Mountains rose high in the distance, and the wind found them wonderful to play in. It bounced and bounded along the surface and was tickled by tree branches. And along that wind, a straining ear could hear the echoes of a flute playing…
"How's your hand, Hikaru?"
"For the hundredth time, ani-chan, it's fine. I'm not a little girl, you know." Hikaru flinched at the tone in her voice. It wasn't like her to snap out like that. But the way that everyone was treating her was getting to her. If she had more knowledge about Kagome's modern time, she would have understood if someone referred to her as 'a time bomb about to go off'.
Inuyasha sighed and kept moving. He couldn't help but worry about her. Out of his surviving family, his imooto-chan was the only one that cared about him. And now the last shard of the Shikon jewel was stuck in her hand. The hanyou didn't want to think about what it might do to her.
On his back, Kagome could understand what he was going through. In fact, although no one wanted to admit it, they were all feeling the same way. They were all worried about what would happen to Hikaru and the shard in her hand. In all of the other encounters with shard-enhanced youkai, the shards were corrupted and the youkai driven insane with the power. And now Hikaru possessed the last one.
The group walked on a dirt road, for the first time a while without a clear direction. Now that all of the shards were accounted for they were at a loss as to what to do for the moment. They had a brief rest in the village, but they couldn't stay long. Sooner or later, other youkai would learn about the shard and come for Hikaru. It wasn't fair to the villagers if they did stay and brought trouble with them.
So they were wondering the countryside, trying to figure out something. Uncharacteristically, Inuyasha hoped that they would run into trouble. All of this indecision and worrying was getting to him and he really wanted to take out his frustration on someone or something.
At sunset the group found a small clearing for them to camp in. The activity of the preparations made them forget their worries for a brief moment. And it allowed them to try to act as if nothing was wrong.
Kagome grabbed her kettle and headed off to find water to boil. She would have to return to her world soon, not only was the three days almost up but they needed new supplies. All they had at the moment was ramen. And although no one in the group, especially Inuyasha, was going to complain about it Kagome wanted a bit more variety.
"Dammit, where is she? It shouldn't have taken this long for her to fill that kettle of hers." Inuyasha was irritated and annoyed. That girl should have been back by now. But there was no sign of Kagome.
"Do you think that she ran into trouble?" Shippou asked. He and the other reflected on all the time that Kagome had gotten into trouble. Each of them sighed. More likely than not, that was what happened.
They split up to search the woods for any sign of her; especially the area near the river where she was heading. Inuyasha hoped that she wasn't hurt, and was looking forward to hurting someone for trying anything on her.
"I'm sorry, Sesshomaru-sama, but I haven't seen any sign of her," Jaken managed to get out and then cringed in anticipation. Considering the news that he just brought, he expected to get hit or stomped on for his troubles. But nothing happened which relieved and worried at him at the same time.
It was strange to him that Sesshomaru-sama would become so attached to a human child, but it really wasn't his place to question his master's motives. The youkai was certainly greater than he was.
Sesshomaru's expression didn't visibly change with the news. Unless you counted the slight tightening of his mouth and the narrowing of his eyes. It wasn't like Rin to be gone this long. She had left to find some food for herself and was now missing. Normally Jaken would have watched over her, but somehow they had gotten separated.
The youkai didn't like the way things were feeling right now. There was something in the air this night that sent him on guard. Unfortunately he couldn't pinpoint it.
"Come, I want her found. There's something out there and I don't like it."
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."
Hikaru sped and dodged amongst the trees, her nose straining for even the merest traces of Kagome's scent. She couldn't find any though. She paused and leaned against a tree to rest. The hanyou didn't want to wait long, Kagome was out there and she was unarmed. Her friend needed to be found soon.
Unconsciously her right hand held her left wrist. The ache was back again, hurtful and seductive at the same time. The shard was tempting Hikaru with its help and power. But she wanted none of it. All the other times that youkai had shards, there was nothing but trouble and pain. And her youkai blood would surely take advantage of the shard's strength. That would spell doom for her.
She knew that the others were worried about her. She was too. And deathly frightened. Hikaru had no idea that it would be like this when she promised to be responsible for the last shard. A feeling was growing inside of her; a feeling that the Shikon Jewel was going to be the death of her.
"Any sign of her over there?" Miroku called out.
Sango cleared some undergrowth with her sword and sighed. "Nothing over here. Where could she be?"
"I don't know. I do not like this one bit. If Kagome was abducted surely there would be some trace of her somewhere. But so far there hasn't been anything."
"Maybe the others had better luck?"
"Maybe. But surely there would have been a sign of that by now."
"You're right. What do you think we should do?"
"What else is there? We have to keep looking and hope that Kagome is all right," Miroku replied.
"Ugh, what are we doing up here, Juanyu? The river is way back there." The little kitsune clung into the other's back and shrank back from their surroundings. The ground was rocky and in some places barren. What plant life was present was either dead or soon to be. Shippou didn't like this place one bit. He desperately wanted to turn back. But concern for Kagome kept him from saying anything to Juanyu.
The shadow-half sniffed and continued upwards. "There's something here. I'm not sure what, but I think that it's worth checking out. If Kagome is up here, you can go back and get the others while I stay here and try to help."
Shippou seconded the idea and felt better. If Kagome were up here, she would need help. It was better to be with Juanyu than either of the hanyou at the moment. Inuyasha was edgier than usual and Hikaru was acting strange. Shippou would rather be with Juanyu looking for Kagome.
The duo eventually reached a small cave opening with a thin trail of smoke emanating from it. Juanyu removed Shippou from his back and tucked the little kitsune in a shallow crevice between two rocks.
"Stay here. I'm not sure what's going to happen."
Shippou nodded and waited until Juanyu had a good start on him before quietly following him.
Juanyu edged near the opening and risked a glance inside. A small fire provided minimal light for the cave, which was larger inside than the opening led observers to think. That is, if the depth of the shadows were to be believed. A pair of bone cages hung from the ceiling and he could see that both were occupied. Unfortunately he couldn't say by whom, it was too dark to see and the something in the smoke was blocking his nose.
He crept over the edge and made his way down. He could see that the floor of the cave was shallowly sandy but firm rock underneath. He approached the cages and began to seethe inside.
Kagome was indeed in one of the cages; her eyes open but blank and her skin growing cold to the touch. But he could sense some life in her still. He wasn't sure what was happening to her but he was sure that the others would have an idea what to do.
"Don't worry, Kagome, we'll get you out of here," he said.
Since he was this close to the cages his nose detected a scent that he could hardly believe was there. A glance into the second cage made him worry. The small girl, Rin, was in there. He recognized her as someone that followed Hikaru-san's older brother, Sesshomaru. What the hell was she doing here? What the hell was either of them here for that matter.
Juanyu began to back to the opening, ready to send Shippou for the others. A faint shuffle was the only warning he got. The shadow-half was tackled from the side and sent sprawling to the ground. His attacker managed to wrap Juanyu tightly in some kind of silky leather. When he was tightly bound, Juanyu was propped against one wall.
His attacker seemed to be a youkai of some kind. And his entire body was covered in leather straps, only one mad eye shown through.
"Disgraceful, utterly disgraceful. Entering a lady's home without knocking or announcing yourself. You should be ashamed of yourself, shouldn't he milady?" The last was directed to the shadows to his right.
"Indeed, he should. You may teach him some manners later though. It's time to begin." Then the speaker came into view.
She could have passed for a beautiful human woman if Juanyu hadn't sensed the evil youki rolling off of her. In one hand she held a glowing flute. And sat on a ledge near the opening that allowed her to see out. Juanyu hoped that Shippou was safe.
The flute was placed to her lips and she began to play. If Juanyu hadn't been so frightened he would have thought that the music was beautiful.
Outside of the cave, Shippou was running for his life. When he saw Juanyu attacked he fled. He wasn't that much of a fighter, he knew that. But the kitsune could get the others. He was halfway down when he heard a flute playing. It seemed crazy for such a thing to be happening but he didn't go back. Kagome was more important than his curiosity, and he was the only one that knew where to find her.
He couldn't help but feel that the music was a bad thing.