Hey guys, sorry for making the last chapter so short. I thought I should at least post something while I was done. Besides, this is actually getting close to the end. I'm not too sure how much more I'll be writing, but it'll be shorter than the last series. Anyway, enough talk from me, let's get this started.

Thanks a lot for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or Nurarihyon no Mago

Time Nearly Up

Jess, Sesshomaru and Shoei were walking through the forest close to where they actually met up, neither of them saying much. Jess was a bit worried about Black Fang, who hadn't come back yet. Sesshomaru seemed to be thinking and Shoei was only thinking about how to get out of the forest without getting lost. If he's an ally with the Nura Clan, wouldn't Rikuo recognize him? Jess thought, Flarenix answering her.

"Yeah, I would say so. Though, I wouldn't know too much since I'm just a locked up Demon," she said sarcastically, Jess frowning and shaking her head. If you're gonna start using a tone like that while complaining, then there's no point in me even listening to you. She snapped back, Flarenix snickering.

"Jess," she heard Sesshomaru saying rather annoyed voice. She thought that he might have tried to get her attention earlier, but she was talking to Flarenix. "Are you listening?" he asked, his puppet shaking her head slowly. He sighed and repeated what he said. "We're close to the exit, so you should start keeping your guard up. And see if you can get our location to Black Fang. He will most likely be worried if he can't find you," he said, Jess nodding and created a small bird of fire and sent it flying.

"It'll lead him to where we are, and it will take the best way concerning the situation they find themselves in," she explained, Sesshomaru nodding as he looked ahead again. How long was he trying to get my attention? I really hope it wasn't for too long. She thought, Flarenix telling her that he only tried once, so she didn't have to worry too much about making him wait. She nodded and walked faster so she was walking beside Sesshomaru and sometimes in between him and Shoei.

After about 5 minutes, they were out of the forest and saw a old ruin of sorts. Seemed like an old town that had been destroyed a long time ago.

"I thought this town was buried under the ground by now, this place was destroyed before I was sealed in the sword," Flarenix mumbled, Jess piecing it together that she was the one who destroyed the town before the first wielder sealed her into her sword.

"We should get going. The next Heir might be in trouble and I'd rather get back to my own time before the passage closes," he said, Jess widening her eyes and looking at him.

"Closes? You mean that crack that helped us get to the town you're in?" she asked, Shoei nodding.

"Yeah, it was opened not too long ago, but everything has an ending. The passage is already showing signs of closing. All we need to do really to close it is find the one who opened it. And whoever did it, is getting weaker from keeping it opened and can't hold it up much longer. He explained, Sesshomaru narrowing his eyes. Jess looked down at the village that was ruined, sensing something down there.

"So you're saying that someone in this world is doing this? And that someone is getting weaker because he or she needed to keep it open for a long time. Where exactly do we find this person?" Sesshomaru asked, Shoei telling him he didn't have a clue.

"Then why don't we look around places where we wouldn't usually go? Like down there," Jess said, pointing down at the village. Flarenix looked just as confused as the other two, who didn't know why she mentioned that of all things.

"You want to waste time on some place that's got no sign of life?" he asked, Jess looking annoyed at him. Sesshomaru didn't say much for a while, just closed his eyes and thought. Once he opened them again, he opened his mouth as well.

"You can go down by yourself and look around. We'll go see if we can find something else while you do that," he said, Jess nodding and not waiting a second longer before sliding down the hill. She saw Shoei say something to him, but was too far away to hear what exactly he was saying. She didn't really care at the time either. She just wanted to hurry up and see if there was anything here.

"Flarenix, what exactly was in this village back in your days?" she asked, Flarenix thinking for a bit. She said that she had some trouble remembering, but would tell her as soon as she got it. Jess nodded and landed on what seemed to be a pushed over grave stone. Someone has no respect for the dead. She thought, jumping far enough to think she was over the body. She looked around, seeing just how long this place has been in ruin. Many, many years. Maybe as many as how much time difference there was between her era and this one. Maybe even more.

She looked around the few standing walls, too torn down to be called houses. All she was able to see was sand, stones, and in some places, dried up blood. Even though the village had been in ruin for a long time, the blood spilled still looked fresh. However, you could easily tell by touching that it had been dry for a very long time.

"Now I recall this place a bit more. This was one that stood out the most to me, and was actually the only one that the people asked me to destroy," she started, Jess looking very confused as she looked around the walls. "Head to the center of the town. There should still be a well that's untouched," she ordered, Jess doing as she was told and caught eye of it the second she was past the walls. There wasn't a single dust on it, or a crack. Nothing. Like it hadn't been touched when this place was torn apart.

Flarenix called her attention again, getting ready to tell a long story from the looks of it.

"This village was a cursed one. One of the few in the times. A Demon, who I forgotten the name of, was trying to use his power to manipulate the Humans to kill each other. This, surprise, was before I started hating them. I was just flying past the place when I sensed a strong, Demon presence. When I landed and took my more Human form, the people pleaded me to destroy the village and kill everyone born within it. None of the ones from the village could leave, so everyone was stuck in there.

They didn't want people to have come there and get cursed like them, which hadn't happened so far. Although I was a Demon, killing so many Humans didn't seem right. When they told me a Demon was making them stay and cursed them to kill each other, I instantly forgot my previous thoughts and agreed to their absurd way of dying.

I did it fast, so they could die without feeling too much pain. The only thing that wasn't touched, was the well. That, apparently, is what the Demon used to control the Humans. I was able to locate him by using that and killed him without hesitation. When I did, I found an amber gem he had around his neck. He wasn't the most fashionable Demon, but that gem had some really out of place power at the time.

It had a very similar power to the Sacred Jewel, but not as strong. However, since I had that, the priestesses that had it could do anything to me. That Jewel's been around for a long time, and they've tried using it to get rid of me. Without any luck," she finished, Jess looking down the well. She saw a lot of Human bones, feeling a little sick.

"So, did they have to go down there as a sacrifice or something?" she asked, Flarenix shaking her head.

"No, they were pulled down when he was hungry. It didn't matter if they were children or old people, anyone who looked tasty at the time lost their lives. It makes all other Demon in the area look bad," she said, Jess about to turn away from it. Just as she moved her head a bit, the sun shinned down and she saw something shinning in the sunlight.

"Something's down there," she said, not wasting time before jumping in and trying not land on any of the bones. Once she was, she saw a small, clear blue stone resting in the ribs of one of the bodies. She narrowed her eyes a bit as she reached down to take it, nothing happening so far. "You know what this is?" she asked, slightly throwing it up as she was holding it.

"Seems like some kind of gem, obviously," she said, Jess almost snapping at her. "No, I don't know exactly what it could be other than that. Maybe it has something to do what happened in this place, or what's happening now," she suggested, Jess nodding after a while. She looked up, trying to see how she was going to get up.

Just then, she heard a moan from above her, almost sounding like a person. She jumped from wall to wall, looking around. She heard the moan again, from behind her this time. She turned her eyes widening in shock.

Behind her, an entire horde of humans were limping and crawling all over the place on the opposite side of the well. Uh…Flarenix? What the hell is going on here? She asked, Flarenix thinking a bit before answering.

"Seems like there's still something here that's making them stay. Or maybe some other Demon saw the bodies in the run over graves and decided to use them. But we already know nothing's down here, so let's go to the other side of that mountain," she said, Jess only seeing one mountain she could be talking about.

"Why, weren't we going to go and meet up with Sesshomaru and Shoei afterwards?" she asked, Flarenix telling her there was something important over there. Not bothering to argue with someone who only she can hear, she jumped on the remains of the roofs and got over to the forest right under the mountain she was heading too.

After about 10 minutes she arrived at the base of the mountain Flarenix pointed her to. Why are we here again? She asked her mentally, Flarenix repeating what she told her back at the destroyed village, which wasn't very helpful to her. She walked a bit closer, looking around in case someone or something else was around.

"So, you want me to climb the mountain?" she asked, Flarenix nodding as Jess sighed. She jumped from ledge to ledge, getting to the top in no time. Once se reached the top, she saw a small field of white flowers. With the rocky surface underneath it, she wouldn't have expected flowers to grow like this. She looked around, trying to figure out why Flarenix wanted her to come here.

"Right over there, in that little shrine," she said, Jess looking over where she was gesturing towards. She saw a small, brown shrine with a black roof. It looked like it was around the same height as Jaken, maybe a bit higher.

"What is this? Some kind of place where people worship a god or something?" she asked, walking over to it.

"I couldn't keep having the gem with me, so I hid it here. That's why the flowers have no problem blooming here. The gem gives then the necessary conditions to live here," she explained, Jess looking at the small door. She crouched down to see what was written, not quite understanding the words. Mostly because the letters have died away a bit. "It's just a seal so that no one without my permission doesn't take it," she explained, Jess opening the door.

Like Flarenix had told her, the gem was resting inside. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere on it, even though the shrine on the inside had a lot of dust lying around. It glowed with a orange color, like the one you see when the sun is setting.

"Wow, that's some jewel. I bet every girl in the world would do anything to get their hands on that. And this was close to the power of the Sacred Jewel?" she asked, making sure she got the info right. Flarenix nodded and Jess and asked if she should take it or leave it.

"Naraku is after this, so leaving it here wouldn't be too smart. True, the seal is supposed to keep the ones who don't have my permission take it. But he's a Half-Demon, just like InuYasha. And recently, they've been considered Humans by old seals like this. So take it with you so he at least doesn't get it," she said, Jess nodding and took it without much hesitation.

As she did, the flowers that were on the mountain died one after another. Since the stone was gone, nothing was keeping them alive on conditions like this.

"I guess the scent of flowers is going to be gone for the sensitive ones," she said, making it sound like a positive thing that they were gone.

"That's one way to look at it. Well, I've got nothing else that could give us a lead except finding out what that stone we found is. Maybe your so-called Master can help you figure out what it is," she said, taunting Jess so snap at her. However, she was able to keep her cool and made her way back down the mountain.

Rikuo, Tsurara and Aotoba kept running, Jakotsu following them like he had hoped. Tsurara froze the trees and ground behind them now and again to keep him far enough away so he wouldn't catch up. Though, it didn't seem like it did all that much.

"Young Master, what are we going to do now? If we don't think of something, he'll catch up sooner or later," Aotoba said, getting ready to fight. Rikuo knew that was the case, though he didn't know exactly what to do. Just as that thought went through his head, a tree fell down in front of them and they were forced to stop and they almost hit the tree with the speed they were going at.

"It's about time I stopped you. You really like running away from trouble. Good thing you're so cute that I can't help but keep chasing after you," Jakotsu said behind them, making them turn and narrowed their eyes. Tsurara and Aotoba getting ready to fight. Rikuo looked around, making sure no one else was around.

"We won't let you hurt the Young Master!" Aotoba said, Tsurara nodding. Jakotsu smirked as he sent his sword flying right past them and aimed right for Rikuo. He braced himself, closing his eyes tight. However, before he could feel any pain, he heard a clang of swords in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw Shoei in front of him and protecting him from the attack.

"Seems like we picked a good time to look for you. Or you would've been dead by now," he said, Rikuo thanking him as he threw off Jakotsu's sword and told Tsurara and Aotoba to step back. They did as he said, Sesshomaru walking up behind them and looking right at Jakotsu.

He knew instantly he wouldn't win by himself with these odds, so he did the smart thing and jumped away and seemed to be heading back to where they heard Naraku talking. Rikuo sighed and thanked the two for showing up, as well as asking where Jess was.

"She went to investigate some old town. I still don't get why you let her do that," Shoei answered, talking to Sesshomaru.

"You said it yourself, there's someone pulling the strings with the crack in the dimension. So, having her looking around would be helpful to figuring out who's behind it," he said, Shoei not looking convinced.

"So she's alright too. I was worried that when that guy took her, she would be in big trouble. And it doesn't help what we heard Naraku say earlier," he sighed, both of them asking what he was talking about. So Rikuo explained to them what they had heard, Tsurara and Aotoba adding a few things. Both of them were silent after they had spoken for a bit, Sesshomaru looking behind him for second.

"Something wrong?" Aotoba asked, looking a bit worried.

"Jess is taking some time getting back. The village looked pretty bad, so I wouldn't think there would be lot she would have to look through," he said, making it sound like something's happened to her. When Rikuo asked this, Sesshomaru shook his head. "She's most likely checking out the area nearby to see if there's anything worthwhile. And if there's not, she'll come straight here." He said, very sure about this.

"And if she doesn't? Can we then start thinking something's happened to her?" Tsurara asked, Sesshomaru not answering. "I'll take that as a yes. You don't really seem too concern that something might happen to her," she added, looking rather suspicious at him.

"She's able to take care of herself. Besides, she does whatever she can to follow orders. And she knows that I need her to come back after she's done. So no, technically I'm not too worried if something happened to her as long as it doesn't kill her," he answered, Shoei looking a little surprised. Rikuo didn't say anything, hearing a few voices behind them

"Young Master, we're glad you're alright!" Kejoro said, Rikuo sighing in relief to see they were all OK. Sesshomaru closed his eyes as they arrived and started talking about how worried they were. Even though they were here already. So there was really no need for them to say anything.

"Young Master, we should really head back to the Main House. We know that they're OK, so we don't need to be here anymore, do we?" Kurotabo said, Rikuo nodding once.

"Yeah, I guess we should. But we still need know what's going on. And we should probably wait for Jess to-"

"You can go back without concerning yourselves with her. I'll be staying behind anyway, so you being here will only cause trouble," Sesshomaru cut him off, Rikuo nodding once before leaving. He was still worried about her, but Sesshomaru said he was going to wait for her and that she always follow orders. They left him behind, going back to the crack so they could head back.

"So, what are you going to do now? Naraku wants her power, and that openings not going to last much longer if we do find the one behind it," he heard Black Fang say behind him, Sesshomaru looking at him.

"You can go to their time and bring Jaken and Rin back here, and make sure that no one else from our time is over there," he said, walking away right after he had said it.

OK, I'll stop here for now. But, this story is just about at its end. Maybe a chapter or two left. I know this isn't as long as the first one, but that's kind of how it goes. So, leave a review and I'll see ya next chapter!