to stay at my house," Kagome said firmly. "In fact, I'm happy you're staying here, and I want you to stay here as long as you want to." And I wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay here forever, she thought, but kept that to herself.

            Inuyasha looked confused for a moment, so she decided to take him to her house before they started having another one of their fights. She could feel his warm hand in hers, and tried to keep herself from grinning like a fool. But truly, I feel as if he really is my boyfriend…

            And she couldn't stop herself from smiling when she felt him hold her hand firmer in his grasp. She had to slow down in order to keep herself from accidentally pulling her hand out of his, so she slowed to a pace that matched Inuyasha's. In the warm glow of the summer moon, she walked next to Inuyasha, surrounded by the ancient shrine that was her home. The "mood," as she liked to call it, was mysterious, and a little romantic as they walked, hand in hand in lover's moonlight.

            She was glad Eri wasn't there to embarrass her, and wished that she and Inuyasha could spend the rest of the night just walking together in peace, and maybe—

            "Oi!" Inuyasha said more loudly this time. What was wrong with this girl? She kept on spacing out on him, and she had that goofy face that she usually had on when she was thinking about one of her stupid "romantic" thoughts, like she did when Miroku first called her a beautiful lady. He had to admit that she looked cute, but still, this girl had the attention span of a flea, and it was a wonder as to how she could have survived all these years. Then again, Kagome did remember some things for a really long time…

            "Okay, okay, I'm ringing the doorbell. See?" she said as she rang the bell to her house. That Inuyasha, she thought, a little frustrated. Ruining a perfectly good "mood" that was going on. He's so not romantic. Couldn't he just feel the lo—

            "Kagome?" her mother asked in surprise as she saw the girl before her.

            "Tadaima!" Kagome said cheerfully, pulling Inuyasha into the house.

            "O-Okaeri," her mother said, closing the door behind her, still looking mildly confused. "Well, I have to go prepare dinner, so you keep Inuyasha company until then." Kagome smiled after her mother, knowing that her mother rarely stayed surprised for long.

            "Inu-nii-chan!" Souta said happily, bounding down the steps once he heard his sister's voice. "Did you bring Inu-nii-chan with you?" He saw Inuyasha standing there, and immediately smiled. "Guess what? Guess what?" Souta said excitedly to Inuyasha. "I finally wrote it like you told me to. Come up and see!" Souta grabbed Inuyasha's hand before he could protest and led the older boy upstairs to his room.

            "Write…what?" Kagome wondered to herself.

            "Oh! Kagome!" her grandfather said, surprised. "What are you doing back here at this hour? Was there some sort of problem?"

            "Oh, no, Jii-chan," Kagome answered, deciding not to tell her grandfather about their recent problem. She knew that he was already worried about her, so there was no reason for her to get him more worked up about something that he could not help with anyway.

            "You usually come home in the day time, so why—"

            "Do you remember Sango-chan and Miroku-sama?" Kagome asked her grandfather, and starting to spin a lie. "Well, Sango-chan asked me if I could take Inuyasha with me to this time period, so that she and Miroku-sama could have some private time to sort things out…"

            Sango suddenly sneezed, and almost dropped the herbs that she was holding. She rubbed her nose, and wondered if someone had been talking about her, or if the herbs were starting to irritate her nose. Who knew that Kaede had a storeroom of spare herbs just ready to be identified?

            "Sango, do you need to step out for a moment?" Miroku asked, looking concerned.

            "No thanks," she said, "We have to find out what this powder is made of so that we can quickly stop the spell on Inuyasha."

            Miroku nodded in agreement, and went back to sorting through the dusty, dried collection of grasses. Sango looked at the plants in her hands and tried to identify if any of them smelled even remotely similar to the powder. The glowing powder had a soft peach scent to it, and smelled heavenly. The scent was soothing, but Sango knew that the powder was far from being an object of comfort. She sniffed each herb in her hand carefully, trying to see if any of them smelled the same. It was times like these that she wished that she had Inuyasha's powers.

            "What's this?" asked Miroku as he reached deep into one of the shelves to take an obscure herb out.

            "No! Don't!" Kaede started, but it was too late, and the entire shelf tumbled down and fell on Miroku, spilling the healing plants everywhere and covering the room with dust. Sango coughed while trying to make out where Miroku and Kaede were.

            "Houshi-dono, I tried to tell you," Kaede said once the dust settled down and she saw the monk on the middle of the floor, covered with leaves. "What you were reaching for was a piece of vine that I used to tie that section of the shelf together with. Pulling it out was not the brightest idea."

            "If only you'd warned me earlier," Miroku said, picking himself off the ground. A pattering of tiny feet could be heard outside and a moment later, Shippou appeared in the room.

            "I got more herbs!" the child said proudly, before seeing what a catastrophe the storeroom looked. "What happed to you?" asked Shippou as Miroku brushed the numerous leaves off him.

            "It is not particularly important," Miroku said smoothly, trying to salvage what dignity he had left.

            "Yeah right," Shippou said, but didn't push the issue. "Kirara also found something that smells almost the same as the powder!"

            "Oh?" asked Kaede as she walked out to greet the giant cat.

            "I put it in Kirara's fur," Shippou said, scrambling up Kirara to find the mysterious plant. He snatched a round looking object from the cat's fur and showed it to Kaede.

            "This is a peach pit," Kaede said, "it is not what—" She paused for a moment and considered. "Maybe… Maybe…"

            The others just exchanged looks, wondering what the old lady was thinking about.

            "Ahh… Ureshii," Kagome said joyfully, lying on her soft bed. Oden is truly the best food in the world! It's like food for the gods, she thought, smiling happily at the memory of dinner. And Inuyasha was nice, and didn't even cuss once throughout dinner. I must have died and gone to heaven…

            "Oi, Kagome," Inuyasha said, entering her room without asking. "You seen Souta around here?"

            "No," she said sitting up on her bed. "And next time ask permission before you enter a girl's room."

            "Keh!" was all he answered as he left once again to hunt her brother. They're so immature, she thought as she decided to open a book and try to study things that she should have learned by this time. Playing hide-n-seek… Especially Inuyasha! I mean, how old is he, playing around like an immature middle school kid… She thought about that for a moment. How old was Inuyasha, anyway?

            "Kagome!" her grandfather said, bursting through her room without permission. "Look at what your brother wrote! It's beautiful isn't it? Finally, someone to carry on the tradition of this shrine's Ofuda…" her grandfather prattled on. She looked at the calligraphy on the spell paper, and had to say that she was impressed with Souta's penmanship. But where had he…?

            "Ne, Jii-chan," Kagome said, frowning in thought. "Where did Souta learn how to write like this? The style seems a little bit on the ancient side if you ask me."

            "Ah, Kagome," her grandfather started. "Inuyasha was the one who taught him. And as to it looking ancient—"

            "Inuyasha taught Souta?" Kagome asked in surprise. "Inuyasha? Are we talking about the Inuyasha I know or what?" she asked, not knowing that her friend could read, much less write.

            "Yes, of course," her grandfather said, a little annoyed with her interruption. "Only he would be able to write like someone before the Sengoku Jidai. Now, about the history of this writing—"

            "Before? What do you mean 'before the Sengoku Jidai?'" Kagome asked, curiously.

            "As I was going to say, Kagome, before you so rudely interrupted me, Inuyasha's writing looks like something from the Heian Era," her grandfather said, getting into his storytelling position. "Now the history of the Heian period begins with—"

            "Heian?!" asked Kagome in surprise. "That would make Inuyasha at least three hundred years old!" And at the most, at the most… Seven hundred years old! Wha—? I never even thought he could be that old! You'd think that if he were that old, at least he'd get some common sense in that head of his, she thought, wondering why Inuyasha acted like an idiot most of the time.

            "But the style is distinctly from that period!" her grandfather insisted. "As you know…" her grandfather started again.

            "Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, walking out of the room, and leaving her grandfather behind. Is he really that old? That means… That means that he's like an old man! She felt kind of sick, but at the same time she wondered how an old man could manage to act as naïve as Inuyasha.

            "What? What's wrong?" asked Inuyasha, by her side in a moment, looking around for any sign of danger.

            "Oh, don't worry," Kagome said as she realized what Inuyasha was doing. "There's no enemy. I just wanted to ask you how old you are." He gave her a funny look.

            "How old I am?" he asked, disbelieving himself to have heard correctly. "Next time, don't call me so urgently for such a stupid question." He started to walk off again.

            "So how old are you?" Kagome asked, chasing after him.

            "Doesn't matter," he said, crouching on the floor to see if her brother was hiding anywhere near him. He sniffed the air, and frowned, getting up from the floor. Kid must be outside, he thought, heading for the door. That's why I can't smell where he is right now.

            "Inuyasha," Kagome said, in an impatient whine. "Just tell me, and I promise I won't bother you again." Why does she want to know, anyway? Inuyasha thought. It doesn't matter what age I am, though she does seemed bothered by the question…

            "I'm as old as you want me to be," Inuyasha said, sniffing the night air once, then jumping after a squeaking bush. "Heh, gotcha!" he said triumphantly as Souta pouted.

            "Hey, no fair," Souta said as he stood up, brushing himself off. "You can smell where I am and I can't."

            "Inuyasha, that's not even an answer," Kagome said, as Inuyasha and Souta returned to the house. "What if I said that you were two thousand years old?"

            "Then I'm two thousand years old," Inuyasha said.

            "But you're not!" Kagome insisted. "And I want to know how old you are."

            "Why?" Inuyasha asked curiously. He couldn't think of any logical reason as to why anyone would care about another's age so much. Though he might as well tell her. It wasn't like it was going to cost him anything, and Kagome did seem pretty troubled about the matter.

            "Because—Because," Kagome said as if that were a reason.

            "Fifteen," Inuyasha said. Souta started dragging him off again.

            "Let's go play this new game I got," Souta said eagerly.

            "Fifteen?" asked Kagome, doubting the answer. "Jii-chan said that your writing style is from—"

            "The Heian period," Inuyasha completed for her. "I know, I know."

            "Inuyasha, if it's from the Heian period, that would make you…" Kagome waited for Inuyasha to fill in the blank, but he didn't. "About three hundred years old at the least!" She waited for Inuyasha to accept or deny it, but he didn't do either. He just stood there. "Well?" she demanded, impatient for a reply.

            "What?" he asked. "I already told you. I'm fifteen. You can take it or leave it."

            "Inuyasha, weren't you listening to a word I said?" asked Kagome, realizing this was how her grandfather must have felt when she kept on interrupting him. "I just said that if your writing is from the Heian period, you are at least three hundred years old," Kagome said again for clarity.

            "And weren't you listening?" asked Inuyasha. "I told you that I was fifteen."

            "The numbers don't even come close!" Kagome said, throwing her arms up in impatience and exasperation. "Even if you were sealed for fifty years, that would make you sixty-five years old, and there is no way that sixty-five will ever come close to three hundred."

            "So you want the length of time that I've existed, not my age," said Inuyasha. Kagome looked at him in confusion. Was there even a difference?

            "Okay, let me think about this for a moment," he said, sitting down on a nearby chair. "Fifty years before… Ten years before I met her… Five when I escaped…" Escaped from what? Kagome thought, feeling sad that he had probably spent ten horrible years before meeting up with Kikyo. Maybe Kikyo did bring some happiness into his life, she thought. But that doesn't give her any right to kill him!

            "They said it had been almost…three hundred since the end of that family's reign," he thought out loud. But when I was there, the family seemed pretty much stable and in power, so it must be a little earlier than that. "I've existed for about four hundred years. Maybe."

            "Four hundred years?!" Kagome nearly screeched. Does that mean he's an old man pretending to be a fifteen year old? But why would he do such a thing? wondered Kagome.

            "That's what I said."

            "Inu-nii-chan is four hundred years old?" asked Souta skeptically.

            "I already told you that the time of my existence is different from my age," Inuyasha said, starting to get irritated.

            "That doesn't even make sense," Kagome said. "How can your existence be different from your age?"

            "Would you count the years I've spent pinned on that tree living?" asked Inuyasha. "Because if you do, then as far as you know, I am fifty years older than I am. But if you don't, then I'm fifteen."

            "Okay, he's answered your questions," Souta said. "Let's go now!" Then he pulled Inuyasha away to the living room to play.

            I guess I wouldn't count those years sealed as part of his age, Kagome thought as she walked up the stairs to her room. But… She stopped as she sat down at her desk, the thought suddenly dawning on her. He was sealed for more than three hundred years! Inuyasha was sealed before Kikyo even knew him! She wondered into what circumstance did Inuyasha get himself sealed in. He couldn't have been more than five at the time, if what he said were true.

            Kagome heard the doorbell downstairs and wondered who could be visiting at such an hour. She heard her mother open the door, and then some murmuring. I wonder who it is, Kagome thought, curious about the identity of the visitor. She decided to go down and see who it was, but she didn't reach the bottom of the stairs before hearing who the mystery person was.

            "Wow! Inuyasha is here!" Eri said loudly. Kagome walked down the stairs and saw her friend bother Inuyasha about something. "And Kagome is still awake! This is just incredible!" Eri said, grinning like a fool. "I brought my digital camera to loan to your grandfather, but this is just too good of a chance to pass. Higurashi-san! Higurashi-san!" Eri yelled, trying to get the entire family together for a picture.

            "What's a 'camera?'" asked Inuyasha, a little suspicious of the silver-colored box in Eri's hands.

            "It's a machine to, um…" Kagome tried to think of a good way to explain the object. "It makes a tiny picture by capturing what it sees."

            "Capturing?!" asked Inuyasha in alarm.

            "Oh, no, not that type of capturing," Kagome reassured him. "It just remembers a certain scene so that you can see it later."

            "Is it alive?" asked Inuyasha as Mrs. Higurashi and the sole priest of the Higurashi shrine arrived.

            "No," Kagome said, wondering what kind of question was that.

            "Then how can it remember?" Inuyasha demanded.

            "Never mind," Kagome said, giving up.

            "It's a machine that paints a picture of whatever the scene is when a person pushes the button," Souta explained.

            "An automatic picture maker?" asked Inuyasha. Souta nodded. Kagome looked at Souta. I guess their brains must travel on the same brain wave or something, she thought a little grouchily.

            "Oh no," Eri said, upset. "I forgot to charge it up. I guess there's no picture for tonight." Kagome's grandfather went off grumbling something about wasting his time.

            "It's all right, Eri," Mrs. Higurashi said. "You can take as many pictures as you want once you've charged it up, right? So there's no reason to get upset," she said, patting the girl on the shoulder, then exiting to finish whatever it was that she had been doing.

            "I'm going up to study," Kagome said, once again remembering her neglected schoolbooks. If she wasn't careful, she was going to end up really failing ninth grade. She could hear Eri's voice speaking rapidly to Inuyasha, and decided to allow her friend to keep Inuyasha company, while she used this rare opportunity of peace to study.

            Eri stole quietly through the house, trying to find where Inuyasha was. She had somehow convinced Kagome to allow her to stay for the night again, wanting to speak to Inuyasha privately, but Souta kept on hogging him all night, so that she couldn't talk with Inuyasha about anything serious. She had decided to talk to him once everyone was asleep, but now she couldn't find him. He wasn't in his room like she had guessed, and she had already searched the entire house.

            Don't tell me that he disappears when he sleeps, Eri thought skeptically, deciding to check outside to see if he was there. She looked around, saw no one, and was about to head back in when a voice asked her, "What are you doing?" She nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned around and saw Inuyasha on the roof, looking down at her.

            "What are you doing on the roof?" she asked, looking for a ladder up. She saw a tree nearby, and tried to climb it, but failed miserably. Inuyasha scoffed at her efforts and offered his hand. She took it, and a moment later he pulled her up on the roof with him.

            "Don't slip and break your neck now," Inuyasha said, lying down on the roof, looking at the night sky.

            "If I do, you'll catch me, right?" Eri asked jokingly.

            "Is this before or after you break your neck?" Inuyasha asked with a straight face. Eri had to muffle her laughter. "What are you doing up at this hour of the night, anyway?"

            Looking for you, she thought, but to him she said, "I couldn't sleep." He looked warily at her. This girl was smart, and if he didn't guess wrong, she was up here for a reason.

            "Count sheep," Inuyasha said, deciding to ignore her. She sighed, and looked at the sky to see what was so interesting about it. It was only a moon and a sprinkling of stars, but other than that, there was nothing. After a few minutes of silence, Eri couldn't stand it anymore. She needed some sort of noise, like the TV on, or the radio blasting, or something! Anything! The silence made goosebumps rise on her arms, and she rubbed them, trying to make them go away.

            "If you're cold, go back inside," said Inuyasha, not bothering to look at her.

            "I'm not cold," Eri said in a factual tone. "And I'll only go back inside once you've answered me some questions truthfully." Great, Inuyasha thought. I knew she'd do something like this.

            "First off, do you like Kagome or not?" Eri said bluntly. No more round about ways to get him to talk. "Kagome's my friend, and I don't want to see her hurt. Do you like her or not? If you do, then I say go for it. But if you don't, then maybe you should stay away from her."

            "How do I hunt for the Shikon shards if she isn't there?" asked Inuyasha.

            "I guess you could be there, but just stay away from Kagome," Eri said. She realized Inuyasha was trying to lead her astray. You won't turn my questions away that easily, she thought with determination. "So are you going to answer my question?"

            "What question?" asked Inuyasha.

            "The one about Kagome!" she said exasperatedly. Was he pretending to be senile, or what?

            "Oh, that one," he said rather lazily. "Sure, I like her." Eri knew he wasn't answering her question directly again. Well, the only way to go was to be even more direct.

            "Do you love Kagome?" she asked in a low whisper. She could see him stiffen at her question and give her an annoyed look. He didn't answer her. "Do you love her? You know that Kagome told me about your decision to go with Kikyo, right?" He didn't reply. "Well, if you're going to go with Kikyo, why don't you just ask Kikyo to search for the shards with you and let Kagome go home? It's pretty obvious by your decision that you don't like Kagome as much."

            "It's a matter of choice, not love," Inuyasha said in irritation. "I chose to go with Kikyo. This says nothing about my feelings for Kagome."

            "Then that means you're going to Kikyo against your will?" Eri asked hopefully.

            "I didn't say that."

            "That means you love Kagome," Eri said, a little unsure of herself now.

            "I didn't say that, either."

            "Then what did you say?" Eri demanded in frustration.

            "Nothing important," he replied. "Words are just words, anyway. They don't mean a thing." He seemed to be thinking about something, but Eri wasn't ready to let him go that easily.

            "Words do mean a lot, especially in this time period," Eri said, bordering on anger. "Whatever you say, Kagome will take your word for it. You say you're going off with Kikyo, then she believes you're going off with her."

            "That I will definitely do," he said. "Nothing counts except the action."

            "Action isn't the only thing that counts!" Eri said, trying to keep her voice low and a civil conversation in her head. "You have to use words, too. It's no good to keep doing something to express your love, but never actually say it."

            "And it's no good to keep saying you love someone, until you prove it," Inuyasha replied.

            "Ugh! You're changing the topic from the original one," Eri said, feeling that this was way harder than talking to a rock. At least the rock didn't throw everything you said back at you. "The main question is, why on earth don't you love Kagome more than Kikyo? Can't you see what a great girl she is? Can't you see how much she cares about you? And even if you can't see something as obvious as that, can't you at least see that she doesn't want you to die?"

            "You know what?" Inuyasha asked in annoyance. "Why don't you go back down, go to sleep, and leave me alone?"

            "No way," Eri said stubbornly.

            "Listen, how do you think I feel?" Inuyasha said, sitting now, instead of lying down, his golden eyes piercing through the darkness. "Kikyo died because of me. And her life isn't the only thing that she forsook on my account. And now you want me to just turn away and head off with Kagome?" he demanded angrily. "What does that say about me? That I will abandon my friends the moment I've found someone better, the moment it's more convenient? How will you view a person who's done that just to be your friend? Wouldn't you suspect them to be able to betray and abandon you just the same as they had done previously?"

            "That's—That's not the same," Eri insisted. "If you really like the other person better, then it's okay."

            "Is it?" Inuyasha asked, making her feel even more uncertain than she already was. "Treachery knows no bounds nor limits. One who is capable of betraying once, is capable of betraying an infinite number of times."

            "What about you, Inuyasha?" Eri demanded. "You've done things you've regretted. Are you saying that you'll repeat those actions forever?"

            "How much do you bet I will, even if I do regret it?" Inuyasha asked her. She opened her mouth and shut it, not knowing what to say to his statement. "That's why I'm not going to do something that will cause me to go in circles, repeating the same mistakes over and over."

            "But what about happiness?" asked Eri. "Don't you want that to exist for eternity? Don't you want that to repeat?" He had no answer to give her. "Maybe you should think about your decision before you do something that you'll really regret."

            "Keh!"

            "I'm just asking you to think about your reason to go with Kikyo. It's as simple as that," Eri said, waiting for his response.

            "Okay, I've thought about it," Inuyasha said, picking her up and putting her on the ground. "Now, good night."

            "Hey!" Eri said as she realized what he had done. "Inuyasha!" He just ignored her, until she had to stamp her feet and walk back into the house defeated. In the end she still didn't get a straight answer from him. Instead of the clarity that she had sought, she had only received a muddled mess.

            She returned to the room she shared with Kagome and wondered how the girl could ever put up with a pig-headed person like Inuyasha. She was starting to see her friend's love as a hopeless case.

            "Eri, you sure you don't want to stay longer?" Kagome asked, her head feeling heavy.

            "Yeah," Eri said rather grumpily. "There's nothing else I can do here. Besides, my uncle is coming today, and I'm supposed to be home to greet him."

            "Your uncle?" Kagome questioned, trying to get up. Once she did, she felt a little dizzy, and her head started pounding.

            "Do you still remember him?" Eri asked, trying to see if she had forgotten anything before leaving. Last time she had forgotten her keys, so she checked her pockets again to make sure she had them.

            "A little," Kagome said, putting her head in her hands in an effort to stop the pounding. "I just remember that he was eccentric."

            "That's the understatement of the century," Eri said, finally ready to go. "Hey, Kagome, you okay?" she asked as she saw her friend. "You don't look so well."

            "Would it help to say that I'm fine?" Kagome asked. Eri shoved her playfully.

            "I think that you've got a fever," Eri said, feeling her temperature. "No wonder you went to bed so early yesterday. Don't you know that if you're sick, you have to eat medicine?" Eri admonished. "I'll go tell your mom. Just stay here." She walked out of the room and shut the door quietly. Kagome liked back down in her bed, closing her eyes for a couple minutes, but what seemed like seconds later, her mother was there.
            "The fever's pretty high," her mother said, looking worried. "Does your throat hurt?" Kagome nodded a little, her throat feeling tight and dry. "Here drink this. It's chrysanthemum tea." Kagome sat up and held the cup in her hands, taking small sips.

            "Rest for a while," her mother said, getting up and heading towards the door. "I'm going to the market to get some medicine for you. I'll be back in a moment. If you need anything, Jii-chan, Souta, and Inuyasha are all here to help you," she said, smiling encouragingly at her daughter. "I'm sure that Inuyasha would come without your asking," she added before closing the door softly. Kagome decided to take a small nap. Hopefully, when she woke up, she wouldn't be sick anymore.

            Inuyasha sat on the tree outside of Kagome's room. He didn't want to go in and disturb her rest, but felt kind of bad to be sitting around and doing nothing. Souta and Kagome's grandfather had gone to the shrine to pray for Kagome, which Inuyasha didn't think was going to help one bit, but he didn't say anything. He had faith in Kagome's world's medicine and was sure that Kagome would be just fine. Or at least, that was what he hoped.

            His ears perked up as he heard someone walking up the steps of the shrine. He sniffed the air carefully, and having identified the person as Kagome's mother, he relaxed again.

            She walked up the steps, holding the tiny bottle of medicine in one bag. Her children rarely got ill, and it was so rare that whenever she bought cold medicine, it would always expire before the bottle was ever finished. She knew the steps up the shrine by heart, but she still walked slowly. There was a feeling…

            "Higurashi-san!" She turned and saw the boy named Hojo coming towards her. "Is Kagome better today?"

            "I'm sorry, Hojo-san," Mrs. Higurashi said, hoping her formality would stop him from visiting. She didn't particularly like this boy. Not that anything was wrong with him, it was just that he seemed a little too idiotic sometimes. He wasn't someone that she favored her daughter to get together with. At least with Inuyasha, she could feel an intellect there that he probably kept hidden from everyone else, but with Hojo, all she could feel was emptiness.

            Not to be mean, but to her, he was really just a blockhead; a blockhead that her father-in-law kept on taking advantage of. She wished that he would just get a clue and go away, but she decided not to interfere in Kagome's business.

            "Oh," Hojo said, a little upset. "Well, when she gets better, call me, okay?" he asked.

            "I will," Mrs. Higurashi said. Too bad I don't have your phone number, she thought to herself, keeping the smile on her face as Hojo walked off. She continued ascending the steps and saw the familiar red of Inuyasha's garb in the tree by Kagome's window, and was glad that her daughter had someone to watch over her.

            Suddenly she felt something grab at her ankle and pull her down. Too surprised to gasp or scream, she saw herself falling to the bottom of the steps. She could see that she was heading towards the last step, and if she didn't do something quickly, she knew that she was going to split her head open on the corner of that step.

            At the last moment, she felt someone grab her by her waist and lift her from the steps to the shrine. She was placed on the doorstep to her house, and as she tried to calm her heart down, she saw that the person who had saved her was Inuyasha. He looked more than concerned with her, so she did her best to smile and slow her beating heart.

            "Looks like I slipped," she said, keeping the truth to herself. "Thank you, Inuyasha. I think I might have suffered some sort of injury if you hadn't been there." He didn't look convinced with her explanation, and she found him to glance back at the steps a few times. "Well, I have to give Kagome this medicine, so—"

            "You're hiding something," Inuyasha interrupted her suddenly.

            "What do I have to hide?" she asked, looking clueless.

            "Don't take me for an idiot!" he said, trying half-heartedly to sound grumpy, but coming off as more worried than ever. "Your ankle… There's still a little bit of youki surrounding it."

            "Youki?" she asked. She touched the ankle where whatever it was had grabbed her, but felt nothing. She had sensed youki surrounding it earlier, but right now, she felt nothing there.

            "I didn't tell you which ankle it was," Inuyasha said. She realized her mistake, and stood up, looking at him face to face, and knowing that her secret was out. She should have known that Inuyasha wasn't as stupid as Hojo.

            "Step inside," she said, heading into the house. "I'll first give Kagome her medicine. Wait in the kitchen and I'll explain things later." She walked up the steps, her heart pumping as hard as it was a minute before. Someone had found out. After all these years of keeping this information from her children, someone was going to force her to reveal it.

            "Kagome?" she asked softly. She saw her daughter sleeping, her cheeks rosy with fever. "Kagome, wake up," she said, rousing her gently. Maybe she could get Inuyasha to keep this a secret from Souta and Kagome. She was sure that she could trust that young man. And it would be better than telling her children the truth.

            "Mama?" Kagome asked groggily.

            "Here's your medicine," her mother said, pouring the liquid into the small cup and handing it to her. "I'll go get you some water to wash the taste out." She stood up and left the room, and nearly bumped into Souta, who was standing near the doorway with a glass of water in his hands.

            "Souta?" she asked, surprised that Souta had been considerate enough to give Kagome some water.

            "Um… Um… Inuyasha told me to give this to you," he said, handing the glass to his mother, and then running off. She smiled a little. He always seemed to be full of energy. She reentered the room and gave Kagome the water, watching her daughter drink it thirstily.

            "The medicine always tastes terrible," Kagome said, handing the glass back to her mother. "And they always advertise it to be better tasting."

            "That's only for children's medicine," her mother said, smiling warmly at her. "They don't advertise that for adults."

            "They should," Kagome said as she slowly drifted off to sleep. Mrs. Higurashi tucked her daughter in, and kissed her gently on the forehead before heading downstairs. As she had told him, Inuyasha was waiting impatiently in the kitchen.

            It had been pretty boring in there, with Souta outside doing who knows what with his grandfather, and Kagome sick. He was glad when Mrs. Higurashi entered the kitchen. At least now he had someone to talk to. I must be getting spoiled by Kagome, he thought, remembering times when he didn't mind that he was alone, and had in fact preferred it that way.

            "How's Kagome?" he asked, his first question surprising her. She smiled at his concern and walked to the cupboard, taking a teapot out.

            "She's fine," she said, boiling some water and measuring the amount of tealeaves that would be adequate. "She's sleeping right now. A slight fever, but nothing that she can't recover from." Inuyasha let out a grunt as a response. A few minutes passed with silence between them, until she finally said, "Are you going to ask me anything?"

            "Only if you want me to," he said, acting as if he didn't particularly care. It's really none of my business, he thought.

            "Only if I want to…huh," Mrs. Higurashi said quietly, the kettle long forgotten. How many times had she wanted to tell her children the truth, the truth about their family, the truth about their father's death…? But each time she had lost her nerve. Papa died in a car accident, she would always say. In a car accident. In a car accident…  Never did she imagine someone to come up to her and ask her if she was going to tell the truth. Always it was her choice of time, of place, of occasion. But now, what was she to do? She knew that if she lied, Inuyasha would let her slide with it, but was that what she really wanted?

            "Don't tell them," she whispered, her voice firm with force. She didn't know why she was telling him. She didn't know why she was telling Inuyasha this secret that she had never even revealed to her children. But something told her it was right. And it felt right to tell him. Hikaru… Even now, do you still watch over us, guiding us? she wondered, feeling as if her husband was giving her the strength and permission to speak the truth…for once.

            "Keh! It's not like I care so much about what you have to say that I'll run around spewing my guts out," Inuyasha scoffed, trying to use his rude manners to abate the tension that was starting to build.

            The kettle started to boil, and Mrs. Higurashi quickly took the kettle off the stove, pouring the hot water into the teapot, and placing the tealeaves inside. Inuyasha watched in silence as Mrs. Higurashi poured two cups of tea, one for her and one for him.

            "I can sense some things," she started. "The Higurashi family, of course, has always been able to, so I suppose with her father's gift and mine, Kagome has a power greater than either of us."

            Inuyasha looked at the green tea, absorbing the information. She looked to see if he was still paying attention, and judging by his expression, she guessed that he was.

            "The well… Each generation of Higurashi have always been able to pass through it when they come of age," she said, sipping her tea slowly. "I've heard rare instances where other people have been able to pass through, but there aren't that many. It has something to do with lineage, but I don't know what the other family is. I suppose, Inuyasha, that you must have the blood of that other family flowing within you," she said, smiling at him. He just snorted.

            "Kagome's Oyaji went through, didn't he?" Inuyasha asked, guessing the fate of Kagome's father.

            "He never came back," Mrs. Higurashi said, looking into her cup, a look of sorrowful reluctance of acceptance on her face. "That's why I don't want any of them to know. Initially, I thought to keep Kagome and Souta away from that place, but as you can see, I failed. The only thing I can do now is keep Souta away from it."

            Inuyasha looked at the woman, and knew that it must have taken a lot out of her to allow her only daughter to travel to a world filled with such dangers, and where one of her family had already died. She looked at him, shaking her head and trying her best to smile, but for once, she couldn't quite pull it off.

            "Why did he go?" Inuyasha asked tentatively, not quite sure if the question was appropriate.

            "Inuyasha," Mrs. Higurashi said, turning back to the tea. "This family is cursed."

            He stared at her. What? Cursed?

            "Huh?" he said, an expression of utter confusion on his face.

            "Hikaru went back in time to try and stop it," she said, her knuckles white as she gripped the cup tightly. "For the sake of his children, their children, his descendents, he went through the well, like so many before him."

            Hikaru? Inuyasha wondered. That name. He had heard a million people called that before, for it wasn't that uncommon a name, but he seemed to remember a particular Hikaru from long ago…

            "The Higurashi Family, meaning the Dusk Family, has been fated to cease their existence soon," she said, massaging her temples. "It can be in Kagome's generation, or her children's, or her grandchildren's… But it is almost time."

            "How do you know?" asked Inuyasha defiantly. No way was anyone dying on him anytime soon.

            "There is a scroll passed down in this family," she answered. "So far, none of the prophecies have occurred yet, but something tells me that soon, very soon, we're going to start seeing the devastating effects of this thing called 'Fate.'"

            "I don't believe in fate," Inuyasha scoffed. "I lead my own life."

            "That's a good philosophy to hold," Mrs. Higurashi said, "And I wish I could believe as you do. But so many things have happened within this family that I'm beginning to think Fate might truly exist. I never believed it when Hikaru was alive. I told him he was a fool to go through that mysterious well for a purpose that even he did not know. But… Someone in that far past had also the same prophecy of what was to come written on one of their scrolls. And they were trying to prevent it from happening one thousand years ago."

            A thousand years ago? Inuyasha wondered how long from the Sengoku Jidai did Hikaru go to.

            "But what worries me is not the past, for it is long and gone," Mrs. Higurashi said. "Before Hikaru left, he set up a barrier around this shrine so that his family could be protected. But recently, the barrier has begun to weaken, as you can tell with what happened earlier." She looked out of the window, the trees softly blowing in the breeze, everything peaceful and serene. "Jii-chan used to have the power to set up the barrier, but he has become old. He can't even go through the well anymore."

            "He's gone to the other side, too?" asked Inuyasha, not imagining the old man to have even exited the shrine before.

            "But he, like others before him, has failed to find out how to stop the curse," Mrs. Higurashi said. "I tell you this now, because in the other world, if Kagome should come to danger, I… I don't want her to end up like Hikaru."

            "She won't," Inuyasha promised her. I won't let her, he promised himself.

            "I better clean this up," she said, taking the empty teacups and teapot and heading towards the sink. She needed some time alone, to think awhile. "Would you mind very much if you check on Kagome?"

            "Hmm," he said, getting up and heading towards Kagome's room. Kagome's family is under a curse, he thought, trying not to grind his teeth in anger, wondering who had placed the spell on the Higurashi. And she and everyone else who lives here might die. Damn it! What am I supposed to do? He opened the door to Kagome's room and saw that she was turning and tossing in her bed, seeming to be in nightmare.

            "Oi, Kagome," he called, trying to wake her up. It was better for her to wake up than stay in a nightmare, so he started to shake her. "Oi!" When she didn't respond, he started to get worried. I'll go get her mom, he thought, running down the stairs. He should have known that no one in the family was able to help.

            "Inuyasha?" she called, jumping over the log that was in her way. "Miroku-sama? Sango-chan? Shippou-chan?" she called, hoping that someone would respond to her. "Kirara?"

            "Miroku-sama!" she said, happy to have found someone at last. She stopped short once she saw him leaning against the Goshinboku, a terrible gash on his chest. The grass below him was stained so red that it looked more like the black of infinite space. "Miroku-sama!" she screamed, rushing to his side, almost slipping on the slick grass.

            "Kagome-sama…" he said, barely able to raise his head.

            "Kagome-chan!" Sango cried in relief. "I'm so glad you're finally here!"

            "Sango-chan, what's happened?" asked Kagome, looking at her friend, who was bleeding slightly from a cut on the side of her face. But she noticed that the grass beneath Sango was a shade darker than the girl's shadow.

            "You have to kill him," Sango said, an expression of great sorrow on her face, but her tone unrelenting. "He did this."

            "Where's Shippou-chan?" asked Kagome, fear crawling up on her with every minute. Sango looked away.

            "Kirara is burying him right now," Miroku said with difficulty. "He… It was because of him that I'm still alive, but just barely…" Kagome could hear his breathing start to become labored and she froze, not knowing what to do.

            "Inuyasha… Where's Inuyasha?" she asked.

            "Consider him…dead," Sango said, looking like she had no energy left to fight.

            "Kagome-sama," Miroku said, trying to keep as much blood in his as possible for him to finish telling her… "He won't mind. Just kill him. I failed to do it. You must complete his wish now."

            "What? What are you talking about?" asked Kagome, panic starting to overwhelm her. "Who's 'he?' What do you mean he won't mind? Where's Inuyasha? Is he at the village still?" she asked, turning from one face to another, desperately seeking for an answer.

            "There is no village left," Sango said, sitting down next to Miroku. It was then that Kagome noticed Sango's right arm to be hanging at a strange angle. Sango noticed her glance and nodded. "It's broken. No more Hiraikotsu for me," she said, trying to laugh, sounding too tired…too tired.

            "That can't be true. This can't be true!" Kagome screamed. I cant' believe this. I just can't!

            Then don't believe, a voice said, yet did not say.

            "What?" asked Kagome, looking around to see who had spoken.

            Do you love him? a cold, familiar voice said. She turned… Kikyo.

            Then you must do this, her apparition voiced.

            "What are you talking about?" Kagome said, searching around her, hoping for an escape from this world of nightmares.

            "Kagome-chan… Don't try and search," Sango said. "There is no other choice. If you love him… Kill him."

            Kill him.

            "NO!" she screamed. "I won't! I won't! I won't! I won't!" she yelled. I won't become another Kikyo. I won't kill him. Not now. Not ever.

            Kill him. Kill him.

            What is this voice? she wondered. Who are you to command me what to do?

            Then you don't love him enough, Kikyo "said," her ghost slowly fading away. You don't love him enough to do the right thing for him.

            "You don't love him enough to be able to let him go," Sango said, not moving as Miroku slowly fell from his position, landing in his own blood, his body past repair. Sango closed her eyes, and looked to the sky, trying to keep her tears in.

            If you can't let go, you'll only put them through pain, Miroku said, his ethereal voice floating through the thick mist that quickly surrounded them. There comes a point where you must concede. You must go against your instinct. You must do the right thing.

            ~What you think is right may not always be the right choice.~

            "Eri?"

            "Run!" a voice shouted out to her faintly.

            She obeyed the voice, running through the forest, tripping over roots, but never stopping, never daring to look behind her to see who hunted her. That voice… Why? It was too familiar, but why did it sound so far away, so frail…so forlorn?

            Kill him!

            "No!" she yelled, not caring if it hurt her desperately gasping lungs to do so, not caring if she should die for him. I'll never obey that voice… Never.

            But another spoke… A gentler, kinder voice that did not contain the malice of the one before, only a quiet determination.

            "Please slay him," a voice like music whispered in her ear, accompanied by the scent of delicate lilies. She stopped in her mad flight, turning to see whom it was who spoke to her. But only the weeping of the forest surrounding her could be heard; no trace of the speaker apparent. She looked at the trees around her and realized that she had returned from whence she had come. The God Tree stood magnificent and tall in front of her, but the nightmare of this reality still lingered at its roots, the bodies of the dead and dying not yet vanished.

            She heard someone approaching her, and she took a step back, afraid to see who it was. She heard Sango let out the last of her breath, and knew that she was all alone.

            There was someone there among the wailing woods, barely casting a shadow in the mist of illusion. She strained her eyes to see through the fog, but couldn't. It almost looked like Inuyasha, but there was something different. She tried to see his features as he came closer, but it was like she was looking through a thick and dirty glass.

            "This is your test," the person said. "Can you pass? Or will you fail, like so many before you?"

            "Wh-What?" Kagome asked, her voice shaking in her fear and dread.

            "The sun is setting. Best to do it before it completely falls from this world."

            "Do… Do what?" She suddenly found a bow and arrow in her hands.

            Hurry, Kagome, a child's voice said. I don't want to see him… I don't want to see his face like that.

            "Sh—Shippou-chan?" Kagome questioned, looking for him.

            ~I'd rather die, than lose myself.~

            "Inuyasha?" she asked, half sobbing. She saw the stranger before her, swinging his clawed arm around, ready to kill her.

            "NO!" she screamed as she felt her hands controlled by her weapons, fitting the arrow in the bow, pulling back and—

            "NO!" she screamed again, her hands finally free of the spell, and hitting the person in front of her. There was a crash and she opened her eyes, only to see the concerned eyes of her mother, grandfather and little brother. Where's Inuyasha? she thought in panic.

            "Damn wench! What the hell was that for?!" Inuyasha yelled at her, forgetting the manners he was supposed to have in front of the Higurashi family.

            "You'd better not copy that, Souta," Mrs. Higurashi warned her son. He pouted, but didn't say anything.

            "Where…?" Kagome looked around her and saw that she was in her room. Was everything that had just happened a dream? But it had felt… Well, it was a good thing that it was only a dream. "What happened?"

            "Oh, nothing," her mother said, smiling at her in relief. "It looks like your fever's gone."

            "Fever?" Kagome asked. Oh yeah, I was sick… That dream must have just been a side effect then, she tried to convince herself.

            "But those herbs that Inu-nii-chan got sure did help," Souta said.

            "We were really worried about you," her grandfather said. "You kept moving, as if you were having a nightmare."

            "I was, but it was nothing," she smiled, trying to act as normal as possible. "Just a little dream about a horrible math test," she added when she saw that most of her family wasn't convinced.

            "Well, I'll leave you to rest," her mother said, pulling her grandfather out of the room.

            "Hurry up and get better!" Souta said as he walked out. Inuyasha was about to follow him out when she stopped him.

            "Inuyasha…" she started, not quite knowing what to say. "The herbs… Thank you," she finally said, deciding to bury that nightmare behind her.

            "Keh! I just wanted you to hurry up and get normal," he said, walking out of the room and shutting the door. It didn't escape her that Inuyasha had closed the door with barely a click, obviously putting more effort than usual at being quiet. This person… No. She was definitely never going to kill this person. Never in a million years.

            She watched from the shadows of the trees as the form of a small, white rabbit boarded an elaborate carriage and set off into the night sky. Long after the jingling of the carriages' bells faded into the distance did she rise from her hiding position to survey the prison around her. The cage that she had once believed to be her home was finally free from its sentry, and she knew an opportunity to escape when she saw it. Though it be a few days before the appointed time, she did not feel any anxiety over descending to the mortal realm to visit her son a little earlier than expected.

            She walked slowly under the leaves of the moon-grown trees, searching carefully for the gate out of the soul-chilling land, for once her wish close to being obtained. She had waited four hundred years, waiting to even glimpse her son, and now she was near to seeing him in person. She felt a little childish, like a budding adolescent, but she could not contain her anticipation and joy at finally being able to walk the mortal realm again, and touch the son that she had left so long ago.

            A grand, imposing gate the color of a fire-rat's fur stood before her, glowering down at her, almost daring her to cross this forbidden door to her freedom. She took a tiny step forward, knowing that if she continued on, there was no turning back. It had been less than a millennium, and with this act, she would have broken three of Heaven's High Laws, more than any God or Goddess had ever broken in so short an amount of time.

            She remembered coming to this very gate when she was a child, the world back then seemingly full of life and beauty, the sweetness of mortal life not yet tainting her. Her father had told her that this gate was the door away from their home, now her prison, to the larger world of the Heavens, and from there, to the mortal realm, or even the realm of the dead.

            And now she stood before it again. She wasn't going to go through it to Heaven nor Hell…but to Freedom.

            Her Freedom.

            I defy you, Chichi-ue, she thought, taking one step, the looming gate above her head. I will not wither away before the court like you did. I will not obey the laws as you are. I will live my life, free of your Threads of Fate. Another step, and she was through the gate. A moment, and light engulfed her, whisking her away from the land barren of true life, to a middle world—one where she would find the final door to the land of mortals.

            Miroku paced around outside of Kaede's hut, feeling helpless and utterly useless. He wanted to go find some healing herbs, but Kaede had already taken care of that. He wanted to go get some water, but Shippou had already done that. He wanted to ride the wind and sort his conflicting thoughts out, but Kirara had already taken off. Truly, there was nothing he could do.

            Kaede walked out of the hut, dumping the bucket of used water on her garden, and about to head back in when Miroku stopped her. He hated not being useful, not doing anything, and mostly, he hated not knowing what was wrong with Sango.

            "Kaede-sama, how is she?" he asked urgently, trying to sound as collected as he usually did, but failing.

            "Sango just came down with a slight cold," the old lady said, knowing the young man before her to be more than a little concerned about his female companion. "A little fever, but she'll probably be fine by tomorrow."

            "That's great," he said, mostly to himself. He was afraid that Sango had come down with something serious when she started coughing like that, but he should have known that she was too strong to let a little illness defeat her. He wondered briefly if Kagome had come down with a cold, remembering both she and Sango coughing at Mushin's temple. But did that mean that they might have gotten Mushin ill?

            "There is a spare hut near the stream," the ancient miko pointed, directing the monk to the place that he would stay. "Rest there for a night. When tomorrow comes, it will be like she never even had a cold." The old woman entered the hut again, ready to tend to the young woman if she needed to. Miroku walked towards the house that Kaede had pointed out, his worry slightly abated.

            Halfway there, he felt a tiny prick on his neck, and his hand automatically went to slap the offending area. He watched with slight disinterest as the tiny flea floated down to the ground, his annoyance with the old man's cowardice apparent.

            "Myouga-sama," he said, not looking impressed with the flea's entrance, "what are you doing back here?" This coward had fled at a time when they most needed his knowledge, and now, when things were at the doldrums, the flea had returned from his fleeing for a reason unknown to him.

            "Ah… I came back to tell Inuyasha-sama about something very important, but I cannot seem to find him anywhere," the old flea said, seemingly hurt by Miroku's tone of voice.

            "You just couldn't tell him when he was weak, under a spell, and really needed your help, could you?" Miroku asked scathingly, turning back on his path before Myouga had interrupted him. Myouga fell silent, but only for a few moments.

            "But what I have to say absolutely cannot wait, even if Inuyasha-sama is angry at me for strategically placing myself at another location," the old flea said shamelessly, bouncing after the retreating monk.

            "Ho, sou desu ka?" Miroku asked mockingly. "And what would you have to say that is important enough for you to return to this place of potential danger?" Miroku tried to reign in his anger, but found himself failing. There was just something annoying about a man that would be so readily capable of abandoning his friends that he thought disturbing. True, he was not the one who would stick around danger, but at least he did not flee at the first sign of peril.

            But against his will, he found himself lying. For the sake of his friends he would stay, even if it meant his life. Since when have I become such a person? Miroku wondered, remembering the unspoken promise he made to himself. I should never get attached to anyone, so I don't have to deal with anyone's parting… Including my own. And yet, there was a part of him that no longer cared about his promise. There was a part of him that would rather have the joy of the present time, than live a whole lifetime without it.

            He looked at the flea bouncing behind him out of the corner of his eye. How did the old man feel, running away at the sign of danger? Did he ever leave any of his friends behind to die, while he himself escaped unharmed?

            He supposed that the only reason the old flea had survived for as long as he did was because he did run away whenever a threat to his life was apparent. I suppose that means I'll die an early death, he thought darkly, reminded of the curse upon his lineage. Well, if he was going to die, he was going to die in the company of his friends at least, not running away like a certain flea he knew.

            "I have discovered in passing that there is someone who is currently searching for Kagome," the flea youkai said, jumping onto the monk's shoulder. "I thought that Inuyasha-sama might want to know such a thing. So where is he?"

            "He left with Kagome-sama shortly after you 'strategically' relocated yourself," Miroku said, his mind racing through the labyrinth of life, trying to puzzle out the cause of the pursuit of Kagome by this mysterious hunter, while his voice remained cool and calm. No reason to let Myouga know that he was more concerned than he seemed, lest the flea flee before he had a chance to pump him for information.

            "Ah, so they're both safe. That's good, that's good," the old flea muttered to himself. The winds were starting to change in these parts, and if his age spoke of his wisdom, then he had reason to believe his instinct when it told him that danger, or at least, a dramatic alteration, was soon to occur. He was loathe to be near when it occurred, but something told him that this time, no matter where he ran, he would not escape from this new conflict unharmed.

            "Who is hunting Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked once he entered the empty hut, and using the wood piled in a corner, started making a fire. First Inuyasha, then Kagome… Could it be that this mystery person's target is Kagome-sama, not Inuyasha? Perhaps he only wants to weaken Inuyasha in order to get to Kagome? The theory seemed plausible, but what he was missing was proof.

            "I am not quite certain who her pursuer is," Myouga answered, letting his tiny hands bask in the warm flame that Miroku created, trying to chase the cold out of his old limbs. He may have been fast at escaping, but even he could not deny that his old age was catching up to him and slowing him down.

            "Then how did you come by this information?" asked Miroku, his faith on Myouga's information waning.

            "I overheard some people gossiping about a certain creature asking them if they knew one by the name of Higurashi Kagome," the tiny youkai said, sighing and allowing himself to relax. If there should be any trouble, he was sure that the air void in the monk's hand would take care of everything.

            "A creature?" Miroku asked, wondering if the one behind the chase was Naraku. But that would not seem probable. Naraku knew full well where they were, so why would he ask people for directions?

            "Whatever it was, it did not seem to have been a youkai," the old man said, staring deep into the fire. "I believe they said he was a Tengu, but I am not quite certain."

            "Tengu?" the monk asked in surprise. "I did not know that those creatures showed themselves in this world anymore."

            "It seems that at least one has returned," Myouga said, and stopped suddenly when he heard a strange noise outside. Miroku narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the sound, but continued talking amiably to Myouga.

            "So why do you think that they have returned?" he asked while getting up quietly and heading towards the door.

            "Maybe they're searching for food," Myouga said, knowing that Miroku was trying to sneak up upon their uninvited guest. "Or perhaps they are tired of their old home."

            Miroku opened the covering to the door suddenly, and could only stare in surprise as he saw a beautiful lady standing outside. But was she glowing?

            "Ka—Kaguya-sama!" Myouga said, shocked to speechlessness. How was this possible? His lord's lady had died long ago of an unknown illness, and yet now, she stood before him, looking as healthy as ever, no, healthier than ever! She glowed with an inner light, and if he did not know any better, he would have guessed that perhaps Lady Kaguya was a—but that was impossible. No goddess in her right mind would ever marry a despised youkai.

            "Kaguya?" Miroku asked, unable to contain his astonishment and confusion. Kaguya? Kaguya-hime? Is this the princess that Kagome-sama spoke of before? And Myouga called her "lady," he wondered, looking at one face to another, and knowing the expression on both their faces to be one of recognition. Could it be that my guess was true? That this Kaguya-hime was truly Inuyasha's mother?!

            "Myouga," she said, not knowing how to react at the sight of an old acquaintance. She looked at the young man standing at the door, and wondered if he was her son. She noted the dark blue of a monk's garments on the boy, and knew that this was not he. Besides, her son would look older than this man by now.

            "Kaguya-sama, how is it that you…are here?" Myouga asked delicately. This was not another youkai feigning to be Inuyasha's mother, was it? But he knew, somehow, that this was the real woman, even as her unearthly glow faded away to make her seem more of a normal human.

            "I escaped from my prison," she answered shortly, not wanting to go into details. "I am here for Inuyasha. Do you know where he resides now?" Myouga had been assigned to Inuyasha centuries ago, so surely he would know where his lord was?

            "Inuyasha is with a friend," Miroku interjected when Myouga as too astounded by her appearance to answer. "Is there something else that we can help you with?" he asked, hoping to know more of this mystery woman. For what reason did she come searching for Inuyasha, and why did she say she escaped from her prison? What would this lady have been imprisoned for?

            "Can you lead me to him?" she asked, starting to worry that perhaps it would be more difficult that she initially assumed to reach her son.

            "Is there something you wish to tell him?" Miroku asked, not fully trusting this woman. Women could be incredibly conniving, as he had discovered recently.

            "I would prefer it if I could tell him in person," she said, wondering if she should place her faith upon this monk. He seemed almost trustworthy, but there was something that was unsettling about him.

            "Inuyasha-sama has gone with Kagome to her world," Myouga said, regaining his lost tongue. Kaguya wondered if Kagome was the girl that she had seen with her son earlier.

            "Is there no way to contact him?" she asked, already knowing the reply.

            "Not unless you can cross the Hone Kui no Ido," the old man replied.

            "Bone Gobbling Well?" she asked, realizing that was where she had seen her son leap into. She had not expected anyone to be able to cross through the Time Well anymore.

            "You have heard of it?" Miroku asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

            "When do they return to this world?" she asked, ignoring the monk's question and turning to Myouga instead.

            "I know not," the old servant replied. Inuyasha rarely told him anything, although that was to be expected.

            "Kagome-sama was supposed to return today," Miroku replied smoothly, knowing the woman to be attempting to ignore his interrogations, but not relenting in his quest for information. "It was agreed that she would return every three days to see our progress in dispelling a certain spell, but she has not yet arrived."

            "Why has this…Kagome not yet returned?" Kaguya asked, a little worried that danger might have befallen her son before she got to him.

            "She may have become ill, like Sango," the monk replied. She assumed Sango was another companion of his. She wondered if she would have to wait three more days for Kagome to arrive, or if the young lady would arrive tomorrow.

            "Kaguya-sama, please explain to me how is it that you are still alive," Myouga asked, finally unable to contain his curiosity. Kaguya looked at him deep in thought, trying to decided whether or not to tell him.

            "You do not need to know," she finally said, believing that it would be easier for the old youkai not to know the truth than worry him about old secrets past. "I came only to warn Inuyasha that there is someone who may be plotting to capture him. I will leave once I've made certain that this message has been delivered." There was no reason for her to intrude on her son's current life anymore than she needed to. Perhaps she was a little afraid of how Inuyasha would treat her if she should stay too long. What affection could a son show a mother that left him so long ago? She feared to stay and discover just how deeply she had wounded her son, or perhaps worst, just how unaffected he was by her presence.

            "Someone is trying to capture Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, starting to piece the puzzle together. The unknown powder, the mysterious spell, and now this obvious goddess before him… Did someone in Heaven want Inuyasha for something?

            "When he arrives, I will explain things to him," Kaguya said, valuing her privacy and not really trusting this inquisitive monk.

            "Explain this," Miroku said, his patience finally worn with the stresses of recent events, and showing the lady the kerchief with the glowing powder in it. She gasped as she recognized the scent and composition of the spell.

            "I," she started, but did not know how to finish. At this point, it was too late to try to keep her heritage a secret, and with great reluctance, she started to identify the powder. "It is a spell used to enhance a God's powers…"

            She barely had the energy to flinch as she saw the fist coming at her again. A moment later, she was the floor, gasping with pain, and just wishing that these men would leave her to die. Her pale face was already bruised with their beatings, and she didn't think that she could take any more. Even with her powers, she was having a hard time healing all the injuries that these men had dealt her.

            "So tell me, Usagi, how dare you fail in such a simple mission as guarding the powerless Kaguya-hime?" the man asked, pulling her up by her hair. She was too tired to even feel the pain shooting through her scalp. She tried to speak, but her mouth was too bloody and swollen for her to get a word out. He punched her in the face again.

            "We assign you with a straightforward task, and yet you fail us in this," he said, looking at her with contempt. "Perhaps we should just let your brother die, since you obviously don't care enough to do well in such an easy assignment."

            She shook her head weakly, feeling overwhelming dizziness flood into her mind, clouding her eyes so that she could barely see. Before her mouth had completely healed, she spoke.

            "Don't," she begged, the single word burning her throat like a phoenix's terrible flame.

            "The deal was for you to guard her, keep her from escaping and we would return your brother to his original form," the man said icily, looking at her pitiful figure without much expression. She felt someone kick her in the ribs, and by the sharp pain that rushed through her, she knew another of her ribs had broken.

            "Why should we keep our deal, when you didn't?" another said mercilessly.

            "Your brother will die by your hands," the man from before said. She wanted to scream for someone to help her, but she knew that no one in Heaven would come to her aid. Everyone was too busy minding their own problems, and no one would spare their time to help a lowly rabbit. There was once one who could have helped her, but she had already escaped from this realm, and was the person causing her to be punished in the first place.

            "Akito, please be more civil to your colleague," another man said in a deeper voice. She cringed with what energy she had left. Akito could beat her for all he was worth, but this man could do worse.

            "Yes, sir. Forgive me, sir," Akito said, not sounding penitent at all.

            "Usagi, dear, are you all right?" the man asked, helping her stand up. She nearly screamed in pain as she felt her broken body jolt as the man pulled her up, but she did her best to hold it in. She did not want to give Akito the satisfaction of hearing her scream.

            "You really need to be more careful," he said, almost cruel in his false kindness. "Do not keep on injuring yourself for the sake of our cause."

            "I will keep that in mind, sir," she said through gritted teeth, the pain in her limbs unbearable. He let her go and she collapsed on the ground, too much in agony to even weep.

            "You're a good child, Usagi," the man said, starting to walk away. "You will not fail me again."

            "I won't, sir," she said, barely able to get those hated words out of her mouth. Her tormentors left with the man, and when they were well out of site, she fell to the ground, her energy and mind spent. How she hated…and yet feared them.

            Akito walked next to his master, hoping to keep the silence between them a bit longer. He had punished Usagi for her failure, but he hoped that his master would be more forgiving than he.

            "It is to my knowledge that the woman you took from Hell failed to destroy the monk and his friends," his master started.

            "Yes, but I have another plan," he said quickly, hoping not too sound too much in fear of his lord. His master may have seemed calm most of the time, but he knew from experience that a sharp and unforgiving mind worked behind his kind mask, and he loathed having the man's true face turn on him.

            "You have served me long and well, Akito," he started, "but I am not such a fool to let hindrances to my plan go unnoticed. Get rid of them, else your punishment shall be worst than the one you dealt to that pathetic woman back there."

            "Understood," Akito answered, bowing deeply, glad to have escaped the sentence that might have been placed upon him. He dared not look up until his master was far away, and it was only then that he ventured to sigh in relief. He knew that he had to get his plan working quickly, otherwise the monk's head wouldn't be the only one that his master wanted.

            Kagome watched Inuyasha's every move, noting every intake of breath, and every quiver of his hand. Just a little to the right, a little to the right…

            "Hah!" he said triumphantly, getting the long, wooden block out. "Your turn, Kagome," he said, grinning boyishly.

            "I'll show you how a pro plays Jenga," she said, looking around carefully for a block that wouldn't fall when she pulled it out. There was one that looked particularly easy to pull out, but she was no fool. That block was slightly larger than the others, and she knew that if she pulled it out, the entire building would collapse. She chose a block on the side. A bit risky, but if she made it, it would make Inuyasha's turn that much harder.

            "What did I tell you?" she gloated, able to get the block out and stack it on the top of the tower. "Now it's your turn, and you're going to lose just like before."

            "No I won't," Inuyasha said stubbornly, looking for a safe block to pull out.

            "Nee-chan!" Souta shouted, opening the door to the kitchen with a slam. The building fell over in a hail of wood and angles.

            "Souta!" Kagome shouted, angry at her brother for interrupting the game. "That's the fifth time you've barged in here! Are you teaming up with Inuyasha so that he can try to win a game against me?"

            "I was just going to tell you that Mama wants you to come outside," Souta said, a little intimidated by his sister's bad temper.

            "Fine," Kagome said, storming out. Every time! Whenever I'm close to beating him, Souta just conveniently pops into the room and damages the entire game! Kagome thought, marching up to her mother.

            "Kagome, please help Jii-chan with his spells," her mother said, walking towards the house with groceries. "I think he believes your powers can help him make some successful Ofuda."

            "Hai," Kagome said, knowing that the real reason she was called out was to get her grandfather out of one of his weird moods again. Jii-chan is always trying to impress us with his lame spells, she thought, opening the shrine and seeing her grandfather trying to make a spell work.

            "Oh! Kagome!" her grandfather said happily. "Let's step outside, shall we? I think that with you here, these spells will definitely work!"

            "Jii-chan…" Kagome started as her grandfather began to push her out.

            "I assure you that this time, these spells will definitely work," her grandfather said cheerfully. "Then we can try and set up a barrier around this shrine."

            "Why would we need a barrier around the shrine?" asked Kagome, wondering if her grandfather was about to go on one of his long stories again.

            "Why, a barrier has always protected this shrine," her grandfather said, but Kagome was already beginning to tune him out. She saw Inuyasha walking towards her as her grandfather said, "It started five hundred years ago…"

            He felt the air around him carefully, ignoring the sounds of the cars and buses on the roads, concentrating only on the faint trail of a youkai's youki. He pinpointed the location in a moment, and frowned when he saw that it was in the direction of a shrine. Could it be that the friend his niece had visited the other day was a youkai?

            He crossed the intersection slowly, trying to collect his thoughts and ready his spells. When his niece had returned with that faint scent of youki, he knew that she had somehow come in contact with a youkai. He had thought that in this day and age, all youkai would be in hiding, but there was obviously one who was either too weak, or not smart enough to hide its true appearance.

            Well then, he would slay it.

            He climbed the steps to the shrine slowly, feeling the presence of a youkai near him. The youkai must have corrupted the people of this shrine and bound them to it. Otherwise, why would a youkai be at a shrine?

            He readied his paper spells and strings. Time to create a cage where the youkai would be unable to escape. He threw some powder into the air to hide his scent, just in case the youkai could smell him, and began to construct his trap.

            In a moment, he jumped into full view of two people, obviously the residents of the shrine, and one youkai. He threw his spells at the youkai, who quickly jumped out of the way. Throwing his now invisible spell strings around, he calculated where he could lead the youkai to in order to slay him.

            "Inuyasha! Watch out!" the old man before him shouted at the youkai, pointing to what should have been an invisible string. The youkai quickly landed, away from the restricting power of the threads.

            "Jii-chan, what—?" the girl asked, looking at first her grandfather, then at him in confusion.

            "Youkai, you dare to trespass on a holy shrine," he yelled at the strangely dressed demon. "Prepare to suffer the consequences!"

            "What the fuck are you talking about?" the youkai shouted at him vulgarly. He threw another round of spells at him, but the youkai quickly dodged away.

            "Jii-chan, what's going on?" a woman asked as she ran out from a nearby house.

            "Stay back!" he shouted at the woman, not wanting her to get involved in his extermination. "This youkai has you under its spell!"

            "Stop it!" the girl shouted at him, but he ignored her. These people were more under the youkai's influence than he had initially expected. That only meant he had to be more careful when slaying this youkai.

            "Die!" he shouted, throwing the spells at the dog-eared demon. The youkai evaded, but in doing so, touched his carefully placed net of threads. A jolt of electricity shocked the demon, allowing him to move in for the kill.

            "Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted in fear, not knowing what to do. She had tried to run to Inuyasha, but he was moving too fast for her to catch up, and this stupid man kept on blocking her way.

            "There is a cage of threads surrounding you!" her grandfather shouted at Inuyasha. She could only stare at him in confusion, wondering how her grandfather could see the strings that had suddenly appeared around the shrine when it was so obvious that Inuyasha could not.

            "Nee-chan, what's happening?" Souta asked fearfully, looking left to right, and seeming not to see the threads that were right in front of his face. But if Souta and Inuyasha were unable to see it, then how could…?

            "What the hell's wrong with you?" Inuyasha shouted at the intruder, wondering what his best option was. He couldn't kill the guy, that was for sure.

            "Fire!" the man shouted, releasing a spell of a phantom fire at Inuyasha. Inuyasha barely ducked out of the way, his hair almost singed by the spell. This man was more than a little dangerous: he was deadly. Inuyasha quickly moved back a few yards, trying to see if there was some way to escape. But judging by the sound of the wind moving through the unseen strings, he knew that he was trapped.

            He growled angrily, hating that feeling of having no place to turn to. The stranger pulled one of the threads above his head, and Inuyasha knew that whatever the man had done, it was not good.

            "He's made the net tighter!" Mrs. Higurashi shouted in alarm.

            "Himiko, get a pair of scissors or something!" Kagome's grandfather shouted. Mrs. Higurashi nodded and ran back into the house, much to the annoyance of the exterminator.

            "You must be a powerful one to have controlled these people so fully," he said, his eyes cold and merciless.

            "Inuyasha! Knock him out or something!" Kagome shouted, looking around her desperately for something to stop the man with. Between Inuyasha's life and this stranger's, she'd choose Inuyasha's any day.

            "I end your power now!" A gust of wind knocked Inuyasha off his feet, and he barely had his bearing before the man attacked with a strange, wooden staff. A spell seeped out of the staff and hit Inuyasha in the chest, knocking him back.

            A pair of scissors flew through the air, glowing with unknown power as it sliced a few of the strings encaging Inuyasha. The invisible strings shined upon contact, and a moment later, the red spell strings were revealed in the bright sunlight.

            Inuyasha could see the elaborate cage clearly, and cursed himself for forgetting Tessaiga back in the other world. The man was angry at Mrs. Higurashi's interference, and started attacking with more vehemence than before.

            "M-Mizuno-san!" Mrs. Higurashi shouted in surprise as she recognized the man. "Mizuno-san, stop it!"

            He paid her no attention as he started to push Inuyasha back, while the youkai could do nothing but dodge his attacks. He remembered that there was a strange well at this shrine, and if he could not defeat this youkai, the least he could do was drive it into the dry well.

            "No! Inuyasha, stop heading that way!" Kagome shouted as she realized where the man was guiding Inuyasha. She started running towards the man, not caring about whom the man was, her dread driving any indecisions out of her. Inuyasha can't enter the well! If he does…

            Hearing the girl's warning, the youkai started to turn another direction, but he would be a poor exterminator if he let a youkai do such a thing. He tightened the noose around the youkai when he pulled the strings closer to him, leaving the youkai no room to escape, except for the well.

            "Sankon Tetsusou!" the youkai shouted, trying to claw at the visible strings. But electricity shot out of them, and the youkai was forced to pull his hand back. The demon growled angrily at him, but he was satisfied. The youkai was getting desperate, and desperate people often made mistakes.

            He charged at the youkai, his staff pointing forward, emanating a circle of power so that the demon had nowhere to run. Inuyasha leapt back as orbs of light was shot at him. The sudden muting of outside sounds alerted him that he had indeed entered the well house, but still, he could find no way to escape without potentially hurting the man that had chased him there.

            "No where to flee, youkai," the man said, raising the staff above his head. Inuyasha tried to shove the man out of his way, but he was wearing something that burned his hands.

            "Nice try, youkai," he smiled, "but I am far more prepared than you." With the power of a Shinto priest, he knocked Inuyasha into the well, just as Kagome entered in the well house.

            "No!" she shouted, shoving the man aside with what power she had. She jumped into the well, hoping to somehow save Inuyasha before it was too late. The man tried to stop her, but she evaded his grasp, disappearing in the mysterious light of the hidden well.

            Fuujin stirred the winds around him while Raijin commanded lightning and thunder to accompany him, weaving a storm around the province of Musashi. They had stayed there long, and without cover, they would soon be discovered by some unwanted gods.

            Dark clouds rolled over the clear skies, obscuring the morning sun from the villagers, and casting its shadows upon the fields. The forest started to sway with the coming storm, its unease seeping into the bones of those near it. This was the day of the beginning of a new fate.

            In false night, Fuujin watched the well closely, knowing that his master would lose his patience if he did not complete his mission soon. A strange feeling rippled through the air, and both he and Raijin watched as a silver-haired hanyou emerged, only to collapse on the ground, weak as the spell started to take effect. Silver became ebony as day became night.

            "I told you increasing the spell's power was a good idea," Raijin said pompously, while Fuujin ignored him. He watched as the hanyou tried to get up, only to fall back down as the spell quickly drained him of his energy. He felt another ripple come from the well, and knew that he had to hurry. The girl would be there soon.

            He leapt down from his hiding place along with Raijin, and grabbed the hanyou up by the collar. He was almost surprised with how young the hanyou looked.

            "W-Who are you?" the hanyou asked, forcing the words out against the spell. Fuujin had to admit he was amazed that the boy was even conscious at this point, but knew better than to compliment him. For some reason, he was beginning to regret his decision of suggesting to use this boy as the tool to defeat Heaven's army. He was just a child, no matter how long the records had said he existed.

            Was he starting to doubt his cause? No, that could not be true. And yet, while did he feel so guilty? So dirty, as if he were doing something erroneous? He looked at Raijin out of the corner of his eye, tempted to ask him if he felt the same thing, but thought better of it. Raijin could never understand.

            He almost wanted to apologize as he formed the long, thin blade of wind that would pierce easily into the hanyou and kill him. But he knew he couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to, he could not say he was sorry.

            Gods do not apologize to demons.

            "Is the object ready?" he asked Raijin. He heard a confirming grunt from Raijin. He nodded. In one quick movement, he sent the blade through the boy's heart. Fast and painless…

            Gomen, he mumbled in his mind, seeing the pain flicker through the boy's face briefly before the soul was taken. He shouldn't have said that. He should not regret his action.

            But he found that he did, against everything that he had ever been taught, against everything that he had ever stood for, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

            He surrounded himself with the comfort of the wind, and moved them all towards the Heavens, ready for the next phase. Even if he disliked what he had done, no one could argue that he was disloyal to Ryuten. For his lord, he would gladly do anything, even if it meant destroying his values in the process.

            He heard the scream of a girl somewhere below him. He ignored it.

            But he could not ignore the wailing of the winds around him.

Miscellaneous Comments: Now the real fun begins. MWA HA HA!!! (Somehow, the chapters get longer and longer… Hmm.)

Did you know that the bad guy in Inuyasha the second movie is named Kaguya-hime? When I went to the website and saw that, I got all pissed, but then, hey, Kaguya-hime isn't exactly the least known name in the world, so whatever. But still… GRRR! STEALERS!!!

Heian Era (794-1192 AD): In this era, the Japanese culture starts to diverge from the Chinese. Before this time, the Japanese would use Chinese characters in their official writing, but during this period, they start to develop their own unique language and customs.

Cultural note: In Japan, elementary school lasts from first to sixth grade. Middle school lasts from seventh to ninth grade, and high school lasts from tenth to twelfth grade. They take tests to get from elementary to middle school, from middle school to high school, but only if they're going to a private school. (But private schools and public schools in Japan have a great difference in quality.) Just in case you didn't know… (I was confused the first time Kagome said that she was fifteen and in middle school… If I were Kagome, I'd just forget about the Sengoku Jidai and concentrate on my tests, like I should be doing right now. Arrrrgh! Anyway, she's probably not going to a private school if her family doesn't have much money. I guess it all depends on how popular the shrine is…)

Hikaru: "light"

Himiko: Obviously this is what I named Kagome's mother (since I don't think she has a name). Himiko is also a famous empress of Japan. She existed so long ago, and she kept most of her life a secret that not much is known about her. It is said that only her brother was allowed to see her. However, accounts do agree that she was an excellent empress, and she was smart and beautiful too. Some say she was a sort of witch or prophetess, but no trace of her remains except in ancient Chinese records.

Tengu: humanoid, bird-like creatures (some look like goblins) that live in misty mountains and is said to lead people astray, as well as kidnap children.