Behind the Silk Screen

by eien-no-basho

When a twist of fate brings the common-born priestess Kagome to serve Inuyasha, Divine Emperor of Japan, will she be able to help him claim his place on the throne and bring order to their country? Or will court intrigues and their own burgeoning feelings tear the two and their nation apart? A historical romance set in Japan's Heian Era.

24. Of Clans and Curses Part II

Okay, so I'm back with Of Clans and Curses (Part II). Please consider this as a part of the last chapter. Originally they were meant to be one thing. Got it up as fast as I could and thank you all for being patient with me about it. I know it was a rather strange way to go about it, but it was the best I could think of.

To those of you who reviewed the last chapter (many of whom took the time to write me mini-novels in response), you have my sincerest thanks. Seriously, you're all awesome and I'm eternally yours. I'll work on responding to your reviews as soon as I post this chapter.

As in the last chapter, I'm putting the mini-history lesson at the end of the page to avoid spoilers. So scroll down if you need clarification on anything in the chapter. And so without further ado:

---

The man was old and gnarled, bent and trembling like a tree that had never seen sunlight. His skin hung in folds from his bones, too loose from long years of malnutrition, and a grey film had grown over his eyes. The hand that held the rough wooden staff that served as his only support was missing three fingers, and the dragging of one of his legs as he walked spoke of an injury that had never quite healed.

For all of his apparent frailty, though, there was something intimidating in his presence. Animosity, Kagome decided after a moment. It had been some time since she had last sensed such deep-rooted hatred in a person.

"You will leave our village," he rasped, as if it were all he could do to draw enough breath to speak. "You will leave and you will not come back. Make no mistake. We have no qualms in this village with killing court filth. Now go."

The men of the village stepped forward, hefting their makeshift weapons warningly. Looking at them, Kagome knew that they had not the slightest chance of winning should a fight ensue. Not only were they ill-equipped, but relatively untrained, as well.

Still, she also knew that they would not hesitate to fight nonetheless. They had an air about them like dogs that had been kicked a few too many times, desperate and dirty and angry. They would not back down, and she had no desire to fight those who were only trying to protect themselves.

She took a tentative step forward, her hands raised and splayed in a gesture of peace.

"Please, Headman," she said, unwilling to leave without giving it one last try. "If you will only hear what I have to say, I promise you-"

"We will hear no more of your lies, you whore of the court!"

A rusting hoe swung down towards her shoulder, faster than Kagome could blink. She stumbled back a step, but the stroke was caught a hand's breadth from her face by Miroku's gold-topped shakujou. The rings jangled with the impact and the village man's face contorted wrathfully. The houshi forced him back with an easy shove of his staff.

Sango was at her side in an instant and she could hear the rest of her guard closing rank behind her, poised to defend at any further signs of aggression.

"Are you alright, Kagome-chan?" Miroku said to her, his eyes still trained on her attacker.

Kagome nodded, slightly shaken at the undisguised hatred in the man's eyes as he glared past the houshi at her.

"Get control of your men!" Sango shouted angrily at the headman, her hand hovering just above the hilt of the wakizashi sheathed at her waist. "What honor is there in attacking the unarmed?"

"Honor?" the old man wheezed, though his clouded gaze was fixed upon Miroku. His eyes narrowed, the lines around his mouth deepening.

"Honor," he said again, flecks of spittle escaping him along with the word. "No, no. No, no, no. Honor is a thing of the court alone. Honor allows you to take the crops we grow for your own. Honor allows you to rape and steal our wives and daughters. Honor allows you to set fire to our lands and enslave us in the names of your wars. No, no, no. There is no honor among us. That belongs only to the court. Isn't that right, Miyasu?"

The last seemed to be directed at Miroku where he stood protectively just in front of Kagome. Both Kagome and Sango's eyes turned to the houshi.

Miroku blinked, shakujou lowering slightly. He took a step forward, dark eyes wide as they fixed on the twisted old man.

"How do you know my father?" he called.

Kagome blinked, her eyes turning instinctively to Sango. The taiji-ya's gaze, however, was fixed firmly on Miroku, her brow furrowing.

"Father?" the headman echoed, his chest still heaving to draw enough breath after his tirade. "I'm no fool, Miyasu. I don't forget faces, especially not those of nosy court dogs. Seems you managed to survive that curse, after all. And here I'd hoped it would be the end of you. And you've led even more court scum to us this time. Be grateful I don't kill you where you stand, you miserable mongrel. Go now, though, or I might change my mind."

"Be silent, you miserable old wretch!" Sango snapped, more roughly than Kagome had ever heard her speak before.

She moved to stand at Miroku's side, reaching out to take hold of his arm. His face had gone pale, his hand white-knuckled where he gripped the shakujou.

"Come, Houshi-sama," she said quietly to him. "There is something wrong with the man's mind. He has no idea what he is speaking of."

And then, turning to the group, she called, "We are moving out!"

She tugged at Miroku's arm, pulling him from where he seemed to be rooted as he glared at the headman. After a few increasingly forceful pulls from her he seemed to be brought back to the present, reluctantly following her lead. He cast a dark look back at the ancient man as they went.

The color had drained from him entirely and his jaw was clenched so tightly that the muscles in his cheek jumped. The group closed around Kagome as she followed after Miroku and Sango, covering their retreat.

The armed villagers watched them go until they were beyond the border of the village, but made no further move to come after them. As ready as they were to fight, they knew well enough the odds of their surviving should they press an attack.

The headman stood entirely still as he watched them go, his clouded eyes dark.

---

The group gathered about Miroku as soon as they were far enough from the village to stop without fear of attack, although Sango still ordered three of the taiji-ya to stand guard as a precaution. Miroku was silent for several long moments, eyes fixed on the ground. He was entirely still, but his eyes were almost feverishly bright and Kagome could tell he was turning something over rapidly in his mind. The group waited for him to speak, not a one of them daring to say a word.

At last he looked up. He smiled.

"Well," he said, shrugging airily. "It seems that that village was a loss. At least we all came away unharmed."

Kagome blinked, having expected almost any reaction save this. She looked to Sango, but the noblewoman's brow was furrowed as she looked at him. The entire group was silent for several moments, at a loss.

"The old headman…he seemed to know your father, Houshi-sama," Noriko ventured at last. "And he said something about a curse, I think? Have you any idea what he meant?"

Miroku looked to the woman, and for the briefest of moments there was a darkness in his expression that Kagome had never even suspected of him. In the space of a blink it was gone, though, replaced by light bemusement. He shook his head.

"The man did not appear to be in his right mind," he replied. "And my father went to a great many places in his journeys over the years. Likely the man encountered him at some point, and the rest was born from the chaos of his own mind. Though I will admit I was a bit rattled to hear him speak so harshly of my father. He was an exceptionally kind man."

"That old man did not seem to have much fondness for anything having to do with the court," Gorou put in, shaking his head. "After all, he nearly had Kagome-sama killed. Likely he had no idea what he was even saying about your honorable father, Houshi-sama."

Save Sango and Kagome, the rest of the group nodded and murmured in agreement. Sango, however, was eyeing Miroku critically, and Kagome knew that she thought there was something else going on with him beyond what he was allowing them to see. Kagome felt much the same. Miroku's reaction back in the village…he rarely lost control of himself like that. Kagome could not believe that it had all simply been a misunderstanding.

"I move that we start out, then," Sango said suddenly, her eyes trained on Miroku's face. "I cannot see this village meeting any further attempts from us with anything save violence. Best that we move on to avoid wasting our efforts or being attacked while we retreat."

Miroku's eyes darted to her. He said nothing, though, as the rest of their companions voiced their agreement. At last he nodded.

"A wise decision, as usual, Sango-sama," he said. "As night is coming upon is rather quickly, though, would it not be prudent to start out again in the morning? I doubt that they will be so bold as to come after us with such limited weaponry, and our guard will be more than enough to drive them off should they attempt anything."

Sango looked at him for a long moment, considering. The suggestion was a reasonable one. The day was rapidly declining into evening, and they would have to travel by night if they set out now. Generally they tried to avoid that, as it left them much more vulnerable to surprise attacks than if they travelled by day. Miroku met her gaze evenly, his expression blithe.

"You are right, Houshi-sama," she said at last. "We will spend the night here. It will be safer to set out first thing in the morning. Start setting up camp, everyone. I will catch tonight's meal."

The taiji-ya, along with Haru and Shippou, got immediately to work, the routine of camp set-up so familiar to them by now that they could have done it in their sleep. Miroku offered Sango a small smile before moving off to attend to his own duties.

Sango looked after him as he went. Kagome moved to the woman's side.

"What's going on, Sango-chan?" she asked quietly, hoping the houshi's childhood friend would understand what exactly had just gone on in that village.

Sango shook her head, her eyes troubled.

"I do not know," she said softly. "Or, at least, not entirely. Miyasu-sama, Houshi-sama's father, was taken from him abruptly, when Houshi-sama was yet rather young. No one ever really understood what had happened. Not long before the throne war he had left the court, and in the chaos of the time no one had the opportunity to ask him why or what he intended to do."

"When he returned to the court several months later, he…he was too weak to explain what had happened. He clung to life for a few days before he passed. His wife followed not long after him. Houshi-sama took up his position. I…I have tried to broach the subject with him on several occasions, but he refuses to speak about his father. This is the most I have heard him say about Miyasu-sama in years."

Kagome blinked, remembering suddenly that Midoriko-sama had once mentioned to her almost exactly that. She glanced towards Miroku, watching as he went about warding the perimeter of the campsite as per usual.

"Do your really think it's as Miroku-sama said?" Kagome murmured to her friend. "That the village's headman is merely out of his mind? I sensed it in his aura, too. It felt…off. Something inside of that man was deeply sick."

"Perhaps," Sango said, frown deepening. "But you saw it, too, didn't you? Houshi-sama's face when that man called him by his father's name."

Silence fell over the pair. Both felt it. There was something that Miroku was hiding, even from them.

"I am going to go hunt," Sango said at last. "Keep an eye on him for me, alright? You know as well as I do that if something really is the matter, he will try to deal with it on his own."

Kagome nodded.

"But that's what we're here for, isn't it?" she said softly, offering her friend a small smile.

Sango returned it with a faint one of her own before disappearing into the darkening woods.

---

It had been over a week and a half since Kouga had left the group. As planned, they had continued their trek down the coast towards Kyūshū since his departure. Thankfully he had also marked the map with the location of the remaining Tanuki and Oni Clans before leaving, meaning that Kagome and her companions would be able to find them even without his assistance.

This, however, was little consolation to Kagome. She had turned everything over time and time again in her head since he had left, and each time left her feeling lower than the last. Not only had she lost a good and loyal friend, she could not escape the realization that she had used Kouga very poorly indeed. She had sought to escape her feelings for Inuyasha through Kouga, never stopping to consider how unfair it was to Kouga when his own feelings towards her were so sincere.

Her fear of her own feelings, of the pain they caused her and stood to cause others, had made her selfish, and Kagome hated herself for it. She had spent several sleepless nights wondering how she could possibly make it up to him. A letter. Some gift to his clan. Anything. She always came back to the thought, though, that the greatest kindness she might be able to do him at this point was to never appear before him again. And she knew it was less than the punishment she deserved to bear that guilt for the rest of her life.

To top it all off, she was right back where she had started. Unable to avoid any longer the fact that she was in love with the sovereign of her nation and terrified at the thought that the feeling would never go away. She did not know what to do with herself.

The best she could come up with was to avoid thinking about it or what was to come when it came time for her to return to the court. Instead she threw all of her focus back into the mission, determined that she would at least do this right.

This latest village that they had come across on their way down the coast had, in appearance at least, seemed like any other before it. Small and run-down. Not even a connection to a residence to make it particularly remarkable.

The ferocity the villagers had met their appearance with, however, was something unusual. And then there was whatever had occurred between Miroku and the headman.

Kagome glanced at the man, seated amidst a ring of taiji-ya and listening politely if not avidly to whatever one of the men was saying. Sango had since returned and the evening meal was now over, but he had yet to even glance back towards the village. Watching him, Kagome had begun to question her own suspicion. Perhaps he had simply been shaken at the mention of his father's name coming from that vile man's mouth.

Sango seemed to have lost some of her former certainty, as well. Though she still watched him from her place across the campsite as she examined the blade of her wakizashi for any nicks or signs of dullness, some of the alertness had gone out of her frame.

Slowly the group settled down to sleep, though a pair remained to guard the campsite in case of attack. As per usual, Kagome waited until the others appeared to be sleeping before pulling the bead from her robes. Despite everything, she could not bring herself to give the ritual up.

She was just about to open the link when movement caught her eye. Whoever it was was too far from the fire to be clearly visible, but Kagome could make out a shadow as it rose up on the edge of the camp. She hesitated, glad she herself was far enough from the fire to avoid being seen clearly. Likely it was just one of the group getting up to go relieve themselves.

A moment later, though, another figure rose. This one Kagome could make out clearly. It was Sango, hair loose down her back in a messy jumble from where she had lain down to sleep. Her eyes were sharp as they reflected the flames, though, no fog of slumber in them. She moved slowly to trail after the shadow figure as it disappeared into the surrounding woods.

Kagome moved slowly off of her futon, careful not to disturb the sleeping kitsune there. She scooped up the bow and quiver of arrows that lay beside it, carefully avoiding the ring of firelight as she moved to follow her friend. She was not certain what was going on, but no one else appeared to have noticed anything was amiss. She was not about to leave Sango to deal with whatever it was all on her own.

By the time she caught up to Sango, Sango had caught up to the shadow figure. It took a few moments for Kagome's eyes to adjust fully to the darkness of the woods, but when they did she realized exactly why the noblewoman had felt the need give chase.

It was Miroku.

Sango had moved to block his path, her stance set determinedly. Miroku appeared to be at a loss, tense as she brought him up short. Kagome checked her advance, keeping herself concealed just behind the trunk of a nearby tree. She wanted to see how this was going to play out before she decided whether or not she should step in.

"You cannot go back there on your own," Sango snapped, though her voice was low enough to keep it from carrying back to the campsite. "Have you any idea what they would do to you if they caught you? And trying to sneak out, of all things-"

"Sango-sama," Miroku said, a faint edge that Kagome could just barely pick up on in his words. "I assure you that you have misunderstood my intentions. I merely intended to…ah, relieve myself before going to sleep. I apologize for waking you, but-"

"And you needed to go this far from the campsite to relieve yourself?" Sango countered. "You needed to make certain the guards did not see you by waiting until they were on the other side of the campsite?"

"I assure I did not intentionally avoid the guards," Miroku said, tone growing more strained. "And I thought it would be courteous-"

"Don't lie to me, Miroku!" Sango snapped, fists balling at her sides as she leaned into his space insistently. "I know you! Did you honestly think I would not notice that something is wrong? I know you do not like talking about your father, but if you would only tell me-"

"It is not your concern."

Sango froze mid-sentence as the low words cut across her. Miroku's expression had lost any pretense of confusion or amusement. He was serious now, eyes unwavering as they met hers.

"W-what do you mean, 'not my concern'?" Sango said, recovering herself after a moment. "Of course it is my concern. As…as your leader and your friend-"

"It is my affair," Miroku cut across her coolly once more. "And mine alone to settle. Go back to bed, Sango-sama. I will return by morning and we can all resume the mission as usual."

He made to move around her, but Sango stepped back into his path once more. She glared up at him, eyes bright with equal parts hurt and anger at his casual dismissal.

"If you want to go back there, you will go through me," she said fiercely.

Miroku looked down at her, jaw clenching. She met his eyes challengingly with her own, and a tense moment stretched silently between them.

"You know I will not fight you, Sango," he bit out, moving once more as if to go around her.

She shifted, blocking him again.

"Then you will not go," she said.

"I don't want you involved in this!" Miroku snapped, and Kagome flinched where she hid.

She could not recall ever having heard him raise his voice before.

"Why?" Sango shot back. "Haven't I told you everything? Haven't I shared every miniscule, piddling problem I have ever had with you? Why must you always try to do everything on your own? This is obviously important enough to you for you to risk your life! So don't you tell me, Miroku, that it is not my concern!"

Miroku was glaring in earnest now. Even in the darkness Kagome could see the muscle tick in his jaw as he fought to keep from losing his temper.

"Move, Sango-sama," he said, very lowly.

"I won't," Sango returned stolidly, shaking her head. "Just as you have always made my fights your own, your fights are my fights. I do not know why you are determined to try and shut me out, Miroku, but I will not stop trying. I will not give up. I will be your faithful friend, whether you want me or not."

He was silent, some of the tension easing from his frame. A sigh escaped him, his eyes sliding shut as he shook his head.

"Please, Sango, you do not understand-"

"I think we both understand well enough."

Kagome emerged from behind her tree, unable to keep herself back any longer. Sango and Miroku turned to her, surprised.

"And I have to second Sango-chan, Miroku-sama," Kagome said, moving to stand beside the woman. "You would never allow me to go off on my own to do something so dangerous. What sort of friends would we be if we allowed you to?"

Sango smiled faintly at her. Miroku looked from her to Sango and back, at loss. He half-shook his head, lips parting to say something when another voice cut across his.

"Sango-sama! Sango-sama! Where are you?"

The three turned, startled by the soft calls coming from the campsite. Sango grabbed Miroku's arm, dragging him forcibly after her. Kagome hurried after the pair, a pang of worry shooting through her.

Nothing appeared to be wrong at the campsite. Most of the taiji-ya were still asleep, as were Haru and Shippou. The only difference was the figure who stood beside Noriko, the one who had been calling for Sango.

It was a woman that Kagome did not recognize. From the looks of her tattered clothing and gaunt, dirt-stained features, Kagome guessed that she was one of the villagers. It was difficult to tell what her age might be, but she did not appear to be very old. Her head was bowed, her shoulders hunched and her hands clasped tightly together as she hovered uncertainly at Noriko's side.

"What is it?" Sango said as she approached, eyeing the stranger. "Has something happened?"

Noriko shook her head, gesturing to the woman. If possible, the woman's shoulders hitched up higher.

"This woman came to us while we were on guard," Noriko said. "She says her name is Hisoka-san, and she is requesting an audience with Houshi-sama."

"With me?" Miroku said.

The woman's gaze flitted up to his face for the briefest of moments before darting away. She half-bobbed in an awkward bow.

"I am sorry to have disturbed you all," she murmured hastily.

"For you to have come so late and alone, I assume it must be important," Miroku said gently, taking a step towards her. "Please, let's go over here. We can speak in private-"

"You will not," Sango broke in, turning a sharp look on him. "Please return to your post, cousin. We will hear her out and then escort her back."

Noriko nodded and moved to do so, though she shot a curious look back at the group as she went. Miroku scowled at Sango, placing a hand on the village woman's arm. She flinched slightly.

"With all due respect, Sango-sama, Hisoka-san requested an audience with me," he said. "I see no reason for you and Kagome-sama to-"

"I do not think so," Sango cut in. "Anything that needs to be said can and will be said in front of Kagome-sama and myself."

Miroku frowned at her, on the verge of arguing the point. A glance at Hisoka, her anxious fidgeting increasing by the moment, stopped his tongue. He sighed, too eager to hear what it was the woman had risked so much to come tell him to waste any more time trying to budge the stone wall that Sango had effectively become. He gestured to a corner of the campsite a short distance from where the others were sleeping.

"At least let us move to where we will not be overheard."

Sango nodded, and the three moved. Hisoka shuffled after them, her gaze still fixed on the ground.

"Please, speak freely, Hisoka-san," Sango said softly. "You need have no fear of us."

Hisoka glanced up at her from beneath her lashes. Sango offered her a small smile, and some of the tension went out of her thin frame. She nodded, more to herself than to them.

"I was afraid to come until now," she began, her voice very, very quiet. "One of the other villagers might've seen me if I'd come during the day. They would never let me return if they thought I'd had dealings with courtiers. But I had to come."

She fell silent, hands twisting anxiously together once more. She seemed to be working up to something, and the three waited silently for her to get up her nerve. At last she managed to raise her gaze, meeting Miroku's.

"My village and the headman…they're sick," she murmured. "They'll never be able to forgive the courtiers for what they've done to them. They've hated them for too long. But Miyasu-sama…your father once did me a great kindness. I thought…if I could repay it somehow…"

She trailed off, her gaze falling once more as she appeared to lose whatever small amount of spirit she had mustered. Miroku frowned, shifting a bit impatiently. His air had grown much more solemn at the mention of his father.

"What exactly happened here?" Kagome asked, curious and hoping to start her talking again.

The woman shook her head helplessly, shrugging.

"Everything," she said, and there was such a deep resignation to the word that Kagome felt her heart sink. The woman's shoulders hunched higher as if to ward off the memory.

"Our village is situated between two court residences, as you likely know," she continued. "The clans who own the two residences have long disputed the boundaries of their lands. And the land our village sits on, it is…it was very fertile. Both clans wanted it as part of their holdings."

"They fought on our lands for years. They used our men as soldiers. They raped the women, when the men refused to fight anymore. Hundreds of us died in the battles. And when the battles were over, the land was nearly ruined. Still, the courtiers salted the earth to make certain neither side could ever use it. More of us died of starvation. There's nothing left for us on this land now, but we've nowhere else to go. Or…perhaps we can't go. Misery binds us here. I'm not sure we could go if we wanted to. I'm not sure things would be any better if we did."

She shrugged, the movement a small jerk of her bony shoulders. Kagome, Miroku, and Sango stood, silent and cold with horror. Kagome could barely comprehend what she had heard. That the courtiers could use other people in such a way, that they could absolutely devastate people who had done nothing to them, unchecked by either laws or their own consciences…She felt cold all over.

"Why?" Miroku managed at last. "What could possibly move you to risk coming to me?"

His entire demeanor had shifted. Kagome saw her own revulsion reflected in his face, features pallid in the faint light that the moon and the stars offered. Beside him Sango's head was bowed.

The woman met Miroku's eyes, the ghost of a smile long past hovering around the corners of her lips.

"Your father gave to me the happiest years of my life. The only happiness I ever knew," she said quietly, bittersweet nostalgia running through her words. "I owe Miyasu-sama a great debt. I wanted to at least offer my thanks to his son. I don't own much, but if there is anything that I can offer you, consider it yours."

Miroku's face grew even more solemn. He hesitated, casting a sidelong glance at Sango. He did not want them there for this, but he knew there was no getting rid of them now.

"I need to know what happened to my father here," he said at last, eyes almost feverishly bright as they met Hisoka's. "Please. It is the greatest service you could ever render me."

The woman blinked at him, having expected almost anything else. She gave a small nod.

"I don't know everything," she said. "But I know as much as anyone else in the village. Miyasu-sama came here several years ago. He said he was tracking some youkai, and that he had followed it to our village. Because he was from the court, though, the headman nearly had him killed. Miyasu-sama escaped before they could hurt him, though. I…I met him along the path outside the village. I had been out in the forest looking for herbs. My little girl was very sick. I wanted to heal her, but I've no skill or training in the healing arts. Miyasu-sama offered to see her. I was desperate. My husband was killed in the fighting, and she was the last family I had left in the world."

"So I snuck him into the village under the cover of night and hid him in my hut. He healed my Aiko and asked me if I had seen a strange man enter the village recently. I told him I hadn't. He thanked me…thanked me, of all things, and crept out into the village in search of the man."

She hesitated, frowning suddenly. Her eyes slid shut against some memory, her hands twisting together.

"I'm not sure if he found what he was looking for," she murmured, shaking her head. "But he must have found something. I found him in the morning, lying just outside my hut. There didn't seem to be any wounds on him, but he was dazed and weak. He could barely say anything that made sense, except that he had to get back to the court. I begged him to stay with me and rest for awhile. He looked too weak to make any sort of journey."

"But he refused no matter what I said. He made his way out of the village, and the headman saw him go. He left him alone, though, as he looked so sick and weak. The headman said it was a curse that had been laid on him for daring to enter our village. He laughed…he laughed and said he deserved it. He's a…he's such a hateful man. I felt awful, but I couldn't leave Aiko to go after him. I never knew if…he made it back to the court."

She peered up at Miroku from beneath her lashes, a timid question in her eyes. Miroku had gone rigid, his entire frame wound so tight it looked as if he might snap at any moment. Pain and bitter relief mingled strangely across his features, his eyes falling shut for a long moment.

Watching him, Kagome felt her heart sink. She took an instinctive step towards him. At his side Sango reached out, wide eyes trained on his face as she laid a tentative hand on his arm.

"He did," Miroku managed at length, eyes sliding open. "He managed to return. He passed several days after that, though."

Hisoka's face fell, her gaze sinking once more. She bit down on her lip.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured with quiet feeling. "Your father was one of the only good people I have ever met."

"Don't apologize," Miroku said, though he could not look at her. "You've given me a greater gift than you know in telling me all this. I would ask you for one more, though."

Hisoka blinked up at him, nodding without hesitation.

"Of course," she said. "Anything."

"Is there anywhere, any place at all, that you can think of that he might have gone that night?" he asked. "Any place in or around the village that seems strange or remarkable in any way?"

She frowned, her brow furrowing as she thought for a moment.

"There is…one place," she said. "It's just outside the village. It used to be part of it, but everyone moved away from it after what happened there."

"Happened?" Sango echoed, finally managing to tear her gaze from Miroku's face.

Hisoka nodded.

"A woman lived in that hut with her little son," she said. "Her name was Fuyumi, if I remember right. She was very beautiful, but strange. No one ever knew who the father was to her child, so the villagers were always wary of her. The little boy, Onigumo, I think his name was, was beautiful, too, but he was trouble. He sometimes stole from the other villagers, and he was always fighting with the other children."

"In one of the battles between the courtiers, nearly half the village was burned down. Fuyumi's hut caught fire, too. The men managed to put out the fires before her hut burned down, but there was no sign of Fuyumi or her boy. Someone said they thought they'd seen her being dragged off by one of the courtiers. It wouldn't have been the first time one of them had taken one of the village women to keep as a mistress."

"No one was ever sure what happened to the boy. Likely he was killed when they took his mother. But several years later a darkness settled over the hut. People who went near it began to feel ill and frightened. There was talk of tearing it down, but no one ever had the nerve to do it. Those who lived near it simply abandoned their huts and built new ones further away."

Kagome, Miroku, and Sango exchanged a look. If that description did not positively reek of a youkai's nest, then nothing did.

"If you'd like, I could show it to you," Hisoka offered timidly, though the way her shoulders tensed betrayed her deep reluctance.

"No," Miroku said. "You have done far more than enough for me tonight. If you will wait, though, we can at least escort safely back to the village and your daughter. We will go to look into the hut while we still have the cover of night to conceal us."

He looked to Sango and Kagome for confirmation, resigned at this point to the fact that they would try to come along no matter what and unwilling to waste any more time in arguing with them. Sango and Kagome nodded, both more than willing to do whatever it took to aid their friend.

Hisoka offered them a feeble smile.

"That's alright," she said. "If you don't need me, I'd rather go back on my own. There's…there's no one waiting for me. Disease took Aiko several years ago. But the years your father gave me with her were the best of my entire life."

She bowed a bit awkwardly to them all before turning and starting off silently back into the woods towards the village.

"Wait," Kagome called after her, though the word was half-strangled by the sudden tightness in her throat.

The woman did not so much as pause, shuffling slowly away into the darkness of the night. The three stood watching her in silence, the weight of the world seeming to settle over them.

---

Sango merely had to grab her weapons and taiji-ya gear before they could set out. They informed the pair on guard that they would return by morning, ordering them to continue to keep watch until then. The rest of their companions they left sleeping. Miroku was already reluctant enough to allow Kagome and Sango to accompany him, besides which stealth would be much easier to accomplish with fewer people.

They took a different path than the one they had taken when retreating earlier, moving instead beneath the cover of the trees and aiming towards the outer edge of the village. When they were at last forced to leave that cover, they made certain to skirt as far around the dilapidated huts as possible.

The village was silent, eerily still beneath the pale light of the moon. They came around to the far side of the village, opposite where they had first entered late that afternoon. At first it seemed there was nothing to be found, but pressing on a little further brought them to several huts that sat at a strange distance outside the village itself.

All of the huts were dilapidated, walls and roofs crumbling in on themselves after years of disuse, but only one still bore the scorch marks of a fire on its remains. Jyaki permeated the air around it like a tangible thing, and Kagome's stomach roiled unpleasantly as they approached.

"It's awful," she murmured, eyeing the crumbling structure. "What in the world could have happened to make it like this?"

"Even I can feel it," Sango said, rubbing absently at one arm as goose bumps rose along the flesh there. "It feels…heavy. Dark."

"I cannot sense past the jyaki," Miroku said, eyes hooded as he peered into the darkness of the hut. "What about you, Kagome-chan?"

Kagome shook her head.

"It is too thick in the air," she replied. "I can't sense anything inside the hut."

Miroku frowned, eyes growing thoughtful as he examined the crumbling thing. His gloved hand flexed almost unconsciously at his side once more, and Kagome wondered absently if that had always been a habit of his and she had simply never noticed it before.

"I want to go in alone," Miroku said after several moments.

Sango's gaze snapped towards him.

"Not a chance!" she exclaimed. "We did not come all this way just to stand and wait outside!"

"There is no way of knowing what is in there," Miroku said, straining to speak levelly to her. "You will both be much safer if you simply wait outside."

Sango scoffed, eyeing him disbelievingly.

"Do you honestly think me so incompetent?" she said. "I have trained for years, and I am more than aware of what might be in there. You honestly think I would decline to help you simply because there happened to be some risk involved?"

"You would if you had any sense," Miroku said, shooting her a sharp glance as he at last began to lose his hold on his temper. "This is a risk you do not have to take. It is my concern and-"

"Again with that?" Sango bit out. "Didn't I already tell you-!"

"Please, stop, both of you." Kagome cut in, stepping between the pair. "If you start in here you risk waking the villagers and getting us chased out before anyone can go anywhere. Besides, Miroku-sama, you can't possibly expect us to wait outside while you walk into the kami only know what on your own."

Miroku looked from Sango to her and back again, jaw clenched tight. His dark eyes were bright with his obvious frustration, and not for the first time Kagome wondered what it was that he was so desperate to keep them both out of.

"Fine," he said after a moment, the word escaping him in a reluctant huff. "But hear me now, both of you. From the moment we step foot in there, you are to listen to anything I tell you. If I tell you to run, you run. No questions. Do you understand me?"

Kagome and Sango exchanged a look. It was a rather strict condition to impose on them. Still, this was to do with Miroku's father, in the end, and the arguing would only continue if they did not agree…

After a moment both women nodded. Miroku gave a single, short nod in return, not satisfied by far but not willing to waste any more time on it, either. He gestured them both forward toward the hut.

"Come then," he said shortly. "Follow my lead."

The pressure on Kagome's sixth sense increased with every step they took towards it, and she had to grit her teeth against a wave of nausea that swept through her. Miroku hesitated for just a moment on the threshold, paling in a way that told her he felt much the same, but quickly took the first step and disappeared inside. Sango and Kagome stepped through just behind him, both women's hands hovering warily just over their weapons of choice.

Kagome gagged, her knees nearly buckling as they were enveloped in the stifling darkness of the hut. If the feel of the jyaki had been powerful outside the hut, it was enough to overwhelm her inside. She drew a shaky breath as her eyes slowly adjusted, fighting to remain standing.

"Miroku-sama?" she called, scarcely able to make out the outlines of her friends in the darkness. "Sango-chan?"

"Here," she heard him call, followed by several hacking coughs.

She could tell he was close, but had no idea where. She felt disoriented, her head spinning as the jyaki and unnatural darkness pressed in on all sides.

"Over here," Sango called, sounding slightly better off than the pair of them.

Without a strong spiritual sense she was much less susceptible to it, though the feel of the jyaki likely registered to her as a sense of deep dread and seemingly irrational fear.

"I cannot sense anything. The jyaki is too thick," Miroku called, voice low with frustration.

"Hold on," Kagome called, an idea occurring to her.

She raised her right hand, concentrating energy into it until a small blue orb of her power formed in the cradle of her palm. She breathed a sigh, the jyaki in her immediate vicinity dissipating.

In the pale light it cast she saw Sango and Miroku's faces illuminated, poised tensely a short distance from her. They met her eyes in the dim light. Almost as one the three turned to peer into the further reaches of the hut.

They froze.

Consuming the small space inside the hut was a web, strands hanging all throughout in intricate loops and whorls. There appeared to be no other movement inside the hut save their own, but tangled in the center of the web a woman hung suspended. She appeared to be human.

Her eyes were closed, her arms folded over her chest. She was beautiful, her skin paler than death and her hair, tangled around various threads of the web, long and dark in the style of the court. An elegant juni-hito was draped over her slender frame, blood red in color and embroidered with deep accents of purple. She did not stir in the slightest.

"By the kami," breathed Sango, half taking a step forward. "Is she alive?"

Miroku shook his head, his eyes roving the room in search of signs of anything else.

"I can't tell," said Kagome, frowning. "I can't sense anything with all of this jyaki…let me just…"

She took a few cautious steps forward, carefully maneuvering around the hanging bits of web. She came to stand just beneath where the woman hung, holding the glowing orb high so that her fine features were thrown into high relief. Her chest did not move to draw breath, and Kagome could sense no spiritual force from her even at such a close distance.

"She's dead," Kagome called back to her companions.

"But who is she?" Sango asked. "And how in the world did she come to be here, like this?"

"There must be something else," Kagome heard Miroku mutter behind her. "Something…"

She could hear him move, searching the corners of the small room. Kagome frowned, lifting her light to scan slowly over the body. She heard Sango come up to stand just behind her.

"Wait," the noblewoman said, taking hold of her wrist to hold the light in place.

The light hovered just over the woman's folded hands. Something appeared to be clasped between them, only just visible between her interlocked fingers. Kagome heard Sango murmur a plea for the woman's pardon before the taiji-ya reached out, prying the thing as carefully as she could from her rigid hands.

Kagome murmured her own plea for pardon to the woman's soul, wondering how she had ended up here and like this. She appeared to be of the court and Kagome could not begin to imagine how she had ended up in this village, of all places.

Sango managed to pull the thing free at last, the web swinging slightly with the force of her final tug. She held it up for them both to examine, turning it over in her hands.

A faint humming caught Kagome's attention suddenly. Beside her, Sango tensed. The sound grew louder, building into a full-fledged buzzing. Miroku was at their sides in an instant, shakujou raised.

"What it that?" he said, eyes scanning the dark corners of the room.

In the faint glow of Kagome's light nothing appeared to be moving.

"I don't-"

The miko paused mid-sentence, a flicker of movement catching her eye in the darkness. Slowly she lifted her light higher.

She froze, hardly daring to draw her next breath.

Not a sliver of the thatching that composed the roof was visible. Instead there were hundreds of saimyōshō, clustered so tightly together as they clung there that they formed a wall in and of themselves. Some of them were stirring as Kagome's light washed over them, wriggling agitatedly and climbing all over one another.

One detached itself from the rest, its red eyes sliding open as it came to hover over the web. It stared at them for a long moment, simply hovering there. And then the rest poured down, detaching themselves in a swarm and a roar of noise.

They dove through the tangles of the web, filling the room and falling en masse upon the three.

"Do not let them touch you!" yelled Sango, unsheathing her wakizashi in one smooth move and slicing through four of the youkai in one swing. "One sting and you will be dead before morning!"

Miroku swung his shakujou in a wide arch, forcing the saimyōshō away from himself and Kagome. Kagome, not daring to extinguish her light and draw her bow lest she leave her friends helpless in the dark, stuck close to their sides and called out to them when the youkai came too close.

The three stuck tight to one another's sides as the youkai swarmed and dived at them, forcing them back step by slow step. Sango had to turn to cut a path for them through the low-hanging web, hacking through it one moment before she had to swerve to slash at several youkai that were coming too close to her. Several strands of the severed web fell in a tangle over Kagome's shoulders and hair, sending a strange jolt through her. She ignored it, though, as they were almost to the entryway of the hut.

Miroku hesitated just on the threshold, stopping dead in his tracks.

"What are you doing?" Sango called to him. "There's too many of them in here! We have to get out!"

Miroku shook his head, face set determinedly.

"You both go!" he called back. "I will follow after you!"

Kagome turned wide eyes on him, flinching as he knocked back a saimyōshō mere breaths from the tip of her nose.

"You can't!" she cried. "You'll be killed if you stay in here alone!"

"I just need a little bit more time!" he said, shaking his head hard. "You both promised to obey me, so-"

He cut himself off, ducking to dodge a youkai flying in low. Kagome turned desperately to Sango, exchanging a wide-eyed look with the woman. Sango bit her lip, her eyes bright as her mind worked furiously to try and figure something out.

"Miroku!" she called desperately.

But he merely shook his head again, motioning for them to leave with a look that brooked no argument. He took a step, swinging wildly as he made to move beyond the swarm and back into the hut. Kagome's free hand shot out after him, just missing the back of his robes. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of movement.

Something flew into the midst of the swarm, and the room was filled with a low hissing noise. Smoke, thick and acrid, seemed to billow up out of nowhere, expanding rapidly. Miroku blinked, coughing and stumbling back a step.

Sango lunged for him, catching hold of his robes, planting one foot, pivoting, and tossing him with all her strength through the entryway. Miroku, caught entirely off guard, went flying out of the hut. Sango grabbed Kagome, yanking her roughly through behind him just as the thick smoke began to roll over her.

Kagome stumbled, tripping and just barely managing to break her fall with her hands as she tumbled out onto the ground. She lay there for a long moment, her heart pounding as she stared down at the dirt beneath her palms.

A loud sound, creaking and groaning, rent the night air. Kagome pushed herself up, swinging around to face the source of it. Sango was standing at the ready facing the hut, wakizashi poised, but nothing appeared to have followed them out.

Instead the hut was shaking, wooden beams groaning as it rose into the air. The saimyōshō were lifting it, some of them flying out from underneath to hold the structure in tact as they rapidly ascended with it.

In moments they were gone, the hut, the webs, and the woman all disappearing into the night.

Miroku looked on from where he had landed in the dirt, eyes wide with disbelief.

"My father," he murmured almost unconsciously. "That was all I…The only lead…"

He trailed off, brow furrowing deeply as he attempted to comprehend what had just happened. Sango turned to him, her face stricken.

"Miroku…I…"

His jaw clenched, his eyes falling shut as he shook his head. Sango fell silent, paling. Her gaze fell as she sheathed her wakizashi. Suddenly, though, she blinked, her hand brushing the fan she had tucked hastily into her taiji-ya's belt when the swarm had come down.

She plucked the fan free, holding it up to examine it. Her expression lightened slightly, and she took a tentative step towards the houshi.

"Miroku," she said softly, holding it out to him. "Look."

He glanced at it from the corner of his eye, turning to look more fully after he got past his initial reluctance. Kagome ventured closer to the two as Miroku stood, taking the fan and spreading it open to get a better look at it.

It was embroidered all over with butterflies, what appeared to be the ageha-chō. Along the edge of the left side two simple kanji were printed.

"'Fuyumi'," Miroku read, frowning. "The woman who lived here with her son. Did you pull this from the body?"

Sango nodded. Kagome frowned, her eyes trailing over the embroidery of the fan.

"Isn't that the Taira clan's mark?" she said. "Fuyumi was a villager."

"A villager who was likely taken by one of the warring clans," Sango put in. "Besides, this is not the fan of a noblewoman. It is a token for a mistress, or else her family name would have been embroidered on it, as well. It must have been some branch of the Taira that took her. Likely they kept her for years, as well, judging from how she was dressed and how clean she looked."

"But how did she end up back here? And like that?" Kagome asked.

Miroku shook his head, sliding the fan shut. His look was still serious, but his eyes were no longer hollow with the look of devastation.

"That is something I will have to ask the Taira when we return to the court," he said resolutely, tucking it away into the front of his robes. "That is…something."

He turned to Sango, offering her a small smile.

"Thank you," he said softly. "For your help, and for this. I know you do not understand, but it means a great deal to me to have it."

"No," Sango said, frowning slightly despite the thanks. "You are right. I do not understand. I wish you would allow me to, though."

Miroku blinked, the smile sliding from his face instantly. His eyes slid away from Sango's, landing on Kagome.

"Kagome-chan," he said, reaching out a hand to her. "What…?"

He plucked at her hair, pulling free several strands of the web that had fallen on her. He squinted at the glittering strands in the faint light offered by the stars, brow furrowing.

"This is…"

"Made of youki," Kagome finished for him, recalling the jolt that had gone through her when the web had first touched her.

She plucked a few more strands from where they had fallen on her shoulder, eyes sliding shut as she focused on the feel of them. Almost immediately they snapped open once more.

The youki was familiar. Terribly, horribly familiar.

"Kagome-chan?" Sango said, laying a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Kagome looked from her to Miroku.

"I know this youki," she said, meeting his eyes. "I've encountered it several times."

Miroku's eyes searched hers, as if he did not quite dare to believe his ears. He took an unconscious step towards her, eyes darkening intently.

"Where? When?" he said, voice strained.

"It attacked a boy in the court, as well as my village," she said, hesitating for a moment before she added, "It was likely involved with the death of the former Tennō-sama, as well."

Miroku stood silent for several long moments, so still it scarcely seemed as if he was breathing.

"Miroku?" Sango said softly.

The eyes he raised to meet hers burned with some strange fire.

"It's him," he said, something strangely like joy in the words. "The youkai who killed my father. He's in the court."

---

"Did I not tell you to steer them away from there?" came a male voice in the darkness, low and simmering with barely leashed fury.

"My apologies, Naraku-sama. I was unable to do so without drawing their suspicions. I did not wish to endanger my other mission."

"…I would enjoy killing you where you stand, you useless wretch. Slowly and without mercy."

"Yes, Naraku-sama."

Tense silence stretched for several moments, before a deep sigh sounded at last.

"It would be too great a waste to kill you now, incompetent as you are."

"Yes, Naraku-sama. What are my orders?"

"Continue as you were. Do not draw attention to yourself. And watch the houshi, as well. I've no idea what his fool father managed to tell him, but it was enough for him to find…that place."

"Yes, Naraku-sama."

---

They had been able to return to the campsite before dawn and none of their companions were any the wiser, save the pair that was on watch. Sango had ordered their silence on the matter out of respect for Miroku.

As soon as morning came, after the three had been able to get some sleep, the group set out as planned. Miroku cast one long, inscrutable look back towards the village as they went, but did not say a word in protest. Unconsciously he pressed his hand to the place where Fuyumi's fan was concealed within his robes. He had gotten what he needed.

For several days everything was as it had been. The group moved along the coast, approaching trade ports, villages, and a few court residences that they happened to be near. They marked their progress on the map as they had thus far, what had once been scarcely an outline of their nation becoming more detailed with each passing day.

Every day, though, Kagome could sense the tension building within Sango.

Despite their best efforts-Kagome's admittedly much milder than Sango's- they had been unable to get Miroku to say a word more about his father's death or the youkai that had killed him. He always managed to make certain that he was in the midst of their companions, preventing them from even having much opportunity to ask.

On the few rides where Sango had managed to get him far enough apart from the others to inquire, he had clammed up entirely at the introduction of the subject. So despite having succeeded in helping their friend to get whatever it was that he had been after, both women were almost as much in the dark as they had been before the incident.

Kagome was more than a little hurt by it. After all, Miroku had been a staunch friend to her through her troubles since first they had met. She had always known he was more the type to keep things to himself, but it stung to think that he would purposefully keep something from her that was obviously so important.

Kagome could not even begin to imagine, though, what Sango was feeling. Sango, who had been his friend before anyone else. Sango, who had known him from childhood and shared with him almost everything that mattered to her. Sango, who loved him better than anyone else in the world.

Thus it did not come as too much of a surprise to Kagome when, several days after the fact as the group was dismounting to set up camp for the night, Sango abruptly grabbed Miroku and dragged him off into the surrounding woods. She had come to the end of her patience it seemed and Kagome knew that things were about to come to a head.

Many in the group were exchanging confused looks, peering in the direction that Sango had stormed off with Miroku in tow. Thinking fast, Kagome quickly told them that Sango had asked the pair of them earlier to sit with her for a discussion on how to continue from here, as they would soon be reaching the point where they would need to board a ship to get to Kyūshū. Not the most brilliant of fibs, she knew, but the best she could do on short notice. Asking Kohaku to oversee the rest of the camp set-up, she quickly started after the pair.

As she moved through the trees after them, she realized she had no idea exactly what she was going to do. She could not very well go back to the campsite without them after the lie she had just told, but she really had no interest in interrupting them. Things would only continue to grow more and more strained between them if Sango was not allowed to have this conversation with him now.

Her steps slowed, indecision overtaking her. The sound of a voice just beyond the next line of trees made the decision for her. Guiltily Kagome crept forward to listen in, consoling herself with the thought that if things got too heated between the two she could intervene.

Sango stood facing Miroku, pale skin deeply flushed with the force of her feelings. Her eyes blazed as they fixed on his face. She was nearly shaking.

Miroku, on the other hand, appeared entirely unruffled. His face was politely distant, a faint and mirthless smile hovering almost reflexively about his lips. His eyes were the only thing that betrayed any upset, darker than usual as they peered down at her.

"Sango-sama," he said, the word nearly a sigh. "It has been a long day's ride. You are obviously tired-"

"I am not tired, Miroku!" Sango snapped. "I am not tired and I am not just in a bad mood and I am not overreacting! I am angry! I am angry because my oldest, closest friend does not even trust me enough to tell me about something that is obviously so important!"

Sango scowled, though the weight that furrowed her brow appeared to be more pain than anger. Miroku blinked, his gaze trailing away from hers guiltily.

"It is not a matter of trust, Sango," he said lowly.

"Then what is it a matter of, Miroku?" she said, shaking her head disbelievingly. "Because I am beginning to feel that I was the only one who truly believed we were friends all this time."

Miroku glanced at her, some of the careful distance slipping from his face. He shook his head, meeting her eyes earnestly.

"You are my closest friend, Sango," he said softly. "Do not doubt that. This…this matter has nothing to do with that."

Sango was silent for a long moment, her eyes searching his face. Slowly the anger drained from her, her leanly muscled frame growing lax. She blinked, and in an instant the fire that had been in her eyes was extinguished. She could not have looked more vulnerable had every bit of armor and every weapon been stripped from her.

Miroku seemed to see this, too, tensing. His grip on his shakujou tightened, and suddenly he looked like he would have given anything to be anywhere else.

"Sango-sama-"

"I feel like a fool, Miroku," Sango murmured hoarsely, blinking hard. "I feel like such a fool. Have I been imagining things, all this time? Have I truly been alone in this, all this time? I mean, I have been obvious, beyond obvious, about my feelings. You know, better than anyone else, that I am useless at concealing what I feel. I know you have seen it!"

The color had drained from Miroku's face. His head was bowed, his grip on his shakujou white-knuckled now.

"Please, stop…"

But Sango could not. She had started and the dam had burst. There was no going back now.

"I love you, Miroku," she said, her voice firm and her eyes unwavering on his face. "I love you and have loved you since we were children. And you know it. There is no way you can not know it. So, please, can you not simply-"

"I am sorry I have misled you, Sango-sama."

Sango froze. The words were spoken lowly, and there was the hollow quality to them of someone repeating words that they had rehearsed a thousand times before.

Miroku's head was still bowed, and it was impossible to see his face. Through her shock, though, Kagome noticed absently that his hands were shaking.

"I was unaware of the depth and nature of your feelings," Miroku pressed on in that same wooden tone. "And if you misunderstood the nature of my own feelings, I apologize. It was never my intention. However, I…I cannot respond to your feelings. I do not share them. I will not ever share them."

He raised his head at last. His features were pale and drawn. His eyes were distant, as if he was not present there at all. Sango could only stare up at him, uncomprehending.

"I will return to the camp now," he said. "Perhaps it would be better if, for the sake of the mission and avoiding further misunderstandings, we did not speak as much."

And then he turned and was gone, just like that.

Sango stood, staring dumbstruck at the spot where he had been. Kagome found that she, too, could scarcely move, unable to believe what she had just witnessed.

Had that truly been Miroku? The Miroku who was unfailingly kind to almost everyone? The Miroku who had all but confessed his love for Sango to her? Could that cold man she had just seen really be the same person she thought she had known all this time?

Abruptly Sango stumbled forward a step, as if she would go after the houshi. She stopped, though, blinking hard. A small, barely visible tremor ran through her frame. Before she could stop to consider it, Kagome found herself moving forward towards her friend.

Sango's gaze shifted towards her. She looked at her for a long moment, eyes wide and bright.

"Did you…see all that?" she asked softly, needing some sort of confirmation that it really had happened.

Slowly Kagome nodded, beyond even guilt at this point.

Sango nodded in return, the gesture strangely like the mimicry of a child. Kagome was not even certain if she was aware that she was moving. Her lips wobbled tremulously in what might have been an attempt at a smile.

"I guess I…really misunderstood things," she said softly.

Her voice cracked on the last word and along with it any semblance of composure that she still retained. Her eyes overflowed, thick tears tracking down over her pale cheeks. She ducked her head, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Wordlessly Kagome wrapped her in her arms, pressing her friend's face to her shoulder. She bit down on her lip, fighting back the tears she could feel welling in her own eyes. Her breaking down would not do Sango any good.

She continued to hold her friend until dusk had faded into darkness. The entire time Sango did not make a single sound, the trembling of her shoulders the only indication of a pain that Kagome knew was likely deeper than any she had ever felt before.

---

Eventually Sango was calm enough for Kagome to escort her back to the campsite. Though exhausted might have been a better word for it. Her docility as she allowed herself to be led back was almost childlike. Inwardly Kagome was anxious. She was not certain what would happen when Sango was faced with the sight of Miroku again.

Her worry was for nothing, though. Miroku was nowhere to be found when they returned. Some covert questioning of Haru revealed that he had not been back since Sango had first dragged him off. Camp set-up was long since finished and the group was beginning to look suspicious.

This gave Kagome something entirely new to worry about. She informed the group that she was going to see if she could go catch something for that night's meal, quietly asking Haru to look after Sango. The noblewoman had seated herself on the edge of the camp, staring silently down into her lap. Haru agreed, though he appeared to be a bit confused. Kagome hadn't the time to explain things to him.

Immediately she set out back into the woods in search of the houshi. A small part of her was worried at the thought that he had not yet come back, but with every step she took her anger grew to overtake concern. She could still feel Sango shaking against her and hear Miroku's callous words echoing in her ears. By the time she stumbled across him she had worked herself into a thorough rage.

He sat in the muck at the edge of a minor river that they had been travelling parallel to for several days now, hunched and somehow smaller than Kagome could ever recall seeing him. At any other time the sight might have inspired concern in her, but at the moment she could scarcely be made to see anything through the haze of her own anger. Her hands balled at her sides.

"How dare you treat her like that?" she cried, unable to contain herself any longer.

Miroku started, turning to face her. He did not move from his place on the river's bank, his expression strangely vacant.

"Have you nothing to say for yourself?" Kagome pressed after several moments of blank silence. "Even if you don't return her feelings, was that any way to treat her? Isn't she your friend? You crushed her, Miroku! In all the time that I have known you, I never once thought you cruel until now!"

"And I never thought you an eavesdropper," Miroku returned, voice almost entirely without inflection. "It seems we were both mistaken. Now, if you have said your piece, please go, Kagome. This is not a matter in which you are concerned."

And just like that he turned his back on her. Kagome stood in open-mouthed silence for several moments, unable to process his complete nonchalance. He did not seem to care in the least that he had just crushed the heart of the woman who had stood by him since he was a child.

"Not my…concern?" she echoed, feeling as if she might choke on the force of her own outrage. "Aren't you both my friends? Haven't I confided in you since we first met? How can you expect me to just sit by and watch you act like this?"

She stormed down the bank, stopping a few lengths short of him. He tensed, but did not turn to face her.

"Believe me when I say that what I have done was far kinder than you think it," he said lowly, some of the tension in his frame entering his voice. "What good is there in giving her hope when her feelings cannot be returned? No. This way she can be done with it…all of it, once and for all."

The faintest tremor, barely discernible, went through his words at the end. It was enough to cut through the haze of Kagome's anger. She blinked, the vision before her seeming to shift.

She had thought that he looked small. Suddenly she understood why. It was not apathy, but exhaustion. Not nonchalance that she saw in him, but a weariness so deep it had drained him of all else.

At the same moment she realized why he had dismissed Sango and her confession so quickly. Miroku was more skilled than anyone she knew at putting on a good face, but even he could only endure so much.

"You love her, don't you?" Kagome said quietly, everything clicking suddenly into place.

Miroku was silent, unmoving.

"Why?" Kagome said, dropping down to kneel at his side in the mud. "If you love her, why are you doing this? Is it about your rank? You already know she doesn't care about that! So why-?"

"Kagome," Miroku bit out, cutting her off. "Stop. Just stop. It's done and nothing will change it now."

Kagome fell silent, watching him. He kept his face carefully averted now, and she wanted nothing more than to reach out to him. She was at a loss, though. She could not understand what he was thinking, choosing to put himself and Sango through this. So she sat, watching him with wide eyes and willing him to say something-anything-that would help her to understand.

"Please go, Kagome," Miroku sighed at length, the tension draining from his voice to leave it hollow once more. "While I would usually commend you for your loyalty, in this instance you are sorely misguided. I would suggest refocusing your efforts on consoling your friend."

Still he would not look at her. Kagome reached out to lay a hand on his arm, determined that if he was so bent on dismissing her he would at least face her honestly first.

"You're my friend, too, Miroku," she said. "And if I'm so misguided, why not set me straight? Why not explain it to me? Whatever this is, you shouldn't have to go it all alone. You've done that long enough, haven't you?"

He hesitated for several long moments before at last turning to face her with heavy reluctance. Kagome nearly gasped.

His eyes were deeper and darker than she remembered, vaguely unfocused even as they met hers. His skin was sallow, all traces of his usual good humor drained from his features. He looked exhausted and so deeply alone that she thought her heart would break at the sight.

"Oh, Miroku," she said, her voice cracking around his name. "Why are you doing this? Why do you always try to do everything alone? Sango…Sango wants so much to be there for you. And I've seen the way you look at her. How happy you are…and how you're always trying to be near her…so why? Why can't you two just be happy together?"

Tears that she had been holding back since she had seen the devastation in Sango's face rolled down her cheeks, thick and warm and frustrated. Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn't two good people just be together? Why did things always have to end up like this?

Miroku blinked, some of the haze clearing from his dark eyes. He reached out tentatively, swiping a thumb across one of her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he murmured lowly, and Kagome had the strange feeling that it was not really her that he was speaking to. "I'm so sorry. But I will not take my happiness at her expense."

Kagome blinked at him, sniffling. A frown tugged at the corners of Miroku's lips as he watched her. His eyes slid shut, his features contorting as pain at last registered across his face.

"Say that we did marry," he said, the words seeming to spill from him without his consent. "Say that we did. Say that Sango forsook rank and reputation for my sake. Say that we had a few happy, wonderful years and a child together. What will happen when I am gone? What will be left to her then? No rank, no reputation, and a cursed child to raise on her own. I would not…I could not do that to her…I-"

"Wait," Kagome said. "What do you mean, 'gone'? Why would you be gone, Miroku?"

Miroku paused, meeting her eyes as if he had only just fully realized what he had said to her. She saw hesitation cross his features, uncertainty. She gripped his forearm more tightly, holding his gaze fast with her own. After several moments he sighed, his eyes sliding shut.

"If I tell you this, you can never breathe a word of it to Sango," he said.

His eyes slid open, meeting hers with utmost seriousness.

"Do you understand, Kagome?"

It was her turn to hesitate. Could she really face Sango every day knowing the reason why Miroku had rejected her and keeping it from her? Could she allow her friend to suffer the thought that the houshi had so coldly pushed her away for no reason other than that she had been misunderstanding his feelings all these years?

But Miroku was her friend, as well. Miroku was suffering, as well. Could she allow him to continue to suffer all on his own? Something, a faint light in his eyes as he looked to her, told her that he wanted to tell someone. That this burden, whatever it was, had at last grown to be too much for him to carry on his own.

Could she abandon him now, after all the times that he had stuck by her?

Slowly Kagome nodded.

"I swear it," she said, feeling her stomach sink even as the words left her.

Miroku nodded. He sat up a little straighter, his gaze falling as he shored himself up. Kagome waited silently, watching him.

"Do me the favor, Kagome-chan, of saying nothing until I have finished," he said quietly, his eyes on the muck beneath them.

Kagome nodded.

"Alright."

He nodded once more, more to himself than to her, and drew a quiet breath.

"You already know that my father was killed by a youkai…the youkai I had hoped to find in that village," he said. "What you do not know is that that youkai…it did not merely kill my father. It wanted him to suffer. It wanted his family to suffer, as well, for generations and generations to come until the end."

He paused, and Kagome saw his jaw tighten as if closing around any more words. He drew another steadying breath, lifting the arm which she still gripped. It was the one around which he always wore his rosary, and the beads clacked together loudly in the silence between them.

"The youkai placed a curse on my father," Miroku continued lowly, his eyes moving to fix on the rosary as he spoke. "He returned to the court with just enough…just enough strength to explain the curse to me, and to tell me what must be done. Upon his death, the curse manifested itself in me. For the time being, this rosary works to seal it. However, the curse…it grows more quickly with the passing of each year."

"The day is fast coming when it will consume me, and drag my soul down into the lowest level of hell. That is the youkai's curse upon my family. That is the curse I have carried with me since my father passed. And that is the curse I would pass to any child that might be born to me."

He fell silent, exhaling softly. His shoulders relaxed, some sort of bizarre relief sweeping through him. Absently Kagome guessed that in his head he had repeated those carefully practiced words a thousand times, wanting but never willing to speak them to someone. Though the someone he had wanted was likely not her.

Beyond that fleeting thought, though, Kagome's mind had gone blank with horror. She felt as if she could not quite draw enough breath into her lungs.

"Miroku…" she said, his name escaping her as a strangled gasp.

He frowned, his relief short-lived. At last he was able to raise his eyes to meet hers.

"Kagome," he sighed. "Stop that. This is the look that I cannot bear. Please, stop."

"How do you expect me to look, when you've just told me you're to die!" Kagome cried, bringing a hand up to scrub angrily at her watering eyes. "How…how could you hide this, Miroku? All this time…from me, from Sango-"

"You swore not to say a word of this to her," Miroku broke in pointedly, and then, softening a bit, "And what would telling either of you have done save to upset you needlessly? I should not even have told you-"

"We're your friends, Miroku!" Kagome snapped, readily embracing anger over the feeling of abject misery hiding just beneath it. "We…we could have helped you! Been there for you, at least!"

"I've no desire to involve either of you in this matter," Miroku said firmly, shaking his head. "The youkai who did this is powerful and obviously merciless. When I…If I am able to find it before it is too late, then it will be my battle to fight. I will not put either of you in the middle of it. The curse belongs to my family alone. I will not allow it to touch anyone else."

Kagome blinked, a sudden thought occurring to her. The jolt of hope that shot through her was so strong it was nearly painful, dissolving her anger in a flash. She leaned in towards him.

"The youkai…what your father told you needed to be done," she said, the words falling from her in a confused rush. "If you can destroy it, will the curse be destroyed as well?"

Miroku blinked, his gaze falling away from hers. He gave a small nod, and Kagome's spirits leapt.

"Yes," he said quietly. "But I have been searching for years, Kagome-chan. Every time I have left the court I have searched. My father…he could give me no more than a vague description of the youkai and what it had done before he passed. He was too weak even to recall why he had gone after it. And there is likely not much time left to me before…"

He trailed off, eyeing the accursed hand between them. Kagome frowned, shaking her head vehemently.

"No," she said. "No! In that village, you found something! The fan and the web. It's in the court. Surely we can find it if it's within the court!"

"There is nothing for us to find, Kagome," Miroku returned. "I chose to tell you this because you insisted, but I will not involve you any further in it. And this youkai has been successfully evading me for several years now. Nothing is certain, even with what we found."

Kagome bit her lip, feeling the fear welling slowly to the surface at the resignation she could see in his eyes. Some part of him was prepared to die, even after what they had managed to find. She gripped his arm more tightly, as if she could hold him there by sheer force of will.

"You can't give up, Miroku," she murmured. "You can't, and I won't. I won't ever give up on you. And Sango-"

"Sango would not give up, either," Miroku said softly. "Sango would never give up."

Kagome blinked, raising her eyes to him. Miroku offered her a small, bitter smile.

"I know her well enough, Kagome," he said. "Were I to tell her this, she would stay with me until the end. She would want to fight until the end. You think I never wanted to tell her all of this? I have. There has not passed a day where I have not considered it. But what sort of man would it make me if I told her? What sort of man would I be if I told the only woman I have ever loved all this knowing that she might end up wasting her life on me because of it? No. I will take this with me to my final rest. I will give her her life, Kagome. It is the only thing I can give her."

To her great shame, Kagome felt her eyes begin to overflow once more. She wanted to be strong for him. She wanted, so much, to be able to be his support for once, when he was finally opening up to her. But she was helpless against the sadness that welled up from the very depths of her.

"You said it," she murmured hoarsely.

Miroku frowned, reaching out to gather her to himself. But Kagome shook her head, moving back. She was not the one that needed to be comforted here. She swiped her sleeve angrily across her cheek.

"You said that you love her," she murmured. "I knew it. I just…kami, Miroku…."

"I have long since accepted all of this, Kagome," he said softly. "My feelings and my burden. And I am well aware that I cannot change either of them. But it is mine to choose what to do from there. I will continue trying to avenge my father and break the curse. And I…I will continue trying to support Sango in whatever it is she chooses to do, though I may have to do so at more of a distance after…after all that has happened. But I will be fine, Kagome. I can bear this."

Kagome was silent for several long moments, unable even to form words. Slowly she forced herself to sit more straightly, hands fisting in the fabric of her hakama. Tears continued to trickle down her cheeks without her consent or control, but she knew there was at least one thing she could do for him now. She drew a deep breath.

"You shouldn't have to bear it alone," she sniffled. "I want…please, anything you've to say, anything you've held back…please say it. Every last word of it. I'll listen. I'll bear it with you."

Miroku sighed. He reached out, placing a gentle hand on the back of her head.

"You are a good woman, Kagome," he said softly. "And a true friend. But I have no desire to burden you with any more than you already carry."

Kagome reached up, grabbing the hand on her head and pulling it down to cradle it between her own. She sniffled, tears falling onto the back of his gloved hand as she bowed her head over it.

"Then believe me when I say it's far worse a burden to bear to think of you bearing all this on your own."

Miroku was silent for several long moments, and Kagome bit her lip. It seemed he really was determined to go it alone. Suddenly, though, he gripped her hands in return.

"…It is strange," Miroku murmured, almost to himself. "It sounds awful to say it, but seeing you like this almost makes it easier, somehow. I…I always suspected this day might come, when one of us would break the delicate pretense we have always managed to keep up of being close friends and nothing more. Some part of me had hoped that I could avoid it forever, though. I…from the time I was young, almost as far back as I can recall, all that I ever wanted was to be by her side, even…even if it could not be in the manner that I truly desired. I thought if I could remain as her friend…And now that I have effectively ended it all, I cannot even find it in myself to shed tears over it…"

Haltingly, softly, he went on to tell her of his father. Of how he had watched him die. Of how he had searched desperately, for years, for the youkai he had described and the village he had only vaguely been able to describe in the hopes of avenging him and breaking the curse. Of how hard he had striven to remain Sango's close companion, aware all the time of her feelings and his feelings and the impossibility of it all.

But he had been selfish, he said. He had allowed himself just that one selfish indulgence. He had wanted to remain with her as long as possible, even knowing it would end in pain for them both. And he told her of the child he would someday have, with a woman he did not love, to whom he would pass this curse and this duty. And he told her of the guilt that ate at him when he thought of that child, not even born yet and already doomed.

Several times Kagome had to bite her lip to keep from begging him to stop. But she knew it must give him some comfort to say it, and so she forced herself to listen to every word. She merely sat at his side silently, gripping his hand between hers and listening and crying tears that he could not.

---

It took some time for Kagome to recollect herself enough for them to return to the camp. Unfortunately their return did not make things much easier.

Not only was the group more than a bit bemused at her lack of any food for that night's meal, but Sango was stone-faced as she watched Miroku walk into the camp. His mask of good humor was firmly back in place, though, and he feigned ignorance of her cold looks as he made apologies to the group for having been unable to find anything. Thankfully they still had a surplus of edible roots and nuts among their supplies, so the matter was settled quickly if not to everyone's satisfaction.

While inwardly awed at the strength that allowed Miroku to continue on in such a manner after having given over the thing he had wanted most in the world since he was a child, Kagome could only sit herself apart from the rest of the group on her futon. Emotionally she was beyond exhausted, her head fairly spinning still. She could not bear to watch Miroku and Sango on top of that, knowing all too well how much pain they were both in.

When morning came the next day they resumed their travels. Sango, for all that Kagome knew how deeply she must be hurting, was a leader through and through. Though she was tense and rather quiet, there was little to indicate to those who were not aware of it what she was suffering through.

A few times during the ride Kagome attempted to ride alongside her, but she was waved off succinctly each time. Eventually she realized that Sango was holding herself together by threads, unwilling to break down in front of the taiji-ya. In the light of day, at least, she could not tolerate kind words or pitying looks.

Miroku also managed to give off the impression that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, though he did so much more easily and convincingly. He had had years and years of practice at it, after all. Watching him, Kagome found, was even more painful than watching Sango. After all, he did not even have the bitter comfort of righteous anger to console him.

Thus a tense, painful week passed for the three, though the rest of their companions were not much the wiser. The only reprieve that Kagome could look forward to in the midst of her continuous worries about the fractured nature of her friends' relationship was that the group was nearing the area that Kouga had marked on the map as the territory of the Southern Oni Clan. It was not much, but it would at least offer a distraction.

---

Two nights before they arrived in the territory of the oni, Kagome sat up after the others had gone to sleep. She felt exhausted, struggling hard to stay awake just long enough to look into the link. She had not been sleeping much since everything had happened between Sango and Miroku, kept up late into the night turning it all over and over again in her mind. No matter how many times she went through the tangled mess of it, though, the only solution she could ever come up with was to reveal to Sango what Miroku had told her. Her word and loyalty to Miroku, however, bound her fast.

At last, though, she was certain that everyone save the pair on guard were asleep for the night. She roused herself from where she was laying alongside Shippou, carefully moving away from him to sit up. She pulled the bead from her robes, intending to merely take a quick peek before attempting to get some sleep.

The link was crystal clear, and Kagome found herself looking in on a scene she would much sooner have avoided.

It seemed all of Inuyasha's determined efforts were coming to fruition. The time had come.

Kikyou knelt at a low table, a steaming mug of tea cradled between her pale hands. She eyed the man standing across from her, a faint, contented smile playing around the corners of her lips.

"You truly do ruin the effect by scowling so, my Lord," she commented, a slight playfulness to her tone that Kagome had never suspected her capable of. "Otherwise you might be perfectly handsome."

Inuyasha's scowl deepened, though he only vaguely registered her words. He was uncomfortable. Everything felt too tight. Despite the fine material, it chafed against his skin. The stiff black and gold-lined hakama. The black patterned haori. It all made him itch.

He fought against the urge simply to shred it, clawed hands flexing absently at his sides.

"Just wanna get this whole stupid ceremony over with," he muttered to himself.

Too loudly. Kikyou's expression sobered in an instant.

"The ceremony will be over in a few days' time," she said, eyes lowering to fix on her mug of tea. "Then you will no longer have to trouble yourself over such trivial matters."

Inuyasha looked at her, his stomach sinking.

"Kikyou…" he said lowly. "I…I didn't mean it like that…"

"How did you mean it, then?" she returned pointedly, eyes flicking back up to his.

"Kikyou-"

She set her mug down with a slight clatter, rising to stand with painful dignity.

"I am well aware that I am the one who pressed for this wedding," she said, dark eyes bright and delicate features strained. "However, I cannot understand why you, Inuyasha, have been pushing it forward as if…as if it were some tiresome chore to be gotten through as quickly as possible. Is…is the idea of marriage to me so burdensome to you?"

Her chin was angled with its usual air of imperiousness, but a faint tremor went through her. Inuyasha's gut twisted. He took a step towards her, but she tensed and he stopped. He frowned, his eyes searching her face.

"I thought this was what you wanted, Kikyou," he said.

She blinked, her gaze falling to the table that separated them.

"Perhaps," she said, her voice so soft he nearly missed it. "But it is not all."

Inuyasha's gaze fell. He stood, silent and tense. She was right. It wasn't all.

Kikyou drew a breath, her hands clenching at her sides at this tacit confirmation. Slowly she raised her gaze.

"There is something I need to say to you that I should have said long ago," she said, resolve squaring her shoulders.

Inuyasha experienced a moment of cold fear, his eyes flying up to meet hers. Had he finally failed her one too many times?

"Kikyou…"

"I love you," she said hurriedly.

Inuyasha felt the words like a physical blow. He blinked at her, wide-eyed.

Kikyou drew a shaky breath, red suffusing her pale features. It was the most vulnerable and possibly the most beautiful she had ever looked, Kagome thought vaguely. Strangely numb, she could not have torn herself away if she had tried.

"I love you, Inuyasha," Kikyou repeated, a slight tremor running through the determined words. "I…I have loved you for years. And I should have told you long ago. But I…"

She hesitated, her gaze falling.

"…I have lost everything that I have ever cared for. I thought…foolish as it sounds, I have always felt that voicing my feelings would be…would be tantamount to asking the kami to steal you from me, as well. I…I was so sure that I was safe as long as I said nothing."

Her eyes moved back up to him in askance.

"But I…I would have you know that you are the one thing in this world that I could not lose," she pressed on, despite the visible trembling that had begun in her limbs. "Though I am…frightened, I would be your wife in more than name alone. I would be the wife who holds you dearer than anything in the world. So, please do not leave me behind. Please stay with me. I can't lose you."

She drew a shaky breath, offering him a wavering smile. As terrified as she appeared to be saying all this, there was relief there, too. She had been afraid of losing anything else, holding herself back from him for such a long time. And now, for better or worse, she was exposed and vulnerable to whatever came next.

Inuyasha moved towards her, drawn as to a child in desperate need of reassurance. He stepped over the table, impatient to reach her, and took her into his arms. She laughed, a breathless little sound as her hands curled in his robes.

"It's alright," he murmured to her. "It's okay, Kikyou. I get it now. I'm not going anywhere. I promise I'm not going anywhere."

She grew quiet in his arms, tensing. Expectant.

The guilty turning in his gut said he was not unaware of it. He was silent. He simply held her.

Kagome broke the link, blinking slowly as she returned to herself. Absently she tucked the bead back into the safe pocket in the front of her robes, feeling strangely distant from everything. She wondered if she was more tired than she had thought.

She had finally done it, she thought absently. She had finally said what was needed for both of them.

And, despite the dull ache in her chest that she knew would likely bloom into something more painful when she thought on all this later, a part of her was glad. At this rate, they could be happy together. There would be no secrets between them, no dark curses to keep them apart. Inuyasha had a real chance at happiness with her.

And so Kagome lay down, curling herself around the sleeping kitsune in her futon. It still took some time, but when she at last got to sleep she slept dreamlessly until morning.

---

True to Kouga's markings and Sango's estimate, the group reached the territory of the Southern Oni Clan two days later. They had to veer eastward and inland, away from the coast, in order to reach the small range of mountains that Kouga had scribbled in as belonging to the clan. It made Kagome more than a little uneasy, aware as she was that they were not more than two weeks' journey from the court, but she comforted herself with the thought that they likely still had a month at least before they could consider returning.

What they found there, though, was not at all what they had anticipated. A village-an actual, human village-sat close to the base of the mountains in which Kouga had indicated the Southern Oni Clan lived. Even Miroku, the most well-traveled among them, thought the sight of humans living so close to such a large group of youkai an odd one.

As they entered the village, Kagome could not help but remember what the ryū had told her about the former Tennō-sama. About humans and youkai living more closely together. She wondered if perhaps something like this was what he had meant, even as she continued to question exactly why he had taken up such a stance as his own.

They were not long in learning, however, that the oni and the humans were close in proximity only. The villagers welcomed them with an air of eager desperation after learning that they were a group composed of taiji-ya and spiritualists. They brought them to their headman, a relatively young man who wore his mantle of leadership uneasily.

He lost no time in promising his village's support if only they would help them, quickly explaining the village's plight. For years and years people from the village had been periodically abducted never to be seen or heard from again. They knew it was the oni who were doing this, coming down from the mountains to snatch them up and feast on their flesh. The headman begged them to exterminate the oni, or at least to drive them away, as they were too poor to be able to afford to leave their village in search of another.

Sango readily agreed to the request, promising that they would do whatever they could to help. It was her clan's job, after all, to protect humans from the youkai who chose to listen to the calls of their baser instincts. There were many tales, as well, of the brutish nature of the oni. They were told to often be monsters in spirit as well as in appearance, some with a taste for the flesh of humans.

The villagers also informed them of a witch living on the very fringes of their village with her half-monster of a son. They said that it was her who was spying on them for the oni, picking out the people that they would take. They had tried to drive her out on several occasions, but they had never been able to and feared pushing her too far lest she summon the oni to devour them all.

After conferring briefly amongst themselves, Sango decided that she wanted to go ahead and confront the Oni Clan head on. If they went after the witch first they risked the oni catching wind of it and arming themselves. They would explore their mountain a bit to find the best point of entry before attacking directly to take them by surprise.

Kagome, though, had been caught by the mention of the witch. Or, more precisely, by the mention of the witch's 'half-monster' son. The wording was too familiar for her simply to ignore it. She begged Sango to allow her to go explore there first, promising she would not make contact and would rejoin them as quickly as she could afterwards.

Reluctantly Sango agreed, though she made Kagome swear that she would only observe from a distance. Kagome agreed and the group split up. Haru and Shippou remained within the village. Sango, Miroku, and the taiji-ya headed towards the oni's mountain. Kagome started off for the fringes of the village where the woman and her son were said to live.

For all of the villagers' complaints, Kagome could sense very little youki coming from the run-down hut as she approached it and no jyaki whatsoever. There was not the slightest hint of malice in the place.

She frowned, confused, as she eyed the rather pathetic looking structure from the safety of the surrounding woods she had taken cover in. There was no movement around the front of the hut that she could see from her vantage point, and the faint youki she could sense did not seem to be coming from within the hut but from somewhere nearby. It also felt gentle somehow, brushing almost timidly against her spiritual sense.

She sat for several long moments, watching from the woods and silently debating whether or not she dared to get closer. She had promised Sango that she would not approach it on her own, but she was getting nothing out of simply sitting there waiting. And surely she could handle herself against such weak youki. Kagome knew she could not simply leave. Something would not let her.

She dismounted, tying the reins of her mount around the base of a tree to keep it from wandering. She drew her bow and an arrow from the quiver at her back, notching it and silently apologizing to Sango for breaking her word.

She crept forward towards the hut, senses on high alert though she could feel no threat. Even as she moved closer the hut appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary, save perhaps being a bit more broken down than most. She could sense nothing inside, though, and continued moving past the structure to see if she could not find the source of the youki she sensed behind it.

A small plot of land, the rows where crops were normally grown lying fallow at the moment, stretched out behind the hut up to the woods that bordered it. What caught Kagome's eye, though, was the hulking figure seated on a large stone in the midst of the plot.

His face was strangely elongated, his skin the color of burnt umber, and his eyes unusually round. When standing Kagome knew that he would easily be two heads taller than herself, his large, solid frame covered only by a ragged haori that might once have served as a blanket. An oni if Kagome had ever seen one.

She was struck, though, by the sight he made, long face upraised and lips drawn back to reveal a gap-toothed, earnest smile as a pair of small birds came to land in his outstretched palms. He sat perfectly still, delighted as he watched them hop about there, eating whatever grains he was holding. Kagome could not imagine that this was the flesh-eating half-monster the villagers had described.

She moved forward slowly, debating as to whether or not she should call out to him. He caught sight of her first, though, large eyes nearly bulging out of his head. He stumbled upright, his birds scattering in a rush of wings and feathers. Even from a distance Kagome could see that he was trembling.

"D-Don't hurt me," he pleaded, voice unexpectedly soft as he raised his broad hands defensively before him. "I didn't do nothing, I promise I didn't. I was just waitin' for Ma. Please…"

He backed away from her slowly, large frame poised to flee at any sudden movements from her.

"Wait," Kagome called to him, careful to keep her voice soft. "Please wait. I do not mean you any harm. I would just like to talk to you, if you have a moment."

Slowly she bent down, placing her bow and arrow in the dirt at her feet. She raised both her hands, lifting them to show him that they were empty. He stopped moving away, though he still shook visibly. He bit his lip, eyes darting about rapidly in search of an escape.

"Ma…Ma says don't talk to strangers," he said anxiously.

Kagome met his eyes, taking a small step forward. He jerked, nearly jumping out of his own skin, and she halted.

"Please don't be scared," she said. "My name is Kagome. What's yours?"

He blinked at her, his brow furrowing. He looked confused, as if no one had ever asked him that question before.

"J-Jinenji," he said after a moment.

"Jinenji-san," Kagome repeated, offering him a smile. "Pleased to meet you, Jinenji-san. And now, you see, we're not strangers anymore."

He blinked once more, frown deepening as he considered this. Slowly his trembling abated.

"I…I guess so," he said.

Kagome's smile widened. She took another small step towards him. His shoulders came up instinctively, but he made no move to run.

"Please, Jinenji-san, I promise I am not here to hurt you," Kagome said, moving step by small step towards him. "Do you think you could answer a few questions for me? The villagers asked me to come here to look into something, so perhaps you can help me."

Jinenji went rigid at the mention of the villagers.

"W-We didn't do nothing," he said, eyes falling to the earth between them. "I swear. Me and Ma didn't do anything to them."

As Kagome drew closer, she could see a number of scars criss-crossing the rough flesh of Jinenji's limbs. The smile faded from her face as her eyes traced over the networks of puckered flesh, some of the marks still dark enough to be relatively new.

"Did…did the villagers do this to you?" she asked, craning her neck to meet his eyes.

He blinked down at her, frowning deeply before giving a timid nod.

"What? Why?" Kagome breathed, eyes widening.

Wounding a youkai badly enough to leave a scar was no small feat. She could scarcely imagine what the villagers had done to him to cause that much damage. Outrage, deeper than she could explain, rose up white hot in her chest.

"I'm a…a hanyou," Jinenji murmured, fidgeting beneath the intensity of her look. "T-The villagers want me to leave. Th-They think I want to hurt them, but I don't. They hurt Ma sometimes, too. It…makes me sad."

He bowed his head, a sheen of tears suddenly bright in his bulbous eyes. Another hanyou flitted briefly through her mind, and Kagome thought that her heart might break. Answering tears pricked in the corners of her eyes as she looked up into his face.

Despite his size, there was something infinitely gentle about him, something childlike and scared in the way he fidgeted and hunched his shoulders. To judge from the severity of his scars, he had never even lifted a finger in defense of himself when he had been attacked.

"I'm so sorry," Kagome murmured, her voice hoarse as she blinked hard. "The villagers said that they were afraid you would try to hurt them. But you…you would never hurt anyone, would you?"

She reached out slowly, ever so slowly, to press the tips of her fingers to one of the most prominent scars on his forearm. Jinenji blinked down at her, face crumpling as fat tears spilled over onto his cheeks.

"Kagome-sama…"

"Don't you touch my son!"

The sudden shriek rang out from several lengths behind them and Kagome jumped, spinning to face the person. An old, haggard looking woman came charging at her, a rusty hoe upraised in her hands. She swung it and Kagome cried out, raising her arms to shield her head.

Something closed around her waist and Kagome was jerked up and back, her feet leaving the ground.

"Please stop it, Ma!" Jinenji cried. "Kagome-sama's nice! She's not…hurting me…"

Kagome's eyes slid open, her heart hammering hard against her rib cage. Jinenji had snatched her up, holding her at his eye level to keep her out of the reach of the woman. His mother. She scowled up at them, deeply lined features twisting.

"Don't be a fool, Jinenji!" she snapped, pointing the hoe at Kagome. "Just look at her! A miko! One touch from her and you're done for! No doubt it's those villagers what sent her to hurt you. You put her down right now before-!"

But Jinenji was shaking his head, raising Kagome higher as if he feared his mother might jump up to get at her. Kagome clutched at his hand to steady herself, dizzy at the height.

"Jinenji!" his mother shrieked, stomping her foot.

"Please, Ma'am," Kagome said, leaning out to look down at her. "I'm sorry for intruding, but I promise I have no intention of harming your son. I only want to help."

"Hmph!" the woman scoffed, craning her neck to glare up at her. "Help those villagers, you mean! We won't be driven out, you hear me? We've nowhere else to go! What other village would have us, Jinenji looking as he does? Besides, I've just as much right as any of 'em! My family's lived on this land for years, so-!"

"Please, Ma'am," Kagome tried once more. "I'm here from the court. I'm not siding with anyone. The villagers seem to be afraid of you and Jinenji-san, but Jinenji-san seems to be just as scared as they are. I only want to understand what is going on."

The old woman scowled up at her for several silent moments, dark eyes searching her face. At last she lowered the hoe, though her scowl did not diminish in the least.

"Fine," she huffed. "S'pose I can at least hear whatever it is you've to say. Come on. If you're seen speaking to us it'll be trouble all around. And just know that if you make one strange move, I won't hesitate to knock that pretty head off your shoulders, courtier or no. Understand?"

She brandished the hoe warningly and Kagome nodded. The old woman turned and started it back toward the hut. Gently Jinenji set Kagome back on the ground, long face drawn down into an apologetic frown.

"Sorry about Ma," he murmured.

Kagome shook her head.

"It's alright," she said. "I understand."

She truly did. Jinenji was obviously too gentle to help himself. Someone had to be strong enough to protect him.

"Come on," she said, holding out a hand to him. "Let's go figure this out."

He stared at her hand as if he were not quite certain what to do with it. Hesitantly he reached out, wrapping his own much larger hand around hers. Kagome smiled up at him. She could not say if it were his timidity or his gentle aura or something else altogether, but something in her was drawn to him. She wanted to help him. To protect him.

He blinked slowly, that same awkward smile he had worn while watching the birds spreading tentatively across his face. Kagome walked with him into the hut, not surprised to find that the place was really much too small for him to live comfortably. It took a good deal of twisting for him to get through the doorway, and once he was inside he had to remain hunched over when standing to keep from destroying the roof's thatching. Kagome frowned to herself, making a mental note to address that issue as well once everything else was sorted out.

Jinenji's mother did not offer her tea or a cushion to sit on, so Kagome simply knelt across from her on the dirt floor. Jinenji took a seat beside his mother, head bowed and hands twisting anxiously in his lap as the two women faced each other.

"You wanted to talk, so talk," the old woman said shortly.

Mentally Kagome brushed off her slight annoyance at the woman's abrupt manner, reminding herself that she was intruding on her land, after all.

"As I said, the villagers asked me to come to look into you and your son," Kagome said. "They explained to me that people in the village have been disappearing for years and that…that they think that you and your son might be partially responsible for it. After seeing Jinenji-san for myself, though, I believe that they must be mistaken somehow."

Some of the edge went out of the woman's expression. She eyed Kagome consideringly.

"Well, then, it seems you're no idiot, at least," she huffed. "My Jinenji couldn't hurt a bug if he wanted to, let alone a person. Besides, he never goes into the village if he can help it. Every time he's even gone near it, those animals've attacked him."

Kagome frowned, her eyes shifting to Jinenji and his scars.

"Do you have any idea why the villagers might suspect Jinenji-san of doing all this?" she asked.

Jinenji's mother snorted, lips twisting wryly.

"As if they need any more reason than the fact he's hanyou," she said. "They'd sooner blame us and drive us out than take the time to figure out what's really happening to those people."

"I don't mean to pry, but…" Kagome hesitated, her eyes flicking away from and then back to the woman. "Is…Is Jinenji's father one of the oni that live up on the mountain?"

Immediately the old woman's expression hardened, closing off as surely as if she had slid a mask down over her face.

"Why?" she hissed, rising half-way from where she sat. "So you can tell me how it's unnatural? Dirty? Or is it that you're one who thinks the oni eat children? That Jinenji got it from his father? I should've known! You put on a sweet face, but you're no different from the rest of them! Go! Get off my land this instant!"

She rose fully, grabbing the hoe she had laid across her knees and waving it threateningly. Kagome flinched, but forced herself to remain where she was.

"Please, I didn't mean it like that at all," she said, raising her hands in a gesture of peace. "One of the people I am…I was closest in the world to…he's a hanyou, too. So I understand. If you loved Jinenji-san's father then you loved him, regardless. I only want to understand what is going on. The villagers do seem to believe that the oni are responsible for the disappearances, as well."

The old woman blinked, hesitating.

"Don't hurt her, Ma," Jinenji murmured from behind her.

She glanced back at him, heaving a loud sigh before returning to sit cross-legged at his side. She set the hoe aside, her frown a bit sheepish around the edges.

"I did love him," she asserted, dark eyes meeting Kagome's insistently. "As a girl I loved Jinenji's father very much. And as to those villagers, it's just the same sort of nonsense. They'd sooner find someone to blame than figure out what's wrong. Have you ever seen an oni? They're hulking and frightening and not the prettiest to look at, much like my boy here, but there's no harm in 'em. They're all slow and soft-hearted. Why do you think they live up in the mountains like that? 'Cuz they're scared of what humans try to do to 'em, that's why. Even Jinenji's father. He wanted to stay down here with us, but they chased him out."

Kagome looked from Jinenji to his mother, both of their expressions growing distant at the mention of his father. During her spiritual training as a child Kagome had heard stories of the violence of the oni from Kaede. She had heard them described as hulking and hideous and even hungry for the flesh of human beings in some instances. She had even seen a few of them among the youkai swarms that had attacked her village, just as fearsome as they had been made to sound. That, however, meant little, considering that the youkai that joined the swarms were those who had given themselves over to their darker impulses.

Nor had she ever seen a single oni among the youkai clans within the court. That would make sense if they truly were as reticent as Jinenji's mother claimed. And if Jinenji himself was any indication, it was not at all hard to believe that the oni were gentle and timid beings.

Meaning that her teachings and the villagers were wrong. Meaning that the villagers had been tormenting Jinenji and his family without cause for years. Kagome blinked, her heart sinking in her chest as she looked to them.

"I…I'm so sorry," she said softly, gaze dropping to the hands folded in her lap. "I had no idea."

Jinenji's mother shrugged, affecting apathy.

"Nothing you can do for us now," she said dismissively. "'Sides, his father's a coward. Didn't belong down here with people. Didn't have the backbone for it."

Jinenji shifted uncomfortably at the mention of his father, attempting to curl further in on himself.

"Had you ever considered…sending Jinenji-san to live with his father?" Kagome suggested gently. "I'm sure it would be difficult for you to be parted from him, but perhaps he would be safer there without the threat of the villagers and-"

But Jinenji was shaking his head frantically, a tremor going through him. His mother shook her head, as well, reaching out to pat his arm.

"You think we never tried that?" she said to Kagome. "Soon's he was born and I saw how much he looked like them, I thought it'd be best for him to live among the oni. For all their usual gentleness, though, they'd no problem with being cruel to a hanyou. They didn't want him anymore than the villagers did, and his father was too weak to defend him. So I took him back. He's my son. No one's more fit to protect him than me."

Kagome looked at the pair for a long moment, watching as Jinenji offered his mother a small, grateful smile. She grinned faintly in return, patting his arm once more. Kagome sat up straighter.

"I want to help you," she said, resolved. "I want to make certain that the villagers never try to hurt either of you again."

Jinenji's mother turned to her, the wrinkles on her brow deepening in a frown. Jinenji's eyes turned to her, too, some small light entering them.

"That's all well and good to say, but I'd like to see how you plan to do it," Jinenji's mother said, though there was more wariness than anger in her tone. "Either you destroy them or you destroy us. I don't see it ending any other way."

"No, Ma," Jinenji spoke up softly, bulbous eyes still fixed on Kagome. "Kagome will do it. I know she will."

His mother blinked at him, surprised. It was the most assertive Kagome had seen him be. She smiled at him, touched by the show of confidence.

"Naïve boy," his mother muttered without venom, shaking her head before turning back to Kagome expectantly. "Well, then, let's hear this grand plan of yours."

"I…I don't exactly have one yet," Kagome admitted, her smile twisting sheepishly. "But I'll go to visit the oni first. My companions have already gone ahead of me to them, and I know that they have lived on these lands for a long time. Perhaps they'll have some idea what it is that's really been taking the people from the village."

She bowed to them both before rising to stand.

"If you'll excuse me, I want to get started as quickly as possible," she said, hoping Sango's group was taking long enough to observe before simply attacking the oni. "I promise I'll come back to explain once everything has been sorted out."

"Yeah, yeah," the old woman said, waving a hand in dismissal. "Go on. Jinenji'n' I've got work to do. No more time to be wasted with fancy courtiers. Don't come back unless you manage to get something done."

Kagome nodded, not overly bothered by her brusqueness now. After so many years of suffering it only made sense that she would be skeptical.

Jinenji lifted a hand, waving meekly after her as she exited the hut. She waved in return, offering him a reassuring smile before she left.

She returned to her mount, untying it and mounting up swiftly. Speaking with Jinenji and his mother had not taken too long, so she doubted she was very far behind the rest of her companions.

---

Her youkai mount got her up the mountain relatively quickly, and it was not long at all before she could sense both the mounts of her companions and some foreign youki that she did not recognize.

Something felt wrong, though. She urged her mount on faster.

The scene that met her as she crashed through the mountain brush into the steppes of the Oni Clan's village was the exact thing she had been hoping to prevent.

Miroku and Sango stood at the head of the group, hiraikotsu and shakujou poised. The rest of the taiji-ya flanked them, each of them ready to move at a word from Sango. Facing them were a mass of oni, all of them even larger in size than Jinenji and vaguely humanoid in shape.

Their skin ranged every earthy hue imaginable, some with horns, some with multiple eyes, some with only a single eye, and yet others had tails. They made as fearsome a sight as any of Kagome's teachings had led her to believe, but they seemed to be completely frozen in the face of her companions.

Stranger to see than this, though, was the small child in the hands of one of the largest oni. It was unquestionably human, wailing loudly enough to echo across the mountain slope. It was the child that the villagers said had gone missing recently.

Sango hefted hiraikotsu higher, signaling with her free hand for the taiji-ya to close ranks. They did, moving forward to form a tight half-circle about herself and Miroku.

"Hand the child over to us!" Sango demanded. "The villagers have told us what you have done! Surrender the child or we will not hesitate to cut you down where you stand!"

The oni holding the child stood unmoving, his single eye rolling wildly in fright. He made no move to release the crying child. Sango scowled, and with a jolt Kagome watched as she hefted hiraikotsu higher to distract attention away from her free hand as it slid her wakizashi partially from its sheathe.

With a cry Sango dropped the larger weapon, unsheathed the blade in one smooth motion, and sprang forward toward the oni holding the child. The oni started, stumbling backward with a cry, and Kagome made a split second decision.

She urged her mount forward, the youkai darting forward to get between the two. Her mount reared, frightened by the flash of Sango's blade and the bellow that came from the terrified oni, and Kagome lost her grip on its reins.

She shrieked, tumbling down off the youkai's back and bracing against the impact. Her fall was broken abruptly by some pressure against her back, jolting her upwards. All around her she could hear cries of confusion, the oni bellowing and her companions calling out to her. She opened her eyes, pressing a hand to her pounding heart.

"Let go of her, you monster!" Sango shouted, and Kagome realized suddenly that it was the oni who had caught her.

She blinked up at him, her feet dangling just above the ground, and he returned her look with one of absolute terror. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement, Sango tensing to spring once more with blade in hand.

"Stop!" Kagome cried, turning to her. "Please wait, Sango!"

The woman blinked, halting dead in her tracks.

"It's a misunderstanding," Kagome continued, speaking loudly enough for all of her companions to hear. "Please just wait a moment. It is a misunderstanding, isn't it?"

The last bit was directed up at the oni holding her. He nodded slowly, his single eye wide as a full moon. She could feel the tremors running through him in the hand that held her.

"That child is from the village, right?" she asked, to which he managed another nod. "Why do you have it, then?"

The oni frowned, looking down at the squalling child.

"We found it," he said, voice low and slow. "Someone left it at the foot of the mountain."

"Why did you not return it to the villagers?" Sango asked, sword still in hand.

The oni shook his head frantically, some of the oni behind him mirroring the gesture.

"They always attack us," he said. "We don't go there. Here."

He brought the hand holding the child over to Kagome, offering it to her. Kagome took the child from his hand, cooing softly to it in the hopes that it might calm down as it clung to her. The oni then lowered them both to the ground, backing away warily.

"P-Please go now," he said. "We don't want to fight."

The oni began to retreat back into their village.

"Wait!" Sango called after them, hurriedly sheathing her blade. "I apologize! I did not know-!"

The oni ignored her, continuing to lumber away from them. Sango made as if to follow them, but Kagome stopped her with a hand on her arm. She offered her the quickly quieting child and Sango took it, frowning.

"What is going on, Kagome-chan?" Miroku asked, coming up beside them.

Kagome shook her head.

"I'll explain in a bit," she said hurriedly. "First I need to go and see if I can get them to talk to me."

"I will come with you-" Miroku began to offer, but Kagome shook her head.

"The less people there are, the more inclined they will likely be to speak. They are already frightened enough of us as it is."

"You should not go alone," Sango protested, dandling the child to keep it quiet. "Think of what they might do to you after what we nearly did to them."

"They don't want to hurt anyone," Kagome replied. "Just think. Why didn't they attack just now? Why do they live isolated up here like this? Please, just wait here for me. If you feel that I am taking too long, then you can come after me, alright?"

She turned, waving to them and starting off at a run before they could voice any further protests. The oni had made it to a large clearing in the midst of their village by the time that she caught up with them, the sizeable fire-pit there indicating that it was likely where they held their gatherings.

They huddled there together, all of them still looking rather shaken. One of the females on the fringe of the group caught sight of her as she slowed to approach them, starting up with a cry.

In an instant the rest of the group was up, watching her warily and preparing to run. Kagome halted in her approach, raising her hands to show that they were empty.

"I have come alone," she said. "And I mean you no harm. I only want to ask a few questions."

A low murmuring started up among the group, the oni looking wide eyed to one another, and slowly the largest among them stepped forward to face her. Her skin was a brown deeper than the color of the earth, her hair long and stringy where it hung from her perfectly round head.

"We are grateful for what you did," she said, inclining her head. "But we've no wish to deal with humans. Please leave now. We don't want to fight, but we will if you force us."

She inclined her head once more before turning to go. The rest of the oni seemed to take this as a signal, following her lead as she moved further up the steps they had carved into the side of the mountain long ago.

"Wait!" Kagome called, taking a few steps after them. "Please, I only want to talk! I want to help-"

But, save a few backward looks, the oni ignored her. She dared not follow them any further for fear that she truly would provoke them. There had to be something, though. Some way to just get them to talk to her…

An idea struck her.

"What about Jinenji?" she called after them, knowing that there had to be at least one among them whose attention would be caught by the name. "I'm trying to help him! The villagers are blaming him for all of this, too!"

Nothing happened. The oni did not slow in the slightest. Kagome bit her lip, looking after them. If they would not help her, then she had no clue as to how to proceed from here.

Suddenly, though, she noticed one of the oni among the group. He was slowing his pace, falling to the back of the group. Bit by bit he slowed until he was lagging well behind the rest. When they had moved a good way ahead of him, he turned and came back down the slope towards her.

He stopped several lengths from her, head bowed as he shifted anxiously. He was a good deal smaller than the others, only a head and a half taller than herself, his skin the color of burnt umber and a horn protruding from between his rather mournful looking round eyes. The gentle aura was the same.

"Are you Jinenji's father?" she asked softly, afraid that she might frighten him away with any sudden move.

He nodded, his gaze fixed on the ground.

"I won't hurt you," she said, taking a small step towards him. "You have my word. I only want to ask you a few questions."

He glanced up at her and then back down, hands balling at his sides.

"The others attacked us," he murmured lowly.

"They misunderstood," Kagome said. "And they are very sorry for it."

He raised his head just enough that he could meet her eyes, the sadness and resignation she saw there causing her chest to tighten.

"Everyone misunderstands," he said. "No one asks. No one cares."

Kagome blinked up at him, momentarily at a loss. Her teachings had taught her that the oni were violent and frightening creatures. Sango's had taught her the same. The villagers believed it without question. He was right. No one had asked. No one had cared enough to understand. They were big and hulking and appeared inhuman and no one had cared to look any further.

"What…what about Jinenji's mother?" Kagome said after a moment, tucking away her darker musings for when she had the time to entertain them. "She told me how much she loved you. She didn't misunderstand, did she?"

He blinked down at her, some faint light entering his gaze.

"No," he said, the warmth of nostalgia coloring the word. "She is…a good person with a strong heart. I want to…to be strong, too. I want…to help my son for once."

"You can," Kagome said, eager to assure him. "You can do him a great kindness. Just tell me, have you any idea what it is that has really been terrorizing the villagers?"

Jinenji's father tensed, his shoulders coming up protectively. He hesitated for several long moments before giving one single, small nod. Kagome perked up, having half-expected the oni not to know either.

"Will you tell me, then?" she pressed. "If you tell me, then-"

But he was already shaking his head before she could finish. He wrung his hands hard together, biting down on his lower lip. Kagome frowned, taking another small step towards them.

"Please-"

"It…will hurt us, if I tell you," he said. "It's strong. It will hurt us."

He closed his mouth tight, shaking his head with finality. Kagome gazed up at him, feeling frustration begin to prickle up within her at the absolute defeat in his stance.

"What about wanting to help?" she said, unable to keep some of the sharpness from her tone.

He flinched.

"I want…to help," he mumbled feebly, though he looked like he wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and hide.

"Then help!" Kagome snapped, glaring up at him.

He blanched, some of the color draining from his skin. Kagome took a breath, trying to rein in her frustration.

"Please," she said more softly, reaching out a hand to touch one of his lightly. "If ever your son needed you, he needs you now. Whatever this thing is, it's already hurting the villagers. And, in turn, they are hurting you and Jinenji. We can end all this now, though. You just have to tell me."

He frowned down at her hand, so small by comparison, as if mystified at the sight. Slowly his eyes moved to her face, studying it as if seeing her for the first time.

"You're…like her," he said softly. "Good, and strong. I'm sorry I'm…so weak. I'm sorry."

His bulbous eyes welled with tears, trickling down his elongated face. He murmured his apologies over and over intermixed with the name of his son, his shoulders shaking. Kagome gripped his hand, swallowing back the tightness in her throat.

"It's not too late," she pressed. "You always have a choice. You can always choose to do it differently. So make the choice. For Jinenji, if you can't do it for yourself."

He sniffled noisily, brow furrowing as he blinked down at her. Kagome met his eyes steadfastly, silently urging him on.

"Centipede," he hiccupped, the word scarcely intelligible. "Female centipede. Her children…take the villagers."

'To eat' was the part of the sentence that went unspoken, though it was clear enough to Kagome. Her stomach turned. All those people over all those years…

"Where?" Kagome pressed. "I didn't sense anything in the village."

He shook his head, sniffling and trembling all over.

"Underground," he said. "Her nest is old. The village was built over it. We tried…we tried to tell them, but they yelled and chased us out."

Kagome's frown deepened at the last bit, anger flickering up inside her for a brief moment. They had tried to warn the villagers. They had tried to prevent all of this, and the villagers had not even thought to listen. They had essentially brought everything onto themselves, hurting Jinenji and the oni in the process.

Kagome sighed, shaking her head. It would not do to lay blame now. Everyone was suffering here. The best she could do at this point was to show them the truth and hope that they could all move forward somehow. There was no time to waste, though.

She patted Jinenji's father's hand, offering him a bracing smile.

"Thank you," she said. "You have been very brave. My companions and I will take care of the rest. If all works out as I hope, you will soon have no reason to fear the villagers. Perhaps then you can go to see your son."

She released him, dipping in a small bow before turning to start off quickly. She thought she might have heard him call out after her, but she knew she did not have much time. Night would be falling soon, and the centipede youkai had obviously lost her latest intended meal somehow. She was almost certain that she would come out to hunt for a replacement come nightfall. Before that they would need to make some sort of plan.

Her companions were waiting on the far edge of the village, obviously trying to be as inoffensive as possible after what had happened. Sango and Miroku started forward at the sight of her, Sango still holding the village child.

"Kagome-chan, what is going on?" Sango asked.

"It's a bit of a long story," Kagome said. "But suffice it to say for now that the Oni Clan are not the ones who have been taking people from the village. Rather, they are afraid of the villagers. They live up here to avoid them. The 'witch' and her son that the villagers told us of are merely a woman and her hanyou son, also innocent. It's a centipede youkai and her children, living beneath the village, that are responsible. One of the oni told me so."

Sango blinked, a frown tugging at her lips as she listened.

"I…when I saw the child, I did not think to wait or watch…" she murmured, half to herself. "All I have ever been taught about them…"

"It seems that even the accepted teachings can be wrong," Kagome said gently. "Believe me, I likely would have done the same thing, Sango-chan."

"I wish I could apologize, though," Sango said, glancing over Kagome's shoulder into the village.

"Likely the kindest thing we can do for them now is to show the villagers the truth of the matter," Miroku said, echoing Kagome's earlier thoughts.

Sango gave a curt nod, though she avoided looking at him.

"We should hurry," Kagome put in, partly to keep tension from growing up between them yet again. "My guess is that this child was to be the centipede youkai's latest victim. She will need something else to feed to her children, and she will likely come out tonight in search of it."

"Let's go, then," Sango said. "Centipede youkai try to stay underground as much as possible, so she will have a number of tunnels around the village. We will need enough time to locate them all."

She turned, whistling sharply enough to catch the attention of her companions.

"Mount up," she ordered. "We are returning the village. Quickly!"

Her tone brooked no hesitation, and in moments they were all on their way back down the mountain into the village.

---

When they arrived in the village, Sango was quick to divide the group up and delegate tasks to them. Haru and Shippou had come to meet them, and she instructed them to return the child to the villagers and explain what was going on to the best of their ability. The rest of them Sango ordered to split up and search the woods surrounding the village.

They needed to find the centipede's tunnels and report back before nightfall. Sango gave them an approximate radius to search within, listing the sorts of places the tunnels might be hidden before sending them off.

Kagome was with Noriko and two other male taiji-ya, combing the woods on the west side of the village. It did not take them long to uncover the first tunnel, hidden under the tangled roots at the base of a large tree. The second one they would not have found but for the sharp eyes of one of the men, noticing a trail of disturbed earth leading to a large rock. It looked as if something had been dragged through the woods, and when the rock was pushed aside it revealed a second tunnel. They found a third tunnel hidden in the thick of several bushes before completing the search of their section and returning to report to Sango.

All told the group managed to find just under twenty tunnels surrounding the village, giving the youkai easy access to almost every corner of it. They all circled up as Sango sketched an outline in the dirt of the village and the tunnels, explaining what her plan was.

Just before nightfall they were all to split up once more, returning to the sites of the tunnels. As night fell they were each to drop several of the taiji-ya's poison bombs down into the tunnels. The fumes would spread, reaching the centipede's lair and forcing her either to escape through one of the tunnels or to suffocate slowly beneath the earth.

Two people each would be designated to watch each tunnel in case it was the one the youkai emerged from, leaving one extra person. Sango decided that Kagome, as the extra, should return to the village to stand guard there and make certain the villagers did not enter the woods until morning. Kagome agreed.

Sango gave the order and the group split up once more, agreeing to meet in the village come morning when everything was over. Kagome returned to the village to find most of the villagers milling about outside of their huts, anxiety hanging heavy over them. They swarmed around her as she entered, Shippou and Haru hardly able to reach her through the chattering mass.

They demanded to know what was going on and what had happened and what exactly Haru had meant when he had told them that the oni were not to blame for the disappearing villagers. At this Haru shot her a sheepish look, shrugging a bit exasperatedly.

It took a bit of time, but with some effort Kagome was able to calm them down enough to explain everything. Despite her best efforts, though, she could not make them believe that the oni were not responsible somehow. They were convinced and no one could tell them otherwise.

Kagome had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at them, knowing only too well now who it was hurting. As the sun sank toward the horizon she gave up all attempts to reason with them, figuring that once everything was over she would be able to find some indisputable proof to show them.

She shifted her focus, corralling them all in the center of the village. The further they were from the fringes, the less likely they were to be hurt should the worst occur. Shippou and Haru helped her to keep them together and relatively calm as the sun slowly set, darkness bringing with it silence in the surrounding woods.

Kagome stood on the outer edge of the group, ears straining, as darkness set in fully. For several long moments there was no sound save the chirping of insects and the cooing of nocturnal birds, and Kagome relaxed. It seemed the centipede youkai was going to die quietly beneath the earth, after all.

Haru, Shippou riding on his shoulder, came to stand beside her.

"The villagers have lit a fire, if you'd like to come warm yourself, Kagome-sama," he said.

Kagome nodded, offering him a smile as thanks. Shippou leapt from his shoulder to her own as she turned to join the group, chattering animatedly in her ear about the toy top that one of the little boys in the village had given him. She was so focused on trying to follow his rather convoluted narrative of the event that she nearly missed the first of the tremors.

The second sent her stumbling, the villagers crying out around her. A low rumble was filling the air, seeming to come from everywhere at once.

"W-What is it?" Haru cried at her side.

Kagome pulled her bow from her quiver, notching an arrow in one smooth motion as her eyes moved automatically to scan the woods around them. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The rumbling, however, continued to grow louder. Something sparked across her sixth sense. Kagome went cold with horror.

"Run!" she screamed, turning to the villagers. "Everyone, run! As far from here as you can!"

They scattered like startled birds, crying and screaming.

"Haru!" she said, spinning to face the man who, despite his obvious fear, had remained at her side. "The woods! Go fetch the taiji-ya back here!"

He nodded, hesitating for only a moment before shooting off towards the pitch-black forest.

The rumbling grew louder. Kagome took off at a run, Shippou clinging to her shoulder. Too late, though.

The earth beneath her feet exploded, sending them flying. For the space of several breathless moments she was airborne, arching through space. Pain exploded behind her closed eyelids as she landed, her shoulder jarring hard against the ground.

She groaned, rolling over and struggling blindly to raise herself. With a jolt of pure panic she realized that the kitsune and her bow were no longer with her, the arrows that had been in her quiver scattered all around her.

"Shippou!" she called, forcing herself to stand. "Shippou!"

Her voice caught in her throat, her eyes widening as they locked with the eerily human face of the thing towering several lengths above her. The centipede youkai.

Apparently Jinenji's father had not been exaggerating when he had said that her lair was directly beneath the village.

Before Kagome could so much as blink it was diving towards her, jaw cracking and unhinging grotesquely to reveal teeth like jagged stone knives. A choked cry escaped Kagome as she stumbled back a step, hands groping instinctively for a bow she no longer had.

Something flew up from behind her, lodging solidly in the youkai's gaping maw. It swerved, surprised as the giant spinning top nearly choked it, and Kagome spun on her heel.

"Shippou!" she called, seeing the kitsune only a few lengths behind her and clutching her bow in one hand.

She hurriedly scooped up several of her scattered arrows and made a dash towards him, not breaking stride as she tugged him up into her arms. Behind them an almighty crack sounded, the splintering of Shippou's illusionary top.

"It's coming!" he yelped, watching over her shoulder as she made a mad dash for higher ground.

A moment later a shrieking roar and the rumbling crash of a hundred legs beating the earth confirmed this. Adrenaline pulsing hotly through her, Kagome put on one final burst of speed. She swerved to throw the youkai, dashing up the village's only hill towards the headman's hut that sat atop it. Villagers swarmed everywhere like frightened livestock, uncertain where to go and afraid to leave the village, and she prayed they would have the good sense to get out of the thing's way as she at last gained the top of the hill.

She dropped Shippou and her excess arrows, raising her bow and notching one quickly. The centipede youkai was barreling up the hill just behind her, its hundred legs working furiously and red eyes fixed on her from inside what bizarrely mirrored the face of a beautiful human woman. Kagome held her stance, eyes narrowing as she attempted to line up the shot.

The thing's jaw unhinged once more, gaping wide, and Kagome released. The arrow flared to life, briefly illuminating knife-like teeth as it sailed past the gaping jaws and into the monster's body.

It shrieked, thrashing as the purifying light dissolved it section by section from the inside out. In the next instant it was gone, nothing left of it save ash fluttering to the earth.

Kagome released a shaky breath, lowering her bow slowly. Below her the villagers quieted somewhat, their movements stilling as they realized that the threat was gone. Behind her Kagome could hear Shippou let out a whooping cry of success.

In the distance, around the spot where the youkai had erupted from, she could see four huts burning, the flames bright against the night sky. The emergence of the youkai had scattered the tinder of the fire the villagers had built up, setting the huts alight. Thankfully there was little in the way of wind that night, but Kagome knew they needed to be put out quickly to keep the fire from spreading.

She took a deep breath and released it, recollecting herself.

"Please," she called, loudly enough to be heard by the villagers below her. "I need those of you who are able to fetch water. We must-"

She cut herself short, a flicker of movement catching her eye. The glow from the burning huts illuminated the edges of the hole from which the youkai emerged.

Something was moving within the darkness. A chill crawled across Kagome's flesh.

As she watched several centipede youkai writhed up from the depths of the earth, grotesquely human faces peering about in the dim light offered by the fires. Several more followed them as they crawled up out into the village, searching.

The centipede youkai's children.

"Run…" she said, the word a rasping whisper as it left her throat.

She cleared her throat, yelling down to the villagers, "Run! Into the forest, as far as you can get! There are more of them!"

In the darkness below her they echoed her cry, the group breaking into a flurry of motion once more. Kagome turned to face Shippou, dropping her knees to collect the rest of her arrows as she spoke hurriedly to him.

"I need you to go with them, Shippou," she said, shoving the arrows into the quiver resting against her back.

"But, Kagome-!"

"Please, Shippou," she cut him off, meeting his eyes pleadingly. "They need someone to light their path and keep them safe in the woods. I'm counting on you to do this."

He hesitated a moment, wide eyes searching hers, before giving a sharp nod. Without a word he dashed off down the hillside, kitsune-bi sparking to life above him as he made his way towards the fleeing villagers.

She shifted her attention back to the youkai, raising her bow and reaching back for an arrow. The monsters continued to emerge endlessly from the hole in the earth, the first one who had emerged seeming to have caught the scent of human flesh. They were crawling decisively in the direction that the villagers were fleeing, bodies winding and twisting rapidly along the earth.

Kagome bit down on her lip hard, well aware that she did not have enough arrows to deal with them all. The best she could do was distract them long enough for the villagers to escape and hope Haru managed to find the taiji-ya soon.

She notched an arrow, drawing the string back and taking aim at the youkai leading the charge. She let it fly, hitting and dissolving the centipede in a flash of pearlescent blue light. The ones behind it pulled up short in surprise, hissing loudly.

"Up here!" she shouted, already notching the second arrow. "Come on! This way!"

She knew they would come. Her spiritual abilities made her the bigger, if not the easier, meal.

Several sets of red eyes found her through the darkness and she waited, holding off firing again until she was certain they had shifted course. Slowly they turned towards her, the mass of them starting towards the hill. Kagome fired again, incinerating the one closest to the foot of the hill.

She reached back for another arrow as the others sped up, heart jumping into her throat as she realized she only had four more left. She notched one of them, pulse beginning to echo in her ears as she took aim.

Terrified screaming rent the air, freezing both Kagome and the youkai. It was the villagers.

Kagome could see them, yelling and clutching their children as they ran back towards the village. Behind them lumbered a number of the Oni Clan, emerging from the woods all around, and Kagome cursed.

"Stop!" she screamed. "They won't hurt you! Don't come this way!"

But they did not hear her and it was already too late. The youkai, realizing that there was a whole mass of easier prey coming right towards them, had turned away from the hill, making their way towards the screaming.

Kagome groaned, taking off down the hill. Her only thought was to get between the youkai and the villagers before they collided.

The villagers came to a halt, eyes wide and rolling like cornered animals as they realized that they were trapped. The centipede youkai continued their rapid advance towards them, and Kagome's heart jolted as she spotted a stray child on the far fringe of the group. His wailing cries were drowned out in the chaos of the scene, and one youkai's jaw cracked open unnaturally as it made for him. With several lengths between them it lunged.

Kagome dove for the boy, wrapping herself protectively around him and bracing for impact. Screams, cries, and thundering steps echoed around her, but no impact came. Her eyes slid open.

In front of her a figure loomed tall, thick limbs straining as it desperately held back the flailing monster. It was Jinenji.

All around him other oni had come forward and were wrestling with the snapping, undulating beasts.

"That's my boy!" called a hoarse voice above the clamor. "You get 'em, Jinenji!"

Kagome rose, steering the trembling boy back towards the group as she met the blazing eyes of Jinenji's mother. The old woman held a torch high, illuminating the pale, stunned faces of the crowd behind her.

"What-?" Kagome began, her head fairly spinning.

"No time for that!" the old woman snapped. "Get in there and help my boy!"

Kagome blinked, nodding. She turned back to the fray and notched an arrow, taking aim at the centipede youkai Jinenji was grappling with. It was a clean shot despite their struggles, the youkai dissolving in his hands. He turned, blinking slowly at her before offering a crooked smile.

"Kagome!" a voice cried.

Something went flying above her head, severing the head of a youkai that had managed to creep between the wall of oni before whipping back around. Sango landed beside her, catching hiraikotsu effortlessly from astride a transformed Kirara.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Kagome nodded.

"They came up from under the village," she explained in a rush. "The oni came to help."

Sango nodded.

"Stay close and protect the villagers," she ordered, "We will take care of the rest."

She spurred Kirara forward, posting up on her back to send hiraikotsu flying ahead of her into the fray. Distantly Kagome could see some of her other companions emerging from the woods, those that Haru had not gotten to drawn by the blaze that had now ignited several of the huts.

The oni, her companions, and the seemingly endless stream of centipede youkai swiftly became entangled in a chaotic mass, their clashes back-lit by the hellish glow of the flames. Kagome moved back to stand before the villagers, raising both hands with palms out before her.

She drew a deep breath, eyes sliding shut as she focused on releasing the energy through her hands. Slowly she felt her spiritual energy seeping out and she pushed harder, willing and shaping it to form a small barrier. Her arms shook slightly with the effort of holding it without the use of a medium, but she was relatively sure she could at least hold it until the battle was over.

Behind her the headman pushed forward through the crowd, coming to stand beside her. He watched the battle rage with wide eyes, his features pale.

"Miko-sama…what is going on?" he asked faintly.

Despite the grave circumstances Kagome could not help but feel a flicker of satisfaction.

"Just watch," she panted. "And see what the truth is for yourself."

---

The battle continued for some time, though the outcome became largely inevitable by the time that all of Kagome's companions arrived. They were trained to exterminate and moved with precision, in a stark contrast to the confused and already poison-weakened mass of centipede youkai. The oni were also surprisingly strong and dogged fighters, for all that they were slow and clumsy.

Still the centipede youkai managed to do a good deal of damage in their desperate struggles, razing a number of huts and injuring some the oni and taiji-ya. Several of them broke through long enough to come after the villagers, but Kagome managed to hold her barrier and they either disintegrated upon impact or were torn away by the oni.

When the fighting died down at last, the wreckage of the village was extensive. Kagome dropped her barrier, her robes damp with sweat and her limbs trembling with exhaustion, as the weary combatants made their way slowly to where they villagers were huddled. Jinenji's mother was the first to rush forward, torch held high as she met her limping son half way.

There was a sizable laceration across his forehead and blood dripped down his leg from where a centipede youkai had sunk its fangs in.

"Foolish boy!" she muttered, though without any real heat to the words. "Look at what you've done to yourself! Kneel down! I'll take care of you."

He knelt down obediently, wincing at the pressure on his leg, and she pulled a large bundle of herbs from the front of her robes. She paused, glaring around at them all as they looked on in silence.

"What're you all doing staring like a bunch of nitwits?" she snapped. "Injured, line up and I'll treat you! The rest of you, there's still fires to be put out! Get to it!"

This seemed to break the villagers from their daze. They moved tentatively towards the oni as the injured moved to seek treatment. Kagome attempted to rise from where she was kneeling, but quickly found that her legs were not willing to comply in the endeavor. Her entire body felt numb and strangely boneless.

Haru hurried to her side, Shippou with him. He knelt down, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and helping her to stand just in time to see the largest of the oni and the village headman come together.

They looked at one another in silence for several long moments, both obviously uncertain.

"Why?" the headman asked at last, as if he could not manage any more than that.

The oni, the large female who had addressed Kagome on the mountainside and who appeared to be the clan head, blinked slowly at him before answering.

"These are…our lands, too," she said simply.

The headman's eyes widened slightly. After a moment he smiled, the expression a strange mix of shame and gratitude.

"You're right," he said softly, meeting the oni's eyes. "They are."

And he bowed, the gesture slow and deep and deliberate. When he rose, the oni offered him a lopsided grin, her large eyes bright.

Looking on, Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. It was not the end. It was hardly even a beginning really. But it was something.

They likely had a rocky, winding path ahead of them before they could reach any true understanding, especially considering all the deep-rooted misunderstanding that lay between them. But it was a start. And suddenly, Kagome thought she might understand what the former Tennō-sama had been at all those years ago.

---

Kagome and her companions ended up remaining in the village for two more days, both to give those among them with injuries a bit of time to recover and to help organize the reconstruction of the village.

After all that had happened it took almost no effort on Kagome's part to secure the support of both the village headman and the Southern Oni Clan. The headman even invited the oni to try moving closer to the village, if they would like. Food and water were harder to come by high on the slopes of the mountain, after all, and the headman promised them peace and support if they decided to do so. The oni tentatively agreed to consider the proposition, still too wary after all that they had been subjected to to agree immediately, and for the time being worked to help rebuild the village.

From them Kagome learned that it had been at the absolute insistence of Jinenji's father that they had come to the village's aid. He had convinced them that something was going to happen, and that it would likely be the last chance they would ever get to clear their name and end their constant conflict with the villagers. The oni were not beings inclined towards confrontation, but there were some things that they were willing to stand for.

Observing Jinenji's father, though, Kagome could not help but suspect that he had not been entirely forthcoming with the other oni. He had said to her that he wanted to help his son and, watching him hover awkwardly around Jinenji and his mother, she was almost certain that that had been his real objective. The arrival of herself and her companions had merely given him the opportunity after all these years.

As for Jinenji, no one among the villagers or the oni seemed to know how to approach him. Whether it was guilt over the fact that he had taken the brunt of the abuse from both sides or hesitation over the fact that he was a hanyou, Kagome was not certain. Despite this, though, Kagome did not sense any genuine animosity towards him from anyone. He had saved lives on both sides during the battle and, given time, she was certain that he would gain their full acceptance.

Before setting out Kagome went to pay him and his mother one last visit, finding them out in the small field behind their hut. Jinenji's mother stood overseeing him as he worked at chopping and stacking wood, to be used in the repairs of the village. Kagome called a greeting to her, coming to stand at her side. She received little more than a glance and a brusque nod in return, but she knew better than to be put off by it.

"How are his wounds?" she asked, glancing out at the boy as he labored without any seeming difficulty.

"Almost healed already," the woman replied. "Youkai blood in 'im works wonders. What're you here for, anyway?"

"My companions and I are setting out today."

This caught her full attention. She glanced at Kagome from the corner of her eye before folding her arms over her chest with a huff.

"And I s'pose you expect some sort of thanks before you go?" she said, turning her gaze pointedly back out onto the field.

"No," Kagome replied, shaking her head. "Rather, I should thank you and Jinenji-san. Without your efforts that night I doubt I would even be here."

The old woman blinked, surprise registering across her weathered features. Her arms fell slowly to her sides, a frown lining her brow as she turned fully to face Kagome. She eyed her hard for several long moments, shifting indecisively. At last she practically launched herself forward, wrapping her arms about Kagome in a clumsy embrace.

"Thank you," she murmured, voice rougher than usual with emotion. "You've done more for him than you'll ever know."

She pulled back before Kagome could even process the action far enough to consider reciprocating. She cleared her throat loudly, her gaze turning back to Jinenji as he continued to labor away.

"Least he's got a chance now that his good-for-nothing father's around again. I always worried what'd happen when it came time for me to pass. I mean, with as long as he's gonna live, I can't be with him forever. Now at least he'll have his father."

She paused, her features softening somewhat as her eyes trailed after her son.

"There used to be days where I regretted having him," she said lowly, gaze growing distant. "Not 'cuz I didn't love him, mind you. It was 'cuz I couldn't imagine what sorta life he'd have. Not being one thing or the other. Hated for his human side and his youkai side. That kinda loneliness….I didn't want that for my boy."

She shook her head, some of the bitter nostalgia leaving her eyes.

"Maybe there's a chance for 'im, though," she continued with a shrug. "We're so different we scare each other, but if humans'n' youkai can begin to understand each other maybe one's like my Jinenji can be the links what bring us all together…"

She trailed off, her look thoughtful. After a moment she cleared her throat loudly, recollecting herself.

"Never mind all that nonsense," she snapped. "Just the ramblings of an old woman."

"No," Kagome protested, shaking her head. "Not at all. I understand. It would be wonderful if…if things could be that way."

She looked to Jinenji, but her mind was elsewhere. She thought of Inuyasha and the little he had told her of his childhood. Neither one thing nor the other. Hated. Lonely. She knew he had experienced all those things and more, without even a father or a mother to support him.

And suddenly it occurred to her that perhaps her eagerness and determination to help had not been entirely for Jinenji's sake. Perhaps, in some way, it had been another hanyou that she had been trying to help. At one time she had wanted little more than to be his friend, after all. To be his strength and support so that he would see he was not alone in the world.

No. That was not true. It was still what she wanted.

"You said you had a hanyou, too," Jinenji's mother said, as if she could read her thoughts.

Kagome hesitated a moment, surprised, before giving a small nod. The old woman eyed her, a certain knowingness in her gaze.

"Well, take good care of him, then," she said. "He's a lucky one to have you at his side."

Kagome could only look at her, wordless for a long moment. Her gaze fell to her feet.

"…Yeah."

---

She did not stay much longer after that. She informed Jinenji that she had to be going and he bid her a tearful farewell, timidly offering her a bundle of their home-grown medicinal herbs at the prodding of his mother. After another short good-bye to his mother she set off, feeling somehow lighter than she had in months.

To her surprise, she found Kohaku hovering around the front of Jinenji's hut, an anxious look on his face. Spotting her, he cried out.

"Kagome-sama!" he called. "Thank goodness I have found you! We must hurry!"

"Hurry?" Kagome echoed. "Is something wrong?"

He grabbed her hand, tugging her along behind him as he spoke. Kagome allowed herself to be led, alarmed. Ever since he had joined the group Kohaku had always been quiet and controlled. Shy, Sango had told her once, a timid boy from the time he was young, though he was a decent enough warrior when he was pressed. Even when the others had challenged Sango's leadership he had been quiet and kept his own counsel, though Sango had assured her that she did not hold a grudge over it. He had simply never been strong-willed enough to stand against others when he could avoid it.

Now, though, his normally inscrutable features were written over with anxiety.

"There is not much time to explain," he said in a rush. "But a man from a village nearby came to the headman just a bit ago. He is severely injured, and he says that there has been an attack by a youkai swarm on a village at the foot of Mount Hakurei. The other taiji-ya have gone ahead to do what they can. They asked me to find you and bring you along."

They reached the place where he had tied two mounts, saddled and ready on the far edge of the village. Kohaku mounted up swiftly and Kagome followed suit. They set off at a quick pace, both of them silent and focused as their mounts' strides ate up the distance.

Kagome's grip on her reins tightened as more and more of Mount Hakurei, just a ways to the west of Jinenji's village, came into sight above the tops of the trees. She could sense it. Even from a distance she could sense a powerful jyaki, one that was enough to turn her stomach and send chills racing along her flesh.

In tacit agreement the two urged their mounts on faster. They only slowed when the dense gathering of trees parted at last to reveal the foot of the mountain, Kagome's eyes scanning the area anxiously.

"The village must be on the other side of the mountain," Kagome called to Kohaku.

She started to spur her mount forward, but he brought her up short.

"Wait!" he called, dismounting. "I think I see something, Kagome-sama!"

He moved towards the foot of the mountain, and Kagome caught sight of what he spoke of. There was an opening there, scarcely more than a large crevasse, but a strange light emanated from it.

"Wait!" Kagome called after him, alarmed at the jyaki she could sense there. "Wait, Kohaku-sama! Don't go alone!"

She scrambled down from her mount, hurrying after him and pulling her bow from the quiver at her back. Kohaku stood just before the opening, his own kusari-gama ready in his hands.

"What is it?" he murmured lowly to her, his eyes wide.

"I'm not sure," Kagome replied softly, a shudder running through her as she felt a strong pulse of jyaki from inside. "Stand back, Kohaku-sama."

He did and she drew an arrow from her quiver, notching it. She situated herself squarely in front of the opening, drawing back her arm and lining up her shot. If she could hit the light squarely…

A blow to her head sent her sprawling, bow and arrow flying from her hands. A moment later something cold wrapped around her neck, forcing her up and back. She tried to cry out, but no sound would emerge as the thing tightened.

Her hands came up, scrabbling wildly to get some hold on the thing, but it was wrapped too tight for her to pry away. She choked, gasping for air, writhing and pulling in a blind panic.

"Calm yourself," a cool voice came from just behind her. "I do not intend to damage you more than is necessary."

Dark spots beginning to dance in her vision, Kagome craned her head to get a look at her assailant. Kohaku stood behind her, expression detached even as he pulled the chain of the kusari-gama tighter about her throat. She choked, air being forced from her. She could feel her fingers growing numb on the chain.

Behind him the light of day was disappearing, the mountain seeming to seal itself closed around them as he dragged her forward. In the fading light Kagome gaped at the boy, reaching a hand out to him in a last desperate plea.

He did not so much as blink, and she wondered suddenly if this was where she was to die. She managed to raise a hand, fumbling blindly at the front of her robes as her vision began to fade. At last her fist closed around it, and she clutched it tightly.

Inuyasha...

And then her world went black as the mountain closed around them and she slipped into unconsciousness.

---

Yay! Done. Somehow I thought this half of the chapter would be much shorter than Part I, but it turned out to be just as long. Oh, well. I enjoyed writing this one more than the last, anyway.

Also, request and shout out: If any of you can draw, I love seeing art for this story. It's truly been helpful creatively for me. Some awesome people who have already done art for me: ebjeebies, IsadorX, siren-mergirl, and RyRy18. Check them out on Deviantart and message me if you'd like to do a piece for the story. It's always deeply appreciated!

Here's our mini-history lesson/a few notes and terms:

-Miyasu: This is actually the name of Miroku's grandfather in the series, not his father. His father is left unnamed, though, so I thought I'd use this one.

-Kusari-gama: Kohaku's weapon in the series. Literally means 'chain-sickle' and looks exactly like it sounds.

-Mt. Hakurei: a fictional mountain in the Inuyasha series. Since it is fictional, it has no specific location geographically and thus I used it for my own purposes. More on this to come.

-ageha-chō: The mon (seal) of the Taira clan. Basically a butterfly native to Japan. Each clan has both a representative kami (which is also used as a seal from time to time) and some sort of object/animal that serves as a mon and appears as a common pattern among the clan.

-Oni: Often translated as 'devil', 'ogre', or 'troll' in English, these are some of the more blatantly threatening youkai in Japanese folklore. They come in various shapes and sizes, though they are generally tall, horned, and evil-looking. They are also said to enjoy the taste of human flesh in some stories. I, however, thought it might be interesting to turn such notoriously villainized youkai into…well, you read it. Also, in the series Jinenji's mother claimed that his father was some sort of hot, glowing youkai, but that always seemed weird to me as I thought Jinenji looked much more like an oni than anything else. Thus, this is what we got.

That's all for now, folks. Review if you feel inclined and don't if you don't.

Until next time,

E-n-B