Where My Heart Lies

Teinosuke stretched languidly, tangled in his cream, ebony, and oxblood satin sheets. Oh, how he loved his position in life. It was midday, the sun just barely peeking through his heavy burgundy brocade drapes that blocked out all but the most persistent sunrays. He rose from the magnificent bed, naked. What in the nine hells was the point of having satin sheets if you covered your body with an inferior material and couldn't feel them? The youkai ran his hand lovingly along the four-poster-bed's obsidian frame, fantasizing about his next step in the world. Of course, he still wanted to control the lands around him, extending his iron rule as far as possible. Having the mortal's cooperation would have made that much easier, but just because she refused him didn't make it impossible.

Teinosuke stopped and paused for moment. He still had to consider his moves carefully. There were a number of powerful demons out there, and he wasn't as strong as he used to be. As he strode to the floor length curtains that hung from the top of his ten-foot ceiling, he considered his options. Reaching the large and heavy drapes, he ignored the pull-tassel that would have activated the pulley to draw them across, instead throwing them open with both hands.

The blinding sunlight streamed in, outlining his nude figure perfectly. Teinosuke welcomed the world. The sunlight graced his skin, warming his rippled abdomen and playing against the muscles of his taut thighs. He inhaled deeply as the light's warmth spread into his subtly defined chest. Contrary to popular belief, he loved the sunlight. True, his keep was rather dark, but it was not due to any need to feel cold and dank. In fact, if the common imbecile looked closely, they would see that although his home as dark, it was dressed in rich, warm colors and textures. The cold was for the inferiors.

He pushed open the ceiling-to-floor windows. As they gently swung outward, he stepped onto the stone balcony, the chiseled rock slowly being warmed by the sun's heat. Teinosuke breathed the mountain air deeply.

"Ahem."

The Youkai lord turned at the sudden noise, not angry, for he knew there was no reason to fear any under his command. Lily stood in the open doorway, wearing another silk kimono that she was so fond of, this one in a moss green. The bows from the matching ribbon lay lazily on the back of her head.

Teinosuke turned to face her and too a few slow steps to shorten the distance between them. Soon, there were only a few feet between them.

Lily gazed steadily into her master's eyes. The Lord's nudity didn't offend or intimidate her. All in the castle knew that Master Teinosuke preferred to sleep nude, which wasn't that uncommon for such a strong demon. Walking around naked was something a little less common, but it was something else their lord seemed to have a penchant for. In truth, though to humans she looked like a child, she was seventy-five years old, and going through a demon's version of puberty. A nude male, demon or otherwise, was hardly something that would bother her.

"The dead woman is here. She wishes to speak with you." Lily was forced to tilt her head further to keep eye contact with the older demon as he approached her. With only inches separating them, she could smell the heat of the sun off him.

"Very well, I'd hate to keep our guest waiting."

Teinosuke grinned. Just behind Lily was his robe. Reaching over her, he allowed only the barest brush of his ribs against her bare neck. Straightening again, he swung the robe around his shoulders and tied a lazy knot around his middle. The Elder locked on the young youkai's eyes again. Nothing. Not a flicker of anger or apprehension. Her emerald eyes were steady and fearless.

The demon Master smiled and walked past her. This was why he liked Lily. Usually, he didn't mind his minions fearing him. Wanted it even. But Lily, for some reason, never had. She respected him, knew that he could kill her in a heartbeat, and never think anything of it, but never feared him. Such an attitude had sent her rocketing through the ranks of his followers to become his right hand. She knew of everything, and was unfailingly loyal. Pity she was not yet full grown. But she was coming into adulthood very shortly. Perhaps......

Lily followed her lord's brisk pace. Two steps behind and slightly to his right, she kept her eyes straight ahead. As always, she was careful to conceal her inner emotions, lest the stronger demon sensed them. She hated the Shadow youkai that claimed superiority. Loathed him with the very essence of her being. But there was no way to kill him. She simply wasn't strong enough. That horrid human though, there was something about her. Lily had understood the need for the miasma with the undead priestess, but for a young human woman? Evidently there was something about her that the master was uncertain about. The lynx demoness had served under her lord for sometime now, ever since he had tried to tell her that a rampaging demon had killed her tribe while she had been at a hot spring. She had known otherwise, though she didn't know how she had, and though she had dreamed of being free of him, she had never actually thought that a rebellion was possible. Until now.

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"Ah, the miko. I welcome you back to my home. You did rather well at separating the half-breed and the girl. Tell me, where are they now?"

Kikyo's back was to the lord for only a moment. When she turned, her sudden intake of breath and a slight widening of her eyes was the only reaction to the male youkai in front of her. He approached casually, his bare feet slapping softly against the cold stone of the floor intermittently hushed by the occasional plush fur hide. Stopping only a few feet in front of her, the robe he wore, or rather let hang on him, was loosened from his short walk and open to a few inches below his naval. Kikyo narrowed her eyes. From the cocky grin he wore, he was trying to intimidate her. If she had her way, she would purify the demon to cinders. But his damned tainted soul collector prevented her from accessing any of her powers.

"I know not where they are. Only that I did all that I could to separate them. I have upheld my part of the bargain. Remove this Shikigami and hand me the shard." Kikyo's voice was cold. She raised her chin slightly. The swaggering demon angered her perhaps more than Naraku. Her posture faltered for a moment as the youkai smirked and stepped towards her. If she didn't know better, there was a want in his eyes similar to that of her original enemy.

"Come no closer, demon. I am not one of your minions to be entertainment at your whim."

Teinosuke stopped and cocked an eyebrow. As her meaning sunk in, he closed his eyes as a chuckle rippled out of his throat. He slipped a hand to the inner right hand pocket of his robe, removing the large shard. He smiled almost pleasantly and brought his eyes level to hers. Everything was going quite well.

"Have no worries, priestess. My taste in women does not include graveyard dirt. And about this shard, I think you may have made a few disastrous assumptions."

The demon lord flicked the sparking shard in Kikyo's direction. Despite her weakened state, she snatched it out of the air and held it up between her thumb and forefinger for inspection.

"A fake shard. You bastard." Kikyo's voice was ice, but fire seemed to burn within her. Throwing the worthless shard to the side, she glared at the offending youkai who let his eyes lie on her in complete calm.

"Now, now, my dear lady. Don't lose your temper. I have no use of you for the time being, but I may need you later." Teinosuke had been examining his claws as he spoke, but upon raising his eyes, caught Kikyo readying to speak out. His next words were low and even. Warning dripped from each syllable.

"Do not think to stand against me, dead woman. I can kill you whenever I please and it would mean no more to me than swatting a fly."

Kikyo stayed her words and for a moment locked baleful eyes with the hated demon. Turning on her heel, she strode out of the room, her back ramrod straight. The dreaded shikigami could not last forever. She would have to wait. And when she was freed.... Teinosuke would be much less smug.

"You cannot hold me forever, Teinosuke. Remember that." Kikyo let her last words hang in the air as she passed between the giant iron doors. The youkai master stared until they clanged shut again, the noise reverberating through the room.

She thinks to threaten me? Stupid female.... Teinosuke shook his head slowly at the miko's foolishness. He could not be defeated by some undead priestess. He turned to face Lily. He wanted to go hunting, but there was still another matter to attend to. The girl.

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Kagome opened her eyes to the pitch black of her stone enclosure. She had spent the last week in this dank and dreaded cell. Teinosuke was her only company; the corpse had thankfully been removed as the demon had promised. But she was still chained to the damn wall. The young woman felt a tear slip down her cheek. No one was coming for her, she was alone. Her body ached from the strain of keeping herself upright when she was awake, and having her arms stretched so far about her whenever she managed to catch at least a form of sleep.

Stretching and rolling her shoulders, she tried to relax tense and pained muscles. She sucked air between her teeth in a hiss as a still agonizingly tender spot on her lower back was stretched. Teinosuke had 'visited' every night and Kagome had first feared that he would eventually rape her, but that didn't seem to be the case. The sly bastard liked to make her wary and watch her reactions to when he feigned raising his dreaded whip. He would do this repeatedly until she didn't react immediately, and then bring the lashes crashing down against her bared and unsuspecting flesh. It was mentally agonizing as well as physically. The smirk would never leave his face as played with her mind.

Over the past two nights, she had been having visions that it wasn't Teinosuke attacking her, but InuYasha. After nights, or it could have been days, Kagome couldn't tell in her lightless prison, of listening to her captor, she understood that he had been the one to send her the terrifying dreams, and already she suspected that it was the demon lord that implanted these images of the hanyou in her mind. But sometimes they were so real....

Kagome suddenly ducked her head to her shoulder, shielding her eyes from a sudden, blinding light that pierced her world of utter darkness. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she lowered her arm and peeked up over her shoulder. The painful light was emanating from a small candle that she realized would have been actually quite faint.

Squinting past the small flame, Kagome brought the face of the person who had brought the light into focus. After a moment, she realized it was the same child demon that she had met in the room she had originally woken up in. Before she had been encased in this hole. Why in the nine hells was she here?

Not sure if it was an illusion or if Teinosuke was sending someone else to torture her, Kagome attempted to conjure an energy orb, a fireball, anything that she could use in at least some meager form of attack. She may be a prisoner here, but that didn't mean that she would make things easy for her captor. Between her fingers a spark occurred, then started to grow, as it reach the size of a small fruit it started to fade and was snuffed out. Kagome growled inwardly. This had happened before, between the miasma the shadow demon kept surrounding her and the amulet around her neck, her powers were virtually non-existent. She considered the spark she had created for a moment. The last time she had tried it, there was nothing at all. Perhaps she was getting stronger.

Lily was still approaching the chained girl, candle holder in one hand, a small cloth bundle in the other. The day that the undead miko had arrived, Teinosuke had requested that she keep the young woman in the prison alive and healthy when he went hunting. The lord had planned to go that very day, but was sidetracked by more experiments in the south wing. Lily shivered slightly. The Master's experiments were ungodly creations, spawned from animals and demons that she had never even heard of. Often you could hear the cries of the beasts as he removed this and added that. Teinosuke's other vassal, a male, had been fed to them after the Taireny had failed to kill the half-breed dog demon that the lord seemed to hate so much. Lily felt no sympathy for the other demon, a lecherous creature who more than once had attempted to force himself on her. Several broken fingers and a dislocated arm had quickly changed his mind. Though she hated the human simply for not being a demon, the lynx demoness much preferred taking care of the demon lord's new pet instead of his creations.

She watched coldly as the human squinted against the subtle glow of the candle and attempted to hide her now dirty face. Lily almost felt pity for her. Already, the toll of being Teinosuke's form of entertainment was starting to show on the youthful body. Welts were visible on the girls back and stomach and her eyes were haunted with dark rings, giving her a weak and haggard look. The lynx-girl was sure that given more time, the lean muscle under the woman's skin would deteriorate, allowing ribs to become prominent. She had noticed the sad, failed attempt the young priestess had made to attack, and shaded the light with one taloned hand as she faced the subdued mortal.

"Don't bother trying to attack, human. Master Teinosuke has a thick miasma centered on you. It prevents you from doing anything." Lily's words sounded harsh and exasperated to even her own pointed ears.

Laying the candle holder down on the final step, she sat on the cold stone next to it, careful not to create too much of a breeze. The tiny flame flickered for a second as the skirt of her pale blue kimono caused an even tinier wind. The light threatened to go out before settling on a steady glow again. The young lynx demon looked at the chained human, denying herself the warmth of wrapping her arms around her. It wouldn't be good for the woman to see any weakness on her part. Still.... she felt somewhat... sad for the scant girl that tried valiantly to suppress her own shivers. She cocked an eyebrow as she observed the glare that the priestess shot in her direction.

"What the hell do you want?" The low-spoken words echoed off the stone walls. Kagome's skin was icy and she fought her body's urge to tremble violently. The skirt and shirt that Teinosuke had left her with were in tatters, not that they provided much warmth when they were intact. She looked closely at the demoness before her. Was she seeing things? The child demoness seemed.... older. Not by much, but there was a change. She twisted her sore wrists in the manacles, causing the metal to clink together. She suppressed a grimace of pain, along with another shudder.

Lily cat-like gaze was steady.

"You're still fighting. That's a good sign; it means you might live a little longer." After another caustic glare from the woman, Lily sighed and continued. "Although I'm getting tired of your hostility. Particularly when I'm here to be nice. You should be grateful; it's not something that happens often."

Kagome eyed her warily. "Nice? How? Going to hide your master’s toy?" The abuse that she had been dealt had made her angry and bitter instead of afraid. As such, her comment came out dripping with sarcasm.

The demoness curled her lip in a sneer. "Aren't we being a little too bitchy for someone chained to the wall?" She spat out. How in the hells had she thought to get assistance from this wench? How foolish. Here she was bringing the worthless creature those rags she seemed to prefer and some food, in hopes that the girl would have enough strength to take down her loathed master. Then Lily would have been free. Idiot. She's nothing but a mere human. Look at her Lily continued to return Kagome's heated glare. Obviously the girl was nothing spectacular. She had a fierce streak within her, but that was it. It changed what would have been tears and begging to spite and sharp remarks. Nothing more. The master was only toying with her, allowing her to think that she might actually have some hope. He evidently had learned how to get the most out of his victims. Lily's fancy of freedom and the girl’s strength had been an illusion, a useless wish.

For what Kagome thought to be no reason at all, the cat demon bared her fangs, hissed at her violently, and hurled the tiny bundle she had been holding at her, striking Kagome squarely in the face. Kagome only heard a scathing "Worthless human!" before the slam of the obsidian door. In her rush to remove herself from Kagome's presence, Lily had left the stub of candle still burning on the last step

Left alone again, but this time with the faint glow of the candlelight, Kagome scanned the ground directly in front of her. When the package had hit her, she had expected it to hurt much more than it had. Instead, it felt soft and plump. There, next to her left knee, was the package. Tucking her feet under her and balancing on one leg, she stuck out a foot and scooted the furry material closer. Awkwardly, she used her knees to pry it apart, eventually revealing that it was her furs that she had been wearing before she had been kidnapped. In the middle of the bundle was something that looked to be a small loaf of bread and cheese. A small elated cry escaped from Kagome's lips. Teinosuke had fed her, a few times. But it wasn't exactly the normal 'three good meals a day' that a person required. As such, she was hungrier than she had ever been in her life.

She stretched down to grasp the warmth of her furs and the satiating food, until the chains that bound her wrists snapped short. Kagome let out a strangled, inarticulate wail and pulled in vain. She could feel the pressure on her shoulder joints as the bones threatened to dislocate themselves. Her arms burned with the strain but still she was no closer to her goal. Her muscles seemed to sigh in relief when she stopped. A sob flew from her throat; the toll that her imprisonment had been taking on her was more than evident. Despair she had never known threatened. She was tired, hungry, and beaten. How easy it would be to just lie back against the cold comfort of the stone and sleep until Teinosuke returned. How easy for her to just wait until her body gave out under the abuse of the demon lord and the hallucinations he sent. Kagome closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall behind her.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. Several images sprang into her mind. InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku. Shippo and Kaede. And for some reason, Kikyo and the images Kagome had associated with Ayana and Kaori. The former people were her strength, the ones that she was strong for, and the ones that she drew strength from. The latter group she wasn't so sure, but now she seemed to draw some strength from the thought of them. Kagome had spent far too much time in the feudal era to pass off such thoughts at such a time. They meant something, even if she didn't know what it was. And they had helped her recover from the psychological pit she had nearly fallen into.

Rising away from the wall, she looked down at the fur and food before her. She thought for a few minutes before coming up with a plan. After what seemed to be an age of awkward maneuvering, Kagome finally managed to feed herself by balancing on the balls of her feet and picking up the hunk of bread in between her knees. By rocking back to bring her knees back up to her chest, she was able to bring the food in reach of her mouth. It was uncomfortable and it wasn't long until her legs started to complain, but it was worth it. She grinned as she hurriedly chewed. For a fleeting moment, her thoughts turned to the furs lying on the floor. She wasn't sure how she was going to work with those, but she'd figure it out later. Her mind turned back to the bread she had just finished and then concentrated on getting the cheese that remained.

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Ayame was pacing. The sun was beating down, but she refused to wait under the shade of the nearby sakura tree. She could see better if she stood at the edge of the hill. She was waiting at the appointed place for Kagome's promised message. It was midday and the demoness had been waiting since morning. The grass that she trampled under her feet was starting to wear thin. She was worried, incredibly worried. It was now a month since Kagome was supposed to leave her first message for her. The first time there was no notice left, Ayame had assumed that Kagome had yet to find a place to stay. She didn't expect her to return with a message until the next appointed time. The following meeting date, Ayame had been concerned. She didn't think it was likely that Kagome would miss two messages. When she had voiced her concerns to Koga, he reminded her that Kagome was human, it was more than possible that she may have gone too far and wouldn't make it back in time, or perhaps she had just been unable to make it at all, being tied up with her meditations as well as learning to live on her own.

Ayame had been placated, as such. But now there would be nothing Koga could say to calm her. The only reason she hadn't searched for Kagome previously was due to the oath that the mortal made her swear to. She had promised that she would not try to find her human friends. Kagome had insisted that she needed time alone.

The knot in the wolf princess’s stomach grew until she could no longer stand it. She knew something was wrong. Spinning on her heel, she headed in the direction of the den, and Koga. If there was any danger, she wanted to have a party of demons with her.

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It had not taken much time to move Koga into action. He, too, had disturbed by Kagome's lack of notice. Since Ayame and the mortal had become friends, he had thought it best to wait for the demoness's word on the matter. It was likely that she would know more than he.

Presently, they were leading a small pack of wolves in the general direction of Kagome's scent. Within the pack there was Ayame, himself, Ginta, and Hakkaku. The latter two weren't always the bravest, but they were unfailingly loyal to their demon lord and lady, as well as to Kagome, whom they still considered a sister.

Koga headed the pack in a whirlwind, legs pumping hard as he inhaled deeply, dragging Kagome's scent into his nose and searching for its next source. He stopped when Ginta cried out to him and Ayame, who was but a few steps behind him.

"Ayame!! Koga!! Hold up for a second! Look at this!" His comrade yelled.

Ginta was still a considerable distance behind them, and far to their left. The area had gone unnoticed, as Kagome's scent was scattered around. They had already found several ties of rawhide, or sharp digs in tree trunks. These also smelled of Kagome and Koga had taken them to be markers. He was rather proud of the mortal. She was smarter than most humans he knew. And demons for that matter. Thinking as such, he headed in Ginta's direction, Ayame only slightly behind him, and Hakkaku following last. Koga hoped that it wasn't just another marker, but at the same time, he did. For markers meant that Kagome could still be ok.

Halting next to Ginta, the wolf lord looked down at the items to which his friend was so worked up over. A pack, a sword, scattered human food, and a bow with arrows. Ayame's voice whispered next to him as she too observed the objects and inhaled the faint scent.

"Oh Koga. It's Kagome's weapons."

Koga only nodded, dread starting to wrap around his mind. He noticed another scent mingled with Kagome's. It was demon. Thought the scent itself as faint, the tones of it were so strong that the youkai knew that the owner of the scent was probably a tyrant, and an evil one at that.

Hakkaku looked as his silent, contemplative lord.

"Kagome would never abandon all this Koga. What happened? Where do we start looking for her?" The other demons voice was tinged with worry. He too smelled the ominous odor.

"I know that Hakkaku. You smell that stench?" Koga's question was directed at his two vassals. They nodded vigorously.

"I want you to memorize it and follow it as far as you can. Then come find me. I have a bad feeling about this."

Ginta and Hakkaku bobbed their heads in unison once again, saluted, then sped off to the east, sniffing every so often rather heavily.

Koga turned and found Ayame slowly gathering their friend's things. When he stepped close to her, he could hear her sniffing, though not to pick up any scent. Bending down to gather up the bow and arrows, he met the demo ness’s eyes. They were bright and held anger.

"Koga, we have to find whoever took her. You know it too, don't you? Kagome wouldn't just up and leave. Someone kidnapped her!"

"I know."

"Well? What the hell are we doing here? We should be out with those other two, looking for her!"

Ayame stood, slinging the pack over her shoulder and tying the sword on her hip, next to her own sheathed blade. Her eyes bore into his.

"We are going to go find InuYasha. She left him and the others. I didn't question it then, and I should have. But now I'm willing to bet that they might know some more about this."

Koga waited for Ayame to say something, anything. He figured she would reprimand him at least for not making Kagome tell him why she was leaving the group. Instead, she just nodded at his statement, then turned and started to head to the old woman's village, where InuYasha and the others usually were. The only thing on her mind was getting her friend back from whoever had taken her. Koga quickly followed her lead.

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Shippo followed closely behind Kaede. He held a large woven basket filled with herbs they had already picked. He enjoyed working with Kaede; she said he was getting quite good with learning the powers behind the mixing of certain herbs. That and she didn't act strange like Miroku and Sango whenever he asked about Kagome and InuYasha. Sango would get tense and try to come up with an answer to his question, Miroku would tell her to quit worrying and then Sango would snap at him. It was something that was happening a lot between the two of them lately. Before the other two members had left their group, everything had seemed to be going well, but now everyone seemed on edge. However, only Kaede seemed to be dealing with the stress well. She just said that there was nothing to do but wait, and pray.

Praying was almost foreign to Shippo, being a demon. All the same, it was something he took to. Every night, he sat and talked to the small herb garden he had started behind the hut. Kaede told him that the earth took care of them all, and so he continuously asked the earth to take care of Kagome. And InuYasha. True, InuYasha was mean to him most of the time, but a part of Shippo understood that this was simply the way InuYasha was. He would never actually hurt the younger demon. Shippo knew that in the end, InuYasha would help and protect him, however much he may bitch and complain about it later. He was like an older brother to Shippo, and so the kitsune asked the earth to take care of him too.

Shippo, lost in these thoughts, came to an abrupt halt as he nearly collided with Kaede, who had just stopped from her herb collecting in front of him.

"Kaede? What did you stop for? What's wrong?"

"I believe someone is coming to visit us."

Shippo laid the basket down and side stepped to see past the older woman. In the distance, he saw not one, but two whirlwinds. A quick sniff of the downwind that carried the scent confirmed his suspicions.

"That's Koga and Ayame. What are they doing here?"

Before Kaede could provide any kind of an answer, the fox cub was off. As his paws stuck an upbeat tempo with the ground, his stomach gave a slow churn. He felt like there was something wrong. Koga and Ayame usually didn't come here together. Koga would come to visit Kagome and Ayame would come to see where Koga was. Something was up.

The two spiraling winds met him just before the hut. Hearing the commotion of the small tornadoes, Sango returned from the spring, and Miroku was soon following behind Kaede.

A quick glance and Koga noticed that InuYasha was missing.

"Where the hell is InuYasha." he barked.

Sango looked from the Wolf Lord, to Ayame, to Koga again. "We don't know. He left some time ago, just after..." she paused at Koga's sudden intense countenance, "Just after Kagome left."

"What the hell happened that made Kagome leave? What did he do? I know that stupid asshole did something!"

Sango started to speak, but Miroku quickly interrupted.

"InuYasha and Kagome had a fight. A more serious one that usual and Kagome left. Shortly after that, InuYasha felt he needed some time alone as well. What's wrong Koga?"

It was Ayame's turn to interrupt this time. "Koga found Kagome and brought her to live with us. She stayed with us for some time, but about a month ago, she left to go on some sort of sabbatical. She was supposed to leave a notice every two weeks to let us know that she was ok, but we never received anything. We thought she might be in trouble. We found her pack and her weapons. But Kagome was gone. Someone's taken her." Ayame's voice was low and grave. At this point, she didn't really care what InuYasha did. Her concern for her friend overwhelmed everything else.

"The Master."

The group turned as one to look at the elder woman who had spoken. Kaede raised her head, apprehension in her eyes.

"Kagome spoke of a 'master' that the demons Merona and Nioaku had mentioned. He has been searching for her. I believe he is the one who has taken her."

Koga nearly pounced on the priestess. "Well, what does he look like? Where can we find him?" he yelled.

Kaede shook her head. "I know not. Ye would have to speak with InuYasha. He was with Kagome during the attacks, and though the Master never made an appearance that I'm aware of, he would have more information about the demon and his henchmen than I."

After being pulled back, the wolf demon received a scowl from Ayame for his actions towards the helpless woman.

"We need to find Kagome, Koga, but think first that these are her friends and as such they are our allies, not the enemy."

Thus reprimanded, Koga surveyed the group for a moment.

"And nobody knows where mutt-face is." A solemn shake of heads was seen all around, accompanied by the occasional sigh.

"Alright then. I'll just sniff him out and find where the cowards been hiding too. Shouldn't be too hard to locate his stench." His lip curled in distaste. Both he and Ayame raised their heads and inhaled deeply. Snapping his head towards the far end of the village, he narrowed his eyes.

"He went that way."

Before Sango could call out that she and Kirara had attempted to search and failed, Koga was gone, with Ayame close behind. Calling out to Kirara, Sango, Kaede and Shippo quickly climbed aboard the cat demon's back and headed towards Koga while Miroku pursued on foot.

It didn't take much time to reach the other side. Koga had already scanned a nearby riverbed and some caves in the surrounding area.

"He was definately here. And the scent is pretty fresh, so it was recently. Bastard's probably hiding still. COME OUT INUYASHA YOU DAMN COWARD!" Koga shouted at the treetops.

Sango approached him. "Koga, I was trying to tell you before you took off. Kirara and I went searching for him and couldn't find him."

The dark haired demon looked at the slayer for a moment. Then pointing in the direction of the river, he said

"If he's been staying here, he probably knew you went to look for him and hid in the river to mask his scent from Kirara. BUT YOU CAN'T DO THAT WITH ME YOU MANGY DOG! I'M UP TO YOUR LITTLE TRICKS. YOU SUDDENLY GET A YELLOW STRIPE DOWN YOUR BACK OR SOMETHIN'? OR DID YOU JUST REALIZE THAT IT WAS ALWAYS THERE AFTER KAGOME FINALLY SMARTENED UP AND LEFT YOUR SORRY ASS?"

Koga's shout was directed again towards the woods. He hoped his goad that InuYasha's friends seemed so agape at would have the desired affect. The mutt was bull-headed and proud. And he was touchy with anything about Kagome.

After a few minutes, he turned. Had he been wrong? Had the mongrel fooled him too?

Indicating to the others to follow, Koga threw over his shoulder, "He probably took off. We have to find Kagome without him. She's in danger, and we don't have time to go chasin around after a stupid dog who’s gotten himself lost."

They had barely moved another five steps before there was a soft whisper of leaves and a subtle thud as a weight touched down on the earth. Turning, the sestet saw a slightly damp, rather wary looking silver-haired hanyou.

"I never left. I've been keeping an eye on the village, but last time I checked there's nothing wrong with a guy needin' some time to himself."

Centering in on Koga, a low growl emitted from the back of his throat.

"I figured she went with you. I think you better start explaining how she's in danger"

The air felt alive with the tension that clung to it. Both InuYasha and Koga now stood facing each other, looking as though they were ready to tear each other apart. Ayame knew that the animosity between the two had never really been fatal. But know that each seemed to be equally blaming the other for Kagome's capture, she wasn't sure. The demoness attempted to talk to her lord, but it was useless, her hand was pushed away and she was ordered to leave it. Normally, Ayame would have spoken out against Koga, but something in his tone made her stop.

Chewing her bottom lip, a habit she picked up from Kagome, Ayame's eyes shot between the youkai and the hanyou. Neither was backing down.

They needed to stop and get to finding Kagome. But protests fell on deaf and enraged ears.

Just before InuYasha drew the Tetsusaiga, Ayame's only thought was,

This is not going to be good...


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A/N: First and foremost, thank you so much for the wonderful comments and kind words! It was awesome to read them! I felt so encouraged :D. I'm still working on the story, it's long work but getting there, working my way through chapter 21. Hopefully it'll be ready before I post chapter 20. ;) I can't garuntee no more cliff hangers, but I'll try ;). What I can promise is no rushed ending, I have everything planned out in certain steps, it's just the bits of story that have to get in to make it worth the read (hopefully).. and we're probably looking at very large chapters as well.... I can't help it!

Really, I can't say how much the awesome comments and compliments have boosted my morale for this! you all rock.
Hope you enjoy this next section. :`D

Yours,
Silverstar