Miroku glanced about, unsure of where he was. It seemed unnaturally calm; there were no birds singing, no insects buzzing and no animals rustling in the bushes. Just where was he? There seemed to be a blank space in his memory, remembering nothing. Last thing that came to mind was that he was in the village, with the others.
The others. Where was Sango? Kagome, Inuyasha and Shippou, where were they too? His grip on his staff tightened, and he narrowed his eyes, carefully surveying around him. What had happened? Why was he alone, why couldn't he remember anything? The same questions bombarded his mind, striking with each step that he took on the grassy ground. He had to find them- that was for sure.
Frowning, he slowed down his pace till he stopped. Something was wrong, he could sense it. Quickly looking down to his covered right hand, he pondered about the Wind Tunnel. His hand… it felt strange, could it be that the hole of his hand had grown larger? Was his time rapidly approaching him? Miroku shook his head, in attempt to shake off such morbid thoughts. No, not until he found out what was going on.
A twig snapped.
Twirling around on his heels, he unwrapped his Wind Tunnel, only holding the rosary beads that kept it from being released. Blinking his eyes, he saw the similar, but battered, form of Shippou. Wrapping the beads around his hand again, he ran towards the small kitsune.
"Shippou!" he knelt down as he called him, "Can you hear me? What happened?"
"M-miroku…" the fox child whimpered, and he backed from him, his body trembling in fear, "How could you do it? Why? I thought we were your friends…"
"What?" that was all the monk could say, startled by the young demon's words.
"You killed them all. Kagome, Sango, Inuyasha… sucked them into your Wind Tunnel. Just like you will do with me now…" Shippou murmured, tears forming at his eyes.
"No! I would never do that! Shippou, what's going on!" he cried, scrambling to his feet in a flash. He stared at his hand, unsure of what to think. Was the young fox demon telling the truth? Why would he lie? Could he have been possessed and actually had done it?
The monk didn't have much time to think any further, for then his hand began to shake, and dark light seemed to erupt from it. His eyes widening, and stepping back away from the fallen fox, he stared at it. The beads of his rosary were sucked in, and then he pulled his hand away from his eyes.
His hand seemed to still be glowing with the dark light, the wind near him beginning to pick up… no, not the wind near him, but the wind coming from him. In a flash, his hand was gone, only the dark void of the Wind Tunnel visible at the end of his arm. He would die now, along with his friends, trapped in the void forever. It rose up his arm, at his shoulder now, and he could feel his face being sucked in now. He muttered a prayer, hoping where he and his friends end up, they would find peace…
"MIROKU!"
He found his face being slapped harshly, and his puzzled mind tried to figure this out. Where was he? He didn't feel very dead at all. Opening his eyes, the blurry vision of a certain silver-haired half demon had filled his view, his golden eyes narrowed in both annoyance and in a relieved sort of expression. Miroku's mind seemed to be working in slow motion, he still couldn't understand: hadn't he and Inuyasha both died?
"Inuyasha?"
"Yeah. You alright?" Inuyasha's unmistakable rough tone shook him out of his daze, and the half-demon stood upright, but still staring down at Miroku.
"I think I am. Whatever happened?" the monk questioned, beginning to stand up, though finding his legs shaky, still unsure of what had occurred. Inuyasha threw something at him, and realized as he looked at it in his hands that it was his staff. Using it at first for support, his legs gained strength, and he stared intensely at the hanyou.
"The spider-demon had cocooned you, and hung you up there," Inuyasha motioned above, where there was the remnants of the translucent cocoon that had been torn apart by the half demon. He had found the monk there, and when he first saw him, Inuyasha had thought he was too late- Miroku certainly looked dead. There was some sort of vein looking threads that were burrowed into his skin, sucking what he assumed was the monk's soul.
"Thank you, Inuyasha," he said softly in gratitude, but still shaken by the illusion that had been cast. The memory of the attack of the spider that happened not long ago returned. His mind focused on Sango and the others, "Where are the others?"
"I haven't found them yet; we have to hurry though, we only have till morning."
Inuyasha had already begun to turn to search, but Miroku stopped him.
"Wouldn't it be smarter if we split up?"
"Just to get you trapped again? No, we can't risk losing time," he growled at the monk.
Miroku shrugged, but he silently agreed with him. Normally, he might've argued against it, but it was a risk they couldn't take. The hanyou set off, and Miroku ran after him, his staff clutched tightly in his hand, and his other hand already somewhat released from its beads. He could set the Wind Tunnel loose in milliseconds.
Time was passing quickly, and both men were panting from their search, finding no clues as to where the women and Shippou could be. Glancing upwards to the sky, the sun was setting and the dark would set in soon. They didn't have that much time left, to find four others. The odds of them saving everywhere were shrinking down fast.
Inuyasha skidded to a stop, and sniffed at the air, and he seemed to walk almost in a circle. Miroku watched him carefully, seeing if maybe Inuyasha had found them some sort of hint to where the others were. The half demon growled, and he reached for the hilt of his Tetsusaiga, pulling out the great sword. He jumped backwards closer to Miroku, and he lowly said to him:
"The spider's here."
Miroku watched around them carefully, till finally he saw the rustle of the leaves, with a shiny black spider's leg poking through. He got him. Opening his palm, he meant to point the right hand at the spider, but suddenly, a thread had wrapped around his wrist, tying the beads next to his palm, he glanced quickly to Inuyasha.
The half demon wasn't faring too well, his sword had been pulled from his grasp, and like Miroku, was rapidly being pulled against a trunk, the almost see-through web threads wrapping around them, immobilizing them against the two trees. Inuyasha snarled, pulling at his body in attempt to free himself. His ears perked, hearing the spider's cackling not too far from them.
"Hoo, hoo! How ever are we going to save the little slayer and priestesses if we're trapped? Oh, no! How very bad! The spider knows that very soon it will have a delicious feed… poor little doggy, poor little monk," its voice echoed sharply through the woods, as its form disappeared into the darkness.
"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled in desperation, his heart beating painfully against his chest. He just had to find her! And Kikyo? He would not lose either of them! The image of Kagome's face looking dead was enough for Inuyasha to find extra strength, and he tore himself from the web's grasp, nearly howling. He turned towards Miroku and he bared his nails, crying out, "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!"
The purple clad monk fell to the ground, rubbing his neck where the web had nearly suffocated him. He glanced up at Inuyasha, for a minute he could have sworn he saw Inuyasha telltale red eyes of his full demon form, but it was only the reflection on his eyes from his fire-rat robes. Quickly standing up, he noticed that Inuyasha had begun to run.
When Inuyasha finally stopped, the monk was able to catch his breath and slowed his pace until he stopped; there, he saw where Inuyasha was staring. Up high in the canopy there was one of the spider's cocoons, tightly held in place by the webs. When you squinted your eyes, you could see that the form inside had cyan blue looking veins all around her, disappearing into the cocoon's sides. The figure inside looked dead, her face pale and expressionless.
Sango.
TO BE CONTIUNED