"This time she really is asleep, correct?" Ekaterina asked.
The foursome sitting across from her nodded. Kilala and Shippo were watching over Misaki. They had been instructed to report to them as quickly as possible if she tried anything that Ekaterina considered stupid.
Ekaterina stood up and paced across the room. "That wound won't heal properly anytime soon. I have to make sure that she doesn't get out again." She scowled. "That stupid girl. How could she go running around like that?"
Kagome frowned. She felt something inside her snap. "You know, if you had just found Sesshomaru for Misaki like she wanted to, none of this would've happened," she snapped.
Ekaterina stopped pacing and stared at Kagome. "What are you talking about?"
"You should know better than anyone how much Misaki misses Sesshomaru, but I doubt you've ever even made the slightest effort to find him."
"I---" Ekaterina started, but Kagome cut her off.
"Do you even know where he is? Have you ever even tried looking for him? How can you keep Misaki here for so long promising her that she'll see him soon? That's cruel!"
"Kagome-san, listen to me! I did try searching for him, but I couldn't find him!"
Kagome's eyes widened. "You couldn't?"
"I thought she was supposed to be able to find anything," Inuyasha whispered to Miroku.
"I can track down almost anything, but the ability to track living beings almost always eludes me. Sesshomaru was no exception. And I'm keeping Misaki here for her own protection."
"What do you mean?" Sango asked.
Ekaterina sighed and sat down again. "After Sesshomaru disappeared, his father went looking for him. When he didn't find him, he went to the Eastern Domain with his army and slaughtered most of Misaki's family. I don't know how many are left, but I know that Inu no Taisho blamed them for the disappearance of his son. Anyone who bore the star-shaped mark on their foreheads was doomed to die. He did this until Sesshomaru mysteriously appeared about three hundred years ago."
"So you knew that he returned. But why didn't you tell Misaki?" Miroku asked.
"I was afraid that Inu no Taisho still wanted to kill her." Ekaterina closed her eyes. "You don't know what it's like for a parent to leave her children behind. Any child that I find I vow to protect because I couldn't protect my own."
A heavy silence hung in the air for a while. The flames of the oil lamps flickered and Ekaterina stood up. Silently, she walked out of the room.
"Geez, Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed with annoyance. "What got into you?"
Kagome stared at the floor and gripped the hem of her skirt. "She really wants to see him. She's been here for so long . . ."
"So?"
Kagome looked up and gaped at Inuyasha. Inuyasha raised his eyebrow. Kagome looked horror-stricken and surprised.
"What?" he asked. "What is it?"
Kagome closed her mouth and stood up. "You're so clueless," she mumbled and walked out of the room.
A few weeks later . . .
"Are you sure you're feeling better today?" Kagome asked.
Misaki smiled and nodded as she slipped on her ice-blue kimono. "My wound feels a lot better. It must've been your magical healing agents that have allowed me to recover in such a short amount of time."
"What are you going to do now?" Sango asked. "You're not really going to go meet that Cherub, are you?"
Misaki paused momentarily. "I have to. She's my only lead. You don't seem to know where Sesshomaru is because he only appears to you every once in a while and Ekaterina-san can't seem to find him."
A couple of days ago, Shippo had found a letter in the snow with Misaki's name on it. Kagome had taken it to Misaki. It turned out to be from Kaiein, saying that she wanted to meet with Misaki soon in the center of the Awayuki Forest. The letter had stated that Kaiein would come every day at around noon and stay for five hours after that. If it hadn't been for both Sango and Kagome, Misaki would've left right then and there.
Misaki finished dressing herself and started braiding her long hair. "I won't let her get away with doing something like that again," she said. "And I'll be fine. The center of the forest isn't very far from here." Misaki turned to them and pressed a finger against her lips. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"
Kagome and Sango glanced at each other, not quite sure as to what to do.
"Promise me, please," Misaki begged.
Reluctantly, the girls nodded.
"But you better come back in one piece, Misaki," Kagome said.
Misaki nodded. "I will," she said and stepped outside.
The center of the Awayuki Forest was slightly strange. It was a circular-shaped clearing with a small well in the middle. Misaki walked towards the well. It was half-covered with snow. If it had been spring, she would've seen her reflection in the dark water that the well carried. Misaki placed her hands on its edge and stared at it.
He fell in a well like this one, she thought to herself, frowning a little. Except that one had nothing but darkness within it. Darkness . . . and those strange creatures that pulled him in.
"Reminiscing, are we?"
Misaki whirled around and saw Kaiein leaning against a tree.
"Tell me," Misaki ordered.
Kaiein sighed and rolled her eyes. "You can never say please, can you? All right, I'll tell you, but you gotta tell me where that special well is."
"I don't know," Misaki said, stubbornly refusing to reveal its location.
Kaiein frowned. "You want to know where Sesshomaru is, right? If so, tell me where that well is."
Misaki glared at her. "It's a few miles from here near an abandoned temple!" she growled. "Now tell me!"
Kaiein smiled. "Good, good. If I was a truly bad person, I wouldn't tell you anything, but I'm feeling generous today. Sesshomaru is actually coming near here. He will be appearing at Ekaterina's house in a few hours."
Hope swelled within Misaki, but she refused to let herself get excited. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"You don't." Noticing the look on Misaki's face, Kaiein sighed. "Look, neko-chan. I'm not a really bad person. Sure, I may stoop extreme lows to get what I want and I like messing with people's heads, but I don't like squishing hopes. He is coming, but I've gotta warn you that he's changed from the Sesshomaru you used to know."
A smile slowly spread across Misaki's face. "That doesn't matter. As long as I get to see him again."
Kaiein shrugged. "Your funeral," she said.
Misaki turned and ran all the way back to Ekaterina's house and immediately sensed something.
It feels . . . familiar, she thought.
She saw someone with long hair, perhaps even longer than her own, approaching the house.
"Sesshomaru!" she called.
School starts next week. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'll try to update as often as I can, but I can't promise anything (I've learned my lesson. Never make promises I can't keep). I hope I can come up with a half-decent chapter, though. Right now, I've got a horrible headache, so this is the best I could come up with. Ugh, I need an aspirin or something.
Oh, by the way, Kaiein, Sana, and Loathe are my characters, too. Kinda forget to mention that.