Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to own the characters they all belong to Takahashi Rumiko, not me.

A/N: Saiai, Aizuna, Tsume, Katari, and Surin are all my own OCs. More may be on the way . . . If the transitions between Kagome and the others are different don't be alarmed, their time periods are different so it doesn't have to be the same time of day on each side. If I recall correctly, Kagome's time is much slower than the feudal era. With my blabbering done, please continue and leave me a review at the end, hm?

And yeah, updates aren't often so please be patient everyone!

A Gap Across Time

IV: Assistance

Rin sat down in a corner as usual to simply look out over at the expansive forest before her behind a wall of glass. She was hoping that she'd see the form of her Lord walking through the brambles and entering his kingdom once more to restore everything to the way it should be. She willed herself to look the other direction, it was as if time had stood still for her . . . Why can't I move forward without you, Lord Sesshoumaru? Suffice to say, in her heart she was hurting so much that she didn't know when the pain would stop.

"Rin, my child, you've been sitting there moping all morning . . . Why not come join me and the others for lunch?" A big, soft hand gently patted her shoulder. Rin shook her head. "Oh? Are you not hungry?"

"No, I want to stay here longer, Surin. It's okay, I'll be fine." Making sure to back that up the raven haired child turned her head around to display to her caretaker a huge grin to signify that she was all right.

Oh, Rin, must you be so lost and hopeless without him? Is he your only reason to exist now? It shouldn't be that way . . .

"If you insist. If you ever get hungry make sure to come down to the kitchen, I'll tell the chefs to make you something delicious!" Rin let out a little laugh. Her struggled efforts to look happy was quickly diminishing each second, Surin could tell immediately. "Well then, I'll see you later."

"Okay."

-----

Out of the all the things that could have happened Sesshoumaru managed to faint not too willingly on her bed. Kagome scratched at her head in a frustrated manner: either I undress him or leave him the way he is. He'd definitely be mad if I did remove his clothing, however I'm sure he'd be relieved from the horrible smell of the tarp. If I can smell it he must have it worst! Decision made at last Kagome decided to remove his clothing. After all, she had enough of seeing blood splotching her bed sheet and blankets . . .

Heh, wonder how I'm going to get the stains off . . .?

A loud raspy sound came out of the taiyoukai's mouth then, startling the girl with much unneeded fright. Kagome sweat dropped as she stared at Sesshoumaru; for an instant she was sure he was going to open his eyes though he didn't. A deep frown was clearly seen on his face, silvery brows arched downward in an angry v-shape. Kagome puckered her lips, she wondered why Sesshoumaru was looking so angry even as he slept. A creaking sound reached the girl's ears when her bedroom door opened, Kagome turned around to see who the newcomer was: Souta. In his hand was a towel and basin full of luke warm water.

"I thought you might want to clean him up a little so I brought you this," he told her. Kagome appreciatively took the condiments from him, smiling as she did so. Souta scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do or say at this point. "Um . . . You need help with anything?" He glanced over at the taiyoukai's sleeping form, checking to see if he was awake or asleep. The words escaped from his lips before he really thought about it. "He's awfully bloody. Why not treat his wounds and give him something else to wear?"

Kagome sweat dropped. "I was getting to doing that." A bright flush of color crossed her cheeks, making her stare meekly down at the floor; Souta noticed her nervousness immediately. "However, it'd be nice if you'll help me with that."

"Sure I will. So how did you want to do this?" he asked.

Err . . . Should Souta undress him himself or should I assist him? What if . . . Sesshoumaru wakes up? There's no telling what he'd do to my little brother if he saw him undressing him! Decisions . . . Why me! "Would you mind undressing him? As you can see . . ." Kagome trailed off, eyes averted once more to the carpet.

"Okay, I got it. But I'll need you to treat his wounds since I don't know much about handling injuries this large, or we can get mom to help. Would that be okay?" Souta looked to the door for a brief second. From experience he could tell that Kagome was fidgeting around with her fingers; it was a common habit of hers when she was being indecisive. "Well, I guess I better get to work."

"R-right!" Kagome quickly walked to the entrance to her room, awkwardly avoiding hitting a stack of books as she rushed towards her destination. "I'll be waiting outside, if you need anything just call for me!"

Sis, you can be such an airhead sometimes.

Focusing on the task at hand Souta was very careful with what he was doing when he leaned towards the bigger creature, eyes keenly keeping themselves trained on Sesshoumaru's face; the magenta colored crescent moon shape fascinated the boy every time he looked at it. With one hand he reached for the large hulk of armor that was covering his gi's front: finding the latch that held it together was a lot harder than he had thought. A soft clicking sound could be heard once he located the bothersome thing. Using both hands this time Souta carefully tugged at the armor, making sure that the taiyoukai's left arm was securely out of the way to avoid getting injured further. With the armored plate out of the way the boy could see more clearly of what Sesshoumaru's wounds appeared to be like; he couldn't help cringing at the gruesome sight. The fluffy white material hanging around his other shoulder was clearly soaked through with blood. Souta couldn't help wondering if it was his tail or a decoration.

"Souta, are you doing okay in there?" Kagome called out from the hallway.

"Yeah!"

Just as Souta shifted Sesshoumaru's gi partly open a spasm grasped the taiyoukai's body, forcing Souta back with a surprised yelp. Like a marathon runner Kagome was up and ready, coming to aide her brother incase he was injured. To her horrified surprise Sesshoumaru was convulsing so violently she didn't know what to do other than stand there and watch in an appalled manner. A urgent tug to her shirt's sleeve on her left helped her to regain her composure.

With frightened eyes, Souta cried, "I didn't do anything, I swear! He-he suddenly started to shake like that!"

"Calm down Souta!" Kagome answered back. Oh god! What is happening to you! "Get mom in here quickly!" I . . . I don't know what to do . . . I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru. Afraid for the Demon Lord's life Kagome wearily watched him, silent warm tears trickling down either side of her cheeks. Reaching out her uninjured hand Kagome clasped it into one of Sesshoumaru's own. Hang in there!

-----

"Inuyasha, let's get going now, I'm sure you're anxious to find Kagome but staying here isn't going to do us any good," Miroku told the agitated hanyou. He watched as Inuyasha sniffed the ground beside the Bone Eater's well, clearly standing a good hair's length away from it due to the strong aura that was emitted from its entrance hole; Miroku could sense its immense power. "Sango and Shippou have already gone to Kaede's village to seek answers, aren't you curious to what she has to say about this?"

"Keh, I doubt she'd know anything about it!" Inuyasha spat, nose never leaving the mossy grass before him. "I can't be sure but the three figures that attacked Sesshoumaru definitely looked like priestesses to me."

"Did you see their faces?"

"No, they were wearing hoods and robes." Annoyed, Inuyasha sat down on his bottom right where he was sniffing, his arms were also crossed as well. "I couldn't even get near them, their arrows were full of spiritual energy . . . Much like Kagome's. Whatever reason they had to attack my brother I sure as hell do not care, however sealing up the well and preventing access to and fro is not something I can ignore. My blood is still boiling at the fact that Sesshoumaru is over there!" Miroku sweat dropped, opening his mouth to say something. Inuyasha turned on him. "And you, Miroku, not a word out of you! I've heard enough of your 'what if's' and 'calm down' phrases, they're only making me angrier."

"Ehehe, I see . . ." All I was doing was trying to help you, idiot.

"Inuyasha, is that you?" someone called from yonder. Both the monk and hanyou turned to see who the newcomer was. A youkai with bright grass colored hair and fiery red eyes was the first thing to strike the other two as interesting to look at. His tall figure loomed over them when he approached, followed by a youkai much smaller than him. This youkai in peculiar had blue colored hair and emerald green orbs that sparkled with uncertainty. "Ah, it is you."

"Heh, Saiai and Aizuna, what the hell do you two want from me?" Inuyasha asked. "This must be important if you didn't send your lackeys instead."

"Precisely," Saiai smiled, undeterred by the hanyou's angry glaring. "As you can well tell, Lord Sesshoumaru has been missing for several weeks now. By any chance do you know what could have become of him?" Inuyasha shook his head. "Ahem, getting to the point now, the reason Aizuna and I are here is to ask that you watch over your older brother's kingdom for him, pray till he comes-"

"Are you out of your fucking mind!" Inuyasha cried, obviously really angry with the tree youkai. "I'd never do no such favor as that for that bastard! His kingdom can rot in hell, let everything fall to pieces! See if I care!"

"Very harsh words coming from Lord Sesshoumaru's own kin, flesh and blood." Inuyasha growled, standing up to his full height as he did so. Miroku inched closer to him, trying to keep him at a hand's length away lest he tried to attack the other youkai. "I'm sure you're well aware that you're the heir to the throne if your brother was to ever fall for whatever reason. You can call this temporary substitution if you will, at best to say until we find the whereabouts of our Lord."

"Inuyasha, please," Aizuna begged. "Inutaisho wouldn't be happy about this if he were alive today to watch his own kingdom he worked so hard in building crumble before his very eyes. Do this for your father's sake if not for your brother's." Aizuna starkly walked forward, not wanting to hide behind Saiai's huge form any longer. Inuyasha eyed him critically as Aizuna looked at him with hopeful eyes, hands clasped together in a desperate attempt to stop himself from erupting with panicked emotion. "Please, Inuyasha."

"Give me one more good reason why I should be doing this," Inuyasha demanded, clearly not satisfied with what he previously heard. "My father's kingdom isn't that important to me, in fact I don't care what he thinks of me for turning my back on his so called fortress of a shabby castle."

"Enough with the rude remarks, Inuyasha." Saiai was angry that Inuyasha could be so disrespectful to his father even in death. He reached into his robe's sleeve to produce a think looking parchment that was bound together with coarse red string. Extending it away from his hand he pulled the cord loose to let the parchment fall flat out to its proper length. Miroku scrutinized the paper, wondering what information the paper was holding; Saiai noticed this. "You must be the monk named Miroku, no?"

"That is I," Miroku replied.

"Yes, yes, I've heard much about you." Perplexed, Miroku pointed at himself. "Lady Rin has spoken of the hole in your hand, that sounds really fascinating! She claims that you can suck things inside the empty void, yes?" Miroku nodded, not really understanding why the youkai was praising it so much when he loathed it. Aizuna nudged the tree youkai then, whispering something into his ear when Saiai bended down. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Miroku, I didn't mean to make it sound like something to be admired, my sincerest apologies!"

"It's all right." Miroku looked to Inuyasha.

"I seemed to have strayed from the main point again. Well now, where were we . . .?"

"Saiai, you were talking about getting Inuyasha to watch over the kingdom," Aizuna reminded him. He brushed a hand through his hair absentmindedly, discouraged by his companions sense of remembrance to keep himself on track; this was the only reason that he tagged along with him.

"As I were saying . . ."

-----

"Kaede's village sure is far away from where we're camping at," Shippou commented. He idly plucked a handful of grass to accommodate his boredom from getting too far out of mind. Sango was remained silent as she walked beside the small fox youkai, her posture straight and alert. Even in her normal outfit she still looked a extremely feisty opponent with the large boomerang situated on her back with the help of a strap that kept it upright. "Say, Sango, is something on your mind?"

"No, why do you ask?" she was quick to reply.

"You seem rather reoccupied is all. But don't mind me, I was simply asking," Shippou replied. Sango laughed wholeheartedly; she really liked Shippou's honesty when he talked to her. There were no needs for lies from him most of the time. Feeling a bit better than before the demon exterminator swung her arms back and forth as she walked. Kirara looked up at her momentarily before looking ahead once more, their destination could now be seen through the summit of a hill.

On their arrival several villagers came to see who the visitors were when they stepped foot through the front gates. To their left was Kaede, she was tenderly talking to a child, apparently she had scraped her knee so Kaede was treating the wound with herbs she had gathered. They approached her without any immediate haste although the problem at hand seemed like a very big issue. At the sound of footsteps Kaede turned to face them. The child she was tending to looked up at them with uncertainty. With a wave of her hand Kaede summoned forth a young looking girl to escort the child back to her home, from the looks of things Sango and Shippou were sure that the older girl was her sister.

"Kaede, we came to tell you something, perhaps you can give us some answers," Sango started. The old woman bowed her head and sighed, signaling for the human and youkai to follow her inside to her home. "We're very grateful that you're giving this some thought."

"What thought? I haven't even heard the problem yet," Kaede corrected her.

"Err . . . right . . ." Does she have to be so critical about everything?

As usual Kaede sat on her favorite tatami mat that was located right in front of the fire, once settled she tuned her ears to the voices of Shippou and Sango.

"Let's see, how shall I phrase this. Um, Kaede, hopefully you find this believable but the Bone Eater's well is sealed up again, however this time it was caused by some hooded figures that Inuyasha claims are priestesses. I'm not sure what exactly happened at the well so I'm relaying everything to you Inuyasha told us."

"He's really angry right now, too, since his brother is in Kagome's time era," Shippou added. Kaede turned to him, her one eye studying him. "Miroku and Inuyasha are over at the well at the moment, sadly Inuyasha didn't want to leave the well, so we told Miroku to stay there with him."

"Interesting. Inuyasha's brother is Sesshoumaru, correct?" Sango and Shippou nodded in unison. "Hooded figures that sealed away the well . . . Did Inuyasha tell either of you how they did it?" They shook their heads. "Hmmm . . . There isn't much to go by other than hooded figures sealing the well's entrance, I can't help you at all if I don't get more details. Try bringing Inuyasha here himself, it'd be best if he told me everything from the start to finish."

"So . . . We practically came here for nothing!" Shippou exclaimed. "Rely on Inuyasha to tell you things in full."

"We have no choice I suppose. Let's go back to the others." Just as Kirara jumped on Sango's shoulder she stood up to leave the room. "We'll be back another time, sorry to intrude. Come on, Shippou."

"Oooohhhhh! I hate Inuyasha so much!" Shippou hopped out of the hut fueling over with rage.

-----

"Mom, can you tell what's exactly wrong with him?" Kagome asked, hovering over the taiyoukai like her life depended on it. Souta stood beside her as he silently watched the whole ordeal. At this point almost the whole family was involved except for their grandpa who still had yet to find out the presence of Sesshoumaru.

"I'm not sure, honey. He also has so many wounds, it looks horrible."

"I know mom, I was getting to treating it when this spasm came up," Kagome explained. Tension filled her every being, seeing Sesshoumaru this way made her awfully nervous. Sesshoumaru, what's wrong with you? You . . . You look like you're in so much pain . . . I just want that pain to go away! "Mom, we seriously need to do something, I can't stand seeing him this way!"

Even to me I wonder why I worry about you so much. Is it in my nature to do so to anyone that is injured?

"Look! The spasms are finally over!" Souta pointed out. Just as he spoke these words Sesshoumaru slumped back in a stiff manner before relaxing completely. A foam of sweat covered him from head to toe and his forehead was burning with fever. "Um . . ."

"He appears to be sick," Mrs. Higurashi announced, placing a gentle hand to his hot forehead. She pulled her hand away when Souta brought her a damp towel to wipe his forehead with. Meanwhile Kagome stood on the sidelines merely watching what her mother and brother were trying to do for the poor taiyoukai. On instinct she knew she should help too but something held her in place . . . That little spasm he had reminded her of something she hoped she had forgotten long ago.

Why is it resurfacing again!

"Kagome, honey, you look a little tired yourself." Kagome turned to the sound of the voice: it was her mother's. Mrs. Higurashi's brow furrowed into a soft frown, not liking the sudden pale pallor that captured her daughter's appearance. Kagome smiled, trying to disarm the bothersome look her mother was giving her. "Kagome, if you're not feeling well-"

"No, no, I'm fine, really!" The raven haired girl flexed her arms and stretched her legs, trying to show her mother that she was in top condition. However, this was something that she shouldn't have done: her mother noticed something.

"Your hand, what happened to your hand?"

"Oh! Uh . . . I accidentally burned myself when I was cooking something." Kagome made sure to hide her injured hand behind her back. Way to go Kagome, now you have your own mother breathing down your back instead of his! "It's nothing too serious, I mean I can take care of the burn on my own. By the way," Kagome focused her attention to the bloody tarp on her bedroom floor, "I'm sure grandpa would want this back. Let me clean it up and put it back in the shrine, okay?"

"Sure, honey. Although you should let me look at your burn first."

"It's okay mom, I've got everything under control."

Hopefully, right?

To be continued!