Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Chapter Nineteen: Fighting Flowers

Rage.

Pure unadulterated rage.

No amount of destruction could quench this thirst inside of him. He sunk his teeth and claws into everything in his path. Red eyes burned as the rage continued to grow, threatening to consume him.

"Someone stop him!" a woman's voice screamed.

The demon's gaze turned towards the voice. But it wasn't her voice. It wasn't the voice he was searching for. An ache was clawing at his gut, the only thing that could relieve this pain was to make everything vanish. If he got rid of everything else then surely he would find her. Then he saw the woman, the one who was a reminder of what had been stolen from him. She must be destroyed.

"Sango!"

A man clothed in purple leapt in front of the girl and raised a barrier as well as a full sized firecat demon. The demon clawed at the barrier, roaring viciously. Someone had to pay for the excruciating pain inside of him. He threw himself against the barrier, but it did not crack. He growled in frustration as he continued to slash at the two protected humans.

"Do something!" the woman yelled.

"I am open to suggestions!"

A sound behind him caused the demon to stop his assault on the barrier. The sound of his name drifted softly towards him. He spun around and froze.

It was her.

Dark hair blew softly in the breeze. Her green skirt much too short for his liking with perverts like the one inside the barrier around. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest as if pleading with him.

It was her.

The fire in his blood began to fade. The relief coursing through his body made his legs weak. He staggered towards her.

It was her.

It was…

"Kagome…"

The girl opened her arms to him with a smile on her face. He dropped to his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her waist. His shoulders were shaking, but he didn't care. She was back. She was here.

He breathed in deeply, to bathe in her scent.

What the…? Quickly he released the girl and looked up at her with eyes of gold. The scent was wrong. It wasn't her scent.

Twitch twitch.

His eyes narrowed as he saw the bushy fox tail twitching behind the miko. The girl let out a nervous laugh. Pop! The fox kit stood in front of him.

"It's the only thing I could think of!" Shippo defended himself.

He prepared himself for a pounding… but it never came. The little demon looked up. Inuyasha was no longer glaring at him. His eyes no longer full of anger. It was much much worse. They were filled with despair. It hurt too much to look at him, so quietly Shippo slipped away to where Sango, Miroku, and Kirara were watching.

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"Tell me again why we are dragging around the backpack," asked Miroku as he glanced at the dog demon clutching the yellow pack to his chest.

Inuyasha growled without looked back.

"None of us can use it. It's completely useless," he tried to reason.

Snarl.

Shippo was beginning to look a little concerned at how tightly Inuyasha was holding the backpack. The worry was how quickly it would take for the dog demon to drop the pack and start hacking up the monk. It was only a few hours since he had gone insane and went on a tree killing spree... almost a friend killing spree too.

"Leave it alone, Miroku," Shippo cautioned.

"But it…"

"It's HERS!" Inuyasha snapped.

Sango took ahold of Miroku's hand. From a distance it seem like she was simply holding his hand. In actuality, however, she was squeezing his hand painfully and digging her nails into his skin.

"One more word about it," she hissed quietly, "And you won't have to worry about Inuyasha tearing you to pieces."

The monk forced a smile. "As you wish."

Shippo kept a nervous eye on all his friends. Inuyasha may not be a rabid killing machine at the moment, but you never knew if he might go over the edge again if the right buttons were pushed. And it looked like the monk was finding all the buttons and using every single one of them. Much as Shippo loved Kagome, if he heard her name pass from Miroku's lips one more time he might just pounce on the monk himself and see how well his own teeth and claws worked.

There was still so far to go. He wondered if they would make it to Kaede's in one piece.

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The first thing Kagome was aware of was just how bad her head hurt. It felt like someone was pounding on it with an ice pick right through the temple. When she tried to rub the pain away she realized that she couldn't. Slowly she opened her eyes and noticed that she was chained to a wall.

"You are awake, young miko."

Kagome sat straight up. Her mouth was hanging open as she looked to her right. What was more surprising than another prisoner, was another prisoner who looked like she was an older version of herself!

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's Inuyasha? What's going on?"

The woman smiled gently.

"Difficult questions, child. Perhaps if you asked them one at a time…"

Kagome tugged on the chain, locating where it connected to the wall. She turned to brace her foot against the wall as she began to pull on the chain. "Where am I?"

The woman smiled sadly. "You are in my home."

The girl's hands stilled. "Your home?"

"I have been imprisoned here for longer than you can imagine. It is now the only home I have."

"Where is it though?"

"You are no longer in the game, young miko. You are back in the world. Naraku brought you back."

The girl turned her attention back to the chains. "My name's Kagome. Why did Naraku bring me back? Where are my friends? Are they here too?"

The older woman sighed. "Your friends did not accompany you back to this world. They are still in the game. As to why Naraku brought you back… I wish I could tell you happier news."

"Just tell me."

"It is a long story."

Kagome snorted. "It doesn't look like I'm going anywhere, now does it?"

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"Once there was a man named Onigumo. He loved a miko. Her name was Midoriko. She was kind and powerful. Though Onigumo was a thief, she nursed him back to health after his body had been burned beyond recognition. He told her of his love, but she told him that she could not return it."

"Okay, so are you going to make a point anytime soon?" asked a very grumpy dog demon, leaning his head on his hand that was propped up on Kagome's yellow backpack.

"Shh, don't be so rude," Sango admonished.

"Please continue, lady Kaede," said Miroku cordially.

The old woman took a sip of tea from the cup in front of her. Miroku could swear that she was taking her time just to annoy Inuyasha. Surely not.

"Onigumo desired more than just the miko. He also lusted after the jewel that she guarded, the Jewel of the Four Souls. With it he would be the most powerful being of all time. But he could not win her heart."

"Cuz he was an evil moth..."

"INUYASHA!" Sango smacked him.

"Quit smacking me!"

"Quit being a potty mouth!"

"Quit bossing me around!"

"Quit acting like a total jac..."

"SANGO!" Miroku gasped. "Please excuse them, lady Kaede. They simply miss Ka... uh... our companion who... recently... uh... left our company unexpectedly." He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he missed all those land mine words and phrases that might set off the dog demon. He turned his attention back to the elderly miko, completely missing the tick developing in Inuyasha's eye.

With a sigh the miko continued her story.

"He vowed to possess Midoriko and the jewel. He gave up his body to a host of demons. However, he did not anticipate that the demons would merge and consume him. He became a different monster altogether. His name was Naraku."

"Didn't you say this was, what, a thousand years ago?" asked an incredulous fox kit.

"Stop interrupting the old hag, Shippo."

"Oh, like you're a great example."

"Both of you SHUT UP!" Considering it was the first time that the elderly lady had raised her voice since... well... ever... it shut them up. Slowly she stood to her feet and walked outside of her hut. The group followed as she walked into the back where beautiful blossoms flourished.

"What a beautiful garden, Kaede!"

"Thank you Sango."

"Who cares about the stupid flowers? Just get on with telling us how to get out of this place so we can save Kagome!"

Kaede closed her eyes. Miroku guessed that she was trying to summon the will to NOT purify the demon standing in front of her. He tried to keep the amused chuckling to himself. Though he caught Sango's eye and they shared a smile.

"Do you know what kind of flower this is?" Kaede asked as she placed a tiny flower in the palm of Sango's hand.

"A cherry blossom?"

The old miko smiled. "Yes. It is also known as a Sakura." She sat down on a bench underneath the tree. "Sakura was the first of Midoriko's reincarnations. She was kind and powerful. The jewel shards called to her, and she found three of them almost by accident. But she was tricked by the demon Naraku, and she lost not only her life, but her soul to him."

"How is that possible?" asked the monk.

She smiled at him. "Before Midoriko perished she swore that Naraku would never have the jewel. She took a sacred arrow and shattered it. The pieces blew in the wind and scattered across the land. But Naraku would not let her die. He happened upon a shard of the jewel, and used it to capture Midoriko's spirit before she could die. He has kept her prisoner. He used the jewel to contain her soul, just as he captured the soul of the young miko Sakura."

Kaede plucked a different flower. This one she gave to Shippo. "Do you know the name of this flower?" The fox demon shook his head. "It is a Mitsumata. She was the next reincarnation. She was strong and had a good heart. Naraku waited until she collected five jewel shards before he collected her soul as well." She paused. "She was only fifteen at the time."

Another flower was plucked. She turned to Miroku, handing him the deep pink flower. "Do you know this flower?"

Miroku looked at the flower. "It looks like a type of azalea."

Kaede nodded approvingly. "Very good."

"How would he know something like that?" Inuyasha whispered. Sango and Shippo both shrugged, as clueless as the dog demon.

Miroku glared at them. "I buy a lot of flowers, okay?"

"Probably for all the women he tried to get into bed," Inuyasha whispered a little louder. Shippo nodded and Sango glared.

"It is a type of azalea, to be more specific, it is a Satsuki."

"Another reincarnation?"

"Yes, Inuyasha. Another reincarnation. She was quick tempered and good with a bow. She displeased Naraku more than any of the others. He took great pleasure in her prolonging her death before stealing her soul."

A pretty blue bellflower was placed in Inuyasha's hand. He didn't want to hear what she was planing to say next. He didn't want to think about what it might mean.

"This flower is a Kikyo. I believe you already met that miko."

"Yeah, she shot me. So how come you didn't ask me if I knew what the flower was?" He tried to sound insulted, but he was just too happy that the flower wasn't called a Kagome. After all, all these flowers were for the dead mikos.

"Were you a reincarnation as well, lady Kaede?" He gestured to the flowers next to them. "If I'm not mistaken, the name of these flowers are Kaede."

"That is the name of the flower, but I am no reincarnation. Kikyo was my sister. Yet my soul was taken as well when I attempted to shield my older sister. My soul was trapped, but Naraku found it amusing to let me grow old and wither until he let death claim me completely. I was as helpless as he was when Midoriko had been tending him."

"Why?"

Kaede smiled. "Because he is evil, Sango. And it pleases him to cause pain."

"Was she the last?"

"No, Miroku, Kikyo was not the last. Botan," she gestured to yet more flowers, "she was the last. Before Kagome was born."

Shippo sat next to Inuyasha, who had been unusually quiet. He sighed, Kaede had said the K-word. But luckily Inuyasha hadn't gone rabid dog on them yet. It was a good sign.

"Why does he track down the reincarnations?" asked Sango as she twirled the flower in her hand.

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"So, because Naraku is so weirdly obsessed with you, he tracks down all of your reincarnations and murders them?"

The older woman nodded. "Yes, but only after they tracked down shards for him."

Kagome cocked her head to one side. "You don't look a thousand or so years old. How are you alive?"

Sad eyes that were nearly identical to her own looked at her. "Magic. He has my soul contained in the Jewel of Four Souls. This ... body... of mine... it shouldn't exist. He took my bones and earth and had a witch create a body. I am little more than a clay pot with a sliver of a soul."

She felt bad for the prisoner beside her. She seemed really nice, and it must be just awful to not even have a real body. "So, you've been alive all these years?"

The woman scoffed. "I hardly call THIS being alive. I have been tortured and imprisoned for longer than you can imagine."

Just when you thought things couldn't get worse, the lady brings up one more item that makes Kagome hate Naraku even more. Was he planning on keeping her forever? Why would he want someone who didn't love him? She wished that there was something that she could do to help.

Kagome's eyes lit up and she began searching her pockets. "I have the shards that I collected, maybe I can free you somehow!"

"No, you do not have the shards. They were taken from you when Naraku brought you here. He allowed you to find them. He was testing you. He only lacks one more shard. He is planning on using you to find it."

The younger girl gulped. "And then?"

"And then he will kill you."

"Yes. I can only pray that he kills you quickly."

Kagome was outraged. "WHAT?"

Midoriko looked at her with a deadly serious expression on her face. "He will kill you, Kagome. There is no doubt about that. I have seen what happens when he decides to draw out a death. Believe me, child, you should also be praying for a quick death."

Kagome gulped.