Sango awoke alone, and with no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. All she remembered at first was pain… and the desperation borne of her failure to protect Kagome from the youkai in the mirror.

That had been inside the village headman's house. She was outside now. Koharu lay not far off.

Was I possessed, like Koharu and the villagers must have been? Sango wondered. It was entirely possible. She would not have been able to protect herself once the youkai with the mirror finished with Kagome. Anything could have happened.

She tried to push herself upright so she could get a better sense of where she was, at least, but it was too painful. Her whole torso had become an excruciating ache—the result, she knew all too well, of being struck full-on by the hiraikotsu. She hurt all the way through, from her chest where the hiraikotsu had struck her to the scar on her back. If she had managed not to break anything, experience told her she would get better after a few very uncomfortable days. If not…

"Sango! You're awake!" The sound of Kagome's voice was almost enough to bring tears to her eyes. She was safe, even after Sango's spectacular failure to protect her.

The monk walked into her field of view, too, kneeling in front of her. "Can you move, Sango?"

"Maybe," she managed to say. Drawing breath to speak was astonishingly painful. She had so many questions for Miroku and Kagome, but didn't have it in her to ask them when speaking promised nothing but more pain.

Kagome approached Miroku, handing him something. "Have her swallow these. They'll help with the pain," she instructed. And then she was gone, calling for Kirara.

Miroku helped Sango sit up, patient as she winced her way through the pain, and then to swallow the pills and water Kagome had left for her. It wasn't often that Kagome shared out these miraculous pills from her world; she saved them for only the most dire circumstances, which in itself told Sango something about what had happened while she was unconscious. Or possessed. The others needed her to be functional again as soon as possible. That couldn't be good.

"I am sorry, Sango," Miroku was saying. She focused not on his voice, but on the pressure of his arm across her shoulders, the one thing that did not at present hurt. "But we will need you to walk, if you can," the monk went on. "Inuyasha was grievously injured in the fight. Kirara will have to carry him."

Inuyasha had been injured so seriously that he could not walk off the field of battle on his own. That was worse even than she had feared. Sango felt another pang of regret deep in her heart. If she hadn't so foolishly attacked a youkai about which she knew nothing, she might have been able to help him. She could at least have given Kagome a chance to escape, instead of leaving her at the mercy of an unknown enemy.

"If you need, I can carry you," Miroku went on, oblivious to the direction her thoughts had taken.

"I can walk." She would manage it somehow. She could do that much.

To his credit, the monk didn't try to argue. He simply waited with her while she gathered her strength.

When she was as ready as she was ever going to be, she steeled herself and tried to stand. With the monk steadying her the whole way, she almost made it, until her body suddenly rebelled. She fell back against Miroku with a shudder, her muscles seizing up angrily as she demanded too much, too quickly. "Damn it."

"There's no rush," he soothed. "The enemy is gone for now."

"If Inuyasha's that badly injured, we need to get him to shelter," she said through gritted teeth. If Naraku had scored such a decisive blow, why would he just leave? He had to still be nearby, waiting for another chance to strike.

"Kagome and Shippou can help Kirara with that. We will follow when you're ready." He had an answer for everything, didn't he? Of course he did.

What about Koharu and the other villagers? They were stirring all around. Unwilling to engage the monk on that topic, she asked instead, "What happened?"

"It seems Naraku has produced more offspring for himself than just Kagura," he told her. "There's another, a young girl named Kanna, who carries a mirror capable of stealing human souls." That explained what had happened to Kagome, then. "The mirror can also reflect attacks," he continued, eliding over the fact that Sango knew that particular ability painfully well. "She used it to turn the wind scar attack back on Inuyasha."

She had more questions now, but really just wanted to lie down. The only word that came out was, "Naraku."

"He showed up in the flesh." Miroku might appear calm, but he became so angry at the mention of Naraku's presence that she could feel him shaking with suppressed rage. "To taunt Kagome, and to take Inuyasha's head."

"That was bold of him."

"Yes, though he did at least answer one of our questions from before. It seems he recently acquired a large piece of the Shikon jewel, and that's why he is now able to create offshoots like Kanna and Kagura."

The way he said it, she didn't have to ask if it was Kagome's stolen piece of the jewel to which Naraku now laid claim. But if that were true, it meant that he had taken that piece from Kikyou… or she had given it to him of her own volition. Sango wondered which was more likely, but did not waste her breath on more words. She had little doubt she would find out later what the others thought.

If Naraku had become so much more powerful so quickly, it was even more imperative than she had first thought that they get to shelter as soon as possible. She steadied herself and pushed through the pain to take one step, and then another. She had to lean on the monk far more heavily than she would have liked, since the pain made it impossible stand fully upright or move too quickly, but she was able to walk after a fashion. As long as they didn't have too far to go, she would make it.