The group was nearly at each other's throats by the time they reached Sakidou. It seemed that Sesshoumaru's default stress reliever was to needle his brother, and with still no sign of Rin, the daiyoukai was getting particularly nasty with his comments.
Kagome finally turned around, launching an arrow between them, pink sparks exploding like fireworks. "Cut it out, already!" she snapped. "None of this is helping Rin, and if you two start fighting inside a slayer village, no one is going to help us!"
Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head, but Sesshoumaru was unrepentant, lifting his chin in an aristocratic sneer. Kagome lifted her own in mimicry, daring him to talk back, then turned around, sighing in relief at the sight of Sango waving from the edge of the village.
She let Kohaku run ahead, giving the stoic teen a few extra moments to embrace his sister before sidling up beside them. Sango ruffled Kohaku's hair, eliciting a groan, then turned to Kagome, pulling her into a hug that had tears pricking her eyes.
"You always stay away too long," Sango said when she finally pulled back, wiping her own face.
"I'm sorry," Kagome said, giving her another quick hug. "And I wish we were just here to visit—"
Sango waved her off. "I assumed it was something serious considering whom you've got in tow."
"Rin's missing," Kohaku cut in, the chain at his hip clinking in agitation. "I went to pick her up in the neighbouring village, but she'd disappeared before sunrise."
"I'm sure Sesshoumaru-sama didn't take that well," she replied, eying the daiyoukai behind them.
"Pretty much." Kagome sighed, running a hand through her head. "There hasn't been a trace of her in any of the villages in between. We were hoping you might've heard something." Sango tapped her chin, then waved down two men passing by with armfuls of wooden planks.
There was some whispering back and forth, more on the men's end, their eyes darting between Sango and Sesshoumaru, and the former eventually sent them on their way, letting them return to their work. "We haven't seen Rin specifically, but there have been a few attacks in the villages to the west. Some of the residents have gone missing."
Kagome's shoulders sagged in defeat—they'd hit another dead end.
Kohaku hadn't given up, however. "Did you get any information on the missing people?"
Sango gave her brother a knowing smile, but he sidestepped when she tried to ruffle his hair again. "You're doing better with your training. Yes, we made sure to gather all the information. All of the people taken were young females."
The bottom dropped out of Kagome's stomach. "Slave traders?" she asked, hoping Sango would deny her claim.
The slayer shook her head. "We tracked those groups down before we even started rebuilding Sakidou," she said. "And there haven't been any ransoms or threats made to the villages they were taken from."
"So you are useless."
"Oi! At least she's got something!" Inuyasha said, hands stuffed into his sleeves. "You didn't even help when we were attacked."
"My help was unnecessary," Sesshoumaru replied, stroking his pelt. "My goal is to find Rin."
"And squabbling amongst ourselves isn't helping." Kagome gave him a pointed look. "We're all trying to find Rin, and there seems to be a connection to these other villages, so that's where we'll start." Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, and Kagome fully expected another sneer, but he merely shrugged.
"Do you have an extra map, ane-ue?" Kohaku asked, steering the conversation back to the task at hand.
"I'll do you one better," she said, hands on her hips. "I'm coming with you."
Kagome wanted to argue and tell her she was needed here, but if she was honest with herself, she could use the company. It would also give her a chance to brush up on her training—no one else in the group would help her with it.
Kohaku was born and bred a slayer, but he had no experience with reiki. And while Inuyasha could harness some of his youki through Tessaiga, his decisions—and movements—were impulsive, and he relied too much on the sword's attacks. Kagome needed someone who could remain balanced, and Sango made it her business to be well-versed in as many areas as possible.
Kagome glanced over her shoulder at Sesshoumaru. It had been a while since she'd actually seen him fight, but from what she could remember from the shard hunt, he'd make a good candidate too, but the likelihood of him training anyone, let alone her, was laughable.
"How long have these attacks been going on?" Inuyasha asked, pulling her out of her musings. "And why haven't ya said anything about it until now?"
Sango sighed. "Our attention has been splintered. We thought it was random. All the parasites came out of the cracks after Naraku was defeated, each trying to claim what he'd lost. It wasn't until recently that we began to see a pattern."
All the girls had been taken in the middle of the night, with no trace of them come morning. It was the same story as Rin's—no one had seen anything, heard anything, or even done anything. The girls had just vanished.
Sesshoumaru's agitation grew, a few villagers scattering as his youki spiked. "It's been going on since we defeated Naraku?" Kagome asked.
Sango shifted her weight, shaking her head. "Not that long. Probably the last few months. A year at the most." The bottom dropped out of Kagome's stomach, dread slowly making its way up her spine.
She'd hoped it had been a more recent thing. Or something that had gone undetected in their time of peace and relaxation once the threat of the jewel had disappeared. Everything had settled down fairly quickly—so she was told, anyway.
The three years she'd spent in the modern era had been hard on her friends, but they'd been able to return to their roots and decide what they wanted their lives to look like. Sango and Miroku had quickly realized their dreams of happily ever after weren't going to work, their split amicable before the slayer had moved back to her own village.
Sesshoumaru had granted Kaede guardianship of Rin, leaving her to train the girl in the ways of becoming a miko, honing what little reiki she had into the growing and nourishment of essential herbs.
Inuyasha spent most of his time in and around Kaede's village. He helped out where he could, going after the lower-level youkai whose sole purpose was to destroy or pillage. Kagome was glad he hadn't tried to settle down, least of all with her, because she knew how much he enjoyed travelling and helping other people.
She needed to make sure he wasn't still pining over her—over what they could've had—because she saw him as nothing more than a friend. Her absolute best friend, whom she loved dearly and wanted the world for—just not with her.
Sango had been driven by revenge, living with the nightmare of the death of her father and trying to prevent the death of her brother. Now she smiled freely, leading the band of slayers out of choice, not obligation.
They'd all managed to find happiness in the after. The happiness they all deserved after everything they'd been through. But now dark clouds were forming on the horizon, the rest of the conversation falling away as Kagome's hands clenched into fists.
The attacks had started around the same time she'd noticed something was wrong with the well.