Asking for Help
Waking up before the rest of the gang, Kagome set out to look for Kaede. Kaede likes to get an early start to tend to her garden before she took care of the sick at the village. She said something about the healing powers of the herbs our more powerful before dawn. That is where Kagome found her, kneeing down humming as she tended to her garden.
"Um Kaede, may I speak with you for a minute?" Kagome said, as she tried to organize her thoughts.
"Yes my child, what do ye wish to speak to me about?" Kaede asked, not looking up from her weeding.
"I need your help. I need you to locate Kikyo and ask her to come to the village. I need to ask something of her," Kagome said, hoping that Kaede will be able to locate her.
"Why not call her ye self Kagome. My sister and ye share a soul. All ye have to do is concentrate on her and she will be able to feel and hear ye. Kagome my child may I ask what this is about?" Kaede asked concern about what Kagome was planning.
"It is a long story Kaede but I will tell you the short and not so sweet version. Because of my selfishness my family is going to lose the shrine. I need to go back to my time and find away to stop this from happening or my days of going back and forth between the well will be lost. I will probably be gone for a month and a half," Kagome said, retelling her dilemma.
"And you want Kikyo to take your place as a shard detector while you are gone," Kaede said, stopping her weeding to look up at Kagome. Now, she understood why Kagome wanted her to summon Kikyo.
"Yes, but I am afraid that if I try to call her myself she will not come for fear I might reclaim my soul. But if you call her then she will listen," Kagome said, helping Kaede up from the ground.
"I do not know about this Kagome. Have ye spoken to Inuyasha and the others about this?" Kaede asked, not sure whether to go along with Kagome's plans with out the others knowing.
"They can not know Kaede. Promise you will not tell them, not yet because they will just try to convince me to stay. I must fulfill my duty to my family. That is also why I needed to talk to you. I need you to teach me a spell that will keep Inuyasha from passing from this time to mine," Kagome begged as she grabbed hold of Kaede's hands.
"Kagome, I…"
"Please Kaede! He will just try to drag me back just like he always does. They other will convince him to come for me and I cannot let that happen. Not until I complete what needs to be done. Please Kaede, help me." Kagome said, willing Kaede to understand and help.
"I do not like this Kagome but I do understand. I will help ye. Now let's get back and prepare breakfast for everyone." Leaving the small herb and vegetable garden that were behind Kaede's hut, both ladies were plagued with doubts about what they were about to do.
Entering the hut, Kagome was greeted by her friends clearing the floor of their mats and blankets, except for Shippo who was still snuggled in between the folds of her sleeping bag. She was going to miss snuggling against his soft fur and telling him bed time stories at night. She loved that little kitsune as a son and it breaks her heart at the thought of abandoning him and everyone else, even if it was for a short time.
"Kagome. Kagome."
"What?" Kagome asked, as she slightly jumped from the sound of someone calling her name.
"Are you ok? You were just staring at Shippo in a daze," Sango asked, concerned about her friends strange behavior.
"Oh sorry, I am just a little tired." Kagome lied as she smiled at her friend to show she was ok.
"You must be you didn't come back until very late. Matter of fact I am surprise you are even up this early it usually takes at least ten minutes to get you up in the morning." Sango said, wondering how her friend could ever sleep that long.
"Kaede was teaching me about certain herbs." Kagome said, as she peered at Kaede guiltily. "I think I will get breakfast started."
"About time wench, some of us are starving." Inuyasha said rudely as he got up from his corner on the floor to stretch. He knew Kagome was lying about helping Kaede, she probably went to ask Kaede advice about the argument she had with her mother, which upset Inuyasha because he wanted to be the person Kagome ran too to talk.
"Yes Inuyasha, there is nothing better then a hardy breakfast made by two beautiful women to start the day," Miroku said, as he patted Inuyasha on the back while the girls rolled their eyes.
"Feh," Was all Inuyasha mumbled as he tuned to walk out of the hut but before he could make it to the entrance, a man from the village came barging through the door yelling for the old priestess.
"Priestess Kaede, Priestess Kagome please come quick there is a demon on his way to the village" The man said with fear in his eyes and a little out of breath.
"For goodness sake can't these demons wait until after breakfast?" Miroku groaned, as he grabbed his now growling stomach.
"Where?" Inuyasha demanded, as he grabbed the man by the front of his shirt.
"Over in the neighboring village," the man stuttered as he looked pleading at Kagome for assistance.
"Inuyasha let him go! How many times do I have to tell you stop scaring the villagers?" Kagome said, as she gave Inuyasha a look that said if you keep it up I am going to sit you.
Shoving the man aside, Inuyasha motioned for everyone to go. Kagome went to grab her bow and arrows when Kaede placed her withered hand on her arm to restrain her. "When ye get back my child what you ask will be completed but make sure this is what ye really want."
"Thank you Kaede, it is." Kagome said, looking straight into her mentor's eyes.
"Wench lets go!"
"I am coming." Kagome yelled, as she ran out of the hut and onto Inuyasha's back to go find the demon.
Entering the neighboring village on Inuyasha's back, Kagome saw villagers running and screaming for their lives. While a twelve foot gray demon that looked to be half wolf and half horse with blood red eyes attacked and obliterate the villager's huts and fields.
Sliding off Inuyasha's back, each group member automatically took a protective stance in front of Kagome. If I am going to start fighting my own battles then I should start now, Kagome thought, to as she placed an arrow in her bow.
"Kagome does this demon have jewel shards?" Inuyasha asked as he prepared to attack the demon.
Stepping in front of every one, Kagome looked for the bright glow that usually emanated from the jewel shards.
"What are you doing wench? Stay behind me so I can protect you." Inuyasha said, as he pushed Kagome back behind him.
"Hey! I am more then capable of taking care of my…"
"The shards! Where are they on him?" Inuyasha demanded.
"He has one in each of his front legs," Kagome said, annoyed that they managed to push her to the back.
"But I really can defend my…"
"Yeah, Kagome it is better if you stayed out of the way and out of danger. We will have the jewel shards in your hand in no time," Miroku smirked as he readied his staff and faced the demon.
"Kirara will stay here and protect you from the demon," Sango said, reassuring her friend that she will not be harmed.
"But you are not listening I can help too," Kagome said, frustrated that everyone keeps interrupting her.
"Help us by staying out of the way wench," Inuyasha said, as he and the rest of the gang raced off to face the fearsome demon.
"Well since I am not of any help here then I might as well leave. Kirara please take me back to the village," Kagome asked her friend a large fire demon cat. I have more important matters to look into anyways.
Twenty Minutes LaterKirara landed in front of Kaede's hut and waited for Kagome to jump off her back. Thank you so much Kirara, you can go back and help the others. Kirara meowed in acknowledgement and flew toward the battle.
"Kagome my child what are ye doing back so soon? Where are the others?" Kaede asked, as she walked out of her hut and towards Kagome.
"They decided they didn't need my help so I left," Kagome said, hurt that her friends wouldn't allow her to help. "Did you find the chant that will seal the well?"
"Yes, take this charm and place it on the well then chant this saying. It will seal the well and only allow ye to pass through it and only ye can break the seal," Kaede explained, as she passed Kagome the charm and a small scroll with the chant written inside.
"Thank you Kaede," Kagome said, looking at the charm in her hand.
"Are ye sure ye want to go through with this Kagome."
"I never been more sure of anything in my whole life Kaede," Kagome whispered, as she looked at Kaede.
"Very well then, I am going inside so I can start summoning Kikyo. Hopefully she will be here before sundown". Turning around Kaede turned around and headed back into her small hut.
"Thank you Kaede, I think I will head to the well and meditate while the others are out fighting their demon," Kagome said, while winking at the elderly women.
Fighting that demon had taken all morning and part of the afternoon to kill. With two shards embedded in his front legs, every time the beast would stomp it would cause the earth to shake and make a person lose their balance.
After hours of fighting, Miroku used his wind tunnel to keep the beast from stomping, while Sango used her giant boomerang to cut off his legs. Seeing his chance, Inuyasha finished the beast off with the wind scar leaving behind a pile of dust and two tainted jewel shards.
"Hey wench, come gather these jewel shards," Inuyasha yelled, looking around to see where she could have gone.
"Kagome" Sango called, hoping her friend didn't accidentally get hurt during the battle.
"Meow"
"If you are looking for your friend she left on your demon cat," a small village boy said to the group while he patted Kirara.
"Why the hell did she go back for? She knows we need her to purify the damn jewel," Inuyasha said, angry that she left without them.
"Maybe she needed to go back for something," Sango said, as she went to gather the tainted jewel from the pile of ashes and place it in her sash for safe keeping.
"Wait until I get to the village, I am going to…"
"We can figure out why she went back when we return to the village, but right now these villagers need our help with their injured and dead," Miroku stated to Inuyasha and Sango.
"I agree Miroku, I will help the injured, while you and Inuyasha gather and buried the dead," Sango said to her companions.
"Feh. Let's get this done already; I still haven't eaten breakfast yet." Inuyasha grumpled, upset that his job still wasn't done.
It wasn't until the sun was setting that the gang made it back to Kaede's hut. Their bodies ached from fighting a powerful demon and repairing a village not to mention and they were starved from lack of food the whole day.
"Kagome better be in that hut making us some food," Inuyasha said, as he pushed the straw mat aside. As he stepped inside he saw a pot of stew boiling but no Kagome.
"Looks like Kagome came back to prepare us some food," Miroku said, as he drooled over the heavenly smelling food in front of him.
"But where is she?" Sango said look around the small hut.
"She is not here," Kaede stated, as she walked around the growling stomachs that surrounded her stew.
"No duh you old hang, where she run off too," Inuyasha demanded, not liking that Kagome was by herself unprotected.
"If you guys would of let her help then maybe it would have made her stray from her current quest," Kaede stated, upset that the young women she considered a daughter was leaving and her friends unknowingly speeded up her departure.
"What do you mean by current quest Lady Kaede?" Miroku asked, losing interest in the food momentarily.
"It is not my place to tell you. When she gets back she will tell you her decision," Kaede said, giving her full attention to the stew in front of her.
"Where is she Kaede?" Sango asked curious to know what her friend had to tell them.
I hope she wasn't upset about us not letting her fight. We were just trying to keep her safe. Sango thought as she sat on the floor to clean her weapon.
Looking at Kaede, Inuyasha could sense the nervousness and guilty radiating off the old women. She would not even look up at them. "She is at the well," Kaede said, hoping that Kagome would forgive her for mentioning her plans.
"Hey you guys why didn't you wake me up, I could have helped you guys fight and where is Kagome?" Shippo said, as he bounced through the straw mat and stood by Inuyasha. He wasn't to upset that they left him. After all he got to sleep in late and play with the village children all day.
Pushing the small kitsune out of his way, Inuyasha ran outside and to the well to find Kagome and to find out what the hell Kaede meant by decision and current quest.