((LEGAL STUFF: Inuyasha and Co. are property of the sole ownership of the wise, witty, and wonderful Rumiko Takahashi! I am not making any profit whatsoever except my own enjoyment in writing this. I do not own nor claim any rights to her characters and concepts. However, the original characters in this story belong to me, so please do not copy them or use them without my express permission.))
The White Dog
by Becky Tailweaver
Chapter 2: Tunnel Trap
Inuyasha awoke with a splitting headache--and someone dabbing soothingly at his forehead with a cloth.
For a single, hazy moment he was a little child again, as his mother comforted him after some much older village kids had beaten him--throwing stones, striking him with sticks, all the while calling him a youkai's bastard and mocking his dog-ears. And he did not fight back because they were weaker than he, and even his baby-claws could have torn them badly and he was terrified of hurting them because his mother would be sad and upset if he harmed children like that, even in his own defense...
What hurt most about that memory was not the injuries--which were painful but minor and healed overnight--but the fact that those boys were right. Or at least, that's what he'd thought when he was still little and living with his mother in a human village. He was a fatherless hanyou, and his ears were strange.
"Ofukuro..." he mumbled incoherently.
"No, it's me," said a familiar female voice, softly. "You're finally awake."
"Kagome...?" Inuyasha opened his eyes, squinting; for a moment even the dim glow of the tunnel-moss was painfully bright. "Ugh...what happened?"
"You brought the house down," Kagome said, somewhere between laughter and anger. "And that fell on you."
He followed her gesture to the great slab of stone that rested at his feet, its near end barely propped against the wall--with just enough space beneath for them to have had refuge. And Kagome must have dragged him out once the rockfall ended. "Gah...no wonder..."
"If you hadn't pushed us to the wall...it might've been worse." She pointed to the Tetsusaiga, whose rusted blade was pressed flat beneath the massive rock--where they had been standing moments before it had fallen.
Wincing, Inuyasha sat up, mindful of anything that might be broken. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be; he just had bruises everywhere, and countless abraisions on his face, shoulders, and arms--along with a particularly acute sore spot toward the back of his head. He dragged himself up against the wall, leaning back on it with a half-muffled groan.
Kagome didn't look much better. Her shoulder was bloodied--the sight and scent of it making him flinch--and there was a nasty scrape on her chin. With the amount of blood he could smell--her blood, which always set him on edge--she probably had more wounds than he did, with her weak mortal skin.
The tunnel back to the rats' cavern was blocked, jammed with boulders and stones. There would be no going back that way; Inuyasha couldn't say for sure how large the rockfall was, and even if Tetsusaiga wasn't pinned under a huge slab of stone he couldn't risk another cave-in trying to cut his way out.
Just to make matters worse, the tunnel ahead had collapsed as well; the rockfall had come down all around them, and only the presence of the huge boulder that had knocked him down, along with several others braced precariously against each other, gave them any living space at all. Without those massive slabs that he had cut with his wild attacks, they would have been crushed by the smaller rocks above them.
But, unfortunately, in saving them from the rats he'd trapped them both, in a dark, cramped space about three meters long and two wide. He hoped their air wouldn't run out very soon.
Kagome quietly pulled herself over next to him--comfortably close, but still keeping a proper distance. For a long time she was quite silent; the only sounds were the puffs of breath and her worried heartbeat in the dimness.
"So," she finally said. "Why didn't you tell me you're scared of rats?"
Inuyasha sat straight up off the tunnel wall, indignant. "I am not afraid of rats!"
"Uh-huh." Kagome looked skeptical as well as faintly angry. "You were upset the moment we entered this mountain, and you've been nervous ever since you heard the rats. And then you almost had a meltdown when you saw them."
Inuyasha's cheeks burned--he wasn't quite certain what a "meltdown" was, but the context gave him a hint--and he stared down at the rock floor. "I'm not scared of rats," he asserted.
Kagome frowned at him, her lips pursing as she considered him for long moments. Just as he began to fidget under her gaze--just about to demand what she was doing--her eyes suddenly widened and she stared at something just behind him. "Look out--a big rat!" she gasped.
"Yip!" Inuyasha shot off the floor and was on the other side of the tunnel space before he registered the fact that Kagome was laughing at him. Laughing so hard she nearly had tears flowing down her cheeks--despite her obvious and somewhat futile efforts to keep a straight face.
"That's not funny!" he shouted, embarrassed and indignant.
Kagome sat up straight and wiped her eyes, still chuckling. "I'm sorry--really, I'm sorry! That wasn't nice. But...you should have seen...your face--and that yelp..." She fell into giggles again. "I wonder if this'll work like you-know-what-word. I'll say that word to stop you and 'rat' to make you run faster."
"It's not funny!" he gritted out, hands clenched at his sides. "And it's not fair! You'd never let me pick on someone else's weakness, would you?"
Kagome's laughter faded, and she sat back against the wall. "I'm sorry. You're right...I shouldn't make fun of you. I guess I'm just a little angry at you for getting us stuck here...and it seemed nice to get you back for some things you've said. But that proves it..."
"Proves what?" Inuyasha sat back down with a grumble. "You don't have anything to prove."
"You are afraid of rats." Kagome sighed, looking thoughtful. "It is odd, though. I'd always thought that dogs chase rats like cats chase mice."
"I'm not a dog," Inuyasha growled, staring at his fists clenched in his lap. "You don't understand anything. I'm a--" He stopped, gritted his teeth, and took a deep breath. "I'm...afraid of rats...for a reason."
Well. That admission looked like it hurt more than the falling rocks had. "Why?" Kagome asked softly.
Inuyasha never looked at her, just at the clawed hands fisted in his lap. When he began, his voice was full of quiet anger and old pain.
"It was a long time ago. Right after my mother died. I was five or so--just a little whelp. My brother..." He paused, as if hesitating to honor the older son of the Western Taiyoukai with that particular title. "Sesshomaru. He...he...beat me up, and threw me into a pit. Some old well. It was full of water...and rats. A lot of 'em. Some of 'em were drowned and some were swimming, and they climbed on me...on my head..."
He paused, shuddering, his ears lowering sideways as if flinching from a remembered sting. "I was there for hours, swimming and hanging on to the rocks and smacking rats. They were hungry, and angry...and they bit me. My ears..." Those said ears flattened completely at last. "You don't want to know. I finally got desperate enough to climb out. And that took a long time, too. I had rat bites everywhere...my shoulders, my head, my face..."
Kagome stared, mouth open, in profound sympathy. Oh...Inuyasha...what a horrible thing for a child to go through...!
"I'm lucky youkai don't scar," he said softly after a moment, "or I'd be a walking freak show. I dragged myself away into the woods like a dying dog..." He snarled silently at his own thoughtless words, the pain of the memory, as his voice grew stronger with anger. "I spent days naked and starving in the forest, fevered with disease from the rats. I was blind, and my hands were so bitten and torn from climbing I couldn't use them. I couldn't even walk. If I wasn't hanyou, I'd be dead...or crippled."
He snarled one last time, and his fangs seemed to gleam brightly in the dimness. "All I could think was that it was all Sesshomaru's fault. And I hated him for it. I'd never met him before then--only seen him once from a distance--but ever since that moment, I've hated him."
Oh, Inuyasha... Kagome could say nothing for a long time. She'd thought his indignation about Sesshomaru treating him "like dirt" stemmed from being kicked out of his father's household and called a lot of derogatory names...or something along those lines. She'd never suspected that Sesshomaru might actually have made a habit of torturing and tormenting him like that in his younger days.
But then, why not? She'd seen the cold uncaring in the older inu-youkai's face as he held Inuyasha by the throat and calmly ripped out his right eye to reach the hidden Black Pearl that held their father's tomb. Sesshomaru had not even cared to notice the pain that Inuyasha suffered.
And with this halting, painful tale, she'd just been given another tiny window into the soul of her companion.
"So now you know," Inuyasha said sullenly, after a few beats of silence. "Go ahead'n laugh."
"There's nothing funny about it," Kagome retorted quietly. "I promise I won't tease you any more. And I should've asked you first before I made fun of you. I'm really, really sorry."
Inuyasha snorted and turned away, but it was mostly to hide the intense relief on his face. "Then...you won't say anything about this to the others?"
"Of course I won't," Kagome whispered. "Not unless someone's life depends on it."
"Fine." His armor of surliness was back full-force, but there wasn't much conviction behind the grouch in his voice.
So they sat in the silent darkness for a long time, just listening to each other breathe.
"It's awful dark down here," Shippo whimpered softly, clinging to Sango's hair.
"What are you afraid of?" Sango asked, a bit short-tempered. "The others obviously made it beyond this point just fine. And I'm sure you can see many times better than we can."
"I merely hope our friends aren't dead or buried in a rockslide," Miroku murmured, watching the beam of the flashlight dance across the rocky walls.
At their feet, Kirara sniffed at some imprints on the floor, chirping softly to get their attention.
"With the way Inuyasha travels, I don't know how far ahead they are." Calling on her tracking skills, Sango took a moment to inspect the footprints in the dust her feline companion had found. "He's going on all fours here--carrying Kagome-chan by the look of it. He moves fast that way."
Miroku swallowed. "Then it may take us a long time to catch up with them."
Sango nodded grimly, and they continued to descend.
"Grrrrmph!"
"Inuyasha, don't hurt yourself."
"Shut up! If I could just get Tetsusaiga out...rrrrrrr--ah!" Inuyasha's hands slipped off the sword's grip and he flew over backwards, landing hard on his rump against the other side of the cave-in. "Ow...dammit!"
Kagome leaned back against the wall, looking pale. "Just give it a rest for a while, would you? You're wasting air."
In the amount of time that had passed--roughly an hour, Kagome guessed--the moss had steadily grown dimmer, probably from a lack of oxygen. She was starting to feel hot and tired, as well as afraid.
She hadn't told Inuyasha about her own fears, despite his honest confession. She was rather claustrophobic--not terribly so, but in a situation like this her fear would grow steadily worse. And she could feel it now, heavy and oppressive-- as though any minute, the tunnel was going to cave in on her the rest of the way. She tried to push the irrational thoughts away, but the press of stale air and darkness only brought them up again.
"What are you staring at?"
"Hn? Oh--nothing..." Kagome averted her wide-eyed stare from her companion.
"Something wrong?"
"No."
Despite her answer, Kagome was surprised to see him come to a crouch before her, staring into her eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked suddenly, his voice oddly soft.
"Of course I'm okay! What makes you think I'm not okay? I'm perfectly fine!"
"Hmmm?" Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward, almost nose-to-nose.
Kagome gulped and leaned back a little further. "What?"
"You are scared, aren't you?" he announced at length, more statement than question. "I can smell it."
"Scared? Me? Of what?" Kagome retorted. "Don't be stupid. There's nothing to be afraid of in here."
"Then don't let fear of enclosed places get the better of you," Inuyasha said directly, sitting back on his haunches. "You have to stay calm and ready, y'know. So we can get out."
"Wha--who--how--did you know I'm...I'm claustrophobic?"
"You're clu--clas--clutz...you're what?" Inuyasha looked perplexed by the complex word.
"Claustrophobic," Kagome giggled, her fear forgotten for a moment at the way he tried to fit the unfamiliar word to his tongue. "It means the same as what you said--the fear of enclosed spaces. Yes...I am, a little."
"Ah." He got up and went back to the trapped sword, poking around and looking for a way to lever it out.
"How did you know?"
He glanced at her, then shrugged. "Kikyo...mentioned once that she was, too. I...just guessed."
Kagome turned away. "Hmph. Nice to know we have something else in common."
Inuyasha didn't look at her for a long time.
"There's no other scent-trails," Shippo reported, hopping to Sango's shoulder again. "They definitely went down there."
"But how? The walls are so steep...they couldn't have climbed it. Couldn't Inuyasha have leaped over it?" Sango shone the flashlight over to the othe side of the dark chasm that blocked the path of the tunnel leading deeper into the mountain.
"He might have; it's an easy distance for him, even carrying Kagome-sama," Miroku observed. "But Kirara indicated that there is no trace of them over there, and Shippo concurs."
The feline youkai rumbled softly, indicating the hole with her broad head.
"Maybe he fell down," Shippo suggested, cocking an eyebrow quizzically at the cat-beast.
Sango nodded. "In any case, if that's where they went, we've got to go, too. Kirara!"
The taijiya's companion purred and stood still to be mounted, Sango climbing aboard first followed by Miroku and Shippo. "Watch the hands, houshi-sama," Sango warned sternly, "or you'll have to fly down under your own power."
"Ah--yes..." Miroku put on his most innocent face. "Of course."
Shippo shivered, staring down into the great, gaping chasm. "What if there's something bad down there?" he whispered.
"It's alright," Sango reassured him. "We're prepared."
"Indeed," Miroku agreed. "Best we should be ready for a possible attack. We do not know if what caused the earthquake was natural or not."
Sango nodded. "Right. Kirara, let's go."
With a determined growl, the fire-wreathed youkai launched herself into space, descending into the inky blackness, bearing her passengers into the unknown below.
Inuyasha's ears pricked at the sound of rock on rock, as though somewhere in the piles of rubble that trapped them, something was moving around. Growling softly deep in his throat, he glanced at where Kagome sat dozing in the corner and stepped close to the caved-in rocks the sound came from.
The sounds were steady and even, like...scratching? But they were deep, heavy scrapes, as if something very large and very determined was trying to dig its way in.
A sudden jolt of concern hit Inuyasha when he realized he couldn't sense whatever it was over there, whether it was youkai or mortal creature. A touch of fear rose up within when his already-stressed mind tossed him images of a giant, slavering monster-rat digging its way in, bent on devouring them gruesomely.
Get a grip, ahou, he scolded himself with a low snarl. Leaving the rockfall, he slunk to crouch protectively beside Kagome, golden eyes glistening in the dimness as he focused on the caved-in wall from which the noises emerged. Over time, the sounds grew steadily closer.
Half an hour later, they suddenly stopped.
"Yeeeeech!" Shippo complained loudly, covering his nose. "It reeks in here!"
Sango held her nose as well. "This is worse than reek," she mumbled, patting Shippo's head comfortingly. Currently, the little kitsune sat nearly in her lap, perched on Kirara's shoulders as the fire-cat youkai moved through the gloom above the subterranian lake.
"What kind of stench is this?" asked Miroku curiously. "It stinks of the dead."
"Smells like a bunch of rats," Shippo insisted, pulling himself up to Kirara's head, still pinching his own small nose as they came to rest on the rocky lakeshore and the passengers disembarked. The small group looked about in wary silence for a moment, before Shippo re-accumulated the courage to look around and snuffle a bit.
"Yuck," he informed them disgustedly, wrinkling his nose. "It's rats all right. Yup--floor's covered in rat poop. Ick...and I've got bare feet."
"Yes, it is disgusting," Miroku concurred, lifting his sandals somewhat daintily and looking carefully around. "But for this much stench to be present...where are all the rats?"
"Good question," Sango replied, realizing that the monk was right. Where were all the thousands of rats necessary to generate this much stench--and rodent waste?
"Guys?" Shippo quavered, having trotted up the bank a ways, following his nose. "Bring the light over here. I think I found some of the rats..."
Sango turned the flashlight in the direction of the kitsune and his find, walking toward the sound of his voice. Miroku followed and Kirara, still in her larger form, paced at his side.
Shippo stood beside one of several piles of rat bodies--of which there were hundreds, all lying haphazardly strewn about on the shore, in heaps of various sizes. They were all dead, every one of them--all of them mutilated to some degree as though some giant creature had mowed through them, slashing and crushing.
"This must be one of the leaders--this youkai-rat," Miroku observed, waving them over to one oversized corpse, this one a fearsome mutant rat the size of a large dog. "I can sense some residual youki left in the body. I wonder what killed it?"
"It must have been Inuyasha," Sango surmised. "Who else could have killed so many of them so quickly?"
"I don't think so," Shippo said softly, glancing at Kirara as she let out a pensive growl. "If he did, his scent would be all over the cave. And leftover bits of his youki, too--like this youkai-rat. But I can't smell him anywhere else, except on his trail."
The two humans glanced at each other, then back at the wise-for-his-years kitsune cub. Moments like these served as a stark reminder that Shippo was youkai, not ningen; that he had senses and instincts and learning that they did not--could not--and that he, despite being a child, might know more about some aspects of tracing the after-effects of a battle than any human warrior could ever hope to.
"And besides," the kit went on, glancing innocently up at them. "Look--this thing was crushed to death. Inuyasha may be a big dumb idiot, but he's not that big."
"You're right!" Sango realized. "This could be trouble. Whatever killed these rats may be after Kagome-chan and Inuyasha!"
"We must move," Miroku ordered. "Shippo, Kirara, please find the trail."
"Gotcha!" The kitsune went to work immediately, assisted by the willing firecat.
Kagome was pacing back and forth along the length of their stony prison. What's more, she was wringing her hands as she did it, looking increasingly nervous as time progressed. She had awakened from her doze feeling nervous, and continued to grow worse as their situation didn't improve.
The steady, even beat of her footsteps in the stuffy silence was slowly driving Inuyasha to distraction. "Dammit, girl," he finally growled, "can't you sit still for just one minute?"
Kagome slowed, looked at him, and resumed pacing--this time in a circle. "I'm sorry...I'm just worried, I guess." Her voice shook oddly, and he noticed the trace of disguised desperation in her tone.
"About what?" Inuyasha snorted. "Maybe the cave-slime will seep off the walls and devour us?"
"Don't say that!" Kagome snapped, whirling on him suddenly. "Baka! You don't know what could be in this place! There were those rats, and you're afraid of them--and we don't even know what else might be...!" She wrung her hands and resumed pacing.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and shifted onto his back, staring at the dark rocky ceiling of their prison. "Don't be stupid, Kagome. I'll figure out how to get Tetsusaiga loose, and dig us out without making another cave-in, and we'll meet up with the others and finish this mess. We're not going to die from something this pathetic."
"Are we?" Kagome had stopped her pacing and was just standing there, staring at the cave-in that led back to the rats. "How can you be sure? We could die down here. The air could run out, or the walls could fall down if you dig, or we might starve if it takes too long...and we'll die..."
Inuyasha rolled up and stared at her, his expression concerned and intense. It was not like her at all to be so pessimistic, especially with how she so often professed to believe in him. Is she nuts? What is she talking about...?
"We'll die...buried alive..."
"Kagome...?"
Her piercing scream actually scared him--so sudden, shrill, and desperate--jolting him to his feet as she threw herself against the cave-in and beat on it with her small fists. She was suddenly crying, sobbing loudly as she bloodied her hands against the stone.
Inuyasha automatically leaped to her side, taking her wrists and pulling her away from the rocks, trying to hold her so she wouldn't injure herself further. The thought of her getting hurt... "O-oi, Kagome, snap out of it! What's wrong with you? Get a grip!"
"Let go! Let go! I want out!" she cried. "Please, let me go! Osuwari!"
With a yelping growl, Inuyasha thumped roughly to the ground, jarring his cheekbone and sternum painfully against the rocks--remembering at the last moment to release her so he wouldn't drag her down with him. As she ran for the other side of the enclosure, he spent a few instants dragging air into his bruised chest. Shit! She's panicked!
Kagome flung herself again at the pile of stones, bruising and scraping her fingers in her terrified need to get out. Her previous injury began to bleed again; the smell of her blood and panic filled him with desperation that rivaled her own. He had to get to her.
"Kagome, stop it!" Inuyasha dragged himself to his feet, wincing. He was at her side again, pulling her away, but this time she fought him--panicked enough to try to pull the huge boulders themselves out of her way.
"Lemme go! We've got to get out of here! Please, let go, let go, we have to get out! The rats will come or the tunnel will fall and we'll die in here!" She was sobbing uncontrollably, shaking so hard he could feel it.
She's gone completely crazy! Inuyasha realized with a sudden pang of fear in his gut. Kagome's claustrophobia had increased in the hours here, where the darkness pressed in and crushed her, and her fears had reached a breaking point. She wanted air and sunlight in a place where they were impossible to obtain...and thus her resolve had broken down.
Inuyasha gripped her arms, quite desperate and not sure at all what to do with her. Her sobs unnerved him almost painfully, and her struggles caused her to bang against his already sore ribs; at that, he began to grow angry--not enraged-angry but frightened-angry, desperate-angry--and clutched her arms tighter. "Stop it, wench! Snap out of it!"
She struggled harder, almost dislodging herself--but he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her body to keep her from flinging herself loose. Her thrashing unbalanced them both, and they toppled together--Kagome below and Inuyasha above, trying not to crush her as they landed.
She wriggled and cried out, her arms trapped above her head by his inexhorable grip, pinned bodily against him by his weight and strength. She wouldn't stop struggling, wouldn't stop crying--and it grated on him, frightened him, angered him, worried him. She wouldn't listen to him and she wasn't acting like herself.
He found it amazingly difficult to keep her pinned, despite his obvious advantage--he didn't want to hurt her, or for her to hurt herself, making it hard to tighten his grip and press down on her. Strange impulses welled up in him--things he did, and at the same time, didn't understand.
She was acting crazy and she wouldn't listen to him. It was unacceptable; it was dangerous to both of them, and if she did not stop she could be hurt. If she did not stop, he would never be able to calm her down. If she did not stop...he didn't know what to do.
He had to make her stop.
Without thinking, without understanding, without even knowing why...he bit her on the nose.
The pure shock of his teeth closing on the bridge of her nose snapped Kagome out of her hysteria like a bucket of cold water. Blue eyes wide, she uttered one last frightened squeak and went silent, frozen to the spot.
It didn't hurt--he wasn't using the full force of his fangs. The grip was firm without breaking her skin; not quite painful, but certainly strange and unexpected--and decidedly commanding.
The tableau lasted for less than three seconds.
Inuyasha's eyes snapped wide, and a cold jolt of shock cracked through his muscles as he realized what he was doing. He released her immediately and leaped away from her, appalled at his own behavior. What on Earth had gotten into him, and... And why the hell did I just do that? I just bit Kagome! What is wrong with me?
Kagome sat up slowly, trembling visibly with tear-streaks glistening on her face--staring at him as he flushed and stammered and cringed back against the wall, fully expecting the worst sits of his entire existence.
And this time, he knew he deserved it. He had bitten her like a common animal!
"I'm sorry I'm sorry it wasn't supposed to happen I didn't mean to I'm sorry--" The words tumbled out of his mouth in a stream as a result of his shame. He didn't even care that he was actually apologizing to her--he was so mortified by his own actions that he couldn't help himself.
"Inuyasha..."
"--shouldn't have done it and--"
"...thank you..."
"--completely stupid--ah...uh...huh?" He stared at her in abject astonishment, as she curled up against the wall and began to cry softly.
As usual, her tears reduced his innards to quivering mush--more than they already were--and made him feel even more guilty. Almost afraid to come any closer, he slunk toward her on all fours, his belly close to the ground and his ears pinned to his head like a repentant puppy. Her scent told him she was still terrified, as well as ashamed; craning his neck, he tried to see her face. "Kagome? I...I..."
"I'm sorry...Inuyasha..." she managed to say, trying to wipe her eyes on her scarf between sobs. "I can't help it...I'm so scared..."
Shaken by her rapid series of changes, he tried to respond. "Ah...er...it's okay. I...uh...know how you feel..."
"I'm sorry..." She finally raised her eyes to look at him, seeing him crouched low before her--flat-eared and huge-eyed, the very picture of canine repentance and misery. She couldn't help herself; it was so unlike him that she actually giggled a little. "Inuyasha...are you going to look guilty forever? It isn't your fault..."
"I...I don't know why that happened," Inuyasha said, drawing away as a very red hue appeared high on his cheeks again. He cleared his throat and tried unsuccessfully to return to his former gruff demeanor, sitting up straight and keeping his distance. "It of me. I apologize for...accosting you," he said stiffly, formally.
Kagome didn't answer him; instead, she curled up again and returned to leaning against the wall, sniffling softly.
Inuyasha was more shaken by her silence than her verbal responses; uncertain, he backed away and sat in the far corner, watching her. He was frozen; inwardly, his mind spun with worry and fear. Was it his accidental bite that made her so quiet? Had he harmed her, frightened her so badly that she would not speak to him?
I hope she won't stay mad. Is she mad? Shit, I hope I didn't hurt her...I didn't smell blood when I...when I did it, but... What's the matter, Kagome? Please do something...yell at me, sit me--anything...just don't be so silent forever...
But Kagome still said nothing, and left Inuyasha alone in the corner with his shame and doubt.
"What a horrible mess!" Miroku breathed.
"You can say that again!" Shippo seconded, wide-eyed.
Sango stared at the caved-in wall ahead of them. "Now what are we going to do?"
"What if they're...under all this?" Shippo wondered, his voice slightly choked.
"I am not even going to consider that!" Sango snapped. "Get busy, kitsune! Transform into something big so we can move this rubble!"
Startled, the child squeaked. "Yes, ma'am!"
Kirara lent a hand--or a paw--as well, digging at the rubble and shouldering the heavy stones aside.
Miroku, who had paused further back in the tunnel, concluded his observations of the rubble's layout and walked up beside his laboring companions. "Sango, Shippo--I believe someone or something has been here before us."
"Yeah--Kagome and Inuyasha," Shippo grunted, having taken the form of something that vaguely resembled a large blue gorilla with big arms and long-fingered hands--ugly, but perfect for levering stones. He wasn't actually very powerful, though; his shape only increased his size, not his strength.
"No--please observe; the rocks back down the tunnel were shifted there from here, as if something was trying to dig through here as well."
Sango glanced back at the strewn stones, her eyes widening as she noted the fresh rock-dust and suspicious-looking parallel scrapes on their surfaces. "Of course! Where else could they have come from, besides this very cave-in?"
"Something was trying to dig them out," Miroku agreed. "Whether it was trying to help or trying to harm, it was trying to get to them. And that means..."
"Something knows they're alive in there!" Shippo crowed, digging with renewed vigor. "Kagome! Inuyasha! Kagome!"
"Kagome-chan!" Sango joined the call. "Kagome-chan, if you can hear me, answer!"
"Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted, trying for the sharper-eared of the two. "Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha was jolted out of his quiet misery by the sudden muffled shouts that seemed to rise from right behind him. He jumped up from the wall, startled, but calmed instantly as he realized it was the voices of Shippo, Miroku, and Sango.
"Kagome!" he hissed, calling into the gloom. "Kagome, they're here."
"The others?" Kagome blurted, a faint sob of relief in her voice as she scrambled to his side. "Oh thank goodness!"
"Shippo! Sango!" Inuyasha shouted, his voice carrying through the strangely thin wall of their confinement.
"Inuyasha!" answered Sango's muffled voice. "Oh--they're alive!"
"We're coming!" Shippo said, amidst the sounds of scraping rock. "Is Kagome there with you?"
"Of course--and she's fine!" Inuyasha turned to look into Kagome's face, and was reassured to see that her expression was now shining with relief and hope. "We're getting out of here!" he said with an eager grin, flexing his taloned fingers at the prospect of digging them out in earnest.
Kagome was finally able to smile. "I'm glad!"