Kagome emerged from the hut with a glum expression on her face and Shippou perched on her shoulder. Seeing how upset she was, Miroku schooled himself to calm compassion. He could confront his own feelings about their situation later, at a more convenient time.

"How are our friends?" he asked.

Unfortunately, this only seemed to make Kagome gloomier than before. "They're alive," she said. "There isn't much I can do for them, though. We need time for them to heal."

He had expected no less, given the injuries Sango and Inuyasha had sustained. It was still less than encouraging to hear it out loud.

"Do you think we'll be safe here?" Kagome went on.

He opted for honesty. "Probably not for long. They should rest now, while there's time."

"They're doing that," she told him. "That's why I came out here."

He could guess what she did not add: that she was worried her very presence would disturb Inuyasha and hinder his recovery. With that in mind, he suggested, "We should make use of the time we have been granted, as well." He managed not to sigh when both Shippou and Kagome gave him suspicious looks, but held up both hands in a manner he hoped would placate them. "We're low on food," he pointed out. "If we're going to be stuck here for a while, we'll need to do some foraging. And we may not have time for that later on."

"But what about Inuyasha and Sango?" Shippou asked. "We can't just leave them here, they'd be defenseless!"

Miroku nodded. "We'll need you to stay here and keep an eye on things, and raise the alarm if anything seems amiss. That way I can see about finding us some food, and Kagome can look for healing herbs to help our friends." It was a bit presumptuous to assume that there would be any useful herbs or edible plants close to this abandoned hut—the entire area was very overgrown—but such a search would at least give Kagome something to do while she worried over Inuyasha.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to split up at a time like this?" Kagome's voice was quiet rather than overtly suspicious of his motives, at least.

"I don't," he admitted. "But I also think we're unlikely to get another opportunity."

The gloomy expression on her face slowly became more grim as she realized he was right. It was far from ideal, but it was the best opportunity they were likely to get. And she knew as well as he did that they were running out of supplies. They couldn't afford to be trapped here without food, water, or medicinal herbs, especially not when two of them were injured and unable to help.

"Will you stay here as lookout, Shippou?" she asked at last. "We won't go far, I promise. Just shout and we'll come running."

Shippou hopped down from her shoulder and, looking very stiff and formal, promised to do his best. Nothing would get past his watch.

It wasn't all bluster, either. Miroku knew from experience that Shippou took guard duty very seriously, especially when he was protecting someone who had been injured. He'd certainly done his best to protect Sango from Miroku before.

"Come on, then," Kagome said. No time for reminiscing; Miroku put the past firmly behind him as she continued, "We probably don't have a lot of time. We should get started."

For a while they walked and searched in silence. It was a nice kind of silence, though, the rare kind that Miroku felt no need to interrupt with inane chatter. Kagome was generally a pleasant companion, even when she was out of sorts, and she applied herself to the task at hand with admirable dedication. If there was one thing she really cared about, it was Inuyasha. Too bad the fool couldn't seem to figure it out.

They had made their way some distance from the hut before she was ready to talk at all, and it took a thick bed of medicinal herbs to do it.

"This was a good idea," she told Miroku as she worked to harvest the herbs. "Inuyasha was already feverish, and I used up the last of my healing herbs trying to help with that. If he gets worse, now I'll have something to treat him with."

Miroku nodded. He was perfectly happy to wait for her, since there was a garden, however ill-tended, near the hut where he could probably scrounge up some vegetables. "I think we're going to need every advantage we can get."

"You're right," she said, sounding even more glum than she had before. She was taking Inuyasha's injuries very hard, it seemed.

For his part, Miroku didn't pry. If he kept quiet long enough, he was sure she would open up about what was bothering her so much. If he pushed too hard, she'd just keep it to herself.

Sure enough, he didn't have much longer to wait. She wanted to talk, she just needed a little more time. By the time a few more minutes had passed, Kagome had slowed in her herb-seeking. She held a bunch of plants against her with one arm, evidence of a successful search, but her face now looked just plain downcast. "Taking a direct hit from the wind scar like that… do you think he'll be all right?"

"Inuyasha has recovered from terrible injuries before," he pointed out. "As long as we can keep him hidden from Naraku for a while, I see no reason why this time should be different."

"I hope you're right," she murmured. "It's just…"

He thought she would go on if he gave her enough time, but she fell silent instead. By now he knew better than to press her. She would tell him when she was ready. And besides, he could guess what she was getting at. She always worried about Inuyasha, anyway, but this time the situation was worse than usual. If Kikyou was involved, if she had indeed given Naraku enough of the jewel to create this increase in his power, then Kagome would feel even more conflicted and unhappy than she otherwise would.

They didn't have time for this anymore than they had time to wait around for Inuyasha and Sango to heal. "It's possible that Naraku claimed Kikyou helped him just to distract us," he began.

"No," Kagome said, so quietly he almost didn't hear her. "It wasn't a lie. He was carrying the piece of the jewel that used to be mine, the one Kikyou took from me."

So much for that. "If she is helping him, she must have a reason for doing so."

She didn't say anything, choosing instead to tuck her armful of herbs close to her middle as if she were hugging herself. He could guess what she was thinking: if she hadn't lost the jewel shard to Kikyou, it would not have fallen into Naraku's hands, and Inuyasha would not have been so gravely injured. It was a dangerous line of thought; they had all made mistakes, and they all had to live with the consequences. Yet he could see why she felt that way. He could even empathize. In his darker moments, it was easy to let the what-ifs swallow him, as if he could do anything to change the past.

"It's difficult now, but we must stay strong for our friends' sake," he told her.

He would never know if she intended to respond or not, because at that moment he heard Shippou calling in the distance.

"Miroku! Kagome! Come quick!" The kitsune sounded absolutely frantic. "Kikyou's soul catchers showed up and Inuyasha ran off!"

Miroku followed Kagome as she raced off, following the sound of Shippou's voice back toward the hut where they had left their friends. He and Kagome hadn't gone very far, but apparently it had been far enough for Inuyasha to get into trouble. Miroku supposed he probably shouldn't be surprised, though he was annoyed. What was Inuyasha thinking?

Shippou bounded into view, gesturing animatedly. "This way! I think something really bad is going to happen!"

Miroku's mind raced as he ran after Shippou. The area surrounding the abandoned hut had an extremely negative aura to begin with, which made it difficult to sense imminent danger. Miroku couldn't be sure if Naraku was making his move through Kikyou, if she was bait in a trap intended to draw them out of hiding, or if she had come here of her own accord to speak with Inuyasha. Regardless, the situation filled him with unease. Inuyasha really should have known better than to go off alone, especially at a time like this.

As if thinking of him had summoned him, the half-demon hobbled out of the forest and into view. At first Miroku thought this might be a good sign: Inuyasha was upright and he was walking, so perhaps he was not so badly injured as they had assumed. But his hopes were dashed a moment later as the hanyou crashed to his knees in front of Kagome.

Miroku kept his distance while Kagome ran to Inuyasha's side. For that one moment, as she sank to her knees and looked him over for new injuries, things were normal again. And then it disappeared in an instant as Kagome demanded to know if he'd been to see Kikyou. As if there were any doubt.

Instead of answering, Inuyasha looked away and refused to speak.

"You won't even look at me!" she pointed out. "You always act like this when you've been sneaking off to see her!"

"It wasn't a tryst or anything!" he protested. "We needed to know."

"I know that, idiot!" Kagome snapped.

Miroku intervened before things could escalate further. "So, did you find out what you needed to know? Did Naraku speak the truth when he said Kikyou gave him her piece of the jewel?"

Inuyasha looked away. His voice was subdued when he finally admitted, "Yeah."

"In other words," he interpreted, calm but uncompromising, "Kikyou really has joined forces with Naraku."

"No!" Inuyasha snapped, his voice wild with desperation and refusal to believe. He paused, reining in his temper, and went on more quietly. "I don't know what she's planning…"

As he trailed off, Miroku turned to follow his gaze and realized that Kagome had stormed off. Kikyou was always a touchy subject and that was even more true now that Inuyasha was gravely injured.

"What did I say?" Inuyasha asked.

Miroku sighed. "Poor Kagome…"

"She was worrying over you and then you ran off to be with another woman, you idiot," Shippou chided.

For a moment, Inuyasha seemed to be at a complete loss for words. "I didn't run off to be with another woman!" he snapped.

Miroku was even feeling generous enough to believe him. "I'm sure that in your injured and feverish state, it didn't feel like that's what you were doing," he assured the hanyou, earning a snicker from Shippou in the process. "But for now, we should head back. We're going to need a new plan, and you're going to have to make up with Kagome."

"She's the one overreacting!" Inuyasha protested, but he did begin walking back toward the hut that was currently serving as their base. "Why do I have to make up with her?"

Miroku shook his head as he followed, more for Shippou's benefit than Inuyasha's. "Just learn to accept it, my friend."