As Shippou left Sesshoumaru considerrd what to do next. For now he could not leave Kagome's side but he couldn't let this wait either. If they were willing to go this far, there was no knowing what else they might be willing to do.

Deciding that he would have to to turn to his mother for help once again he called her over. "As much as it galls me to entrust this to anyone else, keeping my mate safe and well is more important. I need you to find out who is behind this so we can eradicate them once and for all."

Kimi gave her son a sad smile before promising him that she would do as he asked. This was a task she was only too glad to turn her hand to. She knew the pain of a severed bond, and she wasn't going to let her son and his mate live, or die, with that. Mating marks were the deepest form of connection possible, and deliberately blocking one in an attempt to weaken an enemy was an egregious crime that only the lowest beasts would resort to.

Unfortunately for them, Kimi excelled at the game of politics and intrigue. The attack required knowledge of when the pair would be separated and where they would be during that time. Someone had to provide insider information for that to have happened. Her own romantic history, plus her public facade of disdain for the miko, was about to come in handy. Anyone who was craven enough to do this almost assuredly viewed the entire populace through their own twisted lens and would think her a sympathetic party.

Leaving the room just as the Kitsune came rushing back in with the tools he needed, her lips lifted in a predatorial smirk as Kimi went in search of the Toad. No matter what went on in the palace, he would know something about it, which made him the perfect place to start.

He wasn't hard to find. Ever since Sesshoumaru secluded himself with Kagome the obsequious little imp had been roaming through his lordship's wing of the palace, shrieking out for his beloved master to return to his faithful servant.

Kimi curled her lip in disdain. She failed to see how any amount of loyalty was worth the trade-off for his personality. But that point was moot at the moment. She needed information and this Toad kept his nose buried so deeply in Sesshoumaru's business there was no way he didn't know something.

Steeling herself, and wishing she could muffle her hearing, she addressed him sharply. "Jaken, have you seen my son? He did not return to the palace at his appointed time, nor have I scented that human pet of his. What is the meaning of this?"

"OH! My lady! This Jaken is most perturbed!" The sniveling Toad threw himself at her feet, his grating voice reaching even higher levels of dissonance than she thought possible. "I am so terribly worried about my lord! He has not returned and I fear that something went awry with the miko!"

"Oh?" Well this was interesting. "Tell me, Jaken. Just what do you mean by something going awry with the miko? Has she made some move against my son?"

The simpering imp took the bait without so much as a blink. "Oh my lady! How can you even ask such a thing?! Is her mere presence not proof enough of the damage she has done to my lord?! Has her wretched stench not permeated every aspect of his home so that his very judgement is clouded by her foul odor?! Has she not weakened him by distracting him from his noble conquest, and prevented him from expanding his mighty kingdom?! Something had to be done!"

"And tell me, imp, what do you mean 'something had to be done'?"

Jaken heard the danger in her voice this time. Recognized too late the slip he had made and immediately began trying to backpedal. "I-I-I only meant, your grace, that this wretched human has used her dark wiles against his lordship and someone ought to act to save him from her. Th-that's all. I-I would never-'"

His pathetic stammering was cut off mid-sentence as heartbroken howls echoed through the hallways at the same moment that a rush of agonized youki flared out through the palace.

Jaken's eyes went wide in shock and terror a moment before a clawed hand seized him. Kimi's voice hissing in his ear as she dragged him towards the dungeon. "Rest assured you vile piece of slime, that if you have had any part in the cause of my son's pain, I will deliver tenfold to you whatever your lord chooses to visit upon you as punishment!"

For once in his life, Jaken was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.