AN: I'm baaaaaack! How's it going? Thanks to those of you that reviewed. To those who didn't, well. . . nevermind. Come on! How hard is it to push a few little buttons! Even if it was only one word, I'd be happy. You could leave a review that said 'More' and I'd be happy! sigh oh well. Anyway. . . read on, people.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Don't own Sesshy either. If I did. . . well lets just say that I wouldn't be writing right now.

Chapter Two: More Questions Than Answers

Sesshomaru looked down at his patient. In their area, he was known for being able to heal just about anything. From headaches to heart attacks, he could usually help. 'But this?' He thought, studying the girl's unmarked face. It really was startling how much she looked like Kikyo, yet the serving girl swore that she didn't know her. That, however, was the least of his worries. He wasn't quite sure how the girl managed to pull through those first few hours. With how much blood she had lost, it was a miracle that she had lasted thirty minutes. He glanced up to find his aunt watching the girl also.

"It's still so odd," she said softly, not looking away.

He nodded, murmuring a sound of agreement. "Most would have died long ago," he commented, voice even.

"That, among other things," remarked Kaede, stepping away from the bed with a sigh.

She was right. There were so many odd things about what had happened, he did not know where to begin. After a few moments of deliberation, he decided to start on the girl herself. Besides the fact that she looked enough like Kikyo for them to be sisters, there were many odd things about her. Her hands bore evidence of work, which led him to believe that she was a peasant or at the very least not noble, yet the nightgown she wore when he brought her in was of unmistakably high quality, too expensive to be afforded by just anyone. The fact that she was in possession of a cloak bearing Lord Naraku's crest was puzzling as well. Finding nothing conclusive, he directed his thoughts to her wounds. All of the wounds on her appendages where quite uniform, all the same length and depth and distance apart, with the exception of the particularly deep cut on her left leg. It was just as long and the same distance apart from the others, but it seemed as if the one who inflicted her with the wounds purposely wanted that one to be deeper than the rest. The cuts on her back were the same. All five of them were roughly six inches in length, running from between her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. The wounds must have taken a long time to create. 'Whoever did this to her must have been patient. But they cut through the back of the nightgown. They were patient enough to make the cuts, but not patient enough to remove the gown? Or perhaps they didn't want to remove it. But why?' He was at a loss yet again. He just couldn't come to any conclusion about the girl . She was like an unsolvable puzzle. He was stumped, and he hated to be stumped.

With a sigh, he set about checking the girl's vitals again, having done so every hour for the eight she had been there. He noted, puzzled, that her pulse seemed to have improved since the last time he checked her. 'Odd,' he mused, then checked her breathing. Her breath came in short, soft gusts. It was not necessarily back to normal, but it was a vast improvement.

"She will be fine. If she has pulled through thus far, she will make it a few more hours while you get some rest," said Kaede softly, watching her nephew check the girl.

The young man sighed. "You're right." He paused for a moment, then continued. "I just can't figure this out."

The woman smiled, touching his arm. "Then perhaps you were not supposed to find out as of yet. Perhaps the girl was supposed to relieve your curiosity herself."

Sesshomaru didn't reply, but instead looked down at his new 'patient'. Without another word, he got a blanket and set it in the chair next to the bed.

Kaede shook her head, still smiling. She hadn't expected the young man to go back to his room. 'After all, a good healer never leaves their charge,' she thought, watching her nephew settle himself in his makeshift bed, glancing at the girl once again. The woman laughed. "She'll be fine."

He gave a tense sigh and watched his aunt leave. With one last brief look in his patient's direction, he closed his eyes and let sleep claim him.

He woke roughly five hours later and cursed himself for resting so long. 'I must have been more tired than I thought.' He stood, putting the blanket away and turned to the bed.

The girl was still resting, she showed no sign of waking. Without wasting any time, he checked her. 'She's still alive,' he noted, examining her. 'And better off than last night.' He eyed her bandages, then decided to change them out with fresh ones. 'I'm surprised the blood hasn't soaked through yet.' He removed one of the cloth dressings and stared. 'That shouldn't be possible.' He blinked, then looked once again. Sure enough, the same thing greeted his eyes. He shook his head, still staring, then came to his senses and left the room. He walked down to the edge of the staircase.

"Kaede?" he called, voice neutral as always.

"Yes?" Her voice wafted up the stairwell.

"Could you come here for a moment?"

A few seconds later, he could hear her footsteps approaching the third floor. "What is it?" she asked, a bit breathlessly, as she reached the landing. He didn't reply, but turned walked back to the room where the girl slept.

"Look at this," he said finally, uncovering the wound once again.

The woman gasped softly. The wound had grown smaller. It was nearly half the size it had been the night before. Wordlessly, her nephew uncovered a few more, to discover that they too had shrunken. She stared, blinked, then went back into the hallway. Sesshomaru could hear her calling for Kikyo. A few moments later, the two women entered the room. "Look," said Kaede simply.

Kikyo's reaction was more similar to his own. Other than a widening of her eyes, there was no other evidence of her surprise. They all stared at the wounds on the girl's arm in silence.

"There is no way that a normal person could heal that quickly," said Sesshomaru finally.

"She heals like a miko," commented Kikyo, voice soft.

"A very powerful miko," added Kaede, then the room once again lapsed into silence.

'It still doesn't make any sense,' thought Sesshomaru, annoyed. He mentally shook himself, then set about redressing her smaller wounds. 'They probably won't even leave scars.' He thought otherwise as her looked at the deepest wound on her left leg. 'This one might.' He continued on his tasks, finishing quickly and disposed of the bandages. Some healers kept their bandages, merely washing them as a way to save cloth. He, however, did not. He only used new bandages, for he would not have his patients becoming even more ill because a bandage might not have been washed properly.

Kikyo's voice caught his attention. "Did you find out anything about her?"

"Nothing of use." 'She's like one big paradox,' he thought with a silent sigh. His aunt was about to speak when he could see something moving out of the corner of his eye. It was the girl. 'Could she be waking already?' he thought, moving towards the edge of the bed. He saw movement again. She was clenching and unclenching her fingers slowly. 'She may have healed quickly, but she is still weak.' He watched her warily as she opened her eyes.

The first thing he noticed was their color, one of the key differences between her and Kikyo. The serving girl's eyes were grey, the color of thunderheads. The injured girl before him had eyes like a storm, grey like Kikyo's but also with a distinct tone of blue. Those blue-grey orbs widened in fear. He merely stood there, watching her take in his presence. After a moment, recognition settled over her features and she relaxed marginally.

"So she's awake then?" asked Kaede softly. The girl turned her head slightly to find the source of the voice. When the girl's eyes met hers, the woman smiled. The girl relaxed a bit more. Then she saw Kikyo.

Her eyes widened once again and she gasped softly. They all waited in silence as she watched the girl who looked so much like herself.

Kikyo let a small smile grace her lips. The girl looked at her warily, but was evidently trying to calm herself. They could actually see her force the tension from her body, taking deep breaths. After a few moments, the girl licked her lips and spoke. The language had no meaning to Kaede and Kikyo, but Sesshomaru recognized it. It was the common tongue of their neighboring country, Sakaio. 'Where am I?' she was asking.

Although he could understand her and reply in her native language, he used his own to see if she could understand. "You are in Taisoku. What is your name?"

She obviously understood him well enough, for she replied "Higurashi Kagome." She licked her lips again ('Must be a nervous habit,' thought Sesshomaru) and continued. "Is she- is she real?"

Kikyo laughed softly. "I assure you, I am just as real as you are."

She seemed to take the information in stride, then turned slowly to Sesshomaru with wide confused eyes. "What happened?"

"Actually, we were hoping you could tell us," said Kaede softly, watching her.

Her brow furrowed in thought. 'Maybe we can finally get some answers if she remembers,' thought Sesshomaru, remaining silent. After a few seconds, an expression of realization fell into place on the girl's visage. He watched as emotions flickered across her face. Disbelief. Horror. Repulsion. Sadness. Anger. Hopelessness. And many more he couldn't put a name to, before she settled on a blank stare. She continued to look, emotionlessly, at whatever was directly in front of her. Moment after moment ticked by as she did nothing but gaze, unseeing, at the wall before her. Then she blinked, once, twice, and turned to Sesshomaru as if he could give her the answers. His face remained impassive, but still she looked to him. Then she turned away from them, burying her face into her pillow. For the longest, all they heard was her breathing.

Sesshomaru looked away from her and to the women standing on the other side of the room. The shook their heads and shrugged. They didn't know what to think, and neither did he. But her reaction was better than nothing, bleak as it was. He didn't like the way things were looking and, if her behavior was any indicator, he had every right to assume the worst. The two women eventually left the room silently, leaving only him with his coping patient. There was not a sound. Sesshomaru didn't expect her to say anything, so he go to work grinding the herbs for another paste. Her wounds, though small as they were, could still use some. It came as a slight shock when he heard her speak.

"Who was she?"

He knew what she was talking about. "Her name is Kikyo."

"Oh." He could hear her shift on the bed.

"Do you know her?"

"No."

Sesshomaru let the conversation die a natural death as he continued to grind the herbs. His thoughts drifted to what they were supposed to do with the girl now known as 'Higurashi Kagome'. 'We'll send her on her way, back to Sakaio. But if she has nowhere to go. . .' He sighed silently. 'This should be interesting.'

AN: Okay. I'm back with chapter two. It would have been longer, but I thought it best to split this chapter into two smaller parts. You get faster updates and I get somewhat of a break. So. . . yeah. I would have updated Unfortunate Circumstances (goodness that is a pain to type) but every time I tried, I kept getting ideas for T.T.T.L Oh well. I'll figure out something. Got questions? Need answers? Ask! As much as I would love to, I cannot read minds, so REVIEW! If you do, I'll give you a cupcake. Buh bye for now!