Chapter 3

InuYasha

"no. no. NO! NO! NO!"

InuYasha had been hot on Kagome's trail, but when he can to a river it stopped. InuYasha jumped to the other side of the river. We was pacing up and down the river, searching for the smell of her blood, when he stopped short.

'What I if I don't find them? What if she was trying to mask her scent from that demon and she got carried off by the river?...NO! That didn't happen!'

He spoke to himself this time. "I will find her!" Tears welled in his eyes and he didn't care. He hadn't cared in a long time but now he did.

"When I find her, what state will she be in?" He imagined finding her, but finding her bloody and broken, with demons eating her carcuss and swinging Mikomi around like a rag doll. "NO! NOT LIKE THAT! NOT TO MY PUP!" He screamed to no one.

He had turned away from the river and saw that under a tree there looked like someone had been sitting there. Maybe Kagome had stopped to feed Mikomi. There was dried blood on the tree.

It was Kagome's. He started to run.

Izayoi

Izayoi ushered the men out of her tent after they set the miko down. She had to remove the white priestess shirt to look at the wound. Once she did, she exhaled in relief. It wasn't too bad. The only bad part was that it hadn't been treated, so the miko lost a lot of blood. Other than that, she would gain full use of her arm after it healed.

Izayoi cleaned the miko's wound, covered it with medicinal herbs, then bandaged it. She would be find. And could wake up any second. Izayoi covered the miko up then went to ask someone to wash the blouse she she could care for this half-demon child.

When Izayoi picked up the child, the little girl smiled up at her. Izayoi smiled. 'How unlike InuYahsa.' she laughed. 'he was always crying.' Izayoi always compared every child she met with InuYasha, even though when she found similarities, it made her feel alone.

She did not know how long she had been staring at the child but when she finally put the pup down, she turned and saw the miko awake and looking at her.

Kagome

Kagome slowly opened her eyes to an unfamiliar hut. She tried to move but her shoulder hurt too much. She looked up. That's when she stopped. A woman Kagome had never seen before was holding her pup! Kagome was about to call to the woman but it seemed that tears were running down the woman's cheeks. Kagome waited.

'Where is InuYasha?' Kagome thought. 'I hope he's not at the village. If that demon was anything like Jogenki then InuYasha would have quite a few issues beating him. No. no. oh, no. what if...?' Kagome imagined her mate, the one she loved most in the world with a broken sword, marks on his face, red eyes, and a crazy look on his face. 'NO! I won't LET that happen!'

It seemed as though the woman sensed her alarm and turned. Kagome didn't like to be caught staring.

"Hello." The woman said. The woman looked like she once had been very beautiful. She still was, but her age showed. Dark shadows were under her eyes and she looked almost sickly. As if her body was deteriorating, but only a little bit. It was very hard to notice.

"Hello," Kagome responded. Kagome tried to sit up but when she tried, pain sprung in her shoulder and she gasped.

Immediately, the woman came to her aid and helped her sit up as best as she could.

"Where am I?" asked Kagome.

The woman responded with a small smirk. "Some of the farmers of the village found you on the outskirts of the town collapsed with your pup."

"Oh my God! How is she? Mikomi? How is she? She's not hurt is she?" Kagome tried to stand as best as she could but the woman pushed her down gently, then went to bring Mikomi to her. Kagome immediately placed Mikomi in her arms and sighed in relief to see her smiling and playing with her mother's hair. "Thank you very much for taking care of her for me."

"You are very welcome, Lady... ?"

"Kagome."

"You are very welcome, Lady Kagome. My I introduce myself. My name is Izayoi."

Kagome blinked. She knew that she'd heard that name a long time ago, but where?

"My Lady, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course." Kagome wondered what Izayoi would ask.

"How is it that a young miko, like yourself, have a half-demon pup with her?"

Kagome had expected this. She received this question often.