Night had long since faded away as a new morning of light and warmth came to be. Once again, the site of the Well was vacant. With the unconscious woman in his arms, Inuyasha evacuated immediately. At this point his mind was full with confusion and he had no interest in running into any of the townspeople let alone Kaede who would surely have traveled past there by morning.

His name was the last words the sleeping woman had spoken before she passed out in his arms. There were so many questions to ask and equally as many things he wanted to say, though he was unable to speak on any of those things while she slept and sleep was all she did as he carried her and they traveled back toward Taejiya, where Miroku and Sango would surely be waiting for his return.

?©?

"Do not interfere, Kagura." A voice rang out from the midst of the calm woods where she sat peacefully in a tree with her thoughts. The voice of a man she knew all too well; her master and creator. His voice spoken directly into her mind. "All is going according to my plan." He said. "It shall not fail if not hindered with senseless actions."

"I had no intentions to." Kagura replied. "If my services are not needed, I shall not imply them."

The impious voice grunted a laugh to the response. "I know your thoughts, Kagura. Remember, I am the one who created you. The all-knowing god of your trivial existence. You shall not defy me or you shall know death."

Her life so fragile, she knew she had to obey. Defiance was not an option but something she was pushed closer to every passing day, but without a free will of her own, what chance did she have at success. She could only nod and say, "Yes, lord Naraku," and remain silent in her seat.

?©?

His explanation was vague and dubious. To wake up in alert and take off only to find she who was hitherto considered an enemy, emerging herself from a portal only Inuyasha and Kagome herself were thus far able to activate.

The trio, including Shippou stood over the resting priestess as she lay upon the futon inside the small hut where they slept the night before. Inuyasha kept his distance, standing in a lean against the wall aside the door, looking down and away from the group.

"It is logical." Miroku said. "If Kagome is in fact this woman's reincarnation, whose body possesses a portion of Kagome's actual soul, it should not be considered impossible for it to happen."

"But that does not explain why it happened." Sango stated. "What was she doing there? Was she in Kagome's time?"

"What are you asking me for?" Inuyasha snapped.

"It was only an arbitrary question, Inuyasha." Miroku began. "It was not directed toward you..."

"Shut up." Inuyasha's frustration in the situation became obvious. The usually impish fox kept his quiet for once as he sensed these feelings and the possible pain to be brought upon him if he did say anything.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku began. "May I ask a question of you?"

"Go ahead. Shoot."

"Thank you. I was just wondering why you brought her back here?"

"Yeah. What are we supposed to do with her?" Shippou said but quickly covered his mouth as not to offend anyone.

"She passed out in my arms." Inuyasha said. "What else was I supposed to do with her? I was hoping Miroku might be able to help wake her up."

"I am not a healer." Miroku said. "But from the looks of her she passed out from fatigue. I'm sure she'll wake up in time."

"In the mean time, Miroku and I have something to do." Sango said. "The townspeople are still afraid and have asked us to look into the matter."

"You mean that river drying up?"

"Yes." Miroku added. "It is unusual for a fully flowing river to just dry up so suddenly."

Both Miroku and Sango were already prepared to go. Sango had fit herself into her demon-hunter uniform with gear and weapons ready, while Miroku simply had to grab his staff. "Are you coming?" Sango asked. "Should it be something serious, we may need your help."

Inuyasha turned his gaze back to the peacefully resting woman before him. He wanted to be there when she awoke. "No. I'll stay. You guys can handle it." He said. With no further argument, Sango and Miroku left for their adventure.

The village was warm but the woods beyond were chilled. The tall and wide trees stretched to the sky with branches that seemed to purposely come together to block the sun and as it was hidden, so were the many creatures that lived in these woods.

"How much further is it to this river?" Sango asked.

"It shouldn't be to much further but it's a lot easer to find when you're high up in the air."

"Are you telling me you're lost?"

"No." Miroku said nervously. "I just don't exactly know where we're going." For his comment, Sango raised a hand to harshly slap him with but quickly paused as she saw something dash in front of them.

"What was that?" She asked.

Miroku stood still and surveyed the area. "What?" He then asked.

Another shadow dashed in front of the two and another behind them just as quickly. "There," Sango said as she drew her sword from her waist. "Did you see it?"

"I saw something," Miroku said as he became defensive. "but what did I see?" Another shadow dashed by them from the side and this time Sango wasted no time in chasing after it, the young monk hesitated but quickly followed after.

They chased it constantly as it moved swiftly in front of them, jumping from tree to tree in majestic leaps. As they continued on they began to notice more and more of these shadowy creatures moving in parallel with each other. As the duo gave chase, they were being chased. They continued on without rest until they came to a deep trench in their path. This hole ran long and far into the woods. This was undoubtedly the river they had been searching for.

Now that all had stopped and the running was done, Sango and Miroku finally got a clear view, a chance to see exactly what it was they had been chasing.

The creature seemed to be a formless black mass. Just a head taller than a young child with misty, ovular shaped white eyes. The creature stood with hunch and had long arms that dangled down to its knees and three fingered hands with claws like talons. The two stepped away from the creature as it stared back with a drooling mouth and began to approach, surrounded by several dozen others like it.

"What are these things?" Sango asked. She moved into position with Miroku, standing with their backs together as they became surrounded by the creatures. Miroku did not answer and without waiting for one, Sango took a hold of her weapon, the Hirakotsu, and gave it a hard toss. The weapon zoomed at the monsters and swiped away three of them, circled around and swiped another. The creature's bodies split in half and melted, falling into a puddle like water. Not ending there, the puddles came together and reformed, creating another shadow monster but larger this time.

"What in the..." Miroku spoke but hesitated in his thoughts as one of the smaller ones charged in at him, he quickly smacked it away as a second one charged in, followed by a third one and then an all out mob attacked the two.

Miroku and Sango immediately split up and went on a defensive smashing each creature, making easy work of them but vainly because each time the creatures would merge and create a larger one.

The futile battle continued on. The dozens of creatures they stood before in the beginning were now but six large ones that stood twice the size of either of the two. At this point both Miroku and Sango were becoming tired from this fight.

"Its endless." Miroku said. "There's no beating them."

"We cant just quit." Sango said and determined not to, she drew her weapon again and gave it a hard toss toward one of the creatures. It hit hard directly at its waist with a hard thump without effect and then fell dead at the monsters feet.

At this point the fight seemed hopeless. Sango's weapons were of no use and Miroku was out of ideas They were both ready to give up until a strong burst of wind kicked up and a flash of light came ripping through the trees. Neither Sango nor Miroku knew what it was but they instinctively dove out of the way. The flash of light destroyed the trees at it passed as well as the tall creatures before it subsided. They again melted into a puddle but this time did not move.

"What was that?" Miroku said as he jumped to his feet. He had a frantically nervous look on his face His eyes dashed from side to side looking for something but he didn't know what.

Sango stood as well but calmly as she moved to retrieve her weapon, stopping once she got it to see whom it was who approached. "What the hell was that?" He said in that tempered voice of his.

"Inuyasha?"

"I believe those are the creatures responsible for drying up the river...." Sango said. "but what are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay at the hut."

"I caught Naraku's scent." He said. He moved to the misty black puddle that was once the creatures Sango and Miroku fought and put his finger in to sniff. "These things must be more of Naraku's offspring."

"Naraku was behind this?" Miroku asked.

"I guess so.....Inuyasha, move!" Sango dove out at Inuyasha and pushed him aside before the black puddle had a chance to jump on him. It missed but stood tall, stretching itself up as high as the trees while the group watched as it reformed itself into yet another creature.

This time the creature didn't seem so innocent. Its claws were longer and as sharp as blades and its eyes were flaming white. While Sango and Miroku hesitated to imply force upon it, Inuyasha took the initiative and attacked it head on with the Tetsueiga.

The creature, slow but large, pulled its leg up and stomped down with force at Inuyasha who easily jumped out of the way of the attack, countering with a quick slice at its ankle once it hit the ground. His attack connected but didn't have the impact he expected. The blade went straight through without trace of attack as if he had only struck the air.

Inuyasha hesitated, "What in the hell...." And was penalized for waiting as the creature swung its long dangly arm and smacked him away and through several tree's before he stopped.

At this point, Miroku and Sango were ready to fight. Neither of them would just let Inuyasha take this beating alone. Sango again tried the Hirakotsu but found that it was as useless toward this demon as Inuyasha's sword was. Miroku got the bright idea that using his Wind Tunnel was worth a try but as he found, he was sucking up everything but the monster.

The creature seemed to ignore the trivial attacks as it made it own attempts to destroy the gang but its slow moving nature made most of its moves ineffective.

"How do we beat this thing?" Miroku complained.

"I don't know."

"The Wind Scar can do it." Inuyasha said as he struggled to his feet. He picked up his blade and held it up, waiting for a clear shot before he attacked but his hesitation cost him. In a quick jab, the monster struck Inuyasha and caught him as he went flying.

"INUYASHA!" The duo yelled from down below. The demon pulled Inuyasha up to its face and opened its mouth, ready to finish him off in one gulp. Inuyasha's eyes shot open, not from the danger but from a blazing light that same flying from the forest beyond. He recognized what this was and in fear of it, somehow found the strength to free himself from the creatures grasp before it struck and destroyed the creature into little black pieces all over the woods.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha landed and immediately stared into the woods while the small black pieces began to regroup into a puddle.

Sango pulled herself back to her feet. "Miroku," She shouted. "Use your wind tunnel again. Draw them in before they reform." Miroku nodded and did as he was asked and easily sucked in the puddle, leaving not a trace for the creature to remake itself.

?©?

While Miroku finished what was left of the demon and he and Sango gathered themselves together, Inuyasha stared on at the figure that stood before him staring back. He knew when he was that flash of light what it was and the only place where it could have possibly come from. An arrow, powerful enough to destroy the demon and enough to possibly destroy himself as well. He could only stare back at this woman as the others gathered around him.

"Lady Kikyo." Miroku said. "It was you..."