Tora-chan: Hi everyone! I'm back and ready to start another chapter. That was kind of a mean place to leave off last time, but like I said writer's block is a pain.

Hiroshi: You must be over it if you're writing again.

Tora-chan: Nope, I'm still forcing my way through. But I do have a plan since I had Hachi show up last chapter with the rumor report.

Yuki: So are you going to start the chapter or what?

Tora-chan: Didn't I send you to Tren to learn some manners? (Glaring at Yuki)

Yuki: (Starts to cower in the corner) please don't send me back, she almost killed me! (Starts muttering to himself) psycho chick and her immortal muses.

Tora-chan: Well since Yuki sounds like he might behave, for now, I'd like to thank Shiba-san and AngelFoxtail for the wonderful reviews. You guys make me so happy that I wanted to write the next chapter. Well on to the story.

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Last time: Hachi told Miroku and gang about an attack of a temple that is to happen in two days. Only problem it's the temple Vitanie's family lives at.

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Vitanie was flying through the forest without a second thought. She didn't even bother to see if anyone was following her; only concentrating on getting to her family before it was too late. She had covered the distance to the Tijian village in the space of a day and a half; that meant that she only had another half a day before the attack was to take place.

She was about to leave the border of the destroyed village when she suddenly slammed into an invisible, but very solid wall.

"What the hell!" she yelled rubbing her backside from the fall.

"Will you slow down a little? Some of our non-demon friends are having problems keeping up," Hideaki commented coming up behind her. He had been the first to give chase to the half tigress and had been close by the entire journey.

"I have to get back," Vitanie was mumbling as she raised her hands and started running them across the barrier in front of her. "This wasn't here before, so there has to be someone nearby that erected it," she continued barely raising her voice higher then a whisper.

"Vitanie will you please slow down, some of us actually need sleep at night," Sango said looking very tired from on top of Kirara. "Let's rest so that we can be prepared for the fight."

"NO! You can rest if you want but I'm going - - as soon as I figure out how to take this barrier down," she finished under her breath.

"Don't over do it, Vee. We've had several fights over the past week and we need time to rest," Hiroshi added pleadingly.

"Then rest, I'm not going to stop you! You can stay here and rest all you want, but I'm getting past this barrier and going to protect my family," she yelled at him.

"Have you tried playing the ocarina yet? It worked when we were going into the forest from the other side," Yuki suggested as he set Mari and Shippo down.

"No one who means harm can enter this forest. Isn't that what Sen said about the barrier?" Kagome asked from where she was on Inuyasha's back.

The tigress looked back toward where her hand pressed against the barrier. She began to reach for the ocarina at her side but stopped. She knew something wasn't right, something was going to go wrong - - she knew it.

"Vee, if you want I can play with you," Hiroshi offered seeing her hesitant.

"There's no other choice is there?" she whispered. "The only other way to the village is a three day travel, and we only have until sunrise," she muttered as the last rays of the sun splashed the surrounding area in orange light.

"We don't have time for this. Play the stupid song and let us get going," Inuyasha barked. "Or have you suddenly lost your nerve."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped. He just held a hand up to stop her from saying anything else. He had been watching Vitanie's face closely since he had caught up with her. She had been determined to a point of not stopping once until they had reached the barrier. But now there was an uncertainty and fear battling with her resolve.

"What's holding you back?" He pushed her.

"Isn't it obvious? This barrier or are you too stupid to see that?" she shot back, jamming her hand into the pouch at her side to pull the ocarina out.

She put the instrument up to her lips, saying a silent prayer before releasing her breath. Please don't let me regret this.

She let the melody of Sen's song flow through her causing the barrier to ripple before an opening appeared. They quickly entered to encounter the forest in chaos. Birds were no longer singing but screaming in the trees. Wolves were howling while foxes yipped. In the distance they could even hear the cries of mountain cats.

"Something's wrong," Vitanie gasped before running forward again at full speed.

"What's going on? The forest has never been like this. It's almost like there's a cloud of darkness hanging over the whole place," Hiroshi commented from where he sat behind Sango on Kirara.

"The barrier must have kept us from hearing what was going on," Kagome reasoned.

"Well that doesn't matter now, we just need to hurry. We wouldn't want Miroku, Kohaku, and Hachi to beat us to the temple. They could get in some major trouble if we don't get there to help," Inuyasha said before speeding up to try and catch up with the half tigress he was quickly losing sight of.

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Tora-chan: Okay I know it's short and I know that I'm going to be killed for stopping here but I seriously have a major problem with writer's block. So unfortunately I won't be able to update quickly after this chapter.

I hope that I can come up with a chapter soon, but I can't make any promises. I do promise however that I will finish this story one way or another. Just give me a little time to figure out where I'm going to go with this.

Yuki: She also has been swamped at work and school and has very little time to write anything for fun.

Vitanie: Which means we get back burning.

Hiroshi: Please be patient with Tora-chan as she really is trying to work on the next chapter. Please review and give Tora-chan some ideas if you have any. Have a great morning, day, and night.