Author's note: As promised I am back from the dead, well not really the dead but I'm back, and I come baring gifts. I posted an author's note saying this was on its way and I warned you guys then this chapter is a cliffy I warn you know again: this is a cliffy chapter. Anyway enjoy my attempts at a humorous disclaimer, oh yeah and the chapter too (;

Disclaimer: ^Interrogation room FBI headquarters^

Dude wearing suit: where have you been?

Me:*Looks away guiltily, trying to avoid lamp-in-the-face* "Away"

Suit Dude: Have you obtained the deed to Inuyasha?

Inuyasha: Feh What a stupid question, of course she hasn't I'm right here.

Me:*Hides Inuaysha plushy* "Nope no deed here"

Inuyasha: Who are you people anyway? And what the hell am I doing here?

Suit Dude: *Points to badge* FBI (Federal Bureau of Inuyasha)

Me and Inuyasha: *Sweatdrop* "That explains so much"

XXXXXXXX

When Good Miko Go Bad

Chapter 20 Closing Distance

XXXXXXXX

It was the early hours of the morning and the group of companions had been walking, at the insistence of their substitute leader, since sunrise. "How long until we reach this village anyway?" Asked the youngest of the group.

"Patience Shippou," advised the monk present, "we shall arrive in due time. The journey is more important than the destination, as they say."

"Who says that?"

"I am not entirely sure, Kagome-sama never elaborated on who 'they' are."

"Who cares about the damn saying, Kagome's the destination, that's way more important than the stupid 'journey'. That's the irritating part." Inuyasha growled with as much logical thinking as one such as he was capable of.

Shippou smirked, much like Inuyasha, "I thought you said the irritating part was that Kagome got lost in the first place."

Inuyasha's eye twitched. "You know Inuaysha, you did say that." Sango said backing up the kitsune and trying to distract the hanyou from his obvious desire to pummel the child.

"Feh, ya know what I meant."

That trade-mark lecherous grin spread across Miroku's face, "Yes indeed my friend; Lady Kagome's absence is a burden to us all, you merely wish never to be parted from her, to be eternally by her side."

"Yeah," he said absently, daydreaming of what the monk described, then realizing what he had admitted to the hanyou turned on the monk, "Where the hell'd ya get something like that?"

Sango, Shippou and even Kirara had to hide their amusement as the angry Inuyasha 'interrogated' an absolutely stiff lipped Miroku. The houshi was smiling knowingly with a complete look of total innocence that would fool anyone who didn't know him.

Letting the men have their little battle of wills Sango mentally took stock of the distance they had covered and that which had yet to be surmounted. According to her calculations if they traveled all day at the pace they were going they might just reach the village by sundown, if they were lucky. Since luck had much to do with motivation, Sango decided the best way to get Inuyasha to forget about killing Miroku was to redirect his focus on Kagome. "Inuyasha," She called momentarily pausing the men's argument, "the village isn't even a full day away, if you hurry maybe we can see Kagome before tomorrow." She knew it was a low taunt, one that would, undoubtedly work, but Sango didn't care, she missed her friend too, and if Inuyasha got moving he'd be the most likely to find her.

Just as the slayer had predicted Inuaysha's glare turned thoughtful and then determined in quick succession, "Come on people pick up the pace, we don't got all day."

Miroku and Sango exchanged tolerate glances at the enthusiasm and Shippou rolled his eyes. Kirara mewed sweetly, "Yeah you got that right." Shippou agreed with the cat.

XXXX

By mid morning three miko had entered the village of Hasous the fourth of their group already there and waiting, fresh from a meeting with her 'contact'. "Anything useful?" Asked the leader."

"Not about the shards," Replied the one who had been waiting.

"That was rather vague, was it not?" whispered the youngest of the group. The last nodded in suspicious agreement as she watched her friend and leader casually pull information from the woman they had made a pact against just last night.

"Kagome nee-san are you quite finished with the questions, we really should be getting to the investigation portion of our travels." If one didn't know better they would think the two women really were sisters despite the contrast in their appearances, as who else but siblings could be so cold and polite at the same time.

"Investigation? Searching for jewel shards is hardly what I'd call an investigation." Kagome jibbed.

"So you have sensed something?" The other woman nodded in affirmation, "Then why did you not retrieve it at once."

"We wouldn't have wanted you to miss out on fight Marianne nee-san." The sweetness in Kagome's voice failed to fool her allies; she wanted to keep a close eye on Marianne. If she was plotting against them Kagome didn't want to give the priestess any more alone time to plan it than they already had.

"Well then lead the way nee-san" Marianne's façade was even less believable. Tension and suspicion rolled off the two in overbearing waves, threatening to drown the other priestesses with the slightest surge.

Tari stepped in, wary of one of them snapping the thin veil of control and unleashing what she knew to be considerable spiritual power. "Kagome, we really should be going, it would not be wise to allow a demon possession of a shard any longer."

Happily, Kagome switched her attention to her friends, "Sure, follow me." She walked off purposefully toward the tingling sensation and faint pink aura that told of a jewel, Shiri skipping off after her in a near mirror image, shrugging Tari waited for Marianne to fall into step behind the two before following after herself.

XX

Kagome had been right, of course, the jewel was close by and sooner than Tari would have thought possible they were faced with a low level demon. Even if it was just a lowly weasel youkai with a piece of the tama it became violent and its claws deadly, able to slice through flesh and break bone fairly easily. What the group had not counted on was the weasel's speed, it was too fast for Tari to seal and whenever Kagome or Marianne took aim it would dash at them, throwing the girls off balance and upsetting their line of fire.

The thing cackled wickedly as if it was just playing with the women before it, twisting and turning away from any attacks while not making any attempts to counterattack. What's with this thing, even with the jewel it shouldn't be this hard to destroy? Does it have more than one? Kagome inspected the demon with practiced thoroughness as she dodged the rocks the thing had decided were fun to throw in the air. No, I'm sure there's only one, but then…I must have missed something. She shot off an arrow to fend off the weasels claw as it reach for her. The demon recoiled but not by much, the arrow hadn't made, but the claw just barely grazed Kagome's arm. Shiri was casting illusions with no affect, Tari was trying desperately to seal off the demon's movements and Marianne and Kagome looked as if they were children playing cat and mice, and they were losing to a particularly playful cat. All the miko were growing frustrated at the continuous game.

As if it had received some signal the weasel grew serious slashing out at the miko rather than swatting them away. It's not acting on its own will, the shard is tainted, someone's controlling it. The realization hit Kagome just as the demon's claws did. Their tips shredded through the fabric of her robes and raked against the skin of her back. She rolled to avoid the worst of the damage, blood already flowing from the wound. Somersaulting away from the weasel was almost more painful than the actual infliction as it brought the fresh cuts into contact with the rocks and dirt of the forest path. Vaguely Kagome registered Shiri and Tari calling out to her, wishing to know how bad she had been hurt, but it was of little note to the injured girl, she was too absorbed in the search for the demon controlling the one before them. Chances are that shard was implanted by whoever blackened it, and chances are whoever that is has more shards, all I have to do is find them. She was powerful, sure, but everyone had limits tracing the presence of the jewel at such a distance was reaching them. Their too far away, hiding beyond my reach…but they have to be controlling this thing somehow, the jewel alone wouldn't give that ability at a distance. The mental configuring of the young priestess continued in circles, her mind working as her body instinctively avoided the demon. He's not trying to kill us, he would have done it by now.

Grinning the weasel snaked out in front of Kagome, who, so caught up in her own evaluation of the situation, wasn't fast enough to avoid the blow. She flew into a tree, the trunk vibrating from impact. As she slide Kagome hissed in pain, her already exposed and bleeding back being rubbed raw by the tree's rough bark. Pushing away the aching throb and stinging pain Kagome rose to her feet, ready to defend against another attack, only to see, she was unneeded. Furious at Kagome's injures Tari and Shiri were lashing out at the demon with viciousness unheard of in such gentle women. Tari had abandoned the seals and was plastering the youkai in burning sutras, while Shiri had somehow attained Marianne's bow and was shooting off weak purity arrows, catching any part of the demon her height would allow. As she watched, for it was obvious they did not need assistance, Kagome's eyes caught what she had been looking for. A ray of light shimmered for an instant in what seemed thin air; upon closer inspection it revealed itself to be a thread of some sort, so thin it was practically nonexistent. That's the control. "Tari, Shiri don't kill it, we need him alive."

Without hesitation the two silently acknowledged her command, aiming to subdue rather than kill the weasel. That's all that it took for Kagome to have the opportunity to regain her footing. Ignoring the blood smearing the tree's bark she pushed herself into a upright position and aimed the bow and her last remaining arrow which she had remarkably been able to hold on to despite being pummeled. Rather than take the kill shot Kagome aimed not for the demon but for the thin sliver of energy connected to it. She heard the success for her shot before she noticed any change, a slight snap as the thread broke and then a louder twang as the arrow embedded itself in a tree the thread pinned to the wood innocently.

His control severed the demon seemed to regain his senses, becoming less cocky and much less powerful. It surveyed the situation for three long seconds, looking from miko to miko, then down at the arrow wounds and sutra burns he had received and was only now starting to feel, and without another moments hesitation he turned tail and ran. Not five steps into his plight his body froze of its own accord. Tari stood directly behind him, muttering some kind of incantation under her breath to the paper in her hand, its twin already stamped to the demons back.

"Now," said Kagome, coming around to speak to the demon face to face, as if she wasn't leaking her blood to the forest floor, "would you be ever so kind as to tell us who gave you that jewel shard and forced you to attack us?" She wasn't threatening the youkai, having full understanding that it was not responsible for its own action, or at least not fully responsible. "we won't kill you if we don't have to." She promised by way of reassurance. Marianne was about to protest but double glares from both Tari and Shiri silenced any reasoning the woman could have come up with.

Despite Kagome's calm words the weasel was still glaring at her, half violent half frightened. Kagome smiled and wordlessly reached out to touch the demon's shoulder. Her friends opened their mouths to offer caution and warning but the actions were unneeded. As if merely picking a flower Kagome plucked a shard of the Shikon no tama from the demon's shoulder, the once tainted shard flashing a bright white before calming back to a dull pinkish-purple glow. Instantly the weasel's expression calmed, as if it had been relieved of some irritate.

"Could you please tell us?" Kagome prompted gently, nodding to Tari to release the seal. Regaining his ability to move freely the weasel glanced fearfully at each miko, checking to see if anyone was going to deliver a death blow. When no one moved he returned his full attention to the priestess directly in front of him and nodded once, slightly in awe of this human woman.

XXXX

As the sun lowered itself over the horizon, Inuyasha and the gang set about another round of interrogations, asking the villagers of Hasous if they had seen a miko with black hair wearing strange clothes. None of the villagers had. Miroku, ever the optimist decided to impulsively make 'arrangements' to stay at an inn, which just so happened to be located conveniently near a sake house rumored to have beautiful woman servers. "Such places are ideal when searching for information." The monk had declared.

"Something tells me Miroku is enjoying this a little more than he should be." Shippou commented softly to Kirara, who meowed in agreement.

The bar did indeed have beautiful women, though not the one Inuyasha had been looking for and hence he was uninterested. He sat, arms crossed, in a corner, glaring at anyone that tried to approach, though most learned pretty quick not to try. To protect his innocence Shippou sat next to him, far enough away that he wasn't risking bloodily injury if he talked. So the three sulky demons watched their human companions, one of which was slightly flushed while the other glared at him, fingers twitching to slap, and/or beat the man senseless.

"So what brings a strong, hansom monk, like you here, hum?" Asked a pretty server girl with big green eyes, long brown hair, and soft curvy features. She batted her eyelashes coyly at Miroku.

"Actually." He whispered, conspiratorially, leaning in closer, "My companions and I are in search of someone."

Feigning interest the girl let out a curious "oh" as she poured the man more sake.

Mirouku hiccupped, eating up the act. "Yes, a powerful miko. Have any priestesses been by lately? Someone as charming as yourself must hear all the goings on of this village." Beside him Sango glared, her aura flaming dangerously.

Adopting a thoughtful expression the server poured another shot of sake and pushed it toward the monk. "There was one in town last night, she met with one of my regular customers." Sango's ears perked, "I did not like her much, she was rude, she did not even have a single sip of sake." The girl pouted.

"What was this meeting about?" Miroku asked, slightly sobered by the possibility of a Kagome really having been there.

The girl put a finger to her full lips. "I'm not really sure, I didn't catch it all, something about the jewel of…something or other, and hell." She pushed another liquor filled cup towards the thinking monk.

"Is she still here, I would very much like to speak with this woman?" Miroku ignored the drink in front of him.

A pout on her face at the untouched cup the girl said, "She left this morning to meet her companions, she was expecting them."

Inuyasha, who had been listening since the monk had brought up Kagome, rushed out the door, his mind reeling. The jewel, hell, Naraku means hell, no wonder that human didn't think it was a name. There's no one else it could be. Just this morning, there should be a trail, but I haven't picked up her scent, well except coming off me. His stay in her room, as well as several of her belongings hidden away in his haori, had given his clothes Kagome's scent. I could circle the village, maybe I missed her.

So wrapped up in his own speculations was he that Sango was able to sneak up on him. "Have you picked up Kagome's scent at all today Inuyasha?" The slayer asked, wanting the answer to be yes as much as the hanyou. He shook his head and grunted, "no wind." Before he returned to pacing. The others too had left the sake house, all anxious to follow up on this lead before it was too late. "She would have had to stay the night nearby, either way we are only a day's journey away at the most. Kiara," the cat strolled up to her master already transformed, "we will search the area for any possible campsites."

Before Sango could get on the demon cat Inuaysha gave a sudden piece of advice, "check for hot springs, she always liked taking baths." Sango nodded as she took off on Kirara, leaving Inuyasha to continue his grumblings, "Damn wench always has to be clean…liquid soap…ruins scent." Miroku and Shippou suppressed their laughter as they filled in the hanyou's meaning.

"Ya know, I think he's been away from Kagome too long, talking to himself like that can't be healthy." The kitsune said.

"Very true, however, at least he is no longer talking to an imaginary Kagome." The monk replied wisely, the two nodded in agreement as their friend continued to mutter about Kagome's habitual bathing.

Far above them Sango surveyed the area, mentally calculating the possible distance Kagome could have traveled. She swept in wide circles spiraling out in her search, to her surprise she found what she was looking for quite a bit sooner than expected. Just on the outskirts of town were the unmistakable signs of a hot spring, nestled into a clearing among the trees of the forest. Sango smiled in triumph, remembering the times when Kagome had stopped them all early and insisted they make camp because of a convenient spring, Kagome never could resist a hot bath. Without farther hesitation Sango instructed Kiara downwards.

"Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippou, I think I found her; there's a hot spring just outside the village to the north end." Almost before Sango finished speaking Inuyasha dashed off to the north, running at full demon speed toward the line of trees. Miroku chuckled at his friend's eagerness as he mounted Kiara behind Sango, Shippou now sitting comfortably in her lap. "Come on Kiara, we'll lose him too if we don't hurry."

Shippou chuckled, "We get Kagome back and lose Inuyasha, sounds good to me." The two adults and Kiara rolled their eyes, knowing the little fox would be miserable without his father figure, and was just too much like Inuyasha to admit it. Kiara shot off after the hanyou, her three passengers hardly slowing her, she too missed the miko.

Inuyasha raced through the lines of trees, staying to the north and looking for any sign of Kagome or the hot springs. The wind shifted the once nonexistent breeze picking up to a gentle caress, and with it come horror. Even after all this time, after having seen nor smelled that scent for months he knew it instantly, hatred bringing his blood to a boil in response. He growled dangerously until another even more horrifying scent reached him nearly halting his movements. This scent inspired a fierce, overly violent reaction born of his overly protective nature whenever it hit his nose. "Naraku you bastard." He cursed altering his course slightly towards the new scent. Kagome. He thought a million feelings in the word, his feet stopped at the sight, planted to the ground and unable to move closer to the scene.

"Oh Kami," gasped Sango, coming up behind him. The group starred at the abandoned clearing in horror; the ground was torn up and charred in places, arrows protruding from tree trunks, and redisg-brown splotches ran around the scene, the worst of which was a long dark smear several feet too high for comfort one of trees, a slight impression from impact marring the trunk. "Is that…?"

Inuyasha's voice was oddly dead and unemotional, yet his companions could see the rage and terror hidden in his eyes. "Yah its blood… Kagome's blood."

XXXXXXXX

I did warn you, but good news not only is this chapter longer than my average, but the next one is the big reunion and I will tell you this now, Kagome will not be getting her memories back the instant she sees Inuyasha, it's not realistic and I've seen it done too many times, so I will not be doing that but I have set into motion the final battle. We're almost to the end people. About two weeks approximately, don't quote me on that, until the next chapter. Until then enjoy this torture, and remember killing me will only prolong your suffering. Wow I'm dramatic today. Anyway Ja ne(;