Two's A Crowd

Disclaimer: I don’t own a blessed thing.

Randomness: I’m listening to “Goodies” by Ciara Feat. Petey Pablo. It’s pretty good. Listen in.

A/N: Wow…been a while since I wrote one of these, huh?

Chapter 3: Setting Out And Splitting Up

“It’s so COLD!” Shippo said pathetically from Kagome’s shoulder, snuggling his fury body closer into her neck, her scarf firmly wrapped around the rest of him. Unable to utter a reply Kagome chattered an agreement.

Snow was everywhere, falling down in a way that reminded her of the time she’d made a Piña colada in her mother’s blender. She felt almost like she was trapped in one of the snow globes her grandfather sold at the temple, only this time it was with real snow instead of whatever it was they put in those things.

“Hey! Are you all trying to mutiny or something?” They heard their fearless leader shout from a few feet ahead of them.

“Inuyasha, we just-” Miroku paused suddenly in order to better protect himself from the cold wind blowing against them.

They had been a little less then thirty miles east of the village Kikyo was residing at when this freak blizzard had broken out around them. It succeeded in drastically slowing them down and causing their tempers towards one another to shorten significantly.

“You’re a half demon remember-”

Sango cut in, Kilala mewing pitifully from inside her mask.

“We need to stop…just for tonight until the storm’s over!” She shouted as another strong gust of wind howled through them. The hanyou huffed in reply, crossing his arms against his chest even as Kagome saw him shiver slightly.

“So what? It’ll stop eventually!”

“And eventually we’ll all freeze to death!” Kagome managed to say through numb lips.

He glared at them, eyeing how all of them were snuggled up close to one another and how even the smaller demons were trying to find shelter. He gave them another glare.

“Keep going, ya wimps! Kaeda said the first stop is coming up soon anyways!”

Kagome and Sango shared a look, Miroku sighing regretfully from behind them even as they continued on.

‘It’s not like Kaeda’s here with us in this blizzard…’ Kagome thought grumpily as she lifted up her foot through three feet of snow. They dropped back a little, letting Inuyasha go up ahead, hoping he might stop and wait for them.

He didn’t, and an hour later when they reached a little white-encrusted village, Inuyasha was waiting calmly outside for them. Naturally, she flew into a fit at his lack of consideration.

“You could have waited!” She hissed at him as they went inside one of the larger houses.

The village itself was deserted, probably because of the snow, and if that was the case, she knew one thing for sure. She couldn’t blame them. Who beside themselves would be crazy enough to be out in this weather?

“Well? Start up dinner already, I’m hungry!” Inuyasha whined as they entered the deserted home and sat down, his legs crossing themselves as he held Tetsusaiga against his chest.

Kagome sneezed, her whole body pitching forward with the force of it before falling back on her backside onto the ground.

“W…woh…” She sniffed, her entire face as red as Inuyasha’s haori as she sat back. Miroku and Sango didn’t look any better, settling down at a somewhat close distance to the fire Inuyasha had at least been generous enough to make. Miroku was forced to take off the shawl he wore around himself and the first layer of his priest garments in order to wrap the less sodden clothing around himself for warmth.

“Damn-blasted brut is what you are!” Sango said with a glare as she searched through Kagome’s bag for her battery-powered hairdryer and began to dry her frozen hair.

“Yeah, Inuyasha! Kikyo’s not going to - well-” Kagome glowered more at him.

“Die…again.”

The half demon crossed his arms at her words, flattening his ears.

“I’ll bet she could take this weather! And without any complaints!” He growled at her.

Miroku threw the teakettle at him, the metal object striking him in the face.

“HEY! WHAT’S THE DEAL?”

“If you think lady Kikyo could hold up better then go get her yourself! Who said WE wanted to come?” The monk asked crossly as he looked down disgustedly at his wet clothes.

“I just-”

“Oh, shut up Inuyasha!” Kagome hissed, taking a spare sweater from her bag and sitting in one of the far corners with Sango behind her, holding a blanket up so that she could change. Miroku eyed the process with interest, his fingers twitching in the folds of his robes.

“Do it and I’ll light you on fire again.” The slayer said at the intent in his eyes. Kagome finished changing soon after and they switched places.

Miroku sighed.

*****

‘I don’t know if I can take this any longer…’

“I said we have to leave, so we’re leaving!”

“Like hell!”

“Hey, you can’t swear, you’re a monk!”

“I just did didn’t I?!”

“It’s all Inuyasha’s fault!”

“Hey, HEY! Don’t bite me, you little twerp!”

“AH! KAGOME, HE HIT ME!”

“Inuyasha, SIT!”

CRASH.

And that was their morning. She had left soon afterwards to go take a walk. Doing so she watched the sun come out to warm the freezing air.

Adjusting her woolen hat onto her head more firmly, she walked out into the still brisk weather, the snow coming up to above her knees. She walked through the glittering snow, her hair flew out behind her as she lifted her head up and stared out at the frosted landscape. They were on top of what could have been a small mountain and the view was spectacular. Mist hovered below her and she could faintly make out another mountain in the distance, wondering offhandedly if it was Fuji. It was beautiful really…even if it had nearly killed them on the way up.

She inhaled the sharp air in gently, exhaling the same way and smiled slightly as a few snow rabbits hopped along a further ways up, ducking into their holes and disappearing from sight.

There were no clouds in the sky and the ground was unmarred, everything around her a pristine white. For a brief second she thought of Sesshomaru, his own white robes billowing out around him as he stared down at them all coldly, a look of termination on his face. She shook her head to clear the image. Sesshomaru didn’t belong in her thoughts…but suddenly she found herself thinking more about it. Even he could see beauty right? How could he not? The cherry blossoms in April? The scattered hot springs hidden in the pine-covered mountains? And this…the beautiful but deadly winter of Japan.

Knowing his personality, winter must have been his favorite season since it would allow him to fit in perfectly…like a chameleon or some sort of mantis. It fit his personality as well - cold and colorless - a perfect being, untouchable and unadulterated in every aspect.

She buried her hands deeper into her pockets, scrunching her neck down into the warm fur lining of her coat with a frown. Again, why was the calculating demon even on her mind? Shouldn’t she be thinking of Inuyasha? Well…maybe not…after all there was more color in Inuyasha. His personality was filled with color - vibrant reds and yellows that burned her eyes. That was probably the biggest difference between the two brothers. In comparison to his brothers kaleidoscope variety, Sesshomaru had more neutral ones which made her respect him in a way. As dangerous as he was, his mind and body were one…even though he had flaws he did well at effectively hiding them, even the loss of his arm barely seemed to hinder him in any way.

She looked at the sky and sighed despite herself.

It must have been nice to be that way – so untouchable…perfect and beautiful as the pale moon. So refined. The way she wished she could be.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she thought, ducking under a pine branch logged down with snow.

‘Refined…’

The wildness of Inuyasha’s temper and attitude severely contrasted with everything around him. He was childish, and yet at times he seemed to up even Sesshomaru with his thinking. He did things in a reckless, dangerous way that made her heart race with fear…or pride…she wasn’t quite sure yet which.

Oh hell…the whole family was messed up.

The thought made her laugh despite herself. Actually, dysfunctionate was more like it…but then, maybe theirs was a typical demon family - who knew?

She kicked a clump of snow in front of her and jumped as the actions brought forth a squawk from a neighboring tree. A few minutes later a large black crow flew from its hiding place and zipped over her head into the branch of another tree. Caught off guard, her head snapped around to watch it and from somewhere in front of her she saw a flash of movement.

It was quicker then quick, almost like it had never happened at all. Her eyes squinted together curiously in the direction before she shrugged and continued on, sure now that it had been the snow falling from one of the tree branches or some such thing. Her thoughts went to her home and she sighed, thinking of all the math homework that was most definitely waiting for her.

“I wonder if I should just fake my own death or something in my own time. It’d just be better that way…”

It began snowing again and she paused, tipping her head up to eye the tiny flakes. She closed her eyes, her mouth opening to catch a few flakes on her tongue and smiling upwards at the heavens, the large gray clouds filled with the fluffy white objects.

Her thoughts seemed to flutter away as she turned and began to make her way back to the camp. When she did, she found that all of her party members were in separate corners of the hut, everyone but Sango childishly sulking.

“I haven’t missed much, huh?” Kagome asked tiredly as she took a seat next to the demon slayer.

“Do you ever?” Sango asked back, her hand calmly sliding across Kilala’s fur which incited a purr from the small demon.

“I heard that Sango!” An insulted Inuyasha said from his respected corner. Sango responded by sticking her tongue out at him and he sputtered indignantly in response, his fist raising to shake itself menacingly at her.

Kagome shrugged, grinning despite herself as she rubbed one of the fire cat’s ears.

“Kagome, I have a question for you and I need you to answer it clearly for these two.”

Kagome groaned inwardly. Maybe she shouldn’t have come back just yet.

“Uh…Sango maybe not now…”

She didn’t want to know what had happened…she really didn’t…and yet she had the feeling that unless she was really lucky she would end up finding out what it was anyway.

She was right…she had no such luck.

“Nonsense. Tell these two BOYS-” Sango ground out with a glare in their direction.

“That tomatoes ARE a fruit!”

She had to fight to keep the nervous twitching in her lips contained lest Sango explode at her as well.

Turning towards the two men who were looking over their shoulders at her, she saw a pleading look in their eyes, which made her sigh.

“Sorry guys…yeah it is.”

“There!” Sango said, giving a curt nod to them both as she continued to stroke Kilala’s fur, a gloating look on her face. The faces of the two men instantly fell.

“Keh!” Inuyasha said, looking back at the wall in front of him, his ears pressed tightly to the sides of his head.

She sighed, reaching into her enormous yellow bag to pull out an energy bar, taking a hearty bite out of it as soon as it was unwrapped.

“We have another couple miles to go before we meet up with Kikyo.” Miroku said tiredly from his opposing corner, his wind tunnel hand massaging his forehead.

“When are we leaving?”

Inuyasha’s answer was to get up and stalk out of the cabin.

She sighed in response and gathered her belongings, finishing her energy bar before throwing the wrapper in her bag.

“I guess that means now.”

*****

He had had many enemies over the years, both directed entirely towards him, and others directed towards him simply because of the fact that he was his father’s son.

This one was entirely towards him. But then again perhaps she had just cause since he had removed her and her family from his lands. Creating tension with a powerful Sorceress was never a good thing no matter how strong an opponent was.

“I said to move off of my lands.” He said coldly, icy eyes glaring over at the dark robed woman before him.

Her eyes narrowed.

“This conjurer does not take orders from a mere puppy like you.” She raised her wooden staff and twirled it through her hands in silent warning.

“My power is far greater then yours will ever hope to be.” He said detachedly, turning his back on her.

The blatant insult made her eyes narrow at him even more.

“How dare you issue such barefaced disrespect towards ME!” She hissed, taking a step towards him and feeling her dark magic begin to creep through her hands into the wooden staff tightly gripped within them.

He didn’t even grace her with a response and instead began to walk forward into the surrounding forest.

“If I smell your scent again have no doubt in your mind that I will dispatch you from this world.”

“Perhaps the great demon lord should tread more lightly.” She said after him, a spark of black light crackling from the Obsidian crystal at its top.

He stopped, turning towards her once again with a look of distaste.

“As if you could harm one such as me.”

“I could do things far worse then just that.” She said with a smirk, another zip of black energy crackling from the staff’s crystal.

He sneered at her, his light whip appearing from the tips of his fingers as he snapped it to the side, instantly felling a small tree and letting it crash to the ground behind him.

“I would like to see you try if you are so sure of yourself.”

She smiled suddenly, a twisted curling of her red lips which created a harsh relief against the rest of her features. Her black eyes flashed.

“I can read your thoughts Sesshomaru.” She said, her lips twisting even more.

“I know of the desire that resides deep within your heart.”

He growled, flicking his whip to the side and shattering a nearby boulder into pieces.

“You know nothing about me foolish witch.”

“Indeed…but do you even know yourself?”

He suddenly realized that she was stalling and growled at her, taking another menacing step forward and noticing the sinister black light that now swirled around the crystal on her staff.

“You think dark magic will defeat me? I alone could defeat a thousand of your kind and never even pause.”

She gave a great cackling laugh that made the hair on the back of his neck rise slightly in warning.

“Indeed…I am sure that the GREAT SESSHOMARU in all his glory could try such a thing and perhaps succeed…but if you were to, say, be split in half, what would you say then? Would you then believe that you would still be so great? It would throw you off-balance you know. Your light and your dark emotions placed into two completely different shells.”

He gave her a distasteful look and raised the whip above his head in preparation to strike.

“Your foolish ramblings are at an end Sorceress.”

Her twisted smile lengthened even more as she brought the staff out in front of her at an angle, her free hand drawing a single symbol in the air. The hairs on the back of his neck rose further and he had to fight to push away the uneasiness that suddenly took a firm hold of him.

‘She is bluffing.’ He told himself sternly, his whip raising itself further into the air before coming down with a snap of his wrist.

Her black eyes flashed once more in answer.

“Too late.”

He watched his light whip as it arched towards her only to slide harmlessly through her body and bury itself into the ground at her feet. The wind picked up slightly, her dark red hair catching in it and whirling wildly around her body as the black crystal pulsed. He had no time to even raise his whip as he felt invisible hands grasp at his clothing from all sides, the smell of dark magic polluting the air as he felt himself being pulled from all sides, invisible nails like eagle talons digging into his skin.

He fought back; reaching for his sword and giving a grunt of pain when he felt the invisible forces on his arm give a sharp tug, dislocating it from his shoulder blade and snapping the limb in half to ensure he wouldn’t be able to use it. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain of his bones breaking as he kicked out, his useless arm now dangling limply at his side.

“What is this?!” He hissed, hearing her dark laughter slice through him, his silver hair becoming taunt as his invisible foes wrenched it backwards. His eyes narrowed angrily as some of it was torn from his head and snarled, cursing his brother for the loss of his other arm. He heard a ripping sound and gave a cry as his right leg endured the same treatment as his left arm, forcing him to fall to his good knee, his fangs baring themselves as he bit out at his unseen attackers.

“I told you already that I don’t take orders from puppies.” She said, stepping towards him. For a moment he felt the things around him cease in their cause and glared up at her, his cold eyes shooting poison. She smiled that same twisted smile again as she stopped directly in front of him, her black staff still in her hand, the energies now swirling around it in vain, hurting his skin as waves of dark power crashed against him.

“Enjoy yourself Sesshomaru. It’s not everyday you can become a new man.” She purred, reaching out with her staff.

He hissed at her, trying to move backwards away from it but to no avail. The invisible slaves she had holding him were too much to take in his injured state and all he could do was watch as the pulsing obsidian stone was placed against his forehead.

It felt like thousands of knives were being driven though his body, like every cell was being torn apart as soon as it met his flesh and he roared in pain, flailing wildly, his eyes widening as he felt his vital organs ripping apart, his skin stretching out like a tanned animal hide. He felt everything within himself tearing, excruciating pain like nothing he had ever felt before blistering his mind as he felt his blood spill out uselessly onto the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he could only watch as something seemed to move beneath his skin, breaking through it with a spray of blood to fall in a puddle of gore at his side.

He screamed again, his face suddenly on fire, his teeth sliding to the side, his eyes popping as he felt the bones in his skull beginning to crack outward.

He heard her laughter, sick and twisted as his eyes finished popping away from the sockets, the nerve cords holding them in place severing instantly. They fell into the gory heap at his side and he couldn’t even make a sound as he felt his tongue ripping, his teeth beginning to pull up against the nerve ending holding them in place to fall into the heap with his other parts.

“Welcome to your downfall.” She breathed, and mercifully he felt himself fall into unconsciousness, the pain too much for even him to bear.

__________________


“I will let you have my jewel shard…but only if the two of you fight. Those two.” The demon said, pointing first at Kikyo and then Kagome.

The group had arrived at the village Kikyo was supposedly staying at to train the new priestess and instead of finding her, found the villagers bodies strewn across the ground, their bones missing from underneath their skin. Of course they had poked around, begun to bury the dead, so on and so forth before Kagome had suddenly felt the presence of not only a strong demonic aura but that of a jewel shard as well. They’d instantly followed it, arriving to see Kikyo standing in front of a great red ogre sitting on a thrown made of human bones, a chain wrapped around her sides to keep her arms pinned in place. Her clothing was torn in places and a few scratches showed clearly on her face and arms.

Inuyasha stepped forward angrily, watching as the ogre turned, baring his blackened teeth at him before seeing Kagome.

He turned back to Kikyo with a look of confusion before pausing, looking back at the group as his snarl turned to a look of glee.

“I think I may have my revenge after all.”

“He can sense emotions Inuyasha.” Kikyo said, her dark eyes never leaving the ogre’s face.

The monster before them threw back his great shaggy head and laughed.

“Yes I can…and do I not detect a bit of affection from the hanyou to both of these near-identical women?”

Kagome felt a blush creep across her face and looked away.

Inuyasha growled, bringing Tetsuaiga from its dormant resting place at his hip and watching it transform in front of him.

“Let Kikyo go!”

The grimy beast raised an eyebrow at them, yellow eyes flashing.

“You came here for something hanyou…was it for this jewel shard or the woman?”

“I said let her go you filthy demon!” Inuyasha shouted again, his hands tightening on Tetsuaiga’s grip.

“And give us the jewel shard afterwards!” Sango cried, readying her boomerang bone to let it fly at any needed moment.

“Ah…I see. Well, I think we can come to an agreement.”

He jerked the long chain that held Kikyo and she fell to her knees in the dirt.

“Kikyo!”

“I’ll give you the shard since I have no need of it…but…” He paused, looking greedily from Kagome to Kikyo to the school girl again.

“I want the two priestesses to entertain me for a bit. When one dies you may keep the other, as well as this jewel shard.” He fingered his right earlobe where a faint sparkle could be seen.

‘He’s using it as an earring?’ Kagome thought with surprise, feeling another sigh coming on.

Why was it always her? Between Muso and this, it just kept getting better and better, JUST because she was Kikyo’s double. Honestly…did the scales of fairness just not apply to her here in the Feudal Era?

“I won’t let them fight! We need them to gather the jewel shards!” The hanyou growled.

The demon chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

“I’m sure. Now…let them fight one another until one dies. That is the deal, take it or leave it. I will kill this one otherwise.” He finished, jerking the chain that held Kikyo for emphasis.


“Bastard!” Inuyasha yelled angrily, readying Tetsusaiga to fight.

“Inuyasha, no!” Miroku said stepping forward to put a hand on his shoulder.

“He’ll kill you! This ogre isn’t what he seems-”

Inuyasha glared at him, his hold tightening on his sword as he looked back at the smiling demon.

“Well what is he then?!”

Miroku bit his lip to make himself calm down. He too was angry at the demons wish, but he could do nothing about it.

“He has some sort of demi-god heritage…I’m not exactly sure though of which.”

Inuyasha pushed his hand away.

“I don’t care! He’s got Kikyo and Kagome trapped to fight one another! This is blackmail!”

Miroku tried grabbing his shoulder again but was pushed away, Inuyasha raising his sword.

“He’s going down! Then I’ll just take the shard and that’ll be it!”

“No, Inuyasha!”

But it was too late. Lunging forward, Inuyasha jumped in the air until he was level with the demons neck and swung his blade. No sooner did he do so, a sharp pain rang through his brain and he screamed, falling to the ground with a crack, his weapon falling harmlessly to his side.

“You were right monk. I do have an ancestor with such lineage. But who it is, is not your business. Now women - fight so that I may give the winner away with this shard.”

“Like hell I wi- But she suddenly had no control over her body and she screamed, lunging forward into the center of the large circle in which he and Kikyo sat. Instantly, a type of barrier went up around them, blocking the others from interfering. She watched as the chain around Kikyo’s sides fell away, a longbow and quiver of arrows shimmering in the air before her as it did so. Kagome gulped, her hand tightening around her own bow. She couldn’t do this…she couldn’t have a death match with anyone, let alone the woman Inuyasha LOVED. She took a step backwards, turning and sprinting towards the edge of the circle towards her awaiting friends.

“Girl!”

Kikyo darted out in front of her, her bow stretched out as she blocked off her exit and she blinked, taking a step back at the look in the priestess’s eyes and feeling a chill go down her spine.

“Hey! Kikyo what are you doing?!” She sidestepped to the right but the other priestess once again cut her off. Feeling desperate she feinted to the left and when the same thing happened a third time, Kagome gave a cry of frustration, stopping to stare wildly at the older priestess.

“Are you under a spell or something because if so you’re-” But she was cut short as out of nowhere, Kikyo lunged forward, her longbow used as a type of weapon in itself as it swung around towards her face. Narrowly dodging it, she tripped, rolling onto her stomach and feeling her arm catch on something sharp. She ignored it and looked back at the older woman.

“KAGOME!” Inuyasha screamed, his silver hair swinging around his shoulders.

“INUYASHA - DON”T INTERVENE!” Miroku cried back as the hanyou lunged forward once more. Restraining him, Miroku wrestled him back, his staff held horizontally against his stomach and chest.

Kikyo fired another arrow, watching as the girl ducked and rolled to the side.

She ran forward, swinging her bow at her once more as if it were a club and Kagome stepped back, ducking to the side as the bow flew over the space where her shoulders had just been moments ago. Inuyasha shouted her name once again and distracted, she looked over her shoulder, feeling a heavy weight tackle her in the chest, instantly pinning her arms above her head in the next instant. Her bow clattered away, landing out of her reach so she struggled, her knee coming up to hit her in the side instead of in the gut.

“When I let you go I want you to grab your bow and wait for my signal.”

“Huh?” She struggled again, managing to roll the two of them over before Kikyo rolled them back, pinning her down once more.

“If we fire our arrows at the exact same moment it should be able to kill him with the combined force.”

Kagome stared up at her and the temporary pause earned a shout from the humongous demon sitting a little ways away.

“I told you to fight to the death! Kill the girl!”

Kagome wordlessly nodded as the demon shouted again. Feeling Kikyo’s hands lesson their grip on her wrists, she punched up with the heel of her hand into the other woman’s chest and heard her gasp as she was knocked backwards. Scrambling for her bow and a loose arrow, she caught sight of them and dived, fluidly notching it as she twisted to the side, pointing it towards the other already armed woman as if to strike her.

“NOW.” Kikyo said, and the two priestesses simultaneously turned towards the lounging demon, watching his eyes widen slightly in surprise before the combined shafts of purifying energy incinerated his body, cutting smoothly through flesh and bone to bury into the hard bone of his chair. Instantly the demon’s corpse dropped away to land in a pile of ash where its feet had once rested and Kagome groaned, feeling herself sway, the barrier already dissipating as the others ran towards her.

Inuyasha was the first at her side, checking her over for injuries, his hand using the sleeve of his fire rat haori to stem the blood flowing freely out of her nose.

The others arrived as well, Shippo wailing as he latched onto her shoulder, his ginger head burying itself in her collarbone.

“I’m okay…” She mumbled, realizing that maybe she wasn’t as pain suddenly shot through her right arm. She looked down to see a large gash down the side of it, blood having already been soaked into the sleeve of her navy sweatshirt. She hadn’t even noticed it until now but she was sure she’d gained it earlier in the fight. Her eyes narrowed at it. She knew that the whole thing had had to look real but she didn’t think Kikyo had needed to go to THIS extreme…

She bit her lip as it occurred to her that maybe the priestess HAD actually been trying to kill her and had simply covered it up as a rouse to slay the ogre.

She looked over at Kikyo and saw her walking towards them, the jewel shard in her hand, her long black tresses flowing out behind her.

‘That look in her eyes was not one of friendship.’ She thought, feeling another shiver run through her body.

‘It was almost like one of hatred.’

“The woman who asked my help ended up being a demon.” Kikyo said evenly, glancing at Kagome as she did so before looking at Inuyasha and stopping directly before him.

“I killed her. The demon we just faced was her colleague. As you can see he didn’t take kindly to me slaying her.”

She looked down at her bloody fingers and frowned, wiping them against her pants to clean them off.

Kagome’s eyes suddenly narrowed. It was HER blood on Kikyo’s fingers…not Kikyo’s own.

“You were here for almost a week.” Miroku said and she nodded, looking towards the direction of the village they’d just come from.

“She was here in the village using the villagers as her puppets. She had disguised herself as a priestess hoping for me to teach her some of my secrets and when I came and saw through her lies she killed the others and summoned the ogre you all just saw. You arrived just in time.” She glanced around at them all before looking back up at Inuyasha, her gaze softening.

Kagome felt something squeeze her heart and turned her face away from the almost-tender look passing between them.

Sango watched it in silence and turned away as well, secretly sharing her friend’s pain.

“Is that the last of the shards?” Kikyo asked quietly, tearing herself away from the hanyou and looking down at the shard in her hand. She had already purified it and wordlessly, Kagome gave her the small jar she’d used to keep the remaining jewel shards in. Kikyo took it without a word and dropped the new one in, placing it in her pocket. Now that she was back it meant she had seniority over her. And as much as Kagome became angry at it she had no choice.

“We think there are more still…not many but still some.” Miroku said, the rings of his crosier clinking together as he steadied Kagome, his hands, for once, blessedly serious.

Kikyo nodded.

“Let us return to the village and put the others to peace before we return to Kaede.”

Kagome glanced at her but her other self did not return the gaze, simply ignoring her as she walked past, striding quickly back in the direction of the slaughtered town.

Miroku and Inuyasha followed after her. Seeing her friend dragging her feet, Sango remained behind, instantly knowing what was on the girls mind.

“I’m sorry…”

Kagome shook her head, fighting the hot tears that blurred her eyes. She didn’t want to relay her feeling that Kikyo had been trying to kill her to Sango…it would only have caused a scene.

“I said I wasn’t being optimistic before…and I’m still not…I just can’t seem to find my place past Inuyasha and her.”

Sango put a comforting arm around her friend’s shoulders, not knowing what else she could say to ease her friend’s pain.

______________________

He awoke slowly, gritting his teeth, which felt sore inside of his mouth, as if they’d just been pulled out and then shoved back in. He looked around him, his eyesight blurry as he swept the surrounding area, his head feeling as if it had just been pummeled in by some sort of hell demon. He silently groaned again, pushing himself up on his one hand and fighting to block out the pain of his still damaged arm.

It was night now, not day as when he had first come upon the Sorceress trespassing on his lands, and he sniffed the air, willing his eyesight to clear. It had been far more then just a single day that he had been unconscious…maybe three or four, and he was sure that was why his arm was nearly healed.

He groaned, trying to sit up and falling to the ground once more in a heap of white silk and screaming muscles.

He felt different…his body…his mind…almost like he was missing a very important piece of something but didn’t know what it was.

“What happened?” He whispered out loud, opening his eyes and seeing nothing but blurred white shapes just as before.

Silence greeted him and he felt himself shiver as he suddenly realized he was nearly buried in a pile of snow. The stuff was probably the only thing that had kept him safe against rogue youkai looking for an easy kill since it had kept him camouflaged. He gave a silent prayer to the gods for his luck and once again tried to move, falling back to the ground and giving a closed-mouth groan at the stinging sensation that flew through his body. Apparently his leg hadn’t healed as fast as his arm.

‘Rin…Jaken-’ Their names flew into his mind and he groaned again. They had no idea where he was – hell HE didn’t even know where he was. Somewhere close to his borders…but that wasn’t saying much since he owned so much territory which amde the border lines surrounding them unfathomable. Faintly, he remembered following Kagome and her group out of the village…staying until the storm was over and returning to his lands to do his weekly patrol. That was when he’d met up with the witch and-

He cursed his drained body, closing his eyes and relaxing once more as he opened his mind, reaching out for a place to meditate.

Everything inside of him was quiet and he felt surprise roll over him. His mind had never been silent…not in his entire existence. Perhaps because he was injured-

He dug his claws into the snow beneath him even though he knew it was futile to try and rise. The empty feeling inside of him seemed only to become worse the more he concentrated on it and he felt what could have been the barest pinprick of fear shoot through him before he pushed it away. He had no idea what she had done to him, and he flinched, trying to remember her words and instead remembering nothing but the pain she and her invisible minions had inflicted upon him. For all he knew he could have still been missing the pieces of himself that had fallen away.

‘No…my eyesight is bad but I can still see…which means my eyes are intact still…and my teeth.’ He squinted, watching as the snow around him slowly came more into focus. He was in great danger being alone and injured with his castle a fair distance away with many enemies around. His only choice was to sleep praying that Ah-Un had taken his entourage back to his castle to wait for him.

‘Kagome.’ Her name came unbidden to his mind and he moaned inwardly, his muscles screaming in pain as he shifted. He had to heal so that he could get back to Kagome and make sure that she stayed safe…

He expected his reason to rebuff him as it had always done since he had first found himself attracted to the woman but once again it remained hauntingly quiet, to the point where even through his fatigue, he felt unsettled by it. Something was definitely wrong. He tried one last time to rise but found it of no use at all.

Praying to every god he knew to make sure that she would be all right through his absence, he instantly found himself drifting into the quiet waters of sleep once again, the falling snow drifting quietly around him.


A/N – There. You all better be happy and give me some reviews!!!!!