A/N: Tada!!! I hope you enjoy this slightly longer installation of For Better of for Worse!!

Koga caught the now unconscious Kaori automatically. "Um…" He started as he stared down at her. "Wow, look at all that damage."

The damage done to Kaori's body didn't seem evident until she had finally been moved into the light.

"Oh my god." Kagome exclaimed as she finally made it over to the two boys. "It looks like she was fighting before we showed up."

Her right arm hung lifelessly from her side and her ribs bent at wrong angles indicating that some of them were broken. Her left wing was damaged and blood stained her lips. She looked a lot worse than they had originally seen.

"No wonder she kept coughing up blood." Kagome looked up at InuYasha. "Is there somewhere to put her? There's no way I can help her, she's just going to need to lay still for awhile."

"There's the cave that she used to hide Rin and Jaken in."

"Great, could you show us the way?" She turned to Koga. "Could you carry her?"

Koga stared at her. "What? Why do I have to carry her?"

"Because you're already hold her."

He blinked. "Well if you wish, but I would much rather carry you." He winked at Kagome as he lifted the fragile looking Kaori.

"Why you…" InuYasha started as he turned to Koga.

"Sit boy!"

InuYasha fell to the ground as Kagome stormed off to the other side of the hole to Sango and Miroku.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

My body felt heavy, as I finally was able to pull free from the fog of unconsciousness; I was lying on cold stone from what I could tell without opening my eyes. Everything in my body ached, it felt as if I had fallen down a cliff and hit every stone on the way down.

Finally I opened my eyes and stared up at a rock ceiling.

I'm in a cave… I blinked a few times to clear my vision as I turned my head. The cave was nearly black and it took me a moment to adjust to the gloomy state.

Only one other person was with me in the cave, it was the wolf boy.

I heaved in a large amount of air and instantly regretted it; my ribs hurt more than I could even imagine. I tried to bite back the pained noise that clawed at my throat but the sudden movement from the boy in the corner notified me that I had failed in covering the sound.

His head jerked up from where it had been resting on his knee, the other leg laid flat against the stone; he started sniffing.

I tried to lie still enough to let him go back to sleep but a burning sensation started in my left wing and shoulder blade and I just couldn't lie still anymore. I fidgeted as I tried to quell the burning in my shoulder blade and obviously alerted him to my now awake state.

"Hey." He said as he got up and walked over to me. "Are you awake?" He knelt down beside me as he looked down into my face.

I opened my mouth to answer and my throat felt dry and useless; I shut it. I knew I could "see" things so I wondered if I could project images into other people's minds. There was no other way for me to communicate that I needed water so I reached out and touched his leg; instant regret.

Instead of showing him that I needed water him and I were both pulled into a whirl of images that I was sure were his present future if he continued down the same path he was heading.

He finally wrenched himself free of my grasp and jumped backwards. "What was that?"

I shook my head as best as I could and tired to raise my arm to point to my throat. I gave up and began to slowly scratch the letters into the rock.

"W…" He started as he inched closer to see was I was trying to say. "Water? Oh you need water." He leapt across me to the entrance, careful to not touch me; moments later he came back holding a hollowed out rock. He knelt down next to me and debated over something.

"If I touch you will that… Thing happen again…?"

I thought for a moment then shook my head slightly, I wasn't trying to show him images so I assumed we were both safe.

He watched me for a moment then decided that I was safe. He sat the bowl down and then proceeded to carefully lift me up enough to pour the water into my mouth.

I choked and started coughing; the water came out pink. I stared in horror at the water that came back out of my mouth.

"I guess there was still some blood in your throat."

I looked up at the boy with a questioning look.

"Well you were coughing up all this blood awhile ago so I assumed there's still some in your throat."

I blinked then shook the water off my hand to the side away from him. "How long…" I whispered. I tried to clear my throat and tried again. "How long have I been here…?"

"Almost a month."

I stared up at him, shock on my face. "Why are you still here?"

He blinked at me. "Well…" he started. "Kagome asked me too…"

"Ah…" I responded as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. "You don't need to stay here anymore."

"huh?"

I turned to him. "You don't need to stay. In fact, it would be better if you left."

"It that how you treat your savior?" He huffed as he started getting angry.

"You need to leave. There's something you need to do and if you stay here you're going to miss your chance."

"I don't understand…"

"Well you should. You saw it too." She stared up at him until, slowly, he realized what she was talking about.

"Oh…" He started. "Oh I get it…"

"You better get moving."

He nodded slowly and started backing out of the cave, still staring at me. "Don't kill yourself, alright? Kagome would kill me if I left and you died."

"Just go already." I answered.

He nodded quickly, turned, and was out of the entrance in a gust of wind.

I sighed, winced, and then looked around me at the cave. It was relatively small and damp. I sighed and slid myself slowly backwards until I felt the wall behind me. I leaned back and closed my eyes.

I wonder if Sesshoumaru has come home… I sighed again and realized that was stupid. I wonder if he heard about our son…

"Probably not…" I answered myself out loud.

"Probably not what?"

I jumped, winced, and turned to the entrance to the cave; it was Kagome and Shippo.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." She said as she walked into the cave. "I see you're finally up."

"Yes, I have been asleep long enough." I answered as I turned away from her. "Where are the others?"

"Well I have no clue where InuYasha is but I'm sure Miroku and Sango are out with Jaken and Rin. They both woke up not too long after we found so they have been going out for fresh air once they were able to walk again."

"I see… and Kaage?" Since I knew the other two were up I was hoping Kaage was better so I could have him take us back to the village.

"Well…" She started.

"What happened to him?"

"Nothing happened." She answered quickly. "He just hasn't healed fully. The wound was a lot worse than I had originally thought when I first some him. He looked like he was almost cut in half."

"Oh…" I murmured. "Thank you for caring for us."

She smiled this time. "Oh it was nothing. I mean I couldn't sense any jewel shards besides Koga's anyway so it was good to sit and rest for a bit."

"Jewel Shards…?"

"Kagome can sense the shards of the Shikon jewel!!" Shippo piped in.

She actually blushed.

"Ah, so that's why you travel with that group. Besides Naraku."

She nodded.

I leaned my head back against the rock wall; breathing heavily, it was taking a lot of energy out of me to talk to everyone.

"Oh I'm sorry! You must be exhausted!!" Kagome exclaimed.

"It's alright…" I murmured.

"Do you have somewhere you can go…?" She asked as she knelt next to me.

I opened my eyes slowly and turned to look at her. "Huh…?"

"Well your place… It was destroyed… And this cave isn't really a suitable place to stay even if you could get someone to rebuild your home. So I didn't know if you had somewhere where you could stay safe until you were healthy again or Sesshoumaru came for you."

I nearly laughed at her statement; it was like even she knew how slim the possibility of Sesshoumaru coming looking for me. "I can probably return to my village but I will have to wait until Kaage is better to return with all of us and safely…"

"Oh…"

I nodded then closed my eyes; I needed to rest.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Come on InuYasha. It's not going to kill you."

"I've helped her out enough already! Why do I have to carry her back to that village? We don't even know where it is exactly!"

"Shhh!! Not so loud! We don't want her to wake up."

Someone got angry and stormed out of the cave.

I knew I was awake and not dreaming by the sounds of the wildlife outside the cave; it was night. I opened my eyes slightly and saw everyone over in a corner. Rin was already asleep by Jaken and Kaage, Shippo was asleep on Kagome's lap, and I was sure the others weren't far behind.

"He's so rude." Kagome muttered.

"Well we'll let him cool off tonight and see if maybe we can get him to help out tomorrow." Sango answered.

"True, we should all get some sleep." Miroku agreed.

I waited quietly for everyone to be asleep then I pushed myself to my feet.

I can't stay here… I need to go after my son.

Slowly I made my way to the door of the cave. I picked up the katana that lay to one side of the opening then quietly slipped out.

I'm sorry Rin… I'll come find you soon I promise…

I knew that they would end up taking Rin and Jaken to the village, if not Kaage would do it; he knew what to do when I was gone.

With one look back into the cave I sighed and turned my attention to the sky.

Oh Stars of the night please give me a path through the night unharmed and send me toward my final destination…

"To Naraku…" I murmured and began walking into the woods.