I do not own the rights to Inuyasha.
"I don't know what you expect me to do. It's been six days since we last saw her. Her scent is basically dead." Inuyasha grumbled, continuing his streak of non-stop complaints.
The relentless sun beat down on the group. The memory of cool morning air hours behind them. A loud crash sounded through the forrest as another tree was felled by Sango's Hiraikotsu. Her rage radiated off of her, challenging the scorching heat of the sun. "Her scent wouldn't be six days stale if someone wasn't off screwing a CLAY POT!" Sango snapped back at him as she released Hiraikotsu again, Inuyasha ducking just in time.
"Fuck, Sango! You almost took off my head! And why do you have to clear the whole freaking forrest anyways?!" The hanyou glared at the enraged woman from his crouched position.
Sango stalked towards him, her eyes deadly slits. She crouched down, inches away from Inuyasha's nose. "Next time, I'll try harder not to miss." Her voice was quiet as she instinctively reached up and caught the returning weapon. "And, Inuyahsa, you should be grateful that I'm cutting the trees down to size and not you." She stood, strapped Hiraikotsu to her back, and began walking away. "Besides, you're moving slower today," the Taijiya said over her shoulder, "Tonight's the new moon so I know all of your senses are already dulling. I figured clearing a path might help us find Kagome quicker. There's no telling what kind of dangers she has already faced. The sooner we find her the better."
Miroku followed silently after the woman he loved, admired, and feared. As he passed Inuyasha, he merely raised an eyebrow and inclined his head as though to say "Keep up, or she really will hit you next time," the usual gleam of mischief gone from his eyes. Kirara followed closely behind Miroku with a quietly sobbing Shippou on her back.
Inuyasha straightened, watching his companions search whole-heartedly for their friend. Sighing, he fell in behind Kirara. Worry began clouding his mind. Sango had a point. It had been six days. Six whole days of Kagome on her own. Even when she traveled with them, she always managed to attract at least two deadly opponents each day. Sure, she had gotten a little better about hiding her aura and channeling some of her miko powers, and her aim had increased slightly, but there were only so many arrows she had with her and she would have to sleep at some point which would leave her totally defenseless. "Shit, Kagome," he mumbled under his breath, "where could you have gone?"
"Inuyasha," Miroku waved for the hanyou to join him. Sango, Kirara, and Shippou had found a clearing to sit a few yards away. "We've searched almost a five mile radius in all directions from camp. We're all exhausted. Sango suggested we rest here and then search from the sky on Kirara. We really don't know where else to look and with your nose growing weaker as the day goes on, it may be best for us to resume the search tomorrow." The monk's voice was somber and weary from the day's frantic search.
Running his claws through his sweat-matted hair, Inuyasha sighed. "She's right - Sango is. It's my fault. I don't know how Kikyo managed to have such a strong influence over me. It's like I'm no longer myself and all I can see is her. And now because of that, I may be the reason another woman dies."
Miroku put a hand on his friend's arm. "Inuyasha, you cannot blame yourself for what happened to Kikyo. That was Naraku's doing - not yours. And we may yet find Kagome alive and well, if not just a bit angry it took us so long to find her. I just hope you're ready for an onslaught of osuwaris like never before," the monk chuckled.
Inuyasha's eyes softened as he touched the Beads of Subjugation, "I look forward to it. If she can "sit" me until I can't think, it means she's alright." He looked up at the monk, "Miroku, if anything happened to her…she's the first friend I've ever ha…" his voice broke off as he sniffed the air wildly - all color draining from his skin. "No! No no no no NO!" Inuyasha broke off into a run, jumping wildly from tree to tree.
"Sango! Kirara! Inuyasha found something…I don't know what it is, but it doesn't seem good. He took off that way!" Miroku pointed frantically after the hanyou as he ran to his resting companions. By the time he got to them, Sango was already seated on Kirara. Grabbing his outstretched hand, she swung the monk on behind her.
"Kirara! Follow Inuyasha!"
. . .
The trees whizzed by his face, branches scratching and cutting into his skin and clothes, leaves tangling in his streaming hair. No. No. No. Please be ok, Kagome. Gods, please be ok.
Soon Kirara caught up to Inuyasha'a blur of red and silver. She turned left and right, dipped and soared, as she tried to keep up with the hanyou. Finally, he came to a screeching halt. Kirara dove out of the sky and had barely landed before Miroku and Sango jumped off her back - running up to Inuyasha's frozen form.
"Inuyasha, what is it?" Concern coated Sango's voice, her eyes searching his face.
He panted, "I smelled…I smelled her blood. It was faint, but for me to be able to smell it from as far away as we were, and on the day of the new moon…there had to have been a lot of it - or more than just her usual scrape." He swallowed hard, looking around the clearing. His nose sniffing slightly. "And it smells like whatever injury she had happened about six days ago." He puttered around the clearing, alternating between sniffing the air and ground. "She must have come here looking for water. There's that little stream…"
"There's what looks to be the marks of ogre blood over here!" Sango called out. "Their blood leaves very definite marks of decay. See how there's a section of grass that died? And then over there," she pointed, "you can see where some of the limbs were recently broken from those trees."
"I wondered what smelled so foul mixed in with Kagome's scent. That explains it…but something just doesn't add up." Inuyasha circled the clearing again. "See up there?" He pointed to the rock face across the clearing. "It looks like some of the rocks were crushed…probably with a fist, and she can't get up there, unless she was…in…the fist…" his face blanched.
"We have to keep looking. Keep smelling for her blood and maybe we can find where she ended up. The amount of Ogre blood on the ground wouldn't have been caused by an arrow, so something else was here when she was. We just have to figure out if she got away on her own, or if it was the Ogre or the unknown other that took her." Sango's voice quivered, but her face was set, resolute, and determined. "Come on Miroku!"
The monk turned from the branch he'd been inspecting. It's leaves had been cleanly sliced away in one part, leaving a few sizzled remnants clinging to a branch. The sight of it tickled his memory, but he couldn't quite put his wind-tunnel on what weapon would cause such a clean, yet venomous, cut.
The group left the clearing, following Inuyasha's nose. After a few faulty starts, Inuyasha finally locked on to what he believed to be Kagome's scent. His nose crinkled slightly.
"What is it?" Miroku asked, noting the change in Inuyasha's face.
He sniffed a few more times. "Well, Kagome's scent is getting stronger, so wherever we're headed, she was here recently…"
"Buuuut?" The monk asked.
"But…it doesn't smell as strongly of blood," the hanyou finished. His face still unsettled.
"That's a good thing though!" Sango exclaimed, only to catch the look on Inuyasha's face and pause. "Right?"
"It would be," Inuyasha grumbled as they made their way into a new clearing. "Except the scent isn't just any scent."
"What do you mean it 'isn't just any scent?'" Sango questioned. "How can a scent not just be a scent?"
Inuyasha sighed. "Because it's the scent of arousal." His face paled again.
"So she was having a good time!" Miroku joked as Sango shot him a look and shook her head.
The hanyou swallowed. "But it's not just hers…"
"Well who else's is it?" Sango questioned.
Inuyasha paused.
"My brother's."
A/N: Thank you all again for all your wonderful support! It means the world to me!