InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Edge of Resistance ❯ Join Together ( Chapter 24 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The Edge of Resistance
Book Two: The Dissidents

Nobunaga was frantic when he woke up and discovered that Nazuna was missing.

At first he thought that she had gone off to relieve herself in the woods, but he could not find a trace of her. He began running around their campsite, shouting her name.

Inuyasha reached out and grabbed him by the collar.

“Stop yelling, you idiot,” he growled.

“But, Nazuna,” he stammered, trying to pull away, “I've got to find her! Someone or something must have gotten her!”

Inuyasha brought his fist down on the top of the young man's head and Nobunaga dropped like a sack of stones.

“Idiot! Snap out of it,” he said. “Do you think that something could just waltz up to us while we were sleeping, take her, and get away, and I wouldn't hear or smell anything?”

Nobunaga looked up at him, rubbing his head, his face blank.

“Besides, would kidnappers wait for her to pack?”

Inuyasha pointed to where Nazuna had been sleeping. Her blankets were gone.

“There's no scent here, Nobunaga,” Inuyasha said, “except mine, yours, Jinenji's, and hers.”

At last, realization dawned on Nobunaga.

“She...she left?” he exclaimed. “Why? Why would she do that?”

“I don't know,” Inuyasha said. Then his eyes glinted. “But you can bet I'll ask her when I get my hands on her.”

“But...I thought...” Nobunaga trailed off and looked away.

“You thought what?”

I thought she loved me.

“Nothing.”

“Hey Jinenji,” Inuyasha looked up at the giant. “Did you hear anything last night?”

“No,” he hung his head. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't worry about it,” Inuyasha said. “She couldn't have gotten far.”

“You could be a little concerned, Inuyasha-sama,” Nobunaga complained.

“After everything I've been through?” Inuyasha shrugged. “This is no big deal. Her scent is still here. I'll follow it, we'll track her down, and then we can take turns whipping her with a cane.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Whatever. Have it your way.”

He looked around. “You guys might as well pack up. I'll look for her trail.”

Nobunaga and Jinenji gathered the blankets and covered the smoking ashes of their fire with dirt. None of them even mentioned breakfast.

“Got it!” Inuyasha called to them after less than two minutes. “She went this way. Are you ready to go?”

They were about to answer when a strange and sudden noise made them turn their heads. The sound was loud and punctuated, like the cracking of a stone under a hammer. It boomed once over the quiet winter morning. It was followed by a second boom, but this one was more like the explosion of a large firecracker.

“What the hell was that?” Inuyasha turned toward the southwest.

“I have no idea,” Nobunaga answered. “It wasn't a natural sound.”

With one leap, Inuyasha brought himself up to a high branch of a nearby oak tree.

“Can you see anything?” Jinenji asked.

“There's some kind of ruckus off to the south,” he answered. “It's got all the marks of a battle, and it's not far from here. Five miles at the most.”

“We should be careful,” Nobunaga said. “There's probably a good deal of fighting going on these days and we don't want to be sucked into it. And I pray that Nazuna did not go in that direction.”

“Well your prayers are probably not going to be answered,” Inuyasha replied, and leaped down. “Her trail does go in that general direction.”

He started to swear. “At least she could not have gotten that far yet. We need to hurry.”

It took them less than twenty minutes to catch up to her. When she came into view, they saw that she was kneeling behind a screen of evergreens, peering through them. When she heard their footsteps, she turned quickly and motioned to them to be careful and silent.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Inuyasha demanded.

“Shh!” she hissed at him. “Get down!”

“Why did you leave us?” Nobunaga whispered.

“What are you babbling about?” she said. “I wandered around a bit and came upon these people. I just wanted to see what was going on.”

“But you packed first.”

“Why put it off? I knew you guys would want to leave by the time you caught up with me.”

Inuyasha gave her a hard look.

“We can talk about it later,” he said at last. “What's going on here?”

Nobunaga peered through the pines trees. There was a large glen that was shaded in a deep gloom by the surrounding trees. The early morning light did not make it through. On the other side of the trees, a meadow opened and rose up to the base of a mountain slope. A crag of rock jutted out, about half way up the slope. Between the rock and Inuyasha and his companions, a large crowd was gathered.

“I don't know,” Nazuna said. “I kept hidden.”

“What are they doing?” Nobunaga asked. “Inuyasha-sama, can you make it out?”

“It looks like they are gathering to watch something,” he said. “I can see people at the front, on that rock, and I think they have prisoners.”

“Are they going to kill them?” Jinenji asked.

“Don't know yet,” Inuyasha answered. “But crowds like this aren't usually interested in a puppet show.”

“We have to stop them,” Nobunaga said.

“I knew you were going to say that,” Inuyasha muttered.

“Is this where those noises came from?” Nobunaga asked.

“No, that was further off.”

A ripple ran through the crowd, a murmur and a shuffle, and their attention was drawn to the front. Silence muffled the general chatter. Now Nobunaga could see people who were standing on the platform. One had his arms upraised and appeared to be addressing the crowd. Behind him, Nobunaga could make out a line of straight and narrow poles.

“Can you hear what that man is saying?” he asked Inuyasha.

“The gods have spoken,” Jinenji whispered. “Without their blessing, we cannot hope to survive. We must procure their blessing, for our and for our children's sake.”

“Typical gibberish,” Inuyasha shrugged.

Then he took a sharp intake of breath, and Nobunaga glanced up at him.

“What is it?”

Nobunaga looked back at the crowd and, to his terror, he saw that people were being tied to the poles.

“What's happening? Inuyasha?” Nazuna whispered, her face pale.

“Son of a bitch!” Inuyasha shouted, no longer trying to keep his voice quiet.

With that, he dashed through the trees and toward the crowd.

“Inuyasha-sama!” Nobunaga cried. “Wait!”

***

“We're losing daylight,” Sango whispered to her husband.

They were sitting together near the overturned tree. They were both wrapped in several layers of kimonos but it was hardly enough against the bitter cold. Their companions were scattered across the clearing, each sitting alone and sullen. Momiji and Kyotou were not speaking to each other and Suzi was trying to stay close to someone while still making it clear that she was making her own decisions now. Miroku looked over his shoulder at her. She was idly trailing a finger along a tree trunk, pacing around it.

He turned back to his shivering wife, put his arms around her shoulders, and rubbed her arms and back, trying to warm her.

“I know,” he said. “But I want to find out what they're going to do. We've come this far with them.”

Sango sighed but said nothing.

“We can afford to wait,” he told her.

“I'm going to talk to Momiji-sama,” she said. “Maybe moving around would keep me warmer anyway.”

“Then I guess I'll try talking to Kyotou-sama,” Miroku said, getting up.

“Keep an eye on Suzi-chan,” Sango said to him. “Make sure she doesn't wander off.”

Kyotou was standing apart with his arms crossed, chewing on a piece of grass.

“Ah, Kyotou-sama?”

The man turned. “Hello, Miroku-san,” he said. “I know, I know. We're losing daylight.”

“That's OK.”

They sat in uncomfortable silence for what felt to Miroku like an hour but was not even a minute.

“What are you going to do?” Miroku asked.

“That will depend on Momiji.”

“So, you want to stay with her in a village or town, right? You don't want to stay with us.”

“I'll be happy to stay with you,” Kyotou smiled. “If that's what Momiji wants.”

“Well, wait,” Miroku shook his head. “If you're going to do whatever Momiji wants anyway, what's all the fuss about?”

“I want her to choose me,” he answered.

Miroku stared at him. “Oh,” was all he could say.

“So,” he said after some silence. “Tell me about Momiji. How did you meet her? She mentioned a sister, where is she?”

Kyotou began telling the monk his history with his fiery priestess. At first, he had only asked with the hopes of distracting Kyotou from his troubles, but Miroku found that he was absorbed by the story. Filling in the gaps in their history made him feel like he was traveling with a family, rather than a mismatched band of chance companions. It was almost like the good old days.

“Miroku!” Sango's voice came from behind him, and it was terrified.

He jumped and spun around. Kyotou's hand was already on his sword.

“Sango?” he called, looking around.

She did not answer, but a moment later, he heard Momiji scream.

Miroku and Kyotou ran in that direction, dodging briers and trees. Miroku's heart was pounding as a series of potential disasters paraded through his imagination. It occurred to him that he had no weapon.

Except the wind tunnel, of course.

“Holy shit!” he heard Kyotou, somewhere near him, swear.

They burst into a terrifying scene. Miroku and Kyotou arrived just in time to see Suzi, wielding a thick tree branch like a club, attempting to bash the bRains in of some kind of creature, a dark, grasping, and clawing thing.

He heard a tearing and hacking sound, and a strange, wet gurgle. Kyotou was already there and cutting through a black, writhing mass of limbs and heads.

“Sango!” Miroku reached her and pulled her to her feet.

“Miroku!” she threw her arms around his neck. “They came out of nowhere!”

He looked around and saw that Kyotou was still fighting them off. Momiji and Suzi were stooping to the ground; they seemed to be gathering something.

“Are you alright?” Miroku said to them, but they did not seem to hear him.

“More are coming!” Sango shouted.

“Damn!” Miroku spat. “We don't have our weapons.”

“Speak for yourself,” Sango said, waving a small knife.

He turned and saw that these monsters were spilling out of the forest like a flood of ink. Some of them appeared to run on two legs, but most of them crawled. They had many limbs, he wasn't sure how many, and they were covered by a coarse, black hair.

They don't feel like anything, he thought, I can't sense anything.

He cringed when one overtook him, grasping at him with black, skeletal hands. He swung at its face, but the blow had no impact. He was reaching for something, anything, with which to clobber it, but suddenly the creature crumpled to the ground. Sango stood over them, holding the knife that dripped with the creature's green-black blood.

“More are coming,” she panted. “What do we do?”

They were joined by Momiji, Suzi, and Kyotou, who were breathless and disheveled, but with no obvious injuries.

“What do we do?” Suzi echoed Sango.

“They're all around us now,” Kyotou said.

The five of them drew closer together. Kyotou brought himself to the front, his face set grim, holding out his sword.

“I think this is it, my friends,” he said.

“Where are they coming from?” Suzi cried. “Are they demons?”

“They sure look like demons to me,” Sango said.

Momiji threw something and it sailed through a monster's head like a bullet. The creature collapsed into a black heap. With a start, Miroku realized that she and Suzi had gathered rocks, purified them, and were shooting them at the demons with deadly accuracy.

“They die like demons, but they don't feel like demons,” Momiji said, even as she continued pelting them. “They don't feel like anything.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Miroku murmured.

Sango gave him a questioning glance, but he did not have time to explain.

“There!” he pointed toward the opposite side of the clearing. “There's a weak spot. I'll make a hole in their ranks, then we'll run through.”

“How are you going to do that?” Kyotou asked.

“Don't have time for questions, just run as fast as you can as soon as I say to. Everybody ready?”

They nodded, though doubtfully.

Miroku's left hand grabbed the beads that encircled his right wrist and palm.

It's been a long time, hasn't it?

The beads were pulled away. The black cloth flew aside, flapping like a flag in the breeze.

“Everyone, stay behind me!” he shouted.

He turned out his right hand, as if to command the demons to stop. There was an incredible commotion of wind, of screaming monsters, tearing trees and sliding earth. It seemed to go on forever, but it was over in minutes. The monk returned the beads to his hand, and the silence that followed was deafening.

“NOW!” he shouted.

Confused and terrified, the others bolted in the direction they were pointed. There was an even greater opening there now, not only in the swarm of monsters, but in the trees as well.

“What...what was that?” Momiji cried.

“No time,” Miroku shouted to her. “Keep running. As fast as you can!”

They ran into the forest, blind and panicked. Miroku was desperate to turn and see how close the monsters were, for he was sure they would be almost on top of him, but he did not dare. Every second counted if they were going to escape.

What he did not know then, what none of them knew, was that they had encountered a mere, tiny offshoot of Tsuchigumo, and almost all of them had been sucked into the Wind Tunnel. What few remained were dazed and witless.

At last, Suzi stumbled, and fell to the ground with a cry. Miroku immediately turned to pick her up and, looking behind them, saw that nothing was following. He reached for Suzi, who was sobbing in terror.

“It's OK,” he said, breathless. “I think we're safe. They're gone.”

The five of them sank to the earth, panting and shaking. At first, they could hear nothing but their own heavy breathing and pounding hearts.

“Shh!” Sango said. “Do you hear that?”

They held their breath. Finally, Kyotou let his out explosively.

“It's just people, I think.”

“That's better than those monsters,” Sango said. “But don't forget that Miroku and I are wanted. We have to be careful.”

“It sounds like a huge crowd,” Kyotou observed. “Let's just get a little closer and see what's going on.”

Sango hesitated. “Very well, but again, be careful.”

They crept through the trees. Miroku continuously cast glances over his shoulders, fearful that the monsters would return. Ahead of him, he soon saw that the crowd had collected its attention to a person or group of persons who were standing above them on a rocky ledge that emerged from the hillside. Miroku and his companions were standing behind and above this ledge. Someone was addressing the crowd, but Miroku could not make out what he was saying and, as they had reached the end of the forest and there was nothing between them and the crowd but grass, he did not dare creep any closer.

Almost as soon as he had come to a stop, a strange sensation began to take shape in the tips of his fingers, traveling slowly through his body until it seeped into his chest. Sango must have noticed his expression, because her own became concerned.

“Miroku? What is it?”

“I...I don't know,” he whispered. “I feel...strange. There's–”

“There's a demon present,” Momiji declared. “Or something demonic.”

Sango tensed. “Is it dangerous?”

“Aren't all demons dangerous?” Kyotou asked.

“Well...” Sango left it hanging.

Miroku did not see the point in debating the issue at this particular time. He closed his eyes to concentrate.

“It is demonic,” he said, “but it's familiar. I've felt it before, it's almost like...”

He gasped. All at once, it was as if his mind was taken from his body, from this dark and cold hillside, to summers long ago. He was swept into sunlight, into warm nights under the stars, into fish and pot-sticker suppers and songs and stories and bloodshed and tears and red red red red...

He shuddered and hit his knees.

“Miroku!” Sango knelt beside him.

“Oh, Sango,” he cried.

The others were amazed to see that he was weeping.

“Miroku, what—

“It's Inuyasha!”

“What?” Sango exclaimed.

“There!” still gasping, he pointed toward the crowd. “He is there!”

***

Inuyasha cleared the space between him and the crowd in about two seconds. He was over their heads before any of them knew of his presence. He had seen the people being tied to stakes and he had seen the kindling being piled around their feet. That was bad enough, but from where he had been hiding beside Nobunaga, Nazuna, and Jinenji, he had seen one of their faces, and this made him forget everything else. He forgot about the three companions. He forgot the crowd. He was too distracted by his outrage and urgent fear to even detect the scent of his long lost and dear friends, Miroku and Sango, who were hiding nearby. He had seen her face.

It was Botan.

He had not seen her, had hardly thought of her, since the day he left her standing in front of that cave, the cave where he had spent the interminable months of the Rains. She had found him, wounded and senseless in the wilderness. She had forced him to move when he had wanted to become stone. She had fed him. She had protected him. Now she was being jostled and fondled by goons, while they tied her to a stake and piled bundles of sticks and of straw at her feet. Inuyasha heard people shout: “Burn the sorceress!”, “Burn the false!”, and “Burn the Dissident!”.

This last one was a technical inaccuracy, as Botan of course had never been mentioned in the original Warrant. But that word had come to signify anyone that people wanted to get rid of, and anyway it did not matter because Inuyasha was not listening. He looked across the crowd and saw her face.

It was not full of fear. She was not crying or pleading for her life. Neither was her expression one of the stoic blankness seen on the impossibly noble. Her eyes were baleful and they glared out from behind her black hair like molten onyx. Someone near her said something to her, addressed her with a question, and without hesitation she drew herself back and spat in his face. The man lift his hand to strike her.

“You do and you'll eat that arm!”

The men on the platform turned in confusion, then cried out in amazement. Inuyasha was flying over the heads of the crowd and bearing down on them with his sword drawn. It was a sword that no mortal hand could wield; as if the hair, eyes, and ears weren't enough to convince them that a demon was come among them.

Botan's eyes widened.

“Inuyasha!” she cried.
Her guards were too stupefied to react, so Inuyasha's fists came down on the crown of their heads,  one by one. Their eyes rolled back into their heads and they crumpled to the ground like paper dolls.

“Get him! Don't just stand there! There's only one of him!”

Inuyasha groaned. Why did they always have to make things hard? He looked around, decided on a suitable spot, and sent the electrifying power of Tessaiga ripping up the hill. Chunks of earth shot into the air and rained down on the crowd. The clearing fell deathly silent for a moment, then the people scattered into an orderless, screaming mob.

“Are you alright?” he began untying Botan's bonds.

“I am now,” she said. “I prayed someone would save me. To think that you would appear!”

“You didn't look like you were praying,” he said. “You looked like you could bite their hands off.”

“Yes, well, it's hard to give a tear to dogs,” she rubbed her wrists and looked around.

The area had been effectively vacated.

“How is it that you happened to be here?” she asked.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said. “I'm looking for my friends.”

“Have you found any of them?”

“No, not yet.”

“I see. I'm sorry, Inuyasha.”

Inuyasha was about to ask her how she had come to be in this predicament, when another voice interrupted him. It came from the north slope, where he had unleashed his sword minutes before.

“Inuyasha!” it was a woman's voice. “We haven't seen you for half a year, and you try to kill us!”

Inuyasha whirled around, his eyes wide and his ears tipped forward.

They were running toward him, panting, red-faced, and with eyes as wide and as stunned as his own. They were dressed strangely, but he didn't even notice. All he saw was their faces.

“It...it can't be,” he whispered, shivering.

“What?” Botan said to him. “Do you know them?”

She shielded her eyes from the morning sun and tried to peer closer at them.

“Isn't that the monk who was with you—

Inuyasha did not hear the rest. He closed the distance between them in a heartbeat.

And then he was there, and they were there, staring at him. They were breathing. His nostrils filled with the smell of them and, in spite of everything, it had not changed. They were breathing. They were alive.

“Inuyasha!” Sango cried.

She flew into him, collapsing in his arms in a storm of weeping and laughing. Inuyasha clenched his jaw.

“This is a dream.”

He realized he was saying it out loud.

“No, not this time,” she raised her face to look at him. “It's not a dream. No more dreaming.”

“No more dreaming,” he echoed her like a prayer.

She reached up and lightly stroked his cheek and he saw that she was brushing aside tears.

Miroku stood there, still and silent, though Inuyasha thought that his eyes were swollen and red.

“So, you old pervert monk,” he jeered at him. “It's been a while.”

“Yes,” Miroku answered, his face a mystery. “It has been a long time.”

“What kept you?”

“Oh, you know, this and that.”

“Humph,” Inuyasha snorted. “Itinerant. There's no knowing where you've been lazing about while I've been tearing the countryside apart looking for you.”

Miroku took in a breath to retort, then laughed. Inuyasha looked at him in surprise, but the monk just kept laughing. Then, without warning, he launched himself at his old friend and lifted the hanyou clear off the ground in a tight, suffocating squeeze.

“Half-demon,” he said still laughing. “More like half-wit.”

Sango laughed harder, and threw herself back into the embrace.

“OK, guys,” Inuyasha managed to wheeze through four fierce arms, “now I really can't breathe.”

***

“Everyone just settle down,” Kouga said. “I need to think.”

Clearly, an assessment of the situation was in order.

Kagome's whereabouts and condition were unknown.

Naraku's whereabouts were also unknown, though it could be assumed that he was alive and well.

There's was no knowing where Inuyasha was, but Kouga did not really care so he brushed that aside.

Ayame was dead.

Kouga shuddered even now. The memory of his vision of her seemed as close and real as if it were still right in front of him.

Naraku had attempted to kidnap Kagome's mother, but had failed in the end, and now...

He felt a bright, expansive glow of triumph. For the first time in months, something had gone his way. Not only would he be able to throw it in Naraku's face, that he had so utterly failed at something he obviously wanted quite badly, but he would also be able to throw it in Inuyasha's face, that he, Kouga, had rescued Kagome's dear mother.

Which brought him back to the situation at hand. The most important thing, he concluded, was to see to the well-being of these women. They were cold, hungry, and wounded. The mother was strong, and determined to keep herself and the others alive. Her temerity did not surprise him, knowing Kagome as well as he did, but her stout heart would not have saved them.

“I can carry two,” he announced suddenly.

Ginta and Hakkaku turned to him with a questioning look.

“You two can get the others.”

“Wait,” the mother said. “Where are you taking us?”

“We'll get you back to our own dens. They are the closest safe place. You need warmth, clothes, food, and water.”

He indicated Ayumi with a glance.

“That one there needs help, and rest,” he said. “It's too dangerous to walk through this countryside right now, and it will only take a couple of hours if we carry you.”

The woman's eyes were full of doubt. One of the other girls drew the mother aside, and leaned in to her ear.

“Before you start whispering to each other,” Kouga said in a loud voice, “I guess I should tell you that, as a wolf demon, I can hear your hearts beating from over here.”

The women stared at him, dumbfounded. He sighed.

“Please, trust me. I promise, no member of the wolf demon tribe will ever harm you.”

“How can we be sure?” one of the girls asked.

It was the same girl who had pulled Kagome's mother aside. She was the only one, other than the mother, who had spoken in his presence.

“What is your name?” he asked her.

She glanced at her companions, and swallowed hard. Then she drew herself up, and he could sense her daring herself to look him in the eye, which she did.

“Yuka,” she answered.

Looking her full in the face for the first time, Kouga felt a faint shock of recognition, though he was certain he had never seen her before. Still, something about her was compelling and familiar to him. His ice-blue eyes stared at her, trying to puzzle it out. She held his gaze until Ginta spoke up.

“Kagome-san is an honorary member of our tribe,” he announced. “She is a sister.”

“Yeah,” Hakkaku agreed. “We would never, could never, harm her allies or kin.”

This declaration made quite an impression on the women. The mother seemed satisfied, and Kouga knew that was enough. The others, though frightened and hesitant, would follow her lead.

“So I will carry the wounded one,” he said.

He looked the women over. The oldest, Kagome's mother, was strong, but the strongest was the one who had named herself.

“You,” he beckoned to her. “You I will carry as well, but you'll have to hold on, alright?”

“What?” she stammered.

He did not answer, but went to the wounded one. She appeared about the same age as the other two. Her skin was paler, however, and her hair, full and black, was matted to her face and neck. Her brown eyes were shining and unfocused. He took the injured hand to examine it.

“It's not too far gone,” he said, “but we have to hurry. I will carry you, understand?”

She nodded.

“What is your name?”

She licked her lips, but did not answer, and he began to think she did not understand after all.

“She's Ayumi,” the girl who was holding her up answered him. “I am Eri.”

“Thanks.”

Kouga bent and lifted Ayumi, cradling her in his arms. He walked back to Yuka and knelt in front of her, being careful to not jostle his cargo more than necessary.

“Climb on.”

“Are...are you sure?” she asked.

“I get the feeling you don't know much about demons,” he said. “I'm stronger than you think. Climb on. We're wasting time.”

“Go ahead, Yuka-chan,” Higurashi urged her.

Kouga could sense her body tensing, as if preparing for a strike. Slowly, like she was putting her hands into a fire, she reached for his neck. She closed her arms around him, and hooked her knees as best she could to his hips. He stood up again. Ginta and Hakkaku had picked up Higurashi and Eri.

“Let's go,” he barked at them. “As fast as we can. We don't stop until we get to the dens.”

He meant what he said. He felt both girls flinch when he started to run. Yuka screamed once when, having reached peak speed, he let the air of his own momentum take him over hills, fields, and tree tops. Her grip tightened.

“It's OK,” he said to them as they flew through the air. “Kagome screamed too, the first time we did this.”

“Son of a bitch,” Yuka swore, her voice shrill in the wind. “This is crazy!”

“Well,” Kouga smiled, “I guess she didn't say exactly that.”

They ran on, Ginta and Hakkaku not far behind their leader. Kouga caught the scent of not a few demons along the way, but they were moving too fast to be at risk. The trees, the horizon of hills,  sped by in an orange blur.

Everything was crazy. Kagome and her friends were lost and scattered. Shippou, the little fox runt, was almost as tall as Kouga himself, and was the captain of an army. He had found Kagome's mother, wandering in the wilderness. Then there was Ayame.

What was happening?

OK, he thought, I'm not as stupid as all that. I can take the hint. Something is happening.

Something big.

They arrived at their destination in less than three hours. The members of his tribe who had stayed behind in the dens, mostly elders and children, were surprised to see him. He nodded at them at the cave mouth and went straight in, carrying the wounded girl (Ayumi, he reminded himself) to the back. He put her down gently on a bed of furs near a fire. He had to shake his shoulders hard to get Yuka loose of him. She slid off his back, one mass of tense muscle, her eyes wide and her hair standing out in all directions. Higurashi and Eri were in a similar state.

“Yo, Kouga-sama,” a young, female wolf demon with laughing eyes said to him. “Did you bring these as snacks? I thought you didn't go for that sort of thing.”

“Harm an inch of them and I'll break your legs,” he responded.

“My, my,” she smiled. “Touchy.”

“These women are kin of Kagome's,” he announced. “Make sure they are treated as such.”

Her eyes widened and she stared at the humans. Many others had collected around and were murmuring and gesturing to each other, their faces full of wonder. Higurashi and the girls had gathered together around Ayumi and were watching the wolf demons warily. The young wolf demoness went to them, kneeling on the ground beside them.

“My name is Fuu,” she said. “It will be an honor to care for you. I can tell you are not well. What may be done?”

“Please,” Yuka did not hesitate. “Our friend is hurt. A demon bit off her finger. We couldn't treat it well.”

“We have medicine that should help,” Fuu said. “But I admit I don't know much about treating humans.”

“I do,” Eri spoke up. “It was...is...my profession, in my own...land.”

“That's fortunate,” Fuu smiled. “Come with me. With our heads together we'll see what we can come up with.”

Eri rose to follow her.

Higurashi and Yuka returned to Ayumi. She was paler than ever, and her forehead was burning hot to the touch.

“Kagome,” she whispered. “Where is Kagome?”

They did not answer, but Higurashi bent and kissed her forehead.

“It's alright, Ayumi-chan,” she said. “Everything's gonna be alright now.”

“You, there,” another wolf demon spoke to them.

Yuka looked up and saw another woman looking at her.

“Yes?”

“Come with me.”

Yuka looked at Higurashi, who nodded. Hesitating, Yuka followed the woman away.

Kouga watched on and, satisfied that the women were being cared for, he went to the mouth of the cave to let the cold air clear his head. He sat down, cross-legged, on the bare rock and gazed out onto the dead and frozen valley.

He had forgotten to list the weather among the unusual circumstances that were so abundant as of late. First, the summer had been brutal, the kind where birds dropped from the sky, or drowned themselves in the river to escape the heat. Then the Rains came, and wiped the summer away irrevocably. Based on what Shippou had told him, it was clear to him now that they had begun precisely when Kagome and Inuyasha had encountered Naraku on the plateau.

Was that a coincidence? All things considered, he doubted it.

And now there was the winter, a drier and colder one he had never known.

There could be no doubt. Someone was trying to tell him, or them, something, and they weren't even trying to be subtle about it.

But what? What was he supposed to do?

He heard footsteps and turned. Higurashi was standing beside him.

“I wanted to thank you, Kouga-sama, for—

“Don't mention it,” he waved it aside. “And don't call me that.”

“Oh,” she appeared startled. “I'm sorry.”

“Kagome calls me Kouga-kun,” he said.

“I see.”

She sat down beside him.

“You should go back inside where it's warm,” he told her.

“I'm fine.”

He sighed. “You're just as stubborn as she is, I see.”

She smiled. He thought the expression sad and wistful.

“Yes,” she said. “I suppose that's only natural.”

They sat silent for some time. He knew what she would say next. He had been waiting for it.

“Where...when did you see her last?” she asked.

“I'm not going to lie to you,” he said. “It's been a long time. Over half a year.”

She turned her face away from him, and he could see her jaw tighten. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I'm sorry.”

“Do you think she's dead?”

“Absolutely not,” he said, squeezing her shoulder tighter.

She turned back to him in surprise.

“Why are you so sure?”

“Aren't you?”

She didn't answer at first. Then she let out a long, shuddering breath.

“Yes,” she said. “I'm sure. She's alive out there somewhere. But...”

She clasped her hands on front of her heart.

“But that doesn't mean,” she went on, her eyes filling with tears again, “that she's OK. That doesn't mean she isn't hurt, or in trouble, or lost, or lonely.”

Kouga was silent. He did not know what to say to her. Comforting Kagome's mother was something he had never prepared himself for.

“Won't you tell me what you do know?” her eyes were pleading.

That was the one thing Kouga did not want to do. What he knew was what Shippou had told him, and that would not comfort this poor woman.

Hey Kouga-kun, he heard the voice of Kagome reach for him out of the past, don't be so thoughtless! Would you want something like that to happen to you?

No. He would not want to be set adrift in a foreign land, with children of his own blood unaccounted for, lost in the wild. And he definitely would not want someone to lie to him about it, as if he were a child. This woman was no child.

So he told her everything he knew, and held her, patting her on the head and back awkwardly, while she wept.

“She lives,” she managed to say at last. “But where? And in what state? I'll be tortured until I can find her.”

“I'll take you back to Kaede's village tomorrow,” he said. “I'm certain we'll find something there. She may already be there.”

The woman's expression darkened into deeper doubt.

“What is it?”

“Do you know where Kagome comes from?” she asked him. “Do you know about the well?”

“Ah, let's see, I think I recall something about...uh...no, not really.”

She took a deep breath, then poured forth all at once everything she could tell him about Kagome. Not just the well, but about the family shrine, the tree of ages, Kagome's connection to the Shikon Jewel, about her school, her friends, her bedroom, her favorite foods, her childhood illnesses, her father and grandfather, both deceased, her younger brother, hopefully not deceased.

“I'm so worried about him,” she whispered fearfully. “I don't know what to do. My poor children.”

But Kouga was not listening to this. His head was swimming with the abundance of information. In all the things Higurashi had said, he had pictured Kagome, a child, a young woman. He had absorbed all the things he hadn't known, realizing how much he had never known.

And never asked.

“Anyway,” she went on, “the well was how we came here. It's in that same village.”

“That's why Kagome is always going back there,” he murmured.

“That's right. But when the demon brought us through...I couldn't tell, but there was a lot of destruction.”

“Dammit,” Kouga swore. “I might've known. If Naraku sent a demon there, it would probably kill everyone in the way.”

She began crying again, and to distract her, he asked her to describe the demon to him.

“Bah,” he snorted. “Even that mutt-face Inuyasha wouldn't be taken by a demon like that. Kaede's village may have been destroyed, but I think we can be sure that our friends weren't there when it happened.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We still go back there,” he said. “We may still find clues, and it's the only lead I can think of. Besides, don't you want to go back through?”

She looked up at him, her face stricken.

“I don't know!” she cried. “I need to find Kagome. I'm afraid if I go back through the well, it won't let me come back here again. But I'm also worried about Souta. I don't know what to do.”

“If you want my opinion,” he said. “I think you should go back.”

Higurashi looked at him in surprise.

“You and these girls are not prepared for a world like mine,” his voice was gruff, and his sharp blue eyes were direct. “You are weak. Kagome is accustomed to this. Your son needs you more.”

Higurashi lowered her head and was silent for a long time. She stared down at her fidgeting hands.

“You are right,” her voice startled him. “But...I have other reasons to doubt. Wait here, please.”

She rose and returned to the caves. He stared after her, then shrugged and returned to his own gloomy thoughts. After a few minutes, she was sitting beside him again. She had brought Kagome's old bag. She opened it and retrieved strange objects that he could tell by the smell were made of wood and ink.

“These are books,” she told him. “Writing, from my time.”

Kouga could not even pretend to care about such things.

“Writing?” he shrugged. “What good is that?”

“These aren't just any writings,” she said. “They're prophecies.”

“Say what now?”

“They tell the future.”

Then her brows knitted.

“Well, your future, my past I guess, or, well, now it's my future, I think...” she trailed off. “Oh boy, I really hate thinking about that stuff.”

“Uh-huh,” Kouga said slowly, staring at her.

“Here, let me show you.”

She turned through the pages, scanning them with her brown eyes, that looked so much like Kagome's that they cut large holes in his soul.

“Know that the Beloved is only a visitor,” she read.

“What does that mean?”

“'Beloved' is what the prophecies call Kagome,” she explained.

Kouga did not trust himself to say anything to that.

“When the Mother of the Beloved reads these words,” she continued, “it will be a sign unto you. Beware! The Enemy hunts you!”

She sighed, placing a hand down on the paper.

“Souta tried to warn me about that one. He thought it meant that I was in danger from Naraku, but I didn't pay attention.”

Kouga shook his head.

“I don't know,” he said. “It sounds pretty vague to me. What's the point of a prophecy that doesn't prepare you for what happens?”

“I really don't know,” she admitted.

Her eyes returned to the page, and she gasped.

“What is it?” he turned to her in alarm, and looked at the paper as if he would see the problem.

“Oh my god,” she cried, her voice throbbing.

“What is it?” he repeated, agitated.

“Time will become undone for the Mother, and she will be taken in darkness. The Seeress will be saved by the General, but it will be the Cyclone who will keep her.”

“You see?” he scoffed. “That was perfect gibberish.”

“Look here,” she pointed. “I am the 'Mother', and also the 'Seeress'. I've learned that the names are cross-referenced this way so that I can find all passages related to a certain person. I don't know who the 'General' is, but you are the 'Cyclone'.”

Kouga stared at her. “Are you serious?”

“The forces of the Cyclone shall be given over to the Shape Shifter and the Motherless in the northwest,” she read. “Does that mean anything to you?”

Kouga felt the blood drain from his face.

“Shape shifter?” he repeated, and in his mind's eye he saw the form of the enormous hawk, shading out the sun.

“Yes,” Higurashi went on. “I've come upon that name before, cross-referenced with 'Trickster'.”

Kouga laughed out loud, then put his head in his shaking hands.

“Yeah, that's Shippou alright.”

“Shippou?” she exclaimed. “Are you sure? Kagome told me he was just a child. This describes him as a captain of an army.”

Kouga surrendered to the evidence. There was no way she could have known that.

“It's a long story,” he said. “Who is 'Motherless'?”

“I have no idea.”
“There are no other hints about them?”

“Not that I've found so far.”

“Motherless,” he repeated. “That could mean anything, or anyone. I'm pretty sure Inuyasha's mother is dead, probably that monk and demon slayer too. Come to think of it, I don't think Shippou has a mother.”

“Then it probably doesn't mean that,” she said. “It couldn't be that vague.”

“What else could it mean?”

“I don't know. But I will know them when I meet them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can see…signs. I noticed it when we met, but I wasn’t sure what it meant. Now I think it’s something I can see so I know who people are.”

He sighed. “So, what I'm hearing is, you're not sure if you should go through the well, because you think you have a purpose here, that you're meant to be here.”

“That's about right.”

“Ah-ha,” he said, holding up his index finger. “But if you are meant to be here, the well won't keep you from coming back.”

“I...I guess I hadn't thought of it.”

Kouga felt a surge of satisfaction in his own cleverness. However, they both followed this to the next, inevitable thought. Higurashi said it out loud.

“Or, we will go back and I will be unable to pass through at all. I won't be able to get to Souta anyway.”

“Yeah. There's that.”

They were quiet. Kouga felt a killer headache coming on.

“So, what do we do?” she asked.

“Why not go on to Edo?” he suggested. “We can see if the well will let you through, and we can check for a trail to finding Kagome. We might as well.”

“Except I don't know if we have the time,” Higurashi argued. “We have somewhere to be.”

“What?” he exclaimed. “You mean there's a calendar for this shit? Why didn't you say so? What does it say?”

Higurashi found a particular page, and read aloud.

“Whosoever stands in my presence on the Day of Heavy Snow in the Month of the Priest, their names are written in the heavens. And they shall be: the Beloved, the Guardian, the Lord of the West, and the Wanderer. There shall be the Slayer and the Holy Man also, and the Motherless, the Seeress, the Bearer, the Golden-Hearted, and the Cyclone.”

Kouga stared at her. He then got to his feet and proceeded to pace back and forth, swearing and waving his arms in the air.

“What's the matter?” Higurashi asked in alarm.

“You realize that is less than...” he counted on his fingers. “A month away?”

“It is?”

“Yeah, and just who the hell are these people anyway? Though I can tell you I have a bad feeling about that 'Lord of the West' business. And by the way, whose presence are we talking about?”

“Oh, that one I know, no problem. It's someone named Midoriko.”

He gaped at her again, then continued his pacing.

“'Someone named Midoriko', she says. 'No problem', she says.”

“Is that bad?”

“Lady, Midoriko has been dead for about four hundred years.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, didn't you know?” his tone was sarcastic. “You're the seeress aren't you?”

“Well, I knew she was dead by my time, but I thought here—

“Nope. Dead. Most sincerely dead.”

“It says here: Know Seeress that I am always with you. I am Midoriko, and you can die but you’re never dead.”

“Oh, that's great. That's just great.”

While Kouga continued his pacing and ranting, Higurashi's eyes wandered back to the pages.

“Ah, Kouga-sama?”

“I asked you not to call me that.”

“Right, sorry.”

“What is it?”

“Midoriko may be dead, but she is obviously active and aware of what's going on.”

Something in her tone made him stop.

“What is it now?” he braced himself.

“Ah, well, never mind,” she closed the book in a snap. “That's enough of that for one day, I think.”

“Higurashi-san,” he said. “What did it say?”

“You really don't care to know, I promise,” she laughed nervously.

“I assure you I do.”

She sighed, and opened the book.

“Worry not, my young wolf pup,” she read in a faltering voice. “All will be revealed to you in good time, and not a moment before!”

“Now I know you're just fucking with me!”

“Don't speak to Higurashi-san that way!”

They both turned and saw that Yuka was watching them. Higurashi started visibly when she saw her. She was now dressed in gray fur pelts from head to toe, leather twine wrapping them around her arms and legs. The ensemble provided a startling and comical contrast to her foot gear—the heavy, black boots she had been wearing when she was taken from the shrine. Her long, straight hair was damp and pushed back behind her ears.

“Where'd you come from?” Kouga demanded. “How long have you been listening?”

“Long enough to know what insanity I've involved myself in,” she answered. “And as mind-boggling as this conversation is, it is too cold out here. Higurashi-san should come in where it's warm and get some rest.”

“Yuka,” Higurashi said, “if you're going to order me around, why don't you just call me by my first name?”

Yuka blinked at her. “That would not be proper. Please, come inside.”

Higurashi sighed in defeat.

“As you wish.”

She turned back to Kouga and inclined her head.

“Goodnight,” she said simply, and walked back into the fire-lit cavern with Yuka.

Kouga watched them go. He returned to where he had been sitting when Higurashi had interrupted him. He heard the two women whispering to each other.

“What on earth are you wearing?”

“Don't make fun,” Yuka said. “The same getup is waiting for you.”

Their voices faded and Kouga returned to his solitary thoughts. Did that conversation just happen? Was any of this real? He knew it was, because of how much he wished it wasn't. There was no naming what he would have traded to go back to a bright warm summer, to a time when he felt in control of his destiny.

He looked up at the uncaring stars.

“The next time I see Inuyasha,” he muttered, “I'm gonna punch him square in the mouth.”

***

From their hiding place at the bottom of the hill, Nobunaga, Nazuna, and Jinenji, had seen Inuyasha scatter the humans like startled doves. They watched as he released the woman from her bonds. A few minutes later, two other people joined him, and they embraced.

“What's going on?” Nazuna asked.

“I can't be sure,” Nobunaga's voice was full of wonder. “But I think that's Miroku and Sango.”

“Inuyasha's friends?”

“It's safe,” Jinenji told them. “Let's go see for ourselves.”

They hurried up the slope, almost running, and Inuyasha waved at them. When they had caught up to him, he was standing on the platform of rock with the woman he had rescued, and two others, who indeed introduced themselves as Sango and Miroku.

“This is Jinenji,” Inuyasha said to them, indicating the giant. “You've heard of him before, of course, but you never got the chance to meet him.”

Miroku and Sango bowed low to the half-demon, and greeted him with deep respect. Jinenji reached over his head and brought forth something that he handed to the monk. Miroku's eyes widened. His outstretched hand closed around his staff. It had lost its gleam, but was otherwise intact. He put both hands around it and gazed up at it in disbelief.

“I thought this was gone for good,” he murmured, shaking the rings, which tinkled like golden bells.

“I found it a while back,” Inuyasha told him. “Our traveling took us back to the site.”

The eyes of his two old friends were distant and melancholy.

“What's it like there?” Sango asked quietly.

“Like a giant foot splatted a bug,” he answered. “I looked for Hiraikotsu, Sango, but I couldn't find it.”

“It's alright,” she whispered.

“This is Nazuna,” Inuyasha introduced the young woman who was with Nobunaga and Jinenji. “You guys don't know her, because Kagome, Shippou, and I helped her before we met you two. It was a long time ago.”

The woman bowed to them.

“This is Nobunaga. Kagome and I helped him out a while back, before we even met Shippou.”

“And everyone, this is Botan,” with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder he indicated the woman he had saved minutes before. “She's a priestess. She found me after...that day...and took care of me, though I haven't seen her until now since the Rains. Of course, Miroku and Sango may remember her.”

“Inuyasha,” Sango said. “Don't you think...I mean, have you been trying to collect everyone you've aided over the years?”

“Pfft, as if.” Inuyasha scoffed. “I just happen to run across them.”

“I doubt it was a coincidence,” Miroku said. “Speaking of which...there's someone up there that Botan-sama may be interested in seeing.”

He pointed up the slope toward the forest that climbed into the mountain range. They all looked up and saw more people approaching them, a man and two women.

Botan gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth.

“What is it?” Inuyasha asked Miroku.

“You'll see,” the monk grinned.

Botan took off running towards the people, her arms outstretched, and almost tackled one of the women.

“Oh, I can't believe I forgot,” Sango exclaimed, her eyes shining. “Momiji's sister.”

“Just as Botan found you, Inuyasha,” Miroku explained, “Momiji found us. Somehow, she kept us alive through the Rains.”Inuyasha watched on as the two women continued their tearful greeting. The one called Momiji was introducing her sister to the man and another woman, or young girl as Inuyasha now saw, who were with her. Sango dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief and he shook his head, rolling his eyes skyward.

“This is crazy,” he said, unknowingly echoing Yuka's sentiment at that very moment, many miles away. “I hope I get to meet whoever is doing all this.”

“That would be interesting,” Miroku agreed. “But I wouldn't hold my breath.”

“Well, whatever, it's almost dark,” he said, looking around. “I guess we can camp here.”

“Aren't you afraid those people will come back?” Sango asked him.

Inuyasha snickered.

“Let them,” he said. “If they're spoiling for a fight, I'll be glad to give 'em one.”

“Huh? What is it?” he asked, when he saw Sango's expression.

“It's nothing,” she smiled. “I just missed you, that's all.”

Two half-demons, five human women, and three human men, made camp under the protection of the rocky hillside. They grouped themselves more or less as was their custom. Jinenji, Nobunaga, and Nazuna settled down together. Nearby, Momiji slept between Botan and Suzi, Kyotou laying within arm's reach. On the other side of the fire, Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku sat up talking into half the night. There was much to say. They wanted to know everything that had happened to them since their separation, but they covered it in mismatched, out of sequence chunks, because they skipped around in the storyline and interrupted each other often. Inuyasha told them how he had rescued Nazuna from a strange, black, spider-like demon, and this prompted Sango to relate what had chased them into his path.

“Wait, wait,” he cut her off. “You're getting ahead of the story. What happened before that?”

“Well,” Sango struggled to remember the correct order of events.

Miroku yawned.

“It's late,” he said. “We're not going to get through everything tonight. We should try to sleep.”

“If those monsters are as close as you say, I'm not sleeping,” Inuyasha said. “But you two go ahead.”

They nodded and went to their own sleeping place, and Inuyasha was so overcome with the day's events that he almost missed it.

“Hey!” he shouted. “What the hell is this?”

Miroku and Sango had both retired to the same spot, lying down under one large blanket. Now they rose up on their elbows to look at him.

“Inuyasha,” Sango said. “What's wrong? You'll wake everyone up.”

He jumped to a spot on the ground next to them, and started down at the couple, scrutinizing them.

“What's the matter with you?” Sango asked him.

“What's all this?” he asked again, waving his hand over the two of them. “When did you get so chummy?”

“Huh?” Sango started.

A suppressed chuckle escaped Miroku.

“Oh my,” he said, still laughing. “We've already begun to take it for granted, Sango, and we forgot to tell Inuyasha.”

“What?” Sango craned her neck to look at him. Then she laughed as well.

“Oh my goodness. You're right. How silly!”

“Inuyasha,” she said, turning back to the half-demon, “Miroku and I are married now.”

“WHAT?” Inuyasha shouted.

“Shh! You'll wake everyone up!”

“When the hell did this happen?” he demanded, in a lowered voice.

Sango shrugged.

“A while ago. Are you really so surprised?”

“Well, yeah,” Inuyasha stammered, still stunned. “I thought...I mean, I knew, I mean Kagome said you were...but...I guess I thought you wouldn't...not until Naraku was dealt with.”

Sango's expression darkened.

“Yes, well, we're not waiting to live, not on account of that one. Not anymore.”

“Clearly,” he murmured.

They said goodnight again and settled down to sleep, and Inuyasha moved away. He felt blindsided. It had never occurred to him that such a simple yet fundamental thing could change. He recognized his customary resistance to change, and understood that he would have to be stronger than he had foreseen, because more change was without a doubt on the horizon. He looked at the couple, sleeping with all peace and contentment, and at the crowd of humans he had suddenly collected, and he realized that there would be no going back to the “old days.”

It had been difficult for him to allow Miroku and Sango to go to sleep, because he still had many questions that were unanswered, but he knew they needed rest.

They're only human, he reminded himself.

And besides, he had not forgotten other business that he wanted to take care of before sunrise.

He waited until he knew everyone was asleep, then he went to the sleeping place of Nazuna. Without warning, he took her by the arms and pulled her to her feet. She mumbled drowsily and blinked at him.

“Inuyasha...what's the matter.”

He ignored her and threw her over his shoulder, her stomach coming down on bone.

“Oomph!” she exhaled.

With one leap, he took her well out of earshot, then let her fall back on the ground. She landed on her backside.

“Ow!” she cried, now fully awake. “What the hell?”

“Why did you leave this morning?”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

“I already told you—”

“You don't think I believed that crap?” he scoffed. “You really think I'm stupid.”

Nazuna got to her feet, primly dusting off her kimono and hakama.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

She turned to walk back to the camp, but Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, pushing her against a tree.

“I'm tired,” she complained. “I want to go back to sleep.”

“Oh well,” he said, still holding her. “So sad, too bad.”

She gave him a hard look.

“Don't go thinking I'm a nice guy like Nobunaga,” he told her.

“I promise you, I have no such delusions!”

“Answer the question, Nazuna,” he said.

“Why do you even care?” she demanded.

“Let's get one thing straight,” he said. “If anyone's an idiot here, it's you.”

Her expression stiffened.

“After all our history, you don't get by now that I care? What do you want me to do, Nazuna?”

Now her eyes widened again, and she stared at him in amazement.

“Inuyasha...”

She swallowed hard, and her jaw set again.

“I didn't say that you did not care, I asked you why you cared.”

“Because if I know why you left, I can stop you from doing it again!”

Nazuna shook her head. “That doesn't...

She stopped, growing quiet.

“Oh,” she murmured. “I see. You think it was your fault.”

He said nothing and held her gaze until she dropped her eyes and looked away, shaking her head.

“Inuyasha,” she whispered. “That's so stupid.”

“I know you like Nobunaga, and you don't seem to have any problem with Jinenji.”

“It had nothing to do with you!”

“Then what? Is it Nobunaga? I know he's sweet on you. Do you not like him?”

She did not answer.

“If you don't want to be with us anymore,” he said. “I won't make you. But you have to have somewhere safe to go, OK?”

“Somewhere safe,” she repeated, gazing in the distance.

“Very well, Inuyasha,” she said, putting her hands over her heart. “I promise, OK? I won't leave like that again.”

“That's all I needed to hear.”

She went back to her blanket and Inuyasha resumed his guard over all of them. Not for the first time, he wondered if Kagome would know what to say, what to do.

“You can't get here fast enough,” he whispered.

***

The faint morning light had barely reached the back of the cave, but Yuka knew that many people around her were already awake and moving about. She opened one eye, just enough to see the shadows of feet and legs, dancing in the light cast on the cave walls by several fires.

She closed her eyes tight again. Yuka did not want to get up. She did not want to look at caves, mountains, wilderness, and, most of all, wolf demons.

I'm so tired, she thought.

She began to drift off to sleep again. A jolt ran through her body and yanked her awake again. She knew without needing to remember it that she had dreamed again. It was the same dream that she had had since moving into the Higurashi shrine. She was about to lose control of her car, about to go careening over the fog-blanketed edge, when she collided with a wolf.

It is always unsettling to have repeating dreams, because it implies that one's mind is obsessively digging at something, something that's buried deep and probably should remain so. Now, of course, it was even more unnerving. It was one thing to have that dream back in Kagome's bedroom, back in...

in my own time.

Back then she thought the people around her were crazy, maybe that she was crazy, but in truth she had no idea what crazy could be, not then.

She opened her eyes, now determined to stay awake. She sat up, and then she saw him. Kouga was resting on the balls of his feet, looking at her.

“I was just about to shake you awake,” he said. “The others are eating. You should too.”

He walked away before she could say anything. She saw that Higurashi, Eri, and Ayumi, dressed in furs up to their ears, were kneeling around a fire and eating something with their hands, some kind of meat.

“Ayumi-chan,” Yuka threw off her blankets and went to her friend. “Are you feeling better?”

“Oh yes,” the girl smiled. “Much. I hardly hurt at all now.”

Ayumi's smile was wan and tight.

At least she's strong enough to fake it.

Yuka ate what was offered to her by Fuu. It was meat, and though she was not sure what kind, it had none of the unwholesomeness of what the monster had forced her to eat.

“It's just rabbit,” Fuu told her. “It's not much, but time's are hard.”

“Thank you very much,” Yuka was amazed to hear herself say.

“Give them as much as you can spare,” Kouga said to Fuu. “They are weak and they have a long journey ahead of them.”

“Yes, but you'll be doing all the running, correct?” Fuu smiled at him.

“Are we going somewhere?” Eri asked.

“Yeah,” Kouga answered. “I've decided. I'm taking you back to Edo.”

Yuka looked at Higurashi. The woman's expression was pensive, and Yuka could not tell if she agreed with the decision, or not.

“Find someone strong who can be spared,” Kouga said. “At least strong enough to run all day while carrying a woman. I don't want to have to carry two again.”

“Yes, my lord,” Fuu bowed and left them.

Yuka gulped down every morsel of food she was given. She was then surrounded by fussing, female wolf demons and, though she would not have thought it possible, she was wrapped in even more furs. At the end of it, she could barely bend her arms and legs. When one of the women began twisting her hair, she felt they were taking things a bit far.

“Are you bundling my hair, now?” she asked in consternation. “I don't think it will freeze.”

“We are braiding it,” one of them answered. “Kouga complained that it was too long and got in his way.”

Yuka was indignant.

“Well,” she huffed. “Excuse me.”

“For what?” one them peered at her, puzzled.

“Forget it.”

She had to admit, she had indeed let her hair get out of control since moving to the shrine almost six months ago. The two female wolf demons, however, worked through her locks with astonishing, synchronized speed, and produced what looked like two, twisted ropes that fell from behind each ear. For all the preparations, they were all ready to go in a quarter of an hour.

Kouga announced that it was time to leave by presenting his broad back to Yuka. He knelt on the ground in front of her and said simply, “Up.”

“Wouldn't you rather carry Higurashi-san?” she asked. “I mean, the two of you seem to have a lot to talk about.”

“We all run fast,” he said. “But there's fast, and then there's me. You're already used to it. So stop your yapping and let's go.”

“Alright, alright,” she said. “Don't get excited.”

Yuka didn't feel all that used to it. She still had to fight the urge to scream almost constantly, as they sped through the countryside. It seemed to her that it was more than trees blurring by, as if one were on a bullet train. It felt to her that she was being twisted as well. Sometimes she saw the sky, sometimes the ground.

It's like a tornado. I'm in a tornado.

Realizing that did not help. The only thing that did was keeping her eyes closed. She screamed once, however, when she was sure they must have collided with something unyielding, like a tree, or a continent.

“Yuka-chan, are you OK?” it was Higurashi-san's voice.

“Um...yeah, I think so. What happened?”

“We've stopped.”

Yuka opened her eyes. They had not collided with anything; they had merely come to a sudden, heart-stopping halt. The wolves had stopped running and were now standing in a thin stand of young pines. Judging by the light, it was mid-afternoon.

“What is it?” she whispered to Kouga. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong,” he said. “We just ran into someone we know.”

“Huh?” Yuka looked around, but she saw only Higurashi and her friends, and the other wolf demons.

“Kouga-sama,” one of them, the one Yuka did not know, spoke up. “Are you sure it's not a foe?”

“You worry too much, Tadashi,” Kouga laughed. “He's about as dangerous as a kitten.”

He shrugged his shoulders in an impatient, agitated movement, and Yuka let go, sliding off his back.

“Hey,” he called out. “Hachi, isn't it? We won't hurt you. We're friends of Kagome.”

At first, nothing happened, but a rustle in the forest floor bed of leaves drew Yuka's attention and she almost screamed again when a giant dog stepped into the light. The creature was not much taller than she, but it had paws instead of hands and feet and a tanuki head instead of a human head.

“What is that?” Yuka cried.

“It's alright, I said,” Kouga told her. “He's a friend.”

“You're Kouga, right?” the raccoon-dog spoke up, much to the increased discomfort of the humans.

“Demon!” Eri shouted.

“Yes,” Kouga rolled his eyes. “He's a demon, I'm a demon, we're all demons! Shut up already!”

He turned back to the raccoon-dog.

“Have you seen Kagome and the others?”

The creature took one look at him with its large, liquid eyes and let out a loud, pitiful cry. It buried its face in its paws and sobbed uncontrollably.

Kouga started and even took a step back.

“What...what the hell is the matter with you?” he demanded.

“Oh, Miroku-sama,” it wailed. “I fear I will never see him again.”

“Will you stop that?” Kouga shouted at him.

Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged glances and shrugged, but said nothing. Yuka looked at Higurashi but the woman returned an expression of complete confusion, but not any fear.

“It's terrible,” the creature continued to sob. “So terrible.”

His lamentations were cut off and he fell to the ground in a heap. Kouga stood over him, shaking his fist, and the raccoon-dog sat up, rubbing his head.

“Ow, that hurt,” he complained.

“Well I told you to stop that blubbering. You call yourself a demon? Give me a break.”

“Sorry,” the raccoon-dog bowed. “I just...I've been searching for so long.”

“So then I take it you haven't seen any of them.”

“I saw Shippou, a few months ago.”
“Geez,” Kouga sighed. “I saw him more recent than that.”

He turned to the others.

“This is Hachi. He's a raccoon-dog demon, but he's harmless. Wouldn't hurt a flea. Hachi, these woman are friends of Kagome's. That one is her mother.”

Hachi looked up with wide eyes and stared at Higurashi in amazement. He dashed to her and bowed low. Higurashi smiled nervously.

“We were on our way to Kaede's village,” Kouga told him.

“That won't do you any good,” Hachi said. “I was just there.”

“What?”

“I searched for days, all around, but could find no evidence that any of them had been there for months, many months.”

Yuka looked at Higurashi again, and this time she thought she had paled noticeably.

“Also,” Hachi continued, “the priestess Kaede-sama is dead.”

Kouga, who had been watching Higurashi, and seemed about to speak to her, whirled back to Hachi.

“Dead? When? How?”

“It's been about a week, I think,” Hachi answered. “The villagers said a terrible demon came, looking for Kagome-sama. He killed a lot of people. They say he tortured Kaede-sama to get information about Kagome-sama—like where she was from, who was her family—and then he killed her.”

Yuka, without consciously considering it, began to edge away from Kouga. The wolf demon's jaw and fists, his whole body, were clenched.

“That...that bastard,” he growled.

“Kouga...Kouga-kun,” she whispered.

He started and turned to her, surprised.

“Who was this Kaede?” she asked.

“She took care of Kagome, when Kagome came here,” Higurashi said.

Yuka looked at Higurashi and noticed the tracks of tears on her cheeks and chin.

“Now what, Kouga-sama?” Higurashi asked.

“I told you not to call me that,” he said.

His shoulders slumped.

“I don't know,” he admitted.

“Maybe we should go back,” Ginta said. “Our kin are fighting those monsters off to the west. We should go to them.”

“But we've come this far,” Kouga argued. “We should go on to Edo.”

“You heard the raccoon-dog,” Ginta said. “What's the point of that?”

“The well is still there,” Higurashi said.

“So, you intend to go back then?” Kouga asked her. “Without Kagome?”

“No,” she answered. “But we can send these girls back.”

Yuka and her friends turned to her.

“What do you mean?” Yuka cried.

“They have no business here,” Higurashi went on, ignoring her. “And if I send them back, I know there will be someone to look after Souta. But I...I cannot leave until I've seen Kagome.”

“If you think I'm leaving you here,” Yuka declared, “you are crazier than I thought.”

“Why can't you for once do as I say?” Higurashi turned on her.

“How do I know if you will ever find Kagome? How can you think, after everything I've gone through until now, that I would just leave?”

“Yuka-chan, don't be stupid,” Eri said.

Yuka stared at her. “What did you say?”

“We don't belong here. I, for one, want to go back home. So does Ayumi-chan. Look at her, Yuka!”

Yuka turned. Ayumi, dressed in the same furs as the rest of them, her thick hair wild and tangled, stood apart with her head bowed. Ayumi's wound had begun to heal, though to Yuka's eyes it still looked horrible. Now her face was always pale and grave. Yuka understood in that moment that her friend had been marked by pain and terror. That mark was as visible as if it were a blazing brand on her forehead.

“I do wish to go home,” she said quietly.

Yuka could say nothing. They were right; she knew they were right, but still, every cell in her seemed to be crying out against going through the well.

“I can't,” she said. “Don't you see I can't?”

Now Eri turned away.

“None of this matters,” Hakkaku declared. “We should not go to Edo just to send these women back home.”

“Idiot!” Kouga shouted. “What do you mean? That's exactly what we should do. Do you want to be the one to tell Kagome that we got them killed?”

Hakkaku flinched.

“Enough of this talking,” Kouga said. “We're going, right now.”

He turned his back to Yuka and knelt, but she crossed her arms and stepped back.

“No way,” she said. “I'm not going.”

“The hell you say?” he turned on her. “You're sure as fuck not staying here!”

“Yuka-chan,” Higurashi said. “Do as he says.”

“No!”

“Look, we're going,” Kouga told her. “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way, but it won't make any kind of difference to me.”

She glared at him.

“Kouga-sama! Look!”

Tadashi was pointing to the path ahead of them, which was winding away, disappearing into the shadowed forest. Now, standing on this path, was a woman, dressed in gray and white fur, with long red hair. She came closer to them, but not by walking. She floated above the ground, from one spot to another, in speedy jumps.

Yuka's blood ran cold.

“What is that?”

Kouga's face was whiter than the moon. He stood frozen, sweating in the frigid air.

Ginta and Hakkaku both cried out, in anguish and terror.

“It's Ayama-sama!” they wailed. “Her ghost is come!”

The apparition was now standing amongst them. Higurashi looked at her face and gasped, her hand going to her mouth.

“The Sacred Iris!” she cried.

Ginta and the others turned to her, stunned, but Kouga remained locked in place.

At last, he closed his eyes, and swallowed hard.

“I get it,” he said in a low voice. “I heard you. You can leave now.”

Just like that, she was gone. There was not even a wisp left where she had been standing. A quiet descended on them. Yuka looked at her friends; they were pale and trembling, but she herself felt numb.

What will happen now?

When Higurashi broke the silence, it was in a low, strained voice.

“Is it true, what she said?”

Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged glances.

“What do you mean?” Hakkaku asked her. “I didn't hear her say anything. Did you guys?”

Ginta and Tadashi shook their heads.

“Kouga-kun,” Higurashi said. “I know you heard it.”

“What was it?” Ginta asked her.

“I heard her voice in my head. She said: Those who fight Naraku...you all fight and lose for the same reason—

“Stop it!” Kouga shouted at her. “Don't say it!”

Higurashi flinched.

Yuka's eyes went from Kouga to Higurashi. Kouga's eyes shone; his mouth was tight and rigid with anger. Higurashi backed away, but her expression was not of fear, but of pity.

“I won't pretend to know what's going on here,” Yuka said. “But what does it mean for us? Where are we going?”

Kouga looked at Eri and Ayumi.

“I'm sorry,” he said to them. “You'll have to be brave a little longer.”

He turned to Yuka.

“I hope you like being on my back,” he said. “You're gonna be there for a while. We go west.”

***

[End of Chapter Twenty-Five]

[Next Chapter: The Aftermath]