Hello, dear readers. The reviews were wonderful, and I would have had a chapter up sooner except that I was away on vacation. Rest assured, the first thing I did when I got back was read the reviews (and grin like an idiot) and immeadiately start working on this chapter.

This is a slow chapter, heavy on dialogue and thought progression. It's not the most entertaining thing I've ever written, but it is necessary for the romance and plot development. I promise, the next chapter will be quite... fun. :D

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Kikyo awoke with an extreme headache to the sound of a distant scream. Her mind still set to the situation a week past, at first she thought it was her own voice. Then she realized it was male.

Her eyes flashed open. The first thing she saw was a familar purple robed chest. Before she could think, she groaned.

Miroku, who had been staring in the direction of the scream with a contemplative frown, swung his troubled gaze back to the patient in his lap. When he saw she was finally concious, a relieved smile spread across his face.

"Good morning, Kikyo," he said pleasantly.

Kikyo blinked stupidly, the memories from the battle flashing through her mind in rapid succession. They finally came to a stop with a memory of flying towards Inuyasha's monk, his cursed hand outstretched, ready to pull her into her death...

She screamed. Thrashing frantically, she managed to roll away from the monk who, in her opinion, was trying to kill her. Scrambling to her feet before Miroku could figure out what had happened, she had already disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel before he caught up with her.

"Kikyo, wait a minute!" He shouted, grabbing her shoulder. She wrenched away and would have continued if she hadn't run into another person. Too surprised to recover in time, she fell to the stone floor.

"Geez, monk, what did you try to do the woman?" A female voice drawled. Kikyo looked up, startled. Kagura? She looked back to the monk in question, expecting to see him unravelling the robe from his hand in preperation for battle. To her surprise, he was doing nothing of the sort.

"You misjudge me," Miroku said indignatly. Kagura rolled her eyes. Kikyo was just lost, but it was out of character for her to be emotional, and she was calming down fast.

"So, priestess," Kagura snarled, "you live to see another day." She snorted.

Kikyo frowned, but did not retaliate. "Am I alive? Because in the world I know, you and the monk would never be in such close proximity without a weapon at each other's throats."

Miroku cleared his throat. "An unseen alliance, my dear."

"We rescued you," Kagura got right to the point.

Kikyo's eyebrows rose. Yes, she had gathered that she had been rescued; she couldn't have gotten out of that predicament by herself. But one of Naraku's mignons and one of Inuyasha's lackeys working together to save someone neither of them cared for? She had truly re-risen in a twisted time.

"We had our reasons," Kagura continued, noticing Kikyo's expression. "And I suppose we'll have to explain them. But first, you must trust that for the time being, we have no interest in killing you, or each other."

Kikyo looked to Miroku, who nodded. Hardly a reassuring speech, but Kikyo could see she didn't have much choice. Everyone else was very clear that they wanted her dead. She offered no resistance when Miroku took her arm and guided her back to the small, fire-lit cave. The three sat in a triangle around the small flames.

"Naraku is unwell," Kagura began, watching carefully for Kikyo's reaction. The priestess didn't move, but Kagura noticed how tense she sat. Was it the fact she was surrounded by people she had always considered enemies or out of concern for Kagura's dark master? Kagura could remember the day she had first considered a possible connection between Naraku and the priestess.

Without batting an eyelash, Kikyo strung her bow, aiming it at Kagura's heart. Kagura just watched. She could easily dodge the arrow if the woman released her arrow.

"Tell me," Kikyo said quietly. "Is this all Naraku's doing?"

Kagura laughed silently in glee, believing at the time that Naraku had finally met his end. "Are you still worried about that rotting corpse?" She shot back, barely able to contain her mirth.

Kikyo's face fell. "He's dead?" She whispered...

They had both been wrong, Kagura mused. But Kikyo's reaction... Kagura truly believed Kikyo cared for Naraku, if only on some subconcious level. If Kagura's plan was to work, she would have to bring these hidden feelings to the surface.

"He thinks you're dead," Kagura returned to the discussion. "And it's tearing him apart."

Kikyo's head shot up from the cup of water Miroku had handed her. The movement caused pain to shoot through her throbbing head. "What do you mean?"

Kagura hesitated. She couldn't exactly reveal Naraku's plan with Miroku here. "He's... planning something," she said slowly, shooting Miroku a look to not ask any questions. "But he's distracted, and so the plans goes not so well. All our preperations are in vain because he's plagued by memories of your deaths."

Anger surged inside Kikyo. This was a bad thing?

"I don't see what that has to do with this," Kikyo replied after a moment. "It doesn't explain why you saved me."

Kagura rolled her eyes. "Our reasons were different, but our purpose was the same. I chose to save you because Naraku is obsessed with you."

Kikyo choked on her water. When her eyes had cleared and the burning pain was gone, she laughed humorlessly. "Yes, he is," she managed to get out between coughs.

Kagura was surprised. Kikyo knew?

Kikyo took another tentative sip to soothe her throat. "He's obsessed with killing me. He just can't seem to get enough." Her own words hurt her, but she didn't let it show. Before Kagura could reply, Kikyo turned to Miroku. "Does Inuyasha think I'm dead?" She asked.

Miroku nodded. "Only us three know otherwise."

Kikyo frowned. "What was your reason?"

Miroku met her eyes, unusually solemn. "I didn't believe you would've actually killed Kagome," he said bluntly.

Kikyo didn't answer. She couldn't honestly say she wouldn't have. She sighed. "So what is your plan then? You've saved my life once, but how far are you willing to go? When they find out I'm alive, they'll come after me again." And this time, she thought, she'd let them. She had nothing to live for anymore.

The silence confirmed Kikyo's thoughts. They would never stick with her until the end; these people weren't friends. Since her priestess days, Kikyo had never had friends.

"We haven't actually thought about that yet," Miroku said slowly. "I guess you'll have to stay here until we diffuse the situation with Naraku and Inuyasha, and until your head wound has healed."

With nothing else to say, the meeting broke up, the three either staying or going their seperate ways.

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Kikyo stayed by the fire long after the others had gone. Her rescuers had prescribed sleep for her headache, but her nerves would not allow that. Try as she might, she could not get Kagura's words out of her head. He thinks your dead and it's tearing him apart.

Kikyo never cried. Even when she believed the half-demon she loved had killed her. Even when she was giving her little sister Kaede instructions for her cremation, knowing she had seconds to live. And yet she felt tears flooding her eyes, barely kept at bay. She was disgusted with herself that she felt guilty somehow. Naraku was obviously confused, torn between the demons defiling his soul and the barely human part of Onigumo. She had always known the filthy thief had had an infactuation with her. It was a feeling she could never have returned, for she had been too in love with Inuyasha and Onigumo was... well, he was barely human when she had taken him in. And now, it was even worse. Naraku was evil, pure and simple. He had destroyed her life as well as many other's. He would do it again, and again... then why did she...

She took a deep shuddering breath, placing her throbbing head in trembling hands. "Damn," she breathed, "this is ridiculous. Naraku killed me once. And he tried to kill me again." But did he? Behind closed eyes, she watched as Inuyasha sped towards her, ready to impale her without a second thought. But out of the corner of her eye... Naraku was also racing towards her. But unlike Inuyasha's face, Naraku's was twisted with panic. Perhaps it was the concussion talking, but to Kikyo, it appeared like Naraku had been trying to save her. Another scene haunted her mind. It was not so much a memory of sight, but of sensation. Naraku on top of her, a sword piercing the cloak that cover her relentlessly until she had begged him to stop...

There was a reason Kikyo had supressed all her weak human emotions for so long. She really couldn't handle them. With her stomach raging a war between a strange swoop at the memory of Naraku looking down at her on a cliff so many days ago and the cold clench of fear at the memory of him sitting on her stomach, Kikyo fell asleep with tears on her face for the first time in her life.

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Many miles away, Sango sat at the edge of the village, her new boomerang at one side as a precaution, full-sized Kirara at the other. She had sat in the same spot every night for a week, waiting for any sign of Miroku. The last time she had seen him, he had just killed Kikyo. Then, sometime while Sango had been taking care of Kagome, he had managed to disappear. Perhaps out of fear of Inuyasha's anger or out of shame. Not for the first time, Sango cried silently. How could he have thought that he couldn't trust her enough to come with him, or even just enough to tell her where he was going? She loved him, she always had. She had decided long ago that even he committed murder... which he had... she would stand by him. But she couldn't stand by someone who wasn't there.

She stood abruptly, turning to look back at the village where Kagome slept, Inuyasha no doubt sitting close by. Just the thought of one lover supporting the other sufficed as her decision. Kneeling to write a short message in the clay-like dirt, she finished quickly and lept deftly onto Kirara's back.

"Fly, Kirara," she whispered, not looking back as the demon cat propelled of the ground and into the dark sky.

On the ground, the loose dirt swirled from the kick off, landing to rest thinly upon the words 'Gone to find Miroku. Won't come back without him.'

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To anyone who is considering reviewing right now, I have a question I would like to ask... how is the romance going?I realize pretty much nothing has happened so far because I'm trying to make a very strange couple happen realistically... I guess what I would like to know is, would you like thefirst kissto finallyhappen at the end, or soon? Any opinions and/or suggestions will be considered and appreciated. :)