I am FULLY aware that I said I would update more frequently. The thing is…I've been busy with my other stories. Again. But there are only a few more chapters of this story to go so I'm still plodding through. Right now, I am not in an InuYasha mindset, the way I was when I started. In any case, the least I can do is keep the characters in character and in proper form.

Thanks to Half-Demon Cali for reviewing!

Half-Demon Cali: I had no problem typing Miya's background out. It was stewing for a while. I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own. Happy? But I do own Miya.

"So, do you have any ideas on what we're going to do now?"

Inuyasha and Miya were once again flying through the forest. Or perhaps a more accurate term would be running since Inuyasha couldn't technically "fly".

"I think we should stick to our original plan," Miya said, sitting on Inuyasha's back. "Sango and Miroku aren't around at the moment and Kagome isn't getting any safer with each passing second."

"I know that." Inuyasha pushed off the ground and leapt high above the trees, providing Miya with a great view of the surrounding areas. "Where to?"

"I would probe around to see where a cluster of people are located but I still have a headache from Ku-chan so I'm just gonna take a guess and say go west."

"Why west?" Inuyasha landed on the ground.

"Because I saw something dark that might be a village," Miya responded. "Just trust me, all right? I've been doing this jig a lot longer than you have."

"Wanna bet?" Inuyasha muttered darkly but took off in the desired direction, which was to their left.

"Sango!"

Sango had no breath left to speak; she was too busy trying to focus on not panicking aloud. The only problem was that without anything beneath her to support her groping arm, she would most likely start panicking.

Miroku, on the other hand, had plenty of breath to both yell and think as fast as he could. With only one option left to him, Miroku dropped his staff, grabbed on a sturdy branch, and clasped Sango's hand just before it almost slipped out of reach. His arm was almost jerked out of his socket with the force that it took and he knew that Sango's neck and arm must be hurting now.

Sure enough, when he looked he noted that Sango was unconscious. He only hoped that he hadn't broken her neck with the abrupt fall.

"Sango!" Shippo squeaked, just now looking up. "Is she okay?"

Miroku breathed heavily, trying to figure out how to heave her up to firm land without slipping off himself. His dilemma was solved when Kirara took off and flew under Sango, letting the limp youkai-slayer drape over her back. Miroku released the woman he secretly loved once he was sure that Kirara had her.

His own safety now assured, Miroku let go of the branch slowly and reached for his staff, stepping back into the protective shadows of the trees. He instantly lost visibility of the enormous crevasse, much to his relief. Kirara alighted next to him, keeping her fires on as Miroku hefted Sango to the ground.

"Thank God," he breathed, brushing Sango's hair out of her face. She was alive. "I thought I'd lose her for sure."

He looked up to see Shippo looking at him slyly. He panicked again but this time for a completely different.

"Uh, I—I meant that I thought we'd lose her!" he stammered, trying to cover up his mistake.

'Sure.' Shippo smirked but decided that he could torture Miroku about this later.

"Is this a good enough place?" Inuyasha let Miya drop.

Miya examined the small and thriving market. "I think this'll be fine."

"What do you need anyway?" The hanyou followed Miya to a stall with various powders in jars.

"Some of these actually." Miya touched one on the stopper and raised an eyebrow at the stall keeper. "May I?"

The stall keeper shrugged. "Why not?"

"Thanks," she murmured, lifting the jar up to eye level and inspecting the powder inside it.

Quite frankly, Inuyasha couldn't see anything out of the ordinary about it. It looked like ordinary powder to him. It even sparkled a little as a result of the minerals inside it. His nose twitched; even the smell wasn't unusual. Was she leading him on a wild goose chase? He'd have to hope not because then he could kiss seeing Kagome goodbye. (Not literally kiss, of course.)

But much to his surprise, Miya smiled and laid some coins on the countertop. "This will be enough?"

The stall keeper waved her off, eyeing Inuyasha balefully. "Come again."

"Not likely actually," Miya muttered under her breath so only Inuyasha could hear. She picked up the pace. "Come on, Inuyasha. I need one more item."

"What?" Inuyasha followed after her since he had no idea where she was headed. He stopped short when he saw what shop they were heading for. "A rug shop?"

"Not exactly," Miya disagreed, pushing aside the door as she stepped inside.

"Enlighten me then." Inuyasha was about to step inside when the smell hit him. He instantly thought better of it and stayed outside.

Waiting impatiently for several minutes, he had just decided to risk the smell and step in when Miya stepped out, looking decidedly pleased.

"Found what you were looking for?" Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at the smell again. It was a mixture of rotten cheeses, dried out grasses, and a few other smells he couldn't quite identify.

"Yeah, I did." Miya held up a small bag. "We're set for opening up the gate."

"The gate?"

"Do you want me to call it a hole? I figure 'gate' works better."

"Call it what you will. Where's our stop for this?" Inuyasha sincerely hoped it wasn't all the way back in Kaede's village. He hadn't the patience necessary for another trip like that. Especially if Naraku showed up and delayed them again.

"We need an area of especially high spiritual density for this operation." Miya held out a map. "I got this so I could plan out our route." She knelt down on the ground and laid it flat, looking at the landscape. She instantly pointed out a hilly area. "That's where we'll go."

Inuyasha groaned. It was even further than Kaede's village.

"No problem." Miya's eyes were glittering strangely. "I got the supplies necessary for a teleporting, too, so we don't have to run."

Inuyasha was suspicious. "What's 'teleporting'?"

"Do you need water, Miroku?" Shippo asked, standing next to Miroku as he inspected Sango's neck for injuries.

"Where would you get this water?" Miroku leaned back, partially satisfied that the woman wasn't mortally injured in any way. "I think she should be waking up soon anyway."

Sure enough, Sango groaned and stirred. A minute later, she opened her eyes and groaned again. "Miroku?"

"Are you all right, Sango?" Miroku pressed a hand to her chest. "You're not hurt?"

There was silence for a few moments as Sango glared at the perverted monk. "Why do you have a hand on my breast?"

"Why, I don't know what you mean," Miroku said innocently.

There was a loud slapping sound in the next second and then Sango got up, rubbing her shoulder muscles and making sure everything was in working order. Miroku had a red hand emblazoned on his cheek and was feigning an injured look.

"I really don't know what you mean," Miroku protested once more. "Isn't it natural for a friend to be concerned?"

"Do friends grope their friends?" Sango shot him a dark look out of the corner of her eye. There could have been an electric spark shooting from it.

Miroku shivered unnoticeably before changing the subject. "I don't think we should walk there."

Sango sighed, having completed her inventory and judged that she was fit. "No need to tell me that. I have no desire to lose my life falling down that stupid canyon."

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that a canyon is grander."

Sango repressed an eye roll. "Sure. Now let's go and try to find our way out of here."

Both Miroku and Sango got to their feet; Shippo jumped onto Sango's shoulder.

"Are you sure you're all right, Sango?" Shippo inquired.

"I'm fine, Shippo," Sango assured. "It was just a shock." She shot Miroku another dirty look before continuing. "Our main concern should be getting out of here."

"How are we doing that?"

"Well, you did hear Kagai that there's no way to ascertain that that the 'world between the worlds' opens," Sango replied. "He also said that our best bet is to just wander around until we stumble into it."

"But we've wandered!" Shippo whined.

"Quiet, Shippo," Miroku warned.

"Why?" Shippo softened his tone.

"There's something going on." Miroku touched Sango's shoulder. "Look."

"Where?" Sango squinted into the dark but couldn't see anything.

Miroku pointed to their right, which headed further into the forest. "Can you see that?"

Sango inspected the area that Miroku had pointed out and then caught sight of what he had presumably seen. There were tendrils creeping along the ground. Her breath caught as she tried to identify what it was. Unfortunately, there was too little light to notice much more than that the tendrils were just that: tendrils.

"What are they?" Sango whispered, feeling the need to keep her voice low.

"I really don't know," Miroku whispered back. He let Shippo hop over his shoulder to land on Kirara's back so that he could hide his face in the youkai's neck fur. "If I had to hazard a guess…I'd say those were roots. Normally I wouldn't say that but here I don't know what sort of creatures exist."

"Roots?" Shippo whimpered, his tail quivering like nuts.

"Bur roots don't move. Right?" Sango murmured, frowning as she tried to scan out the source of the "roots".

"You don't know what can happen here," Miroku cautioned her. "I'd advise you to be on your guard."

"What do you take me for? A gullible child?" Sango shot back.

"Just saying." Miroku drew back slightly, checking their back. So far, he could tell they weren't being surrounded. That was a positive. On the other hand, it was so dark that if they were being surrounded, he couldn't see. He just had to hope that it was the former and not the latter.

"They're not roots," Sango breathed, shock written all over her face. "It's—it's smoke."

"Beg your pardon?" Miroku tried to compare the tendrils and the image of smoke. He couldn't see the similarities.

"Well, not smoke," Sango amended. "It's fog."

"Fog?" Miroku still didn't see the similarities. "I don't get it."

Sango pointed to the dark recesses of the bony trees. "Do you see that? I've never seen anything like it."

This time, Miroku really looked. And when he did, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. There was literally a bank of something flowing to their location. If Sango was right and it was fog, it would be white under some light. In fact, now that the first of the tendrils were only several feet away, Kirara's fires fell on them, revealing them to be white.

"But if it's fog, what's it doing here?" Shippo asked.

"Think back, Shippo," Sango urged. "Remember when we found Miya? It was that same kind of fog. I'm guessing that this is our ticket out of here." She looked back at the three behind her. "Come on." Silently, Sango ran forwards and into the fog.

"Come on, Shippo," Miroku said. "We better hurry so we don't lose her. Literally." The monk leapt after her.

Shippo looked scared out of his wits as Kirara jumped after them. "Why me?" he whimpered. "I'm just a kid."

As the four ran into the misty world, leaving behind the dark, moonless world with the fearsome bat-demons, each one of them thought they heard a distant screech, as if Kagai was telling them goodbye.

I am glad to say the plot has started moving further. It won't be much longer before this whole story is finished. A couple more chapters, though, definitely. I am on vacation at the moment for a whole two weeks so I'll have plenty of time to work on ALL of my stories.

In any case, enjoy this last chapter. And REVIEW please!