Oh Thank You SO very much for reviews! Input ah we all love that. I just got enhanced service and since last Friday I have 526 hits! today's Wednesday. So thanks to you ppl who are reading as well.
I thought that maybe I should point out that I've decided not to include the search for Inuyasha. After typing it all out and moving on with the rest of the story, it really wasn't that important. Well mostly because I kept confusing myself with the timeline.. - and because darn it the story just seems to keep growing and I want to follow every lead out… overkill…. So let's just say Kouga did catch up to Inuyasha they had their normal fight out. Miroku and the others got some herbs from Jiniji but had no way to get them to Kagome, and in the end the group minus Kouga decided to continue searching for the shards….
Looking up she had wished that she had the common sense to attack a rope ladder on this side of the well. She would have to climb up using the vines once again. The fact that she didn't feel the fear as encompassing as she did on the other side confused her a little bit. She continued to stand there looking up to the clear blue sky and just breathed deeply of the clean air. One breath, two breaths, she did however wonder why it was that Inuyasha had not yet come to get her. He always seemed to know when she came back to this era, and would magically appear to help her out. Well, she could continue to wait for him at the bottom of the well, or she could just climb out by herself. She decided that since she didn't think there would be any demons awaiting her arrival to tear her to ribbons, she took a step forward and began to lift herself from the well. It wasn't going to be easy, her arms while they had regained most of their strength, were still a bit weak. One thing she found herself grateful for, by the condition imposed by her mother, was the fact the backpack she carried was so much lighter.
It wasn't until she had both feet firmly on the ground that the fear began to surface again. She scanned the area around her, looking towards the shadows to see if there was anything hiding there. Rooted to the spot , adrenaline began to pump through her. Her fingers began to twitch; she needed to get a hold of herself. She was panicking and there was no obvious reason for it. Her eyes closed, and for a brief moment, she pushed the panic back. Then she saw his claws come towards her. She saw that Kouga had been thrown by it, in his rush to attack. She felt her hands pull back on the bow, barely containing the urge to release the arrow. Her mouth formed words, she couldn't hear them, but it didn't matter, she got him to stop in his charge. The demon before her just stared at her, until Kouga had renewed his attack.
Get a grip!
She admonished herself. Anger seemed to be the only way she could come back to herself, and this did worry her. But the hold her memories had on her was wearing off. She took a hesitant step towards the village. Her attire had changed rather dramatically since last time she was here. She no longer wore the short skirt and top that was her school uniform, in its place were thick denim pants and a long slightly form fitting shirt. It reached all the way down her arms to wrap around her fingers like a fingerless glove, and if you didn't look too closely, you might mistake it for the hunting attire of the demon exterminators. But this shirt was lined with a small metallic mesh. Body armor. She had joked with Hojo on what she should wear going back. He said armor. A cepholon shirt and pants would be nice. Yeah it would be nice, but that's for stopping bullets, not claws. So together with her brother they had improvised on a shark suit. It was strong enough to resist strong teeth and theoretically claws, but still light enough not to wear her out too quickly.
Kagome did wonder how the others would feel about her returning. It had been over a year since she left. Would they freak out? Probably. Would they be happy to see her? Yes. Would they wonder why she took so long to return? Most definitely. How would they react to her scars? Granted the ones on her face were light enough that you almost didn't see them, not unless you were looking for them, but the one that ran the length of her body… She will probably be bathing by herself for a whiles, at least until the plastic surgeon could correct those. This did sadden her. One of her favorite ways to relax is a bath, just her, Sango, and Shippo. One of her bonding moments lost for now.
She could see Kaede's hut from this last hill. Could see the villagers going about their daily routine. It helped to release some pressure from her mind. Inuyasha still hadn't come, and she was close enough to the village that if Shippo were here, he would catch her scent on the breeze. The fact that she didn't see a orange ball of fur coming her way did deflate her a small bit. But that they weren't here could mean that they were still searching for the jewel shards, and all these months without her to steer them in the general direction of one, perhaps they wouldn't be returning soon. But that was okay, for now. She needed Kaede to help her regain control over her powers. Without the others to distract her, maybe she could get enough control so that the tiny fear of purifying by accident Inuyasha or Shippo would be no more. With that goal in mind she braced herself for what she knew was going to be a very painful trip and headed to Kaede's.
Inuyasha and the others had spent weeks tracking the demon that held this particular shard. Now here they were a few feet from it. But as happy as he was that they finally caught it, it gave him no satisfaction. This was not the demon that marked up Kagome. No this was another serpent demon. The power of the shard had increased its size and strength so much that it was mistaken for a small dragon. It had attacked four villages almost completely annihilating the last one. It was the humans calling for the demon exterminator, which gave them this shard. Still, just because it wasn't the exact one he wanted didn't mean he couldn't hone his methods on it.
He was about to bark out his orders to Sango and Miroku and even Shippo, but Miroku cut him off. "Inuyasha, please try to remember we need to get the shard before you tear it apart this time. I'm not in the mood to be shifting through any more gore than I need to."
He flashed them a secretive smile, " Well, if I can't play the way I want to, I guess we'll use it to train Shippo some more. Is that okay with you?"
Sango wanted to roll her eyes at him, but he had been doing a really good job at training Shippo. So good it was scary. His level of ruthless had grown so much that he was beginning to resemble his brother, Sesshomaru, more and more with each passing day. She looked over at Shippo; he had become very withdrawn since they lost Kagome. He would keep as much distance as he could from her during the day and into most of the night, but he was still a child. And all children need the comforting touch of a mother every now and then. Although she knew he would be using her as a substitute for Kagome, those times when Shippo still acted like a little kid, those were joyful moments for her. She gave her nod of acceptance, not that Inuyasha would really care if it was okay with her, and fell into the now familiar pattern.
She threw her hiraikotsu, her bone boomerang, at the demon to get its attention focused on her. She could faintly see Miroku coming up on the left and Inuyasha on the right. Between the three of them they would herd it towards an area up near Shippo. The first time they had done this, it was an accident. But they could use this formation now to help Shippo focus his attacks. The three of them would weaken it enough so it wouldn't be too hard for the kitsune, but as was bound to happen, with time, the amount of effort exerted by them was becoming less. She could see Shippo now.
What was that kid doing? Inuyasha thought. That wasn't what I told him to do. He debated on how long he was going to let the kitsune go on. With a mental shrug he figured the kid needed to release some of his anger. Just another healthy outlet. Fox demon were sneaky, their power relied more on illusion and misdirection rather than actual physical force. But Inuyasha although a half demon, was a dog. Exactly which particular breed of dog would be a source of amusement on nights when the level of stress would get too high. But dogs they held a strong pull to defend their counterparts, so relied on their shear strength to overpower their opponents. Straightforward and vicious, they let you know they were coming after you, much like their cousins the wolves. It would seem that Shippo had decided to improve his physical before his psychic.
When they had lost Kagome, he resembled a very small child, a toddler. Now although it had only been a little over a year, he looked more like boy entering his teenage years. This wasn't an illusion; Shippo had literally sprouted out overnight. His growth spurt was attributed to high stress levels; Sango had told them reciting from memory some past tidbit from her training days. Shippo was still not powerful enough to take his demon form, but if he continued on the way he has been going, it won't be too long before that happened. They were going to need to find some other kitsune to teach him how to control that particular change; Inuyasha can't take a dog demon form.
The snake demon's tongue darted out, tasting the air. It then drew in a deep breath through a nose it did not possess prior to the shard. It had scented the group out. Two humans, a child demon, a firecat and a hanyo. Not too much of a challenge. It thought. He could take out the weakest, the child, first then work its way up the preverbal food chain. But he didn't. The snake demon turned to Inuyasha and rushed him. No best to take out the strongest, the weaker ones can be dessert. But just as he was to reach the hanyo, he felt a pull on his tail. Reaching out with a clawed hand he struck at Inuyasha while he kicked out at whatever had his tail. His hand didn't make contact with anything, but his foot did.
Inuyasha had jumped to the side, not attacking just avoiding. Shippo had foolishly tried to grab the demon, and got a foot to the gut as reward. He was flung back a few feet and threw a tree before landing on the ground. Sango had run forward and braced herself a moment before throwing hiraikotsu once more, it bounced off the demon. She pulled out her katana and was going in attack with her sword. Miroku had finished his prayer and threw his spell scrolls at the snake. Where they came into contact with it, they burned through its flesh. Inuyasha still had not attacked. He rushed over to where Shippo had fallen.
"Stupid! That was so stupid Shippo. You have to keep an eye on ALL of your opponent, not just the part you're going after." he growled as he pulled the kitsune to his feet. Shippo smiled through a blooded mouth. "I just needed to get close, couldn't let you get fist hit." Inuyasha narrowed his eyes with anger then laughed. Damn he's becoming just like me. They both looked over to the battle, Miroku and Sango could take it out between the two of them. "You better hurry Shippo, or you won't be getting any more hits before those two finish it off."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll try not to do anything more stupid okay?" and off he went to join the fight. Inuyasha watched him go and felt just the slightest bit of regret. He wouldn't be getting involved. If he did, his bloodlust would rise and then how was Shippo going to train if he just went and offed the demon? The battle continued for a while, but the outcome was already foretold.
Inuyasha stayed close by in case his help would be needed, but was thinking of Kagome. He hadn't gone to see her for two months. He missed her, he had gone back on the nights of the new moon while she was still in the hospital, and then once a week when she came out. He never reveled himself to her. Partially out of shame because he failed her, then later when he saw how she clung to the boy. She was still so terrified. The one time he did go near to her she was sleeping. She must have sensed him in her sleep because she turned to him. But unfortunately when he tried to touch her, her miko powers had flared and tried to purify him. After that he didn't go near her again, but stayed close by watching her.
He did later tell the others that she was still alive. But she was still injured. Miroku had given him the herbs they had received from Jiniji, along with instructions on how to administer them. He passed the knowledge and the herbs to Sota. Her brother secretly feed these to her, trying to speed the healing along and they worked. Without the herbs it might have taken Kagome years to accomplish what she did in a matter of months.
Inuyasha sighed. He saw the others approach him; Miroku held the shard in his palm and Shippo looked smugly pleased with himself. So the kid got the kill. When they had reached him he said they would be heading back to Kaede's. They all knew what this meant. Inuyasha had gotten a twinge of nostalgia and was going to visit Kagome. Shippo seemed to deflate a small bit. He felt jealously over the fact that Inuyasha was going to see Kagome. Even though Kagome didn't die, she might as well have. He would not be able to snuggle in her arms anymore because it was obvious that she was never going to return. She had abandoned him. And his joy over the kill faded. His heart still hadn't recovered over that. And that emotional wound bled once again.