Hello! Hopefully you didn't have to wait too long for this chapter. Sorry that it took a while. I had no idea what Kyoumi would do that, so it was unexpected. A good thing though. Anyway, you've waited enough. Here's the next chapter of YCR!

Kobun ran away, going into the forest, where the others followed. "You won't catch me!" Kobun yelled, throwing up random walls of dirt.

Soon Miroku fell behind in the maze of trees and running into the dirt walls, but Tori kept up with her speed, and Inuyasha with his combination of that and strength. The girls had to stay behind to help Miroku.

Suddenly, as Inuyasha and Tori got closer, a tornado of dirt and debris rose in the air. The pillar of junk was too high to see the top!

"SHIPPO!" Tori yelled over the noise of the strong wind. Tori turned her head slightly towards the wind, but the last thing that she saw was a large branch coming towards her. Then she blacked out.

- - -

Tori slowly felt her consciousness return to her, though she regretted it a little. If she woke up, she felt pain, which just so happened to be throbbing in the left side of her head.

"Itai…." She mumbled. She tried to raise a hand to her head, but another hand intercepted it and placed it back down to her side.

"That might not be a good idea." A familiar male's voice said. Tori didn't respond, but tried to open her eyes to see where the voice was coming from. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she turned her head to see a very relieved Hitsuji sitting next to her. "Well, at least you're awake. But how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine other then it hurts." Tori said, blushing slightly at the fact that Hitsuji was there watching her while she was unconscious. She slowly sat up, her muscles stiff, and she leaned against the wall that was close by. She took a few deep breaths trying to get her head to stop spinning now that she was up. That's when the memories of the fight hit her. "Where's Shippo!" Tori attempted to get up again, but Hitsuji held her shoulder down.

"Don't worry about it now. Inuyasha and the others are following Kobun's trail so they'll find him soon." Hitsuji informed her. "Your job is to sit there and relax and my job is to make sure you do. You're a fast demon, so we'll catch up to them when we can."

"How long ago was that?" Tori said looking at her feet trying to remember every detail. The real reason that she was looking at her feet is because she didn't want to meet Hitsuji's eyes.

"Well, the fight was yesterday and it's getting late now, so you slept for a day at most. But that's not anything to worry about. You'll be back to normal tomorrow and we'll chase after the others ready to help." Hitsuji declared confidently. "You were really great fighting like that yesterday. You had everyone surprised." Mitsu added with a slight blush on his cheeks.

Tori blushed as well at the compliment, not really used to getting them, and continued to look at her feet. She didn't know what had come over her yesterday, but she felt good about it. Though, that feeling of being able to help was crushed with the fact that her help wasn't enough to save the small kitsune. Darn it all…….

"I can tell from your eyes that you're blaming yourself," Hitsuji said. Tori's shoulder's dropped and she still didn't look up. "Don't worry about it. We'll find him, alright?"

Tori just shook her head and lied back down. She closed her eyes trying to sleep again for tomorrow. She will catch up to Inuyasha tomorrow to help. Nothing was going to stop her.

- - -

THE NEXT DAY

"Why does it have to hurt?" Tori hissed under her breath. She tried turning into her eagle form and flying, but her muscles were stiff from the uncommon fighting the other day. Also, if she moved too fast, she got dizzy from the head wound, even though it was nearly healed. Why was it bugging her so much?

"I heard that." Hitsuji said walking next to Tori making sure the eagle demon didn't do anything foolish. It was odd thinking that thought because his first impression of Tori had been changed after the fight. He only knew her for a bit, but Hitsuji could tell that she changed. There was something about her that just wasn't the same from the girl that he saved from that demon, who ever it was.

"No you didn't." Tori defended ready to try flying again. She changed into her eagle form and took off into the air……….. Only to feel her head slightly pound and her senses to swirl. She couldn't get her wings to cooperate with her either, so she went beak first into the ground looking up to see Hitsuji looking over her with another worried expression.

"You really should stop. You're only going to make things worse for you." He declared. Tori knew he was right and finally admitted it to her self.

I know, I just don't want to hang around here not knowing where Shippo is or what's happened to him. Tori thought. If I had just gone with Kobun then things wouldn't be like this.

"Well, if you would've just waited, I would've asked you if you wanted just to ride on my back." Hitsuji said smiling a bit knowing that Tori wasn't hurt any worse. "It'll get us there faster like you want."

Tori felt an odd flush creep over her face, but it was a good thing that she was still in her eagle form. Her piercing golden eyes were wide with surprise, but you couldn't really tell while she was a bird. "Better yet," Hitsuji continued. "I could just carry you this way and you wouldn't be able to do anything."

Tori wasn't going to let that happen. She jumped away quickly and changed into her human form. She wasn't going to let Hitsuji hold her in her eagle form. How was he going to anyway because she was big enough to have him ride on her back while she flew? But her transformation didn't stop Hitsuji from picking her up. Holding her bridal style, since there was no way he could put her on his back from her position, Hitsuji pulled her closer to him.

When Tori was safe in his arms, Hitsuji took off at a fast pace. This way was much faster, no matter how embarrassed he was about the situation. He couldn't stop a small blush forming on his face at the thought that Tori was in his arms. Happy or not, she was there. Hitsuji couldn't help but smile at that. "See, this isn't so bad." Hitsuji said over the wind trying to get Tori to relax a little.

Tori couldn't seem to relax and she felt a nervous pressure resting on her heart. She knew that Hitsuji didn't mean her any harm, but Tori couldn't help but think of all the other times that she was in a man's arms. But this time, she didn't feel that same violated feeling. In fact, there was this confusing feeling in her chest and it was definitely affecting her senses. It's got to be his speed. He is really fast. Tori convinced her self. What else could it be? She placed her head against his chest ignoring the blush that worked her way on her own features.

- - -

WITH KAGOME AND THE OTHERS

Inuyasha was racing after a quickly fading scent. Shippo was still no where to be seen and their only trail was diminishing as the terrain slowly sloped up. With the change in altitudes there was more water in the air making it harder to catch the scent.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Kagome asked. The miko was on Inuyasha's back hanging on for dear life as Inuyasha moved faster then normal. She could sense it from his actions and face that he was worried. Something was up and he wasn't sharing. Kagome's grip on the dog demon's shoulders tightened slightly in concern trying to get his attention.

"What? Yeah, everything is fine. We're catching up." Inuyasha lied. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell her or the others that he was losing the trail and he didn't have the faintest idea of where the small kitsune could be.

"Are you sure? You've been running like crazy. Do you want to rest? You should at least stop for something to eat." Kagome suggested, not really happy with Inuyasha's answer, but accepting it all the same.

"No. It's fine. We'll get Shippo first because I'm not going to listen to Shippo complaining about being hungry." Inuyasha forced himself to continue no matter how much his craving for the last ramen cup in Kagome's bag tried to tell him to stop.

Miroku and Sango looked down at the two people below them as they rode on Kirara who was matched with Inuyasha's speed. They could tell that something was up, but they couldn't tell what it was exactly. Inuyasha hadn't stopped and Kagome hadn't yelled at Inuyasha for saying something stupid yet. Something wasn't right in deed.

"Do you think it's because Inuyasha is loosing Shippo's scent?" Sango asked. She didn't want to think that was happening, but Kirara lost it a while back and was following on Inuyasha since he was their only hope now.

"Let's hope that's not the case. But it's a possibility." Miroku replied.

"Are you okay too? You seem a little off." Sango asked a little worried.

"Thank you for caring so much for me Sango." Miroku replied smiling.

"It's not like that!" Sango defended herself blushing. "I was just asking because you haven't done anything stupid, like trying to grope me or anything."

"Well, if it'll make you more comfortable if I do……." Miroku said smiling his all too famous lecher smirk. His hand lowered slowly, but the glares Sango sent behind her in his direction stopped him. "I'm just trying to make you feel more comfortable. I don't want you to have to worry about me."

"Whatever." Sango said still blushing. Kirara growled from under them as she caught sight of a figure running in the direction they were doing further ahead of them. Sango turned her attention that way also catching the figure. Having Kirara descend she shouted her finding at Inuyasha.

"How far ahead is it?" Inuyasha shouted back. He pushed forward faster, his ears twitching trying to catch Sango's voice over the wind blowing over his ears.

"Less then an hour if we push the pace." Sango estimated.

"Good, it's about time something happened." Inuyasha growled ready for a fight. "Hang on Kagome!" Inuyasha forced his legs to move faster ignoring the slight burning sensation in his muscles, jumping whenever he could.

Kagome held on tighter to Inuyasha's shoulders and buried her head in the back of his neck. The wind had begun to sting her eyes from Inuyasha's previous speed. Now the wind was tugging on her clothes and blowing Inuyasha's hair in her face. I don't care as long as we find Shippo soon. I hope that Tori and Hitsuji are okay too. Kagome mentally worried.

- - -

BACK TO TORI AND HITSUJI

It was well after noon and there wasn't any sign of Inuyasha passing this way. Hitsuji would be completely lost if it wasn't for the faint scent in the air. The same thing happening to Inuyasha was happening to him. The water in the air just didn't carry the smells Hitsuji needed.

Stopping to catch his breath Hitsuji placed Tori on the ground for the first time since he took off. Her legs wobbled a bit from not being used, but she caught herself quickly. She looked at Hitsuji's face and could tell he was tired. It had to be from something other then the run. She had a feeling that he wouldn't normally be tired after that.

"What's wrong?" Tori asked. Now it was her turn to look worried for her friend.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Hitsuji said. In fact, he really wasn't. The past two nights he didn't get any sleep because he was too busy worrying over the eagle demon. Even youkai needed to sleep. His body was making sure that he knew that.

"You're tired." Tori corrected. She didn't know what she could do, but she had to help. "You hang on here for a minute. I'm going to try and see if I can fly." She changed into her eagle form and slowly stretched her wings so she wouldn't have to be so stiff in the air. Kicking off the ground she ascended into the air like nothing was wrong. Gaining speed wasn't bad either. Her head wound wasn't affecting her as much as it was earlier.

Htsuji looked up at Tori's eagle form quite impressed. She couldn't so anything earlier today, but here she was flying like nothing ever happened. He had to hand it to her, she was really amazing. His heart skipped a beat once he realized what he thought and he shook his head trying to knock off the feeling.

Tori landed in front of Hitsuji and changed back to her other form. She smiled happily, glad that she can fly, and looked over at Hitsuji. "Everything seems to be working fine so I'm going to give you a break. I'm a faster flyer then you, so we might be able to catch up." Tori said not trying to be boastful. "Just do me a favor. Don't pull my feathers when we're in the air. That really does hurt."

After that Tori changed back into her eagle form again (lots of changing) and waited for Hitsuji to climb on her back. "Are you sure you'll be able to fly with my weight?" Hitsuji asked unbelieving. Tori nodded her head and lowered her body so there was less chance of feathers being pulled. Once Hitsuji was situated Tori took off into the air catching Hitsuji by surprise. She was really powerful in this form if she could take care of them both. Hitsuji wasn't a feather weight.

Once she was at her normal altitude, only a bit closer to earth so Hitsuji could breathe easily, she saw two small figures on the ground. Her hawk eyes could easily make out the shapes as Inuyasha and Kirara. This pushed her on faster making Hitsuji wrap his arms tightly around her neck, but not so much that she couldn't breathe. Hang on, we're coming.

Well, the chapter seemed a bit cheesy, but at least Inuyasha and every one are close on Kobun's heels. And where exactly is he taking the kitsune anyway. You're just going to have to wait for Kyoumi to update. I can't wait to find out either!