Chapter Thirty

Miho shook violently from the chill in the air, but it seemed as though she were the only one feeling it. Kagome and Kasumi showed no sign of being cold. Inuyasha and Shippo were burning up because they had been working, and Ura was close enough to her that she could see a light sheen of perspiration forming on her pale face. "Is it really only me who is cold?"

Ura nodded while she placed a hand on Miho's forehead. "You have a serious fever, Miho. Do you feel anything other than cold right now?"

Miho shrugged. "I've really very tired. I could sleep now, but I have a feeling that I might not wake up if I do." Dying was a part of life, but she was exactly ready to great it just yet.

Kagome spoke from behind Ura's back. "Actually, going to sleep right now would be a much better idea than staying awake. Once you're in the bath, you might feel as though you are going to be sick to your stomach, but you won't be able to move at all." Kagome walked around to her and crouched down, also testing Miho's forehead for the fever. "I speak from experience, of course. I wish I had been asleep."

"I agree with Kagome, though I do have my doubts." Ura stepped back and allowed the Priestess to play doctor. "Is it true, then? Is Rin not with you anymore?"

Miho shook her head. "I can't really explain it. I can feel the weight of her soul, but I can't seem to find her in my mind. It's as though she has lost her voice, or faded into the black." She looked up at Kagome while she spoke. "Was this what you felt?"

Kagome smiled sadly. "Not really. I wasn't even aware of the fact that it was possible to remove an old soul from a body and put it back in a previous body. But my case was different. I didn't share my body with another soul. My soul was split in two when Kikyo's body was recreated from the ground she was buried in. It wasn't until she truly died that my soul became intact once again."

"Shall I keep trying to find her?" Miho didn't want anyone to know it, but she was terrified by the idea that Rin was no longer there. "If I don't, will this whole thing work?"

Kagome lowered her head. "I can't stop you from seeking her out, but at this point, I don't know if you will be able to find her. Right now, we need to get you in the bath and extract Rin's soul. If we don't at least do that, you are going to die. I have no doubt that she is still a part of you."

Inuyasha appeared from behind Kagome as if out of thin air and picked her up off the floor. Miho did not fight him, nor did she want to. She was too exhausted to even lift up her head from his chest. For some reason, she didn't think Kagome was the jealous type so snuggling up to the woman's husband like this didn't worry her.

Kagome glanced at them a little longer than she was comfortable with, but ignored the annoyance forming in the back of her mind. Now was not the time to be possessive of her mate.

Ura followed closely behind while Kasumi trailed them. "You know, I am surprised about how calm and quiet you are being about all of this."

Kasumi shrugged. "It is either this, or she will die." A comforting arm wrapped around her shoulders. The warm weight of Ura's presence made Kasumi feel just a little less sad. "I can do nothing to help her, so why bother getting in the way with stupid questions. We are not even blood related."

Ura smiled while she guided the woman through the doorway into the room where Rin's body was now being displayed. "I was not blood related to Rin, and yet I still regard her as the sister I never had. Miho is the exact same to you, I can tell."

"Rin was your sister-in-law, so to speak. So technically, she was the sister you never had." Both women chuckled. "Where is Lord Sesshomaru?"

It was a question intended only for Ura to hear, but Inuyasha, Kagome, Miho, and Jaken (who had been standing next to the now finished bath waiting for them to arrive) all turned around in search of the great demon lord, but found only Miroku, Shippo and Ehren standing just inside the doorway. Ura responded first. "He was just-"

"He can't deal with it." Inuyasha cut off his sister's sentence. Ura turned back around to face him, a look of concern dawning in her features. "He watched her die...quite a few times before. I don't think he could handle putting so much hope in something like this and then having it fail right before his eyes. He would rather hear that this transference had failed from one of us, than to witness the painful reality in person."

Ura nodded. "But still…if the man I loved wasn't there when I came back to life until after the fact, then I would feel as though I were abandoned, or something similar. Maybe not exactly that way, but still…"

"Miho, do you want me to find him?" Kagome reached the stone bath first, but turned quick on her heals and addressed the woman before Miho had a chance to touch feet to floor.

"Um…I'm alright without him here." Miho didn't know the demon well enough to judge why he had managed to slip away unnoticed until now, but she didn't want to be the reason Rin felt abandoned if this endeavor worked. "I just wish that I could find Rin so that I could ask her what her thoughts were about it."

"We don't have time to start a search party." Inuyasha helped Miho find her footing and made himself available as a crutch while Miho climbed into the slimy looking green water. "This stuff is cold!" She let go of Inuyasha's shoulder and sat back until she was completely submerged save for her head. "Ew! It smells horrible, too! Kagome, how did you endure this?"

Kagome gave her a pointed look before she bent over one side of the tub where Miho couldn't see, and reemerged a few seconds later with a vase full of even more foul smelling liquid. "Simple. I had no choice at the time." She poured a putrid concoction of both dried and fresh herbs into the bath to mix with the already stinging chemicals. "I'm going to ask you to close your eyes now, Miho. Just try to relax and take your mind somewhere else other than here. If you can do that, you won't feel much of anything other than a little dizzy." She'll also pass out if I did this right. The Shikon Jewel was the only reason I didn't when it happened to me. The jewel protected me, but for Miho there is nothing to protect her other than her will to survive. Kagome swallowed a lump of fear that had formed in her throat. It's time. "I'm not even going to count to three." She tipped the vase full of the deadly herbs over and let it mix into the already sickeningly smelling concoction.

Miho swallowed the type of lump in her throat and did as suggested. Her eyes closed, but try as she might the herbal mixture swirling around and saturating her body with poisonous liquid kept her mind firmly planted in the present. With each passing second, the liquid stung every inch of skin until Miho assumed that she was turning into a block of charcoal. Her stomach, free to do as it wished, began to role from the assault and the words that seemed to derive directly from her very soul poured free from her tightly clenched lips like water through a tiny crack in a dam. "Oh god…I-I think I'm g-going to b-be sick!" Unable to stand it any longer, she tried to sit up.

Fear gripped her entire body. "I c-can't move!" If Kagome or anyone else around her had said anything, Miho didn't hear a word. She didn't care about Rin's soul anymore. She didn't care about how anybody else felt about what was going on, and she didn't care about how Sesshomaru felt. All Miho cared about was getting out of the bath that seemed to be melting her skin with liquid fire. There was no thought to it, just pure instinct. The only part of her body that she had any control over was her head and neck. As if it had a chance to relieve her pain, she dropped her head back and sucked in as much air as she could to quell her nauseated stomach. Nothing helped. "Help me!" Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes when she looked around at everyone's startled faces. Their horror only reflected what she was feeling.

By that time, Kagome had already stashed her containers and had placed herself at Miho's right hand side. She sat very still, resting on her legs while her hands were held up as though in prayer, but she was not praying. Her eyes were closed, deep in concentration and completely oblivious of the commotion around her. Apparently, Miho's condition was not a show that anyone was willing to watch, but they had to know if it would work. Kagome ignored everyone and everything, but focused on Miho's breathing as a lifeline. Her energy, not to Kagome's surprise, ejected from her own soul and thrust outward in Miho's direction.

With eyes closed, Kagome's soul tentatively probed the atmosphere surrounding the stone tub. Miho's energy was powerfully strong for a human, which came as a complete shock. Her aura is unusually resistant. Could it be because of Rin? No…I can sense Rin here as well, but this is something different. Miho's soul has something else hiding within it that has never been able to come out…but what? Kagome probed just a little harder until all of her energy had been projected and surrounded Miho's aura. Miho! She called through her own mind and hoped that the young woman could hear. Miho, I need you to relax! If you don't, this whole thing could backfire and you will die in the process! I need you to relax!

Miho gasped aloud, startled by a new voice in her mind. "Kagome!" Her eyes opened through her suffering and glanced sideways at the priestess only to find that Kagome's eyes were sealed shut and she was deep in concentration. Relax! It was defiantly Kagome's voice. Unsure of what else to do, Miho breathed in as deeply as she could, closed her eyes and against her better judgment, relaxed every muscle in her body for as long as she could. Liquid fire coursed through every vein and limb she possessed, and even through places she had never thought he had. Seconds later…she felt nothing at all.

Kagome's energy noticed the slack. Her window of opportunity was slim. Like a needle and thread, she aimed her energy forward and pierced through the weakest spot of Miho's soul.

The bubble burst and the room exploded.

Every demon and human in the room was blown backward into the walls by an energy that they were not prepared for, but Kagome and Miho remained firmly planted by the energy of the Priestess.

Kagome frantically searched with her spirit energy for Miho's soul and Rin's. She had only seconds to find them both and contain the explosion that she was hardly aware of. No doubt that those that witnessed it were either unconscious or momentarily stunned by what had just occurred. She could not worry about her loved ones now. Not while two lives relied on her absolute concentration. And that was when she noticed it.

Miho's soul was the first one she came in contact with, and she focused her energy on containing it. This soul was more powerful than Kagome expected. That was when she realized what exactly Miho was. There was another priestess here! Miho is a priestess! Kagome had to fight an incredulous smile. She would need to dwell on this new turn of events later. Quickly but carefully, she transferred Miho's soul back toward its original host and waited until the body of her newest friend accepted it. Good! With little resistance, Miho's body took back the soul that was expelled, giving her life back.

After doing that, Kagome frantically searched the room, seeking out the only other soul left.

Rin felt funny. Something was happening that she didn't quite understand and she had to glance up toward Kikyo to seek answers. "What's happening?" She looked down at herself and realized that she was fading in on herself.

Kikyo shook her head. "Miho is gone, Rin."

Rin gaped at her. "I know that! I can't feel her anymore! But look at me!" She held up her hands and Kikyo could only nod.

"Goodbye Rin." Kikyo whispered sadly.

Rin's heart sank. "What? No! Kikyo, what's happening to me? Help me!"

Kikyo smiled sadly at her just as she was beginning to fade too. "I cannot. I must return home."

Rin bolted forward to cross the water, aiming straight for the Priestess. "Don't leave me alone! Please! What's happening?" As she stepped into the water, she jumped back as if her foot caught fire. The pain lasted seconds, but that was enough time for Kikyo's form to fade into the air completely.

The only thing left of her was her voice, which faded too. "Give them…my love…Rin…"

Rin scrambled to try again to reach the spot where Kikyo disappeared, but before her feet could even hit the ground, she too dissolved and disappeared.

"Ah!" It was the first thing Kagome said aloud when she realized what was happening. There she is! Rin! She focused her energy toward the ceiling above Miho's body and located it. Rin! She attached herself to it and guided it toward Rin's body which lay perfectly still across the room. Her target reached, carefully, and with a heart swelling with pride and happiness, Kagome transferred Rin's soul downward until it attached itself to the body.

Kagome broke out of her concentration, alarmed by the commotion that she didn't know was happening. For a split second, her thoughts frantically sought out an explanation but she didn't know what was happening until she turned around from the stone tub and noticed the brawl feet from her. "Inuyasha?"

The half demon was standing tall with his back to her, unmoving, and even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was seething.

Blinking stupidly, Kagome got to her feet and turned away from the now waking woman in the tub. "Inuyasha, what happened? What's going on?" She looked around her husband's body and noticed several people locked in a ball and wrestling with what appeared to be a woman holding onto a sword.

Inuyasha's voice held the same rage that his body was displaying. "That woman came out of nowhere! She tried to kill you!"

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise. "What? I didn't even notice her." She looked more closely at the struggling woman in the midst of the brawl. "Aya? Why would she try to kill me?"

"Take a wild guess." Inuyasha snarled through gritted teeth while he glared daggers at the female demon locked in battle with Jaken, Ura, Miroku and Shippo. "Jinenji's prediction was right. She was in love with Sesshomaru and she was determined to keep you from succeeding. After the blast, nobody was prepared to notice her until seconds after she came into the room. Jaken was the first to get to her and knocked her to the floor with his staff. Everyone else came after and caught her before she could get back up. I got between her and you just in time."

"Where is Kasumi?"

"On the other side of the tub." Inuyasha snarled again. "Miho started waking up while you were still out of it."

Kagome whipped around. She spotted Miho's sister at the other side of the tub, confirming Inuyasha's words. The young woman in the bath was awake and alert, making Kagome's heart soar with happiness. "What about Rin?" She looked up from the two women to seek out Rin's spot in the room.

Rin's body lay as it did before, undisturbed and unmoving. "Inuyasha, what about Rin?" Kagome's heart began to sink into her stomach. "She was there! What happened?!"

"I'm sorry, Kagome, but Rin hasn't moved from that spot at all. I can't even hear a heartbeat." Inuyasha turned away from the fight in front of him and wrapped his now shaking wife in his arms to console her. "It didn't work, Kagome..."

Author's Note: Sorry about that guys! New semester started and I am just SWAMPED with assignments and it is getting so difficult to write just about anything without a new homework assignment. Please forgive me! I'm doing my best to catch up.

OliviaAR