Previously:
Seiko glared at Kagome for a moment, "She wanted revenge on Naraku. Aka-chan told me that he killed her family and dragged her here. She stores the jewel in her body. It breaks down and becomes one with her blood, you can't get the jewel unless she willingly gives it to you."
Akako's eyes fluttered and Kagome gasped, "She lost all that blood and still she lives?" She questioned nobody in particular before glaring at Inuyasha, "We need to get a fire started so that we can clean her wounds. And I need my medical kit." Glances at Miroku who rushes to get her bag.
Kagome worked quickly to stop the bleeding, when the fire was ready she quickly boiled some water and used a rag to clean the wounds. Soon after she stitched the wounds that covered Akako's stomach before bandaging them and covering the unconscious girl with a blanket. She then hurried to wash the blood from her hands and to change into another outfit.
Kagome threw the blood-stained uniform into her bag and quickly threw on a pair of blue pants and a silver t-shirt that showed off her womanly figure. She then sat beside the injured girl, occasionally wiping her forhead with a cool, damp cloth. She guarded Akako throughout the night, noting that the girl's condition seemed to worsen, they would need a healer's help if it got much worse.
Now:
Kagome jerked herself awake at dawn, unsure of when she had gone to sleep, but knowing instantly what had awaken her. Where Akako had been laying in the grass was a small indent and some drops of blood, "Inuyasha!" She called, as she looked at the unsteady steps that led away from the camp.
"What is it wench?" Inuyasha yawned and leapt out of a tree, glaring at her.
"She's gone." Kagome said softly, "Look." She pointed to the footsteps.
"Who's gone?" Seiko, the other fox kit, Akako's traveling companion who had been prieviously kidnapped and used against her by Naraku, said sitting up slowly, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
She looked at Kagome with wide, innocent eyes and Kagome couldn't help but kneel before the kit and take her into her arms, "Your traveling companion wandered off." She murmured softly, beginning to rock Seiko back and forth in her arms as the kit burst into tears.
"She l-left because of Naraku." She whimpered, "because the w-way he u-used me against h-her, trying t-to get the j-jewel. S-she's afraid t-that it'll h-happen again." Seiko buried her face into Kagome's shirt, "She's in no condition to be wandering about!" Seiko glared angrily at Inuyasha, "I saw what you did to her, you jerk."
"Wha-" Inuyasha began, knowing what he had done only by vague descriptions by those that had not been there at the time.
The others had now awoken, and Inuyasha was cut off by a shout, "Hentai!" Sango cried, slapping Miroku after he had 'stumbled' and placed a hand on her breast.
"Sango, you misunderstand!" Miroku pleaded.
"Baka." Shippo said, rolling his eyes and standing up, "Kagome, what's going on anyway?" He asked when he saw Seiko curled up in her lap, shoulders shaking.
"I n-need to find Aka-chan!" Seiko piped up suddenly, jumping out of Kagome's lap and making as if to run into the woods, only to suddenly realize that she was in the air- looking into a certain Hanyou's eyes.
"No, you're not going, you stay with Kagome and I'll go. That damn girl has our shards." He said furiously.
Seiko smirked, "You're not going to get them back from her."
"The hell I'm not." Inuyasha muttered, dropping her and running into the trees.
Earlier that morning, with Akako
She woke up, her mind fogged with fever and stumbled silently to her feet, glancing about her dizzily. Everyone was asleep, somehow the other young kit- Shippo had ended up curled up near Miroku while Sango and Kirara slept peacefully together. Akako saw Seiko sleeping by the dying fire with a pang in her heart, knowing that she had to continue her journey alone. She tore off the bandages and threw them into the fire, her wounds having healed themselves in the night, leaving angry pink scars behind where the Hanyou's claws had torn hungrily at her flesh.
Akako shivered and placed her hand on the only wound that hadn't healed itself- the wound just below her ribcage. It had been to deep for her body to heal. Tiredly she made her way to the trees, leaning heavily against anything that would support her weight as she ran, it would be dawn in a few hours and she had to get as far away from them as she possibly could.
She stumbled and tripped many times as she moved, after what seemed like ages, the sun finally rose. Akako sat down for a moment to catch her breath. She breathed rapidly, wincing everytime her chest expanded, and in moments was on her feet again, although, instead of running, she was walking slowly.
The day went by at a grueling pace, and as the sun rose higher into the sky, it grew hotter until the temperature was almost unbearable to Akako. Her feet felt like lead and she was overjoyed to find a small stream- which widened a little farther down but it didn't concern her at the moment.
Quickly the girl pulled off her clothing and dove into the refreshing water. It instantly cooled her burning skin, soothing her of previous aches and pains. Akako sighed heavily as she resurfaced and stood still, closing her eyes to allow the cool water to seep into her. A movement on shore caused Akako to glance up in surprise- a large lizard-like demon was making it's way into the water, closer to her.
She swam as hard as she could to reach the shore before it reached her, but it was too late, she knew as soon as it wrapped slimy hands around her shoulders, jerking her back towards it. "So," It hissed, "you thought that you could get away from me did you?"
Akako struggled to get away, but her arms and shoulders were absolutely numb, seeing her confused look the demon laughed, "I've poisoned you, child, you will be paralyzed for quite some time."
"Let... go!" Akako said, leaning away from the beast.
"Oh... but you'll make such a tasty treat." The demon said sarcastically.
Akako managed to slip out of it's grasp and struggled to shore. It was quite a job throwing on her pants and t-shirt, but she finally managed and took off into the trees, arms limp at her side. She could hear the demon moving behind her, waiting for her to wear herself out, what she did not expect, as she cornered herself at a cliff, "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Akako turned in time to see Inuyasha moving towards her.
The demon, in a last effort to get the girl dug his fists into the ground, causing it to crack around both Inuyasha and Akako. She stood rooted to the spot, not out of fear, but because she couldn't get her muscles to work. "Oi wench, move!" Inuyasha shouted, promptly killing the demon.
Akako looked towards him with wide eyes, "I- can't move." She murmured as the ground splintered, caving beneath her.
"What!" Inuyasha leapt to her side and grabbed her around the waist, but by then it was to late, the two were falling through empty space, to hard earth that was hundreds of feet below them, cushioned by tall trees that were reaching for them. Neither made a sound as the ground rushed ever nearer.
Akako breathed deeply and slowly, closing her eyes as they finally impacted, she knew no more.
With the others, 2 days later
"Where is Inuyasha, shouldn't he be back by now?" Miroku asked worriedly.
"Yeah, he should have been back," Kagome said, looking at him with tearful eyes, "Do you think that something happened?"
Seiko whimpered in her sleep, "Akako no, get away from there!" And then was silent.
"Do you think she's okay? The poor kit hasn't eaten anything yet." Sango said, glancing towards the sleeping kit.
"She's just worried about her friend." Miroku muttered, glancing at the trees, "but what in the seven hells could be taking so long?"
"I don't know, but maybe we should go look." Kagome said in determination, her eyes gleaming.
"Uh, Kagome?" Shippo said, looking at her curiously, "are you so sure we should go?"
"Uh-huh." Kagome stood, "Right now in fact, the earlier we get going the better."
Seiko sat up suddenly, and looked shakily at the group. She stood and made her way towards them, attempting a shy smile, "have they returned yet?" she asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not." Sango said, shaking her head, "but we're going to look for them rather than sit here as we are."
"All right!" Seiko exclaimed, a feeling of dread settling into the pit of her stomach, "Aka-chan, here we come." The last part was whispered.
As soon as they had cleaned everything up, the group started off into the trees, unsure of any particular direction they just kept moving in ever widening circles. Eventually they came to a stream, where there was a lot of broken foliage. The group ran along the broken path until they came to a cliff, Seiko squeaked and fell to her knees, eyes wide and shaking her head, "What's wrong?" Shippo asked, blushing furiously as he kneeled next to Seiko.
"Th-this is just like in my dream, this whole scene, even that- that corpse over there!" She pointed a shaky finger towards the broken edge of the cliff, "which means that both Inuyasha and Aka-chan have fallen over!"
The others paled considerably and looked cautitiously over the edge, "It's such a long fall, surely they didn't-"
"You don't understand!" Seiko cried in frustration, "Aka-chan and I share a special link, I know when bad things happen."
"You what?" Shippo asked wide eyed.
"Ever since we met we shared a link." Seiko said tearfully, "something bad happened here, can't you tell?"
"I'll take Kirara down for a look." Sango said, Kirara was instantly engulfed in flames and her body was enlarged, Sango leapt onto her back and looked at the others.
"I'm going to!" Seiko said, scrambling onto the cat demon's back before anybody could object, she gripped the fur so as not to be pulled away and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Let's go, Kirara." Sango said softly, and they were off, bounding through the air to the base of the cliff.
As soon as the cat demon's paws touched the ground, Seiko leapt off and began to search through the trees. Sango was at her heels, Kirara tucked safely in her arms, back in her small form. Both of them froze when they saw the massive destruction before them, trees twisted and blown apart, a crater rested in the center of the mess. Fearfully the two rushed forward- the hole was empty thankfully, but what had caused the mess in the first place?
The two started away when Seiko's sharp eyes caught sight of a necklace. She rushed towards it and lifted it into the air, "this- this is Aka-chan's!" She squealed excitedly, relief evident in her voice, "She didn't die, thank god!"
With Inuyasha and Akako
He had awoken some odd time after the accident and looked at the girl that rested in his arms, "how?" He asked aloud, "how are we even still alive?"
He remembered then, the happenings just before impact, the two of them had been surrounded by a purple light, trying to keep them up, but by then it had been too late and they had fallen. "This girl," He murmured, standing, "saved our lives."
Inuyasha turned and lifted her unconscious form into the air- surprised at howlight she was- and stepped out of therather largehole they made. He barely glanced at the massive wreckage of trees as he began to walk slowly. At nightfall he stopped, perspiration glistening on his brow. Inuyasha hurriedly set up a temporary camp and lay down to rest his rather sore joints.
Early the next morning Inuyasha rose to see that Akako hadn't awoken. She was sleeping in a fetal position, sighing heavily, unsure of where he was going his sense of smell completely useless at the moment, but he knew that eventually he would find somebody he knew... eventually.
That day was spent padding through eerie silence, which went unnoticed, for had there been a sound, it would have fallen on deaf ears anyway. "Kagome..." Inuyasha murmured, "where are you now? Are you waiting? Or looking even?"
He noticed that as the day grew cooler, the small form in his arms would move closer and closer to his warmth. Nearby was a powerful aura- Inuyasha knew who it belonged to even before the figure stepped onto the path before him. "Sesshomaru." Inuyasha growled coldly, seeing his brother.
"Still running around with humans I see, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said coolly, peering almost curiously at the girl in his arms.
"Well... you've got yours." Inuyasha said, indicating the human child that was some distance away.
At this comment Sesshomaru's face was briefly constricted with concern, as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone, "I required the services of your miko, but seeing that she's not here-"
Akako stirred and jerked herself out of Inuyasha's arms, landing heavily on her bottom. She looked blearily up at the half-brothers in confusion. Her eyes darted to Sesshomaru's arm, the arm that Inuyasha had cut off. They were quickly glazed with power and Sesshomaru's arm began to twitch. Inuyasha looked at it wide-eyed as the skin stretched and pulled, and was surprised when he heard Sesshomaru gasp.
Inuyasha was able to tear his eyes away from the pulsating flesh long enough to notice the purple energy emmitting itself from Akako's body, "What the hell!" He muttered.
She heaved a mighty sigh and leaned forward, the energy gone. Inuyasha's attention was drawn back to Sesshomaru who was flexing the fingers of his left arm- wait!Left, "What-" Inuyasha began, glaring back towards Akako, "Why did you do that?"
The girl simply smiled sheepishly and looked down at the ground, "sometimes they have a will of their own, but I trust that my powers will heal the right people." She blushed furiously.
"Hmm... maybe this girl would be able to help Rin." Sesshomaru said thoughtfully, glancing her way as if studying her.
Akako smiled briefly, studying him before speaking, "you really care for this injured mortal child don't you?" She asked, "I will help her."
She looked defiantly at Inuyasha who looked as though he would object before standing and moving swiftly forward, "take me to her, it oughtn't take long." She said, cutting off words that Inuyasha had been about to speak, "you have no say over what I do, hanyou. I go where I want to go and nowhere else."
"Why you-" Inuyasha growled.
Akako's hand went instantly to the still fresh wound below her chest and winced, unconsciously pressing closer to Sesshomaru, "Your Rin, she needs healing now, so let's... go." Akako said finally turning to the tall, white haired man behind her, and with that they left the startled Inuyasha to stare at their rapidly disappearing forms openmouthed.
"Damn that wench!" He muttered, taking up the trail.
A/N Well! There's chapter two for you- sorry but I haven't had the inspiration to write on it for a few days. Yeah, I know it's a bit iffy, and I would willingly take advice from my readers, so don't be afraid to step forward, kay?
Anyway, to the reviewer's corner! WOOSH!
inuyashaluver12345- wow, I have one reviewer... hopefully that'll change soon. Anyway, thanks alot, your review was much appreciated, hope to see you next chapter!