Hasn't anybody guessed what Miya is yet? I won't tell you just now! I'll give you a little hint, though. It begins with a "p" and rhymes with "tick". Cookies to those who guess!! (If I'm nice, I'll take you out to ice cream)
On to Chapter 5!!
Half-Demon Cali: Your guess was pretty good but Miya isn't a priestess!!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha but I do own Miya and the storyline.
"What'd you say?" Miya asked Inuyasha.
"I thought I heard Kagome say my name," Inuyasha said.
"You did? What direction would you say it's from?"
"I'd say the well," Inuyasha said, scanning the forest.
"The shadow came from the well," Miya said slowly. Inuyasha turned to her as she did mental calculations. Her face paled and she said, "If that thing came from an opening and seemed to come from the direction of the Bone Eater's Well...well, I just hope Kagome didn't come back then because there'd be a 60 percent chance she got caught up in it."
Realization dawned on Inuyasha's face. He swore and said, "We're in trouble, aren't we?"
"Big trouble," Miya agreed. "We have to get back and warn the others."
"Kagome!!" Inuyasha called. He jumped towards the forest but Miya grabbed his collar and pulled him back. "Let me go!! I have to save her!!!"
"There's nothing you can do now," Miya said, still holding Inuyasha's collar. "It's closed."
"How do you know it's closed?!" Inuyasha hollered. He tore himself free of her grasp and leapt off into the forest.
Miya swore and ran off after the hanyou. She held her bow at the ready in case another one would come after them.
Inuyasha ran like the wind, sniffing anxiously. He could not catch Kagome's scent but refused to believe Miya.
'That cry,' he thought, 'it sounded like she was screaming for help. Screaming for me.'
"Inuyasha!" he heard Miya call. Damn! Had she caught up with him already?
"Get away!!" he said. "I have to find Kagome!!"
Inuyasha increased his speed and was surprised when Miya caught up with him. She ran evenly with him.
"Humph," Inuyasha said. She seemed mortal enough so he couldn't understand how she kept up with him but likened it to Miroku's ability to conjure up fast sprints.
In a couple of minutes, the pair made it back to Kaede's hut and an arguing Miroku and Sango could be heard.
"Lecher!!" Sango could be heard saying.
"You're mistaken," Miroku's voice was protesting. A loud slap was heard.
"Oh? And what am I mistaken about? You being a pervert and on top of that a shameless flirt?"
A pause was heard. "I deny that," Miroku said finally.
"You deny that you're a lecher, lecher?" Inuyasha asked, opening the door. He found a red faced Miroku and an equally red faced Sango. Sango was blushing furiously but Miroku was red on account of Sango's slaps.
"Guys," Miya said quietly.
"Yes, I deny that," Miroku said.
"Liar," Shippo said. He was watching the fight from the doorway.
"Guys," Miya repeated, a little louder.
Miroku reached for Sango's butt and was rewarded by another slap and a punch from Inuyasha.
"GUYS!!!" Miya shouted. Everybody looked at her and she said in a more reasonable tone, "Now that I have your attention, are you all aware that Kagome is missing?"
"What?" Sango asked. "Kagome missing?"
"Didn't she go home?" Miroku added.
"She came back," Inuyasha growled. "Miya thinks it's possible she was caught in that creepy fog."
"Not possible, definitely," Miya corrected. She had closed her eyes. "She's definitely gone. I can't sense her."
" 'Sense?' " Miroku asked, a puzzled look on his abused face.
"We should go to investigate," Miya said, ignoring his question. She adjusted her bow and arrows, hefted up a confused Shippo, and dragged Inuyasha outside.
"She's strange," Sango whispered to Miroku, their argument forgotten.
"You said it," he whispered back.
"Are you coming?" Miya called. "We're going to the well."
Sango and Miroku got up, each clutching their respective weapons, and went outside to the Bone Eater's Well.
Kagome opened her eyes slowly. Her neck burned where the monster had choked her into unconsciousness and her whole body throbbed. She couldn't move as she soon found out when trying to twist her head.
'Urrgh. Where am I?' Kagome thought. Her eyes opened a little and she saw nothing but white fog. She closed them again. 'I'm still in the fog. I hope Inuyasha heard me.'
The miko opened her eyes again and saw that she was bound in red light that crackled and whipped around her body, leaving raw red marks wherever it touched her bare skin.
"Awake are you, my pretty?" a voice said, making her jump. A couple of seconds went by before she saw who had spoken. It was another shadow, but this one had visible eye sockets and two holes that could have passed as nostrils. Its voice sounded like it was coated in slime and yet it rasped and sounded all together too awful. It approached her and seemed to enjoy the terror it was inflicting on the helpless girl. "This will draw her out no doubt. She always was weak when it came to her friends."
"Who?" Kagome wanted to ask but her voice wouldn't work. She was paralyzed by fear.
"Paralyzed?" It chuckled and the noise grated Kagome's ears. "You should be." It stroked her cheek and Kagome recoiled.
"G-G-Get o-off of me," Kagome croaked. She had found her voice. She continued, newfound confidence giving strength to her vocal cords, "Inuyasha will get you. Just you wait."
The thing ignored her and retreated, muttering to itself and then it said, "Your Inuyasha may be strong but the girl is stronger yet."
"What girl?"
"You don't know? She hasn't told you yet?" It laughed and Kagome's spine sent shivers up her back. "It's not surprising, considering her past. I'll just let you find out soon."
'Who is it talking about?' Kagome thought.
"Time to go to sleep again." It reached out towards her and Kagome couldn't move back as its aura overpowered her. Its fingers closed around her neck once more and she couldn't breathe.
"Inuyasha," she whispered, before falling unconscious again.
The thing withdrew its hand and moved away from Kagome. It disappeared into the fog and said before vanishing completely, "I'm coming, girl. You can't escape me."
Miya patted the well and examined the wood while the others inspected the surroundings. They came back in a few minutes to report their findings.
"Nothing," Inuyasha said. "My nose can't even catch a whiff of Kagome's scent."
"I can't sense any evil," Miroku said.
"Kirara and I have scouted the area from the air but haven't seen anything unusual," Sango reported. A transformed Kirara nodded at her statement.
"Nothing in the surrounding trees, Miya," Shippo said, hopping onto Miya's shoulder.
Miya nodded and said, "It's closed so that's to be expected. Inuyasha, can you catch Kagome's scent on the well?"
"Of course," he said. "It reeks of her scent."
"Is it fresh?"
"She hopped in there a couple hours ago," he said, "of course it's fresh!!"
"No, I mean by an hour or so," Miya said.
Inuyasha sniffed the wood and said, "Nothing newer than that. It's as if she never came back."
Miya leaned back and sat on the edge. "When I examined the well, I saw it was a little damp. It's only a little but that little bit shows me that the well was in some damp air. Kagome must have come through here and was captured."
"Captured by what, though?" Miroku asked.
"That's the problem," she said, "I can't get any feeling beyond that. She was terrified though." Here she looked pointedly at Inuyasha. "That explains why you heard her speak your name. It's more than likely that she screamed it in order to make herself heard."
"But why kidnap Kagome? We've never even seen this place until you showed up," Inuyasha said.
"Good question," Sango said.
Miya paused for a moment and then said, "I don't know. It is, however, imperative that we open the place up again. I don't want to know what would happen to Kagome if we don't."
"Is there a way?" Shippo asked.
"There is, but it's complicated," Miya said. "It'll take a couple of days for me to prepare everything."
Here Inuyasha grabbed Miya's shirt and said, "We don't have time for that!!! Kagome is in danger right now so how can we sit around and waste days?!"
Miya looked back at him calmly. "I can't open up a portal in only a few hours, Inuyasha. Think reasonably. Besides, I don't think time there runs along the same lines as here. A few days here may only take a few minutes there." Miya thought, 'Or maybe a few days here will waste a couple of years there but better not tell him that, he'd fly right into the soup.'
"She's right, Inuyasha," Miroku said. He took Inuyasha's hand off of Miya's shirt.
"Feh." Inuyasha yanked his hand away from Miroku's, put his arms in his sleeves and looked away.
"Do you guys have a map?" Miya asked.
"Why, yes." Sango produced one out of a bag. "Here it is."
Miya laid it flat on the ground and looked at the villages and landforms marked out on it. She pointed to a hill that wasn't marked. "This is the one we'll need to go to in order to open the portal." She pointed to a village that close to the one they were in at the moment. "We can pick up some of the supplies I'll need at this village."
"Erm—there is the small question of money," Miroku said.
"Don't you have any, monk?" Inuyasha asked.
Miroku looked through his robe, took out a purse, opened it, and turned it upside down. It was dejectedly empty. "Fresh out, Inuyasha."
"We can trade," Miya said. She then looked at Miroku and asked, "How do you get your money anyway?"
Shippo got up, struck a pose, pretended to hold a staff, and said in a saintly voice, "I feel an evil shadow hovering over this mansion. If you give me a night, I can exorcise the demons." He grinned and said, "That's how Miroku swindles people to getting a free night's rest and a meal."
Miroku sighed and said, "You do me such injustice, Shippo." He then looked at Miya and added, "I make an honest living exorcising youkais."
"And when not exorcising youkais?"
"He makes a living cleaning houses!!" Sango said brightly.
"I do not!!"
"Yes, you do!!"
"Do not!!"
"Oh, so what's your Kazāna for then?"
Miroku puffed up and said, "For defeating Naraku!!"
"It's not for cleaning up dust?"
Miroku glared at Sango. There was quite a drawn out glaring battle until Inuyasha decided to punch both of them in the head.
"Come on! This is no time to be arguing!" He grabbed Miya, set her on his back before she could protest, and ran into the woods.
"Kirara!" Kirara waited until Sango had jumped onto her back. Miroku grabbed his staff and jumped on Kirara's back after Sango. Shippo followed him and grabbed onto his shoulder.
"Hey! Inuyasha! You can put me down!" Miya protested.
"Not a chance. You'll only slow us down."
The group arrived at the village in the evening. It was an orange sunset that greeted them when they could see the first of the huts. It seemed deserted.
"Where is everyone?" Sango asked. She had her boomerang at the ready.
"In the houses," Inuyasha said. "I can still smell them."
"Why, though?" Shippo asked. "It's not as if we're going to harm them."
"We're a queer group," Miya pointed out. "Have you ever been to this village before?" They all shook their heads. "That explains it. Sango, you're a youkai slayer and Inuyasha, Kirara, and Shippo are youkais. Miroku, you're a monk. I don't think there has been a stranger group than this because both youkai slayers and monks are known to slay youkais and both of you are sitting right here and on top of another youkai."
"Makes sense," Miroku said. He hopped off and said, "Now to convince these people we mean them no harm."
"Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kirara, go somewhere else and hide," Miya whispered to the trio. Before Inuyasha could protest she added, "It's for the best, all right? It shouldn't take me very long to get the stuff we need."
Inuyasha left reluctantly with both Shippo and Kirara, leaving the other three in the village. Miroku walked nonchalantly over to a stall and picked up an artifact shaped like a fat man and examined it.
"Never seen anything like this," Miroku announced.
"'Course you haven't," Miya said sarcastically. "That came from a different place. It's a Buddha."
"This fat man?" Miroku shook it. "You're kidding me. It's just a harmless villager."
"Uh—no, it isn't."
"Miroku!" Sango hissed. "You're disgracing everyone that goes by the name of 'monk'! Get your head screwed on right!"
"You know this man?"
"'Course not! Just put that fat thing down and let's help Miya get the stuff she needs!"
Miroku put it down and grumbled, "Didn't really like it anyway."
Miya went over to another stall opposite of the one Miroku went to and examined some plants. "I'll be needing these."
"Herbs?" Sango peered at the strangely colored leaves. They were purple and blue.
"No," Miya said. She reached into her shirt and took out a copper medallion with a dragon carved onto it. She set it down on the counter and picked out some stems with the leaves on them. "This'll do. These leaves can be both medicinal and poisonous. They also have supernatural purposes. When used correctly, they can separate the spirit from the body."
"Really?" Miroku took a leaf from the stem and fingered it. "Never heard of them."
"Frankly, I'm surprised this village has them," Miya said, rooting through some boxes. "They're not exactly growing on trees in this land." She came out of the boxes with her hands rather dusty but clutching some jars with peculiar organs in them. "OK, that'll cover some of the preparations. The leaves are a bonus so I can skip some of the supplies needed." Rooting through her shirt again, Miya put down a small box on the counter.
"How do you know you're trading fairly?" Sango asked.
"I've been trading for a while," Miya explained. "These things aren't worth much so I just happened to have the stuff needed to fairly exchange them."
Miya then took out the map she had taken with them and looked at the markings. She pointed to another marked village a little closer to the unmarked hill that was their destination. "We need to go there next."
"Can't they hurry up any faster?" Inuyasha growled. He was sitting in a tree in the forest and was waiting impatiently.
"She's probably having trouble getting the villagers to come out," Shippo said. He was sitting on the same branch. "You can't just trade without their permission."
"How would you know? You've never bought anything in your life!"
"I resent that! I've bought these!" Shippo reached into his tunic and took out some leaves and paper.
Inuyasha snorted. "With what? Rocks?"
"Not quite," Shippo muttered. He put his items carefully back into his tunic.
"We're baaaack!!!" Inuyasha heard Miroku's annoying voice.
He hopped down from the tree and said, "Took you long enough."
"We've got another stop to make," Miya said.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Inuyasha grabbed Miya and set off.
"Wait!!" Sango called. "Don't you want to know where we're supposed to go?!" No reply came. She sighed and said, "Come on, Kirara."
Sango, Miroku, and Shippo hopped onto Kirara's back and set off into the sky.
"Left, left, Inuyasha!!" Miya shouted. Inuyasha was leaping through a swamp in the forest.
"Why should I go left?" Inuyasha snapped. He did, however, oblige Miya and turned left.
"Because that's where the village is," Miya said. "If you hadn't left so suddenly, I could have taken the map from Sango. As it is, we're off course."
Inuyasha stepped into a particularly murky puddle and was sucked halfway in.
"Hard to believe you're a hanyou," Miya muttered. Hopping off Inuyasha's back onto firmer ground she attempted to help him get out.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Look, do you want me to help you get out or not?!"
"Gladly," Inuyasha muttered. He had sunk another inch.
Miya closed her eyes and did an upward motion with her hands. With a loud sucking motion, the swamp was relieved of Inuyasha. His red pants were barely recognizable with all the mud that was covering them.
"How'd you do that?" Inuyasha asked.
"With your mind you can accomplish anything," Miya said. She looked a bit paler. "Don't ask me to do that again though. There's only so many times I can lift a full-grown body out of some stubborn mud."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?"
"Maybe."
"Hey, Miroku, has it occurred to you that we haven't seen either Inuyasha or Miya?"
"I would have thought that with Kirara's speed we'd have caught them up by now."
"Knowing that knucklehead, he's probably got them lost," Shippo said.
"But Miya has the map," Sango said.
"Didn't she give you the map?" Miroku asked.
Sango checked her shoulder plate and sure enough, the map was folded neatly and tucked securely under it.
"Oh boy."
"Oh boy, indeed," Miroku said. "If I remember correctly, there was a large swamp marked on it." He looked at the misty ground beneath them. He could still see the shapes of trees. "Let's hope Miya steered him away from that."
"A dumb hanyou is still a dumb hanyou," Shippo said.
"True," Sango said. "Better not let Inuyasha hear you say that."
"Indeed," Miroku said. "Oh, look, I think I see the village."
Kirara steered them in the direction of the greenish lights. An ominous wind was blowing.
"Which way? Left or right?" Inuyasha was crouching on a rock with Miya on his back.
"How about, straight ahead?"
"You're not sure?"
"Well, I don't have the map thanks to a certain someone who couldn't wait to leave."
"So now it's my fault that you couldn't remember that there was a swamp on the way to the village?"
"I knew that there was a swamp but not where it was. Now just go straight ahead and let's get out of this place."
"There's a foul stench in the air," Inuyasha said, hopping off the stone into the muddy water. He leaped up again.
"It is a swamp."
"It smells like a youkai," Inuyasha said flatly.
"Gah. Just what we need."
Inuyasha's ears suddenly twitched and he stopped. "Now it smells like Naraku."
"It does?" Miya got down and readied her weapon. Inuyasha rested his right hand on his sword hilt.
"Ku ku ku ku." An evil, amused voice chuckled. "What happened to the other girl, Inuyasha?" A tall man appeared before the two. His long black hair whipped behind him where long octopus-like tentacles waved. His outfit was purple and an eye gazed at them from his center. He had other eyes on his hands. The man hovered in the air, shielded by a purple barrier.
"Naraku," Inuyasha snarled. He pulled out his Tessaiga which transformed.
"What do you want?" Miya asked. She had pulled out an arrow and had the bow ready to shoot.
"I came to see what all the fuss was about," he answered. Naraku smiled evilly. "You really get around, don't you, Inuyasha?"
"What're you talking about?!"
"Hey, calm down, Inuyasha," Miya whispered. "Let me handle him."
"You've got spunk, girl," Naraku said. "Too bad you're only a human."
The string on Miya's bow was taut and quivering. "I wouldn't mock us if I were you, Naraku. Sure, that barrier is strong but my arrow and Inuyasha's sword can break right through it."
"Want to try?" Naraku chuckled evilly.
"Prepare to die, Naraku!!" Inuyasha swept his sword down. "Kongōsōha!"
Miya's arrow was released as well and both daimond shards and arrow met the purple barrier in a blinding flash of light.
Finished!! Let me tell you, this last weekend's meet was a killer. (Yes, I'm a swimmer, live with it)
Enjoy Chapter 5 and I'll have 6 up as soon as I finish it.