Chapter ten

A/N: He-hehe. *glups* *hides from angry fans* Hehe. Sry, sry! Here you go! *throws newest chapter to ravenous fans* Ahhhhhh!!! *runs as they attack her for being lazy*

It's so nice to be loved……..ow….

~

Miasma surrounds a large hidden castle. Inside one of the many darkened rooms Naraku sits in front of a shoji screen, to his left, kneeling in front of Kagura, is a ningen from Yamauba's village.

'So he still lives then…..'

(Yama's Place)

Yama walks out to where Juuroumaru is sitting in his favorite tree, in her hand she carries dinner. Yama places it on the ground then looks back up at the youkai. 'Are ye going to sit in that tree forever?' She asks the demon who is keeping a sharp watch on the trail that Tenshi took a few days earlier.

Juuroumaru merely keeps watch.

Yama shakes her head and sighs. 'She'll come back when she's finished with her business, now get down here and eat your dinner!' With that said, Yama walks back to her hut. Juuroumaru watches her go out of the corner of his eye, after she disappears inside he jumps down to the ground to retrieve his dinner before returning to his perch.

'You'd think he was a bird as much time as he spends in trees.' Yama mutters from inside her hut.

(Kaede's village)

Sit boy!

Whamp!

*Muffled grumbling is heard*

'I'm going home. I'll be back in two days. Deal with it. Sit boy!' Kagome said standing a few feet from a 'Sat' Inuyasha.

This was the scene Tenshi happened upon when she finally reached the bone-eaters well.

'Um……hello again everyone.' Tenshi said hesitantly unsure if they would remember her.

Kagome's head snapped up at the voice. 'Tenshi! Hi!' Kagome said running over to the older girl. 'Where have you been?! We were all wondering what had become of you.'

'Um….well.' Tenshi started unsure how to explain. 'Let's just put it this way, I met someone and I gotta stay here. But I need my stuff from the future taken care of and I need someone to tell my friends what's up. So, I was wondering since your the only other time traveler I know if you could help me out.' Tenshi said being sure to add puppy dog eyes.

Kagome smiled. 'Sure, I'd be happy to help.'

Behind her Inuyasha was rising from his hole in the ground.

'Um…what?.....' Tenshi questioned.

'Oh, um, whenever he misbehaves he gets 'sat'. He's wearing an enchanted necklace.' Kagome explained not even bothering to turn around to see what Tenshi was looking at.

'Oh.' Was Tenshi's reply.

'What do you need me to do?' Kagome asked.

'Stay here and look for more jewel shards!' Was Yasha's response.

'SIT BOY!'

WHAMP!

Tenshi winced as Inuyasha went down. 'That's gotta hurt.'

'He has a hard head.' Kagome replied. 'What do you need?'

(Yama's Village)

In the shadows just between the ningen village and the barrier that surrounds Yamauba's hut, a miko (Not kikyou), a hanyou and a wind youkai stand waiting for the barrier to fall. They wait patiently as the dark miko performs the spell.

Something was wrong. Juuroumaru couldn't tell just what it was, but he knew, and let out a low growl.

'Hush, beast. There here for you. They've found out that you still breathe and they've come to reclaim you. The Miko they've hired is strong, you must leave this place. Go into the mountains that lie a short distance from here. Lose them in the labyrinth of it's caverns.' The old witch says from the base of the tree that the youkai sits in.

Juuroumaru growls. 'Who are they?' He asks another growl escaping.

'Your formal master, Naraku. Go. Lose them in the mountains of old. This old witch will be fine.' Yama says chanting a spell to let the barrier let J-maru out. 'GO!'

Juuroumaru takes one last look at the old witch before leaping off into the trees in the direction of the mountains.

'Go with him my wind. Send him quickly to his safe destination.' Yama whispered after the retreating youkai, seeing shadows on the far side of her barrier also move in that direction.

Juuroumaru leapt down from the branch he had just landed on and took off across the forest floor at top speed. He could smell the miasma behind him and hear the wind (different from Yama's) roaring up behind him.

J-maru reaches the mouth of the labyrinth of caverns that dwell inside the huge mountain, and quickly disappears inside, the wind and the miasma following. Left, right, left, right, right, right, left, left, right, twisting turning, faster and faster until the pursers finally begin to fade into the distance. Juuroumaru takes a few more turns then leaps up into a hole in the wall, slipping and struggling to get grip on the slippery, slick walls, J-maru finally emerges into a large cavern and a few more turns of the maze, he finds himself in a small, narrow canyon. (Wondering how he knows his way? He's following Yama's wind.) Juuroumaru sniffs the air for any trace of his pursers, finding done he carefully and cautiously makes his way east down the canyon. After a while he emerges from the darkened shadows into a small grassy field and darts quickly across. However not to far into the shadowy forest, Juuroumaru hears a whistle. Turning around he sees several wind blades headed towards him, before they pin him to a near by tree. Juuroumaru growls, struggling to get free of the metal blades that pin him to the tree. A feminine figure emerges from behind another tree.

'Now you really don't think you could escape us did you?' Kagura asks hiding behind her fan.

Juuroumaru snarls and struggles more, two of the blades come lose from there holding place. Kagura notices this and backs up a few paces. Suddenly a thick could of Miasma surrounds J-maru. Juuroumaru coughs as the poisonous fumes envelop him senses.

'Well, well, well.' Came Naraku's voice from out of the darkness where his baboon cloaked figure emerges. 'Juuroumaru. We had took you for dead. What a surprise it was to me to hear that you were still alive.' Naraku said coming closer to the struggling, snarling youkai. Naraku stood studying the lavender-haired youkai. 'You seem different somehow.'

Juuroumaru bared his fangs and growled even louder in his throat, struggling harder at feeling another blades wiggle loose.

'Ku ku ku! Your not escaping this time, I have big plans for you.' Naraku said pulling a shard of the Shikon jewel from inside his kimono. 'Big plans indeed….'

Tenshi sat on the edge of the bone-eaters well waiting for Kagome to return. She had left a few hours ago with a list of things Tenshi needed her to do, and a letter for her two best friends. Inuyasha sat a distance away in a tree, presumably pouting.

'Hey, Inuyasha.' Tenshi called out to the Inu Hanyou.

Yasha's ears flickered towards Tenshi. 'What?'

Tenshi paused before answering. 'Do you remember a youkai named Juuroumaru?' She asked him.

'Yeah, why?'

'Well you remember that he was under Naraku and Kageroumaru, and uncontrollable?' Tenshi said, hoping to explain to Yasha before they found out for themselves and there was a big fight.

'Yeah….'

'Well…..whenever I went off that night I found him laying off to the side of the road hidden in the shadows of the trees. And this old witch healed him and repaired the damaged done by Kageroumaru, and now he's a happier, healthier youkai!' Tenshi  said.

'So your telling me that Juuroumaru is still alive?' Inuyasha asked turning around so that he was facing her.

'Yeah, and no attacking him either.' Tenshi said sternly, shaking a finger at Yasha.

Inuyasha snorted. 'Feh. So your telling me Juuroumaru is in your care now? Free of Naraku? How can that be? He's part of Naraku.'

'Not anymore.' Tenshi replied. 'Yama made it so that when he healed he became his own person….er, youkai. He's not bound to Naraku anymores.'

'Oh. Where's he at?'

'With Yamauba.'

Inuyasha nodded. 'Well as long as he don't start anything, I won't.' With that he turned back any from Tenshi.

Tenshi smiled. "Well that wasn't as bad as I thought."

(Somewhere's near Yama's village)

Juuroumaru paces inside a specially built cage. Several strong demons stand guard near him. The smell of burning houses and screams of ningens fill the air a few distance away.

Juuroumaru stares of into that direction and growls deep in his throat. "As soon as I'm free, your dead Naraku."