Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kagome took her time in changing her clothing from her travel kimono to her Priestess one. Just a quick glance in the mirror and even she could not deny the resemblance to Kikyo since she was sporting the traditional white shirt and red pants. Thinking back on the woman who changed her own life, Kagome smiled sadly at the memory of their last meeting. Kikyo had been poisoned by Naraku and was fading fast when Inuyasha had gotten to her. Her friends stayed away but within eyesight of them while the old Priestess let go of her struggles and succumbed to her wounds. It had seemed so long ago when Kagome had met her for the first time while she lay trapped in an herbal bath designed to steal back Kikyo soul from her body. It had been a traumatic experience to say the least when Kikyo had nearly killed her, but Kagome's body called for the soul to return and nearly ended Kikyo a second time. Strangely though, the old Priestess had survived long enough to witness the beginnings of Naraku's destruction and the Shikon jewel's end, though she saw neither in person. In spirit, however, her radiance was present.

A heavy sigh released from Kagome's lungs as she took in the sight of the demons before her, breaking their backs to create a stone tub. Inuyasha had arrived shortly after she had giving Jaken demands, so there was no need to seek Sesshomaru's help. Ura had walked into the room only seconds behind the silver haired half demon and both were carrying a large boulder. Upon setting it down in front of Rin's body, which was perched on another stone slab as though she were only sleeping, the two demons began destroying and shaping Miho's bath. As they worked, it seemed as though they were actually carving a display of butter or cheese with the way their hands maneuvered through the rock. It was effortless for them due to their matched strengths, and for this Kagome was grateful.

"Ura, lift the other end. I need to get this shifted into the dirt so that it won't tilt to the side." Inuyasha dug his claws into the earth beneath the rock and shifted it so that his sister could control the adjacent side, which she did without difficulty. "Good, now move it over a few inches and we can have the ground contain it without much more effort on our part."

Ura complied until the bottom half of their task was situated, then dug her own clawed hand into the top half of the boulder and ripped a chunk of rock clean off to create a crater to start on the inside. "Help me get the tub started." Inuyasha's hand took off another chunk of rock and the two siblings kept up the pace while Jaken sat back on the side lines to survey the scene.

"Can someone tell me how this is going to work?" Inuyasha and Ura ignored the little toad, but Kagome answered from his left side.

"When Kikyo was resurrected from her ashes and graveyard soil, I was kidnapped and put in a bath of really smelly herbs and fresh lake water by a witch who had created an army of clay warriors to everyone away from us. I stayed in that tub for several minutes before I began to get dizzy and ill. It was as if the bath I was in was digging out my soul, but my body knew what was going on and tried to fight it. Kikyo became alive again once Inuyasha said her name aloud when my body was fighting the spell, which was then broken and my soul left me and returned to her." Jaken had turned his head to gaze upon Kagome's face while she told her story. From what he could see, the Priestess was lost in her own memory while she expressed her past to him as though he were not even there. "I was left alive, but empty of all thought or reason. Like Kikyo was before the soul returned to her newly resurrected body. If I had not gotten my soul back when I had, I would have been most likely dead before Kikyo had a chance to finish Inuyasha off."

Jaken clenched his eyes shut to think before speaking. "Will Rin suffer a similar fate?"

The sound of rock and claws coming together ceased for a chance to hear Kagome's thoughts. Clearly, no one had been informed about what Miho and Rin would soon have to face.

Kagome cleared her throat and blinked several times while trying to find the right words to continue. "I am not certain. It is obvious that their circumstances are different from mine and Kikyo's. Kikyo was a shell made from clay, while I was very much alive and well. I did not have two souls trapped inside of my body. I had been born with Kikyo's soul, reincarnated but unable to access her thoughts or memories." She paused to think some more. "Rin's body was never burned. She was preserved so that she would not have to suffer Kikyo's fate. Her body is lifeless, but intact. And Miho…Miho was born with two souls. Her own, and Rin's. This bath will draw out Rin's soul because I will focus my powers directly on hers and guide it back into her own body. If this works, Rin will acclimate herself and become familiar with her body once again and then awaken as if from a long sleep."

"Kagome, when Kikyo's clay body took the soul out of you, she regained not just her memories but also the wounds she died from." Inuyasha had stopped working altogether and was staring hard at her, clearly upset. "You have never done this type of spell before, but you experienced what it feels like to be in the middle of it when it was happening to you. Miho should be ok when this is all over…"

Kagome nodded and finished his train of thought. "But Rin will regain the wounds she died from and she will be in danger of dying from them again if I do not act fast enough." She looked away from everyone and walked back over to where Rin's body was kept.

Rin was lying on her back, clothed in a soft white cotton dressing gown that went down all the way to her ankles. Her shoulders were bare, revealing that she was even more pale then the last anyone saw her but this was normal for a person who had been dead for more than sixty years. "I'll need a source of fire to seal her wound closed. Hopefully she will be unconscious before I will have to deal with it so that she will not feel the pain. Otherwise…someone will have to keep her from screaming." Kagome shuddered at the thought of seeing the pain in Rin's eyes while she pressed hot fire into her flesh.

"Lord Sesshomaru would not allow that." Jaken glared at her, visibly shaken and uncomfortable. "He could barely tolerate seeing the light leave her face when she died. There is no way he will allow her to suffer based on an idea that everything will work."

"If I am right about this, Rin's body will reopen that stab wound in her stomach and she will bleed out very quickly! The only way to close it before she bleeds to death is to burn it!" Kagome was also becoming visible shaken, but more from anger and impatience than anything else. "If you or Sesshomaru tries to interfere with this, I will not hesitate to skewer you with one of my arrows!"

"Now you listen here, missy! I refuse to let you come anywhere near her with fire without Lord Sesshomaru's consent! And let me be the first to say that he would never-!" Jaken was on his tip toes trying to reach a more intimidating height while arguing with the human woman, but a deadly voice from behind him in the doorway cut him off mid sentence.

"Jaken."

The little toad demon gulped before turning to face the powerful looming demon Lord. Sesshomaru had appeared out of nowhere, his face void of the tears he had shed in private but he was clearly irritated by the delays.

The great demon Lord looked from one face to the next until his eyes came to rest on Kagome's. She hadn't fallen victim to his intimidations for decades now, so Sesshomaru was not surprised that she had remained completely calm when he studied her face. "Where is Miho?"

"Kazumi is getting her changed and ready to be soaked. Of course, she hasn't regained consciousness yet so Miho is unable to change herself."

"Why does she need to be changed?"

Kagome quirked an eyebrow. "Because the water needs to be introduced onto her skin as quickly as possible."

Sesshomaru also raised an eyebrow. "Do you intend to have her unclothed for this?"

Surprisingly, Kagome blushed scarlet at the thought. Despite being married/mated with a child of her own, the thought of nudity and discussing it with anyone still made her rather uncomfortable at times. "Of course not! She doesn't need to be naked! She just needs to be in lighter clothes! Sheesh!" She threw her hands up in the air and turned away from him.

Inuyasha and Ura looked from Kagome, to Sesshomaru to each other before rolling their eyes and getting back to the task at hand while their brother stood unmoving in the doorway. The tub was nearly complete. Its length and depth were nearly perfect for Miho's lithe body to lie down in comfortably, although if she woke up while submerged in the herb solution there was no guarantee that she would remain so. Kagome had admitted a little bit ago that the experience for her was rather nauseating. Was there no end of suffering for the two women caught in death's vice like grip?

(Outside the castle grounds)

"I never expected that Rin would be located so soon."

"Rin had one of the strongest souls that I had ever seen. She was so much like Kagome in spirit that I believed with all of my heart that she would be found sooner rather than later." Jinenji stomped his way through the front gates of Sesshomaru's castle, loaded down with everything that was required to fulfill the task at hand. He had been attempting to make conversation with the pretty demon woman who had come to collect him for close to fifteen minutes now, but the most he could get out of her at one time was no more than a sentence or a gesture. Something was obviously occupying Aya's thoughts, but he couldn't figure out what just yet.

"There should have been more time."

Jinenji didn't like Aya's tone at all. "More time? Her soul was located! The circumstances are certainly dire, but she was found and was brought home to be reunited with her body." He smiled to himself, glad that there might be a happy ending for the great demon lord yet. "Lord Sesshomaru will no doubt be elated by this series of events."

"If only Lord Sakuya were here to witness such a…happy event." This was all Aya had uttered for the rest of their walk through the castle grounds.

Jinenji was only familiar with the name Sakuya because he knew that he was Rin's murderer, which made him look very hard at the back of Aya's head after she had said his name. But instead of giving a response, he kept his mouth shut. He could only hope that the context in which she had used his name was a metaphorical slap in the face to the murderer in question, but something else was hidden in Aya's statement.

Aya's heart hammered inside of her rib cage as she walked down the steps to where everyone was located. The half demon Jinenji followed silently behind. Well…as silently as a demon his size could, seeing as he towered over just about everyone Aya had ever seen. Most of the massive demons she had the privilege of seeing were bad. There wasn't really a large population for large yet kind ones. Still, height and build won out and frankly, Aya hated feeling so small.

Both demons had just come from a short journey over the western mountains. Jinenji carried several containers and baskets full of medicinal herbs and roots, while Aya harbored several assortments of leaves and a rather large cask of water. Everything had to be ground up first and then blended together, but at least they had all the ingredients. The overly large half demon had seemed quite adamant about coming along to assist Kagome in any way that he could and he had been very particular about the amount of items he would bring along for the challenging undertaking.

Aya didn't bother to argue about his presence. One more individual among the group couldn't hurt the cause. So long as he didn't get in the way of her own plans, there was no need for anyone else to perish in the next few hours.

The pair made their way down a steep set of stairs after arriving back at Sesshomaru's castle and made their way down until they came to a doorway with a light peaking through. Voices could be heard from the inside. "Do you think Miho will wake up before or during this whole thing?" "I don't know. She is pretty out of it and her fever just won't break." "Kazumi had her wrapped in a damp set of linen to lower it, but nothing is working." "We need to get Rin's soul out, now!" "We don't have the ingredients, so we can only wait and pray that she doesn't die!" "Don't tell me that! We don't have time for this!" "You are really starting to bug me, toad!" "Maybe if you stopped acting like such a brat, I wouldn't bug you so much!" "How about I take your walking stick and break it over your little green head?" "How about I take one of your mate's arrows and stab you in the foot with it?" "My son is more mature than you!" "Your son is more mature than you!" "That's it! We are gonna have it out right now!" Something clattered loudly on the floor. "Bring it on!"

Jinenji pushed passed Aya and stepped in through the doorway to a scene so bizarre, it was comical. Inuyasha had somehow taken hold of the wooden staff of Two Heads and was busy choking the life out of Jaken with it while Jaken had a good grip on Inuyasha's nose and was trying to twist it off. Neither demon noticed Jinenji until Kagome clapped her hands excitedly from behind the mayhem. "Thank goodness! Bring everything over here!" She pointed to the basin located behind the quarrelling set of demons. "Just set them to the side and one of you go and bring Miho in here please?"

Inuyasha and Jaken shoved out of each other grasp, but not before dealing a final blow to one another resulting in a harmonious chorus of painful yelps.

"Knock it off, you two! We don't have time for this!" Kagome ordered everyone out of the room except Jinenji and Ura and waited until they were alone. Aya dropped everything she was carrying, blatantly ignoring Jinenji's questioning looks and cast a sideways glance at Sesshomaru. The great demon lord appeared to be lost in thought while also making his way out of the room. Aya followed him, leaving only two demons and a Priestess to their own devices.

This was the first time Jinenji had seen Kagome in over ten years but there was no time to get reacquainted at the moment. Instead, he told her everything from the journey he took with Aya to get to him. "Something is wrong with that woman, Lady Kagome. She appears to be just fine, but there is evil lurking within her eyes every time I see them."

Kagome turned to look at him while Ura's mouth dropped. "I'm sorry, what?"

Jinenji continued. "The demon woman who brought me here."

"Aya?" Ura let out a breathy laugh and fluttered her hand in his direction. "Aya is a very dear friend of mine. How can you say such things about her like that?"

"I can sense it, my Lady." He argued. "Kagome, please…do not let that woman near Lady Rin. Or the human woman you are trying to save. Something is not right."

Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion and she pushed a bit of her bangs out of her eyes to see him better. She studied his face. "Aya grieved with Rin when they found Ura dead long ago. Aya comforted Sesshomaru after Rin's death and helped me preserve them both until Sesshomaru revived Ura at Aya's urging. On top of all that, she did not hesitate to get the herbs and other ingredients from you to help bring Rin back to her body while saving the life of the woman who held her soul. How could you possibly think her capable of evil?"

Did he dare reveal his suspicions? "Just now, she confirmed it with her eyes that she has evil in her heart when she gazed upon Lord Sesshomaru's face before you told everyone to leave. She did everything for him, not you or Rin, this new human woman, or Ura. Don't you see, Kagome? I think that Aya did everything for Lord Sesshomaru because…she is in love with him."

Some time later, Kagome had the room vacated of everyone except herself. There were too many theories floating around for her to concentrate on Rin, so the only logical step was to seek solitude while she mixed the formula for Rin's soul extraction. In several precise movements, she crushed various assortments of herbs into a fine powder and sprinkled the dust all round the rim of the stone bath, then layered the inside with more medicinal herbs and leaves until Kagome smelled the same vapors from her past emerge. It was putrid, but necessary. Next, she took the containers of water and dirt and poured up to 3 inches deep before she stopped to examine her work. Everything had to be as close to perfect as she could remember.

From where she stood, the water appeared to be thick with a layer of seaweed if one did not know what was really there. It was deep slimy green with the smell to match it with perhaps a little something extra to cause the aroma to be almost toxic. Kagome held her nose after getting a really good whiff. "Oh yeah. I remember that smell perfectly." She pushed herself away from the bath and blinked the sting out of her eyes. The rest of the water and herbs would have to be added after Miho is put in tub.

Several minutes would need to pass to ensure that the slimy concoction congealed enough to work, so Kagome turned back around and took a few small steps toward Rin's still as stone body.

Rin's hair had been draped to one side of her face, leaving the other side almost naked to the elements. She was so pale from death that it made Kagome recall the first time she had seen Rin after she had died. Nothing had changed. In this state, she had been preserved in her own special bath to fight the hands of time. There was no sign of decay or age, and this Kagome was thankful for. It would be interesting, however, to see just how Rin would handle not just coming back to life again while suffering an old wound, but also how she would handle the obvious span of time that she had missed. The woman had died, leaving friends and family…most of who were human. Kagome and Inuyasha were an exception, but Miroku and Sango had aged considerably and also, Sango had died only a few years ago. Shippo was much older, though appeared to resemble a teenager, while Kohaku was well into his mid seventies. And now Kagome and Inuyasha had a son of their own. Yes, Rin's soul had taken control of Miho's body for a time and had the opportunity to figure out all of this…but if this spell or potion worked, she would be reunited with her own flesh and blood and experience the joy and sadness in her own territory.

Kagome was scared for Rin. She had only experienced this from Miho's point of view, whereas Rin will be experiencing the transference from Kikyo's. Oh yes, Kagome was scared for her sister.

A knock on the door frame behind her signaled the time. "Kagome?"

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Her voice was hollow, distant.

"The woman…Miho?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, what about her?"

"She's awake…"

Kagome whipped her head around to find her husband staring not at her, but at the floor as though he were avoiding her. "And?"

Inuyasha glanced up after a minute of silence. It was clear why he appeared so hesitant. "Kagome…she says that Rin is…gone."

Author's Note: This took me several hours to write. The words kept coming to me and I couldn't stop. From what my Microsoft Word file is telling me, this chapter is seven pages long and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it myself. This is my treat for you guys since you have put up with me for so long because I don't know if I can generate another chapter of this particular size unless I have enough free time to do so. Anyway, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to message me or review my story. Otherwise, thank you for reading and see you next chapter!

OliviaAR