Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Testing Times ❯ Disappearances ( Chapter 9 )

*Waves white flag of surrender* Gulp….um….I'm sorry? *tons of rotten fruit and cans get thrown at Youshiie* Okay Okay!!! I'm super duper completely utterly a hundred times with sugar on top sorry!!! I realize I didn't update before Christmas like I said but I'm…*looks at calendar…* only 9 months late. *looks up hopefully and gets glares in return.* Fine! Here's your stupid chapter! I will TRY VERY HARD to update soon! I have two jobs and college so I'm a bit swamped but I love this fic and I love writing it so I will update. DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!!! Oh, and I would like to thank all my reviews that keep me going and buzzk97 who sent me an e-mail (I love emails) and convinced me to update again. Okay, well enough of me blabbing; on with the fic!

 

Disclaimer: YES! FINALLY! While I wasn't updating I was buying Yu Yu Hakusho

and InuYasha! Yay! *Cops come out and surround Youshiie* Um, never mind…I own nothing! DON'T ARREST ME!!!!

 

 

Disappearances

 

***On Some Random Road***

 

The group of travelers went toward the village rumored to have a jewel shard. As they traveled they started walking through fields of hay and other vegetables. They saw many farmers plowing in the hot sun. The farmers stared at them as they walked by, officially freaking out some of the members of the group.

 

“Urameshi! Their staring at me!” Cried Kuwabara as he inched his way closer to Yusuke.

 

“Shut up, you think I don't notice? Block head!” Yusuke said pushing Kuwabara away from him. “And there is something called personal space!”

 

“Well you two do look rather strange.” Miroku piped up resulting in him getting hit in the head by Yusuke.

 

“Oh yeah, well were not the one trying to dress up like a grape!” Yusuke said referring to Miroku's color choice on his cloths.

 

Miroku responded by bopping Yusuke in the head with his staff and very maturely sticking out his tough.

 

“Stupid monk I'll….”

 

“Kagome do you sense any jewel shards?” InuYasha asked quickly, ignoring the arguing trio as a farmer actually dropped his plow without noticing as he stared at them.

 

“Yes there are two houses up ahead and one has the jewel shard! The one with the Jewel shard is the one across from the house with…” Kagome squinted to see that far away then froze. “Kikyo in front of it.” She looked down sadly as she whispered that last part.

 

It took only a second for InuYasha to process the information Kagome had just given him. Before anyone could blink he was already running away from the group toward the house with his dead lover in front of it.

 

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to stop the tears that were threatening to splash out of her eyes. Kurama looked from InuYasha's retreating form to Kagome. With a puzzled expression he reached out a hand and placed it on Kagome's shoulder in an effort to comfort the newly sad girl. Kagome seemed to wake up from the touch and she put on a very fake bright smile with a small tear still glistening in her eye. “Come on let's get the other jewel shard.” She began to walk toward the house quickly as everyone followed; no one was really buying her `everything is ok' smile that was flashed at them as she walked.

 

“Hey monk, why is Kagome acting so down?” Yusuke asked Miroku when a very small tear trailed unnoticed by Kagome down her face.

 

“That is a story for another day, preferably when neither Kagome nor InuYasha are around.” Miroku whispered as he followed Kagome.

 

Sango looked away from Miroku to InuYasha's tiny figure that was just barely visible. `InuYasha you idiot! Why? Why does it always have to be Kikyo?' She then looked over at Kagome who seemed determined not to show what she was obviously felling. `Can't you see your hurting her?'

 

 

 

***With InuYasha***

 

InuYasha ran harder as Kikyo's form became larger and closer. He ran as if his life depended on it until he was only a few feet in front of her. She turned slowly to face him as he skidded to a halt. For a few seconds all they did was stare at each other, InuYasha's face was a mix of great sadness and relief; Kikyo looked bemused and unaffected.

 

Finally InuYasha took a deep breath and said quietly in a concerned voice; “Hey Kikyo, where have you been?”

 

“I have been wondering to villages looking for jewel shards much like you.” Kikyo replied without much emotion in her voice. InuYasha's eyes darted from her overly pale skin to her somewhat lifeless eyes. For a brief moment, InuYasha felt true guilt that he was once again facing Kikyo and abandoning Kagome. However this moment quickly passed when he remembered what she was like when she was alive and radiant; he still had a debt to pay to her and he still loved the dead priestess.

 

Kikyo gave one last look at InuYasha then slowly turned toward the house and begin to walk. InuYasha timidly followed her. “Kikyo?” The small begging tone in his voice made her stop where she was but she didn't turn to face him. “Are you doing ok? I mean, Naraku hasn't hurt you or anything has he?” InuYasha said with a hint of urgency and anger in his voice.

 

Kikyo didn't even turn to face him. “That is of no importance to you InuYasha, now let me be.” Without another word Kikyo walked into house and closed the door.

 

InuYasha paused for only a minute to turn around and see Kagome and the group walking into the other house. He looked from them, back to the door, then back to them and without hesitation ripped the door open to try and talk to Kikyo, if only for a little longer. However as he looked around the room; no one was there. Kikyo was just gone. Not a living or dead soul was in that house. InuYasha stared at the spot where Kikyo was supposed to be standing; the only thing that caught his attention was an open window lightly swaying in the breeze. `Did she really want to get away from me that much?' InuYasha took one last look around before reluctantly making his way to the other house where the jewel shard was.

 

 

 

***With the Rest of the Group. ***

 

Kagome lightly knocked on the door of the house that she sensed the jewel shared within. A very soft voice replied “Oh, come in.” Kagome slowly opened the door to reveal on old woman stirring something that smelled like delicious soup. She hesitated while the others came in around her.

 

“Hello dearie is there anything I can help you with?” the woman said as she set down her spoon and stood to face her unexpected guests.

 

Yusuke, who didn't really like or trust old ladies to begin with (must have something to do with Genkai) actually cracked his knuckles at the old lady; “Yes we want the Jewel shard.”

 

“What jewel shard?” asked the woman as she took a step back from Yusuke and her eyes darted toward the door.

 

“Nice going tough guy, way to scare an old lady.” Sango muttered in disgust to Yusuke.

 

Miroku interjected pushing Yusuke back and standing in front of him, “Sorry about our friend miss, we mean you no harm. Have you by any chance seen a small pink colored shard?”

 

The old woman took a calming breath then smiled kindly. “I'm sorry young man; I've never seen anything like that before.”

 

“Kagome do you see where the shard is?” Kurama bent down and whispered in Kagome's ear; he was getting strange vibes from this kindly old lady and didn't really trust her.

 

Kagome squinted then her eyes bugged in surprise. “She's a demon! The shard is in her forehead!”

 

The woman's smile immediately dropped as she turned to glare at Kagome. “Oh, you are a cleaver little girl aren't you? You're not getting my jewel shard.” The woman yelled as her cloths ripped apart and she let out a terrible cry. Her body slowly turned, thrashed and morphed into a giant snake like creature.

 

“Why is it that every innocent kid or sweet little granny turns out to be a giant blood sucking monster?” Kuwabara whined just as the snake's tail whipped around and hit him into a dresser knocking him unconscious.

 

The rest of the members of the group began to fight the monster. Kurama cut the demon strait in half with his rose whip. To everyone's horror the two pieces morphed and changed into two more snake demons. Hiei sliced off ones head as Sango's Hiraikotsu took out the other. As you could guess the two snakes that were attacked just turned into two more snakes. Yusuke shot a spirit gun at one and disintegrated it.

 

“See! This should teach everyone a lesson.” Yusuke yelled as he dodged one snake with oozing fangs. “Never, ever, trust old ladies!”

 

“Kagome which one has the shards?” asked Miroku as he knocked one out using his staff like a golf club.

 

“The biggest one.”

 

Miroku used his wind tunnel and sucked up one of the snakes that didn't have the jewel shard. Unfortunately the one that did have the jewel shard lunged at Kagome. The snake chomped down on Kagome's hand. Kagome fell to the floor in pain with a loud scream.

 

Shippo tried to scare the snake away from Kagome by doing a foxfire but it barely burned the snake. Its rearing, ugly, head whipped toward the little fox that jumped behind Sango with a screech. Sango raised her Hiraikotsu and in one swoop decapitated the creature sending blood everywhere. While its head was off Hiei took his sword and sliced through the head and the jewel shard fell out. Without the jewel shard the snake was a minimum threat and Yusuke killed it with one shotgun.

 

Kurama rushed over to Kagome. “Kagome are you all right?” Kurama asked as he tried to help her up.

 

“Oh yeah I'm fine, it just stings a little.” Kagome said holding back tears as she stumbled to her feet.

 

“Let me see it.” Kurama, with one hand around her waist to steady her, used the other to take her hand and look closely at the wound. He took out a seed and did the same sort of bandaging thing he did with Sango. “Luckily for us it wasn't poisoned or else this would be a lot worse.” Kurama said with relief.

 

About two seconds later InuYasha came in to see Kurama holding Kagome and them `holding hands'.

 

“Hey, let go of Kagome, you have no right!!!” Yelled InuYasha as he pushed Kagome and Kurama apart; causing Kagome to collapse right on the floor because Kurama was holding her up.

 

Kurama's eyes narrowed slightly at InuYasha and went to help Kagome up but froze when he saw the fire burning in her eyes that seemed to be directed to InuYasha.

 

“No right? No right? I'll tell you who has no right, InuYasha!” Kagome jumped up and took a threatening step forward. “You have no right to meddle in any of my business, it's clear you would much rather be with that clay pot then me so just bud out!!!” Kagome screamed as she gave him a shove.

 

InuYasha looked from where she had shoved him then his icy glare turned to her. “You ungrateful wench! I save your butt almost every day and the only way you can repay me is telling me to bud out? And also KIKYO IS NOT A CLAY POT!!!”

 

“Oh Koga is right, you are a mutt! If you like Kikyo so much why don't you follow her around, why don't you go be with her? Why don't you just leave me alone InuYasha?!” Kagome yelled in a huff as she pushed him aside and ran out of the house.

 

Silence fell on the group as everyone watched where she had retreated. Then Shippo went up to InuYasha and poked him in the leg, “Well aren't you going to apologize to her? After all this isn't the first time you've picked Kikyo over her, you are such an idiot.” InuYasha's response was to kick Shippo and send him soaring into a pile of pots.

 

Everyone else decided to follow Kagome, Sango picked up the jewel shard and ran after her friend. Miroku sighed and followed Kagome. Yusuke picked up Shippo by the tale and carried him out while Shippo yelled at him to put him down. Hiei dragged Kuwabara's unconscious body out by his foot until he woke up and tried to charge the fire demon out of the door. Kurama moved to follow them but was roughly pulled aside by InuYasha.

 

“Listen fox I don't know what you are doing with Kagome but stay away from her, she has me and doesn't need you!” InuYasha said with a growl as he blocked the door from Kurama.

 

“Pardon me but I believe that you are the one who should stay away from her, it's clear that you hurt her and you don't even have the decency to go after her.” Kurama began to walk away moving around InuYasha then paused, “Oh by the way, I don't intend to stay away from Kagome at all for as far as I see you have no claim over her.” Kurama said with a grin as he calmly walked after Kagome.

 

“You better stay away! You hear me, Fox boy?” InuYasha yelled after Kurama, it wasn't that he didn't like Kagome, he just liked Kikyo more. But InuYasha would die before he let that fox take away what was his.

 

 

***With Kagome***

 

Kagome was so mad that she was just walking down the road blinded by tears in her eyes.

 

`Stupid InuYasha, the nerve of him telling me what to do when he always ditches me for Kikyo every chance he gets. Well that's it! I won't take it anymore. InuYasha can have Kikyo for all I care, I don't want to be with him at all, I can do much better.' Kagome prayed that what she was thinking was really true.

 

Kagome didn't really realize where she was, she didn't really care either. She just kicked some stones that had the audacity to be in her way. She was so angry that she did not notice anything until she ran into a large, squishy, and smelly object.

 

“Oh, sorry about that.” Kagome said backing up to see the person. Instead her sight revealed a rather large and ugly ogre looking down at her.

 

“Don't worry about it sweet thing, I'm sure I could find a way to forgive you.” The ogre said with a grin as he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his sweat stained and tattered clothes.

 

“Let go of me.” Kagome muttered while pushing away from him with all her strength. It just made him smile larger as he twisted her wrist to make her screech and stop moving so much.

 

“That's just how I like them, spunky.” The ogre said with a chuckle as he grabbed her ass and started lifting up her skirt. Kagome screamed as she looked up angrily at his mangled and yellow teeth. The ogre kept laughing and touching until a bright light blasted his head off.

 

“Leave her alone.” Yusuke yelled with disgust and anger plastered on his face, he still had his fingers pointed where the monsters head had once been. Kagome looked up at him then pushed the dead lug off of her.

 

“Ha, I showed that freak!” Yusuke said running down the hill. “You ok?” He asked when he approached her.

 

Kagome took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Yeah, thanks Yusuke.”

 

Yusuke smiled then looked down at the decapitated ogre. He gave it a nice kick for good measure then stood on top of it flexing his muscles making Kagome laugh a little. He stared at her for a second as she laughed listening to how nice it sounded. With such a light blush you could barely see it he smiled at her; “No problem this punk is nothing for the great Yusuke Urameshi. They both smiled until their heads turned simultaneously hearing yelling coming from over the hill.

 

“You stupid monk! You made me loose Kagome. And where the hell did Yusuke go?” They heard Sango scream from over the hill.

 

Kagome looked over toward the hill, “I'm over here!” She screamed.

 

“Kagome?!” Sango appeared over the hill. “Thank God! Kagome are you alright?” Sango asked as she ran down to meet her friend followed closely by Miroku, Kirara, Shippo, Kuwabara, and Hiei. They saw the ogre and looked at a grinning Yusuke still standing on it. “What happened?”

 

Kagome looked at the ogre. “Nothing, everything is ok.” She failed to notice Yusuke pout that he wouldn't be able to tell his heroic story.

 

“Good I was worried when you…” Sango began when a certain demon interrupted.

 

“Hn, who is Kikyo?” Leave it to Hiei to be the direct one.

 

“Hiei she probably doesn't want to talk about it!” Yusuke said rolling his eyes and glaring and the fire demon, he had just finished making her forget about it and smile.

 

“I want answers and when I want them I get them.” Hiei said matching his glare and overpowering it.

 

“Shut up shrimp. It's none of your business. For being so quiet you sure are nosey.” Sango said standing in front of Hiei blocking Kagome from his view.

 

Hiei glared at Sango, muttered a curse and turned away from her to glare at the nearby forest.

 

Sango blinked a few times then chuckled, “I knew it! He's scared of me.” Sango replied happily. Hiei snapped around and glared at the slayer.

 

“Don't push it Sango he doesn't seem to be in the best mood and um,” Kagome watched as Hiei marched up to them and without a word punched Sango in the gut. Then just as silently as he came he gave one last glare and then teleported (or whatever he does) away ignoring the outcry from his more stupid teammate.

 

“Hey half-pint you can't hit girls!!!!” Kuwabara paused and looked over at Sango who just spit out some blood and gave him the `I can take care of myself so shut up moron' glare then settling her intense fiery glare on where Hiei had been just a second ago.

 

“God I hate him!” Sango said wiping off the blood from her mouth.

 

“Are you okay?” Kagome received a nod then turned to look at everyone else, “Ok, do you guys want to set up camp or...” Kagome blinked, spun around and stood on her tippy-toes as if looking for something. “Guys, where's Yusuke?”

 

“What do you mean Urameshi is right…hey where did Urameshi go?” Kuwabara asked as he spun around looking more puzzled than usual.

 

“He was just here a moment ago.” Mused Miroku as he looked at the ogre Yusuke had been standing on seconds ago.

 

Everyone heard shouting coming from over the hill, “Stop walking and face me like a man you coward, you pathetic excuse for a fighter!” All heads turned to see a clearly annoyed Kurama followed by a really pissed off InuYasha with a newly formed and bruising black eye.

 

Kurama completely ignored the insult, took a deep breath and looked at the others, smiling, “What's going on?”

 

Kuwabara looked from InuYasha, his black eye, to Kurama but shook his head to forget about whatever he was thinking, “Hey Kurama, have you seen Urameshi? He's not here.”

 

InuYasha hated being ignored so he continued to rant and hit rocks/trees/and other random objects in the background (damn, stupid, fox, cheap shot, ect…) but no one seemed to take notice.

 

Kurama raise an eye brow and glance around, “Well he couldn't have gone far, I just came down the hill and didn't see him wondering away.” Kurama looked at the clearly spirit-gunned ogre then at Kuwabara. “How long has he been gone?”

 

“Not long at all he just disappeared!” Shippo said as he climbed up Kurama and sat on his shoulder whispering: “Maybe the boogie man got him!”

 

“Come on Urameshi this isn't funny, come out now or I'll pound you harder then Chu ever could!” Kuwabara screamed to the open fields with no reply.

 

“What's wrong with you idiot?” Hiei said covering his ears as he walked back to the others glaring daggers at everyone in turn yet setting his glare on Kuwabara.

 

“Hey shrimp, have you seen Yusuke he was just here now he's missing…oh and where did you go?” Kuwabara asked suspiciously as he crouched down to see Hiei eye to eye.

 

Hiei gave him an uppercut punch sending him falling into the dead ogre. Ignoring the screech of `ewe' coming from Kuwabara, “I didn't touch the detective if that's what you're implying, I merely went to get away from the stupidity that is the demon slayer, and I had to kill something.” He held up a mutated and clearly dead rabbit. “It was either it or the Slayer, though she would have been easier prey.”

 

“That's it!” Sango was under quite a bit of stress and needless to say Hiei was not helping….at all. In one swift motion Sango had tackled Hiei to the ground and was choking him with an insane grin on her face.

 

“Sango I really don't think that will help matters!” Miroku said as he tried to pull her off of Hiei without much luck.

 

“No I really think it will.” Sango said as Hiei began to get a little purple in the face from lack of oxygen. Dropping the rabbit, Hiei tried to pry the slayers hands off his throat but was becoming lightheaded and she was really strong.

 

“Sango let go of Hiei!” Kagome rushed over and with the help of Kurama, Kohoku, and Miroku they managed to get Sango off Hiei, her muttering curses at them to stop the entire time.

 

“You are the craziest, most bloodthirsty human I have ever met, not to mention completely insane.” Hiei said as he coughed up some blood and began to turn his normal color. Kurama and Kagome had to stop Sango from attacking Hiei again by latching onto one arm each.

 

“I'll show you bloodthirsty!” Sango screamed as she pulled against her captors.

 

After everyone had calmed down, (in Sango's case held down) they could get back to the issue at hand, Yusuke was still missing.

 

“Well I suggest we go look for him, he really couldn't have gone too far.” Kurama said still holding a somewhat struggling Sango.

 

“Maybe another ogre took him! You know, as revenge…Sango stop it!” Kagome yelled as her friend finally stopped struggling and seemed calmer.

 

“It's possible” Sango said taking a deep breath. “If they did he would have been dragged into a forest, that's ogre's natural habitat. Oh and LET ME GO! I won't kill the midget…today.” Sango said glaring at Kurama and Kagome. They exchanged glance but nodded and cautiously let her go.

 

“Hn, so you do know something after….” Hiei was silenced by the warning glare Kurama gave him.

 

Sango cut her eyes at him but continued; “They probably took him in there” she said pointing to the rather ominous looking forest.

 

A little kit let out a gulp; “I don't think he would go in there, let's try somewhere else, maybe that meadow with the flowers!” He jumped down from Kurama and began to skip toward the flowers.

 

“Sorry Shippo, we would have seen him if he was there, the meadow is wide and open with no place to hide.” Kagome said while scooping up Shippo and walking toward the creepy woods.

 

With Kagome leading the way everyone started walking ignoring little mutterings from Shippo. Kurama walked up to the front with Kagome and took his rose out just in case. Kuwabara walked near Sango who was standing possessively near Kohoku and Kirara while the others trailed in the back.

 

Miroku did not like the vibes he was getting. He couldn't tell where they were coming from but he knew they were not good! He was slightly worried about Yusuke; he would even consider him a friend. He smiled remembering the whole commotion they caused while the girls were bathing. As he thought about it, it was nice to have his company. InuYasha didn't joke around as much as Yusuke did. Miroku looked behind him to see the sulking dog demon in question but stopped his tracks. “InuYasha?” Miroku looked around and said a little louder; “Guys where's InuYasha?”

 

“What? InuYasha is gone? He can't be he was just here a minute ago, he wouldn't leave.” Kagome said in a little bit of a panic as she walked behind Miroku squinting though the forest. “InuYasha!” she yelled though the forest. “SIT!” Still no reply or even a thump.

 

“Come to think of it, it has gotten a lot quieter. I didn't notice but his muttering must have stopped sometime while I was teaching that punk a lesson.” Sango said jerking her thumb at Hiei who glared and was about to respond when Kurama interrupted.

 

“Hiei you were the farthest one in the back did you see where InuYasha went?” Kurama asked as he bent down to look on the ground for something.

 

“No.” Hiei replied as he glared through the forest as if expecting the dog to jump out.

 

“You know what Shrimp; I think that's a pretty big coincidence!” Kuwabara said putting on what he must have thought was a detective pose. “You have been the one closest to the missing people at both times when people were missing.” Kuwabara said.

 

“I hold no grudge against either the half breed or detective, why would I waste my time to make them disappear?” Hiei said with a blank face then smirked. “If I were to get rid of anyone I would surly disembody you first.”

 

“Hey! That just shows it could be you! You've been plotting this since Yusuke beat you!” Kuwabara said triumphantly as if he had solved some huge puzzle.

 

“Hair-Gel beat you?” Sango chuckled then looked over at Hiei with a triumphant smirk. Kohoku just stared at his sister wondering if she liked her life at all…Hiei seemed really strong to him.

 

“Please don't Sango.” Kurama said exasperated while rubbing his temples then turned toward his teammate. “Kuwabara this is no time to point fingers, I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to why those two are gone.”

 

Shippo ran over to Kagome and up to her shoulder, “Kagome I'm scared, if anything can stop InuYasha then a weak little guy like me is doomed. After all I'm just a kit!” Shippo began to shake as he curled up on Kagome.

 

“Shhhh, I'm sure there both fine, Yusuke probably is just playing a joke and InuYasha probably just caught sent of Kikyo.” Kagome said the last part a little bitterly but took down the kit and curled him in her arms.

 

“I'm still scared, who will save me if something happens to you?” Shippo asked Kagome looking up with a tear stained face.

 

“Don't worry little one, I'm sure nothing will happen to Kagome. I will take extra care to make sure of that.” Kurama tried to calm down the little kit as he walked over to the two. Shippo began to calm down a little but was still sniffling and Kagome mouthed a thank you to Kurama.

 

Hiei growled and rolled his eyes, “This isn't getting us anywhere! Shut the kit up and let's get the hell out of here!”

 

Kurama glared at his friend as Shippo muttered something about evil spiky haired freaks then Kurama announced as he began looking through the trees, “Let's search for them. Look for any clues of where they have gone.”

 

Everyone split up examining different footprints they found and any and all of the little food traps they found. The woods obviously had someone living there to set up the traps but other than that they found nothing useful. The group searched for hours scouring the woods but only traveling deeper and deeper into its thick growth. The Sun set and the moon came out. There were few stars and it was a cloudy night so the darkness was extra thick, no one could see well.

 

When it was too dark to see Sango began to make a small fire. Quickly everyone stopped searching and gathered around the fire, an air of failure surrounding them, they hadn't found anything.

 

“Did anyone find any clues?” Kurama asked with a small note of hopefulness in his voice.

 

No one said anything; they just stared into the fire worrying about their friends. Sango sighed and put her arm around Kohoku pulling him close, “We should rest for the night, there is no way we will be able to find them in the dark.”

 

Murmured agreements came and everyone set to work setting up a camp. Shippo seemed to be the most worried but everyone seemed a little on edge. Kohoku finished making his bed then looked over to see Kagome making Raman and Shippo sitting next to her looking really sad and worried. Kohoku looked over and saw some special berries and some white flowers nearby and smiled. He went over and picked a bunch of them then made his way over to the little Kit.

 

“Hey Shippo, I want to show you something.” He pulled out berries and set them in front of Shippo.

 

Shippo was immediately interested as he poked one of the berries. “Are we going to eat them Kohoku?”

 

Kohoku laughed then took out a little knife, “No of course not! These berries are poisonous.” He poked a hole in one of the berries, “I used to do this all the time and its pretty fun.” He looked up as Shippo and took the berries and began to paint a pattern on the white leaves and the flowers using the berries. “These barriers stain everything. You can write messages, paint pictures, or just draw on almost anything. Even skin and fur will stain if you wanted to give yourself a tattoo.” Kohoku poked a hole in another berry, “Here, you try.”

 

Kagome looked over to see the two kids getting completely stained with berries and making a huge mess! She almost stopped them but realized it was taking Shippo's mind off of everything strange that had happened. She exchanged a smile with Sango and finished the Raman she was making. She made too much forgetting that two of the biggest eaters weren't present. She looked sadly at her food and everyone ate relatively silently, except Hiei who muttered something about disgusting humans and ran off to find something to eat.

 

Kagome got up after finishing her food and walked outside of the little clearing they had decided would be their camping space. She stared out into darkness wondering if Yusuke or InuYasha were hurt or possibly . . . no, she wasn't going to think like that.

 

“You shouldn't wonder off, I thought you had disappeared. I was quite worried.” Kurama's strong presence came from nowhere as he stood close enough to touch right behind her looking out where she was.

 

Kagome blushed a deep red and stuttered slightly, “Oh, I-I d-dint mean to worry you. I was just thinking about where everyone is. I hope they're ok.” Kagome sighed as she peered out into the consuming darkness.

 

Kurama looked down at the worried girl as she stared and began to chew lightly on her bottom lip. “Kagome.” She looked up at him slowly. “Tell me what's on your mind. Maybe I could be of some assistance.”

 

Kagome smiled and looked back out into the woods. “I guess I'm just thinking about Yusuke and InuYasha…” After a small pause she took a deep breath. “Kurama, I'm really sorry for getting you involved back there between InuYasha and me and I apologize for how he acted. I didn't mean to put you in the middle of it.”

 

Kurama put his hand on Kagome's shoulder and turned her to face him. “It really was no trouble Kagome. I won't let him treat you like that and I didn't mind, I mean I didn't mind getting caught in it. I mean, I would help you out ant time or any place.” Kurama said with a somewhat nervous smile as he took his hand off her shoulder slowly and quickly turned his gaze to the woods.

 

Kagome smiled softly as she brought her hand lightly to the spot his hand had just been and a blush began to spread that couldn't be seen in the dark. “Thank you, for everything.”

 

Kurama looked at her again, smiled, then turned toward the camp. “We better go to sleep. I'm sure tomorrow will be quite a busy day.” Kagome nodded and began to walk back to her sleeping bag with Kurama close behind. She looked up and saw a fire demon curled up in a tree actually in the campsite clearing. Kurama followed her gaze and chuckled. “Despite what he says I think Hiei really is starting to fall for her. He has never slept this close to us without being forced to. I never thought I would see him worried about a human.”

 

A laugh escaped Kagome and she swore she heard a growl come from the tree but she ignored it and unzipped her backpack. Kurama's bag was close to hers and he followed her example. She snuggled into bed then whispered “Sleep tight Kurama; don't let the bed bugs bite.”

 

Kurama stared at the back of her head and whispered as the crickets softly chirped; “Goodnight Kagome.”

 

 

 

***Morning***

 

Kagome slowly opened her eyes as the sunlight flooded in on them. With a stretch of her arms and back she looked around. Kurama was sleeping to her right; as her gaze turned she saw all the beds occupied with her sleeping teammates. She turned to her left to see her sweet Kits empty bed and….wait…'Where is Shippo?' Kagome searched around frantically and ran over to his bed ripping the sleeping bag up but not finding any kit.

 

Kurama's slowly blinked his eyes open as he saw a somewhat blurry outline of a frazzled Kagome. “Kagome what's wrong?” He said while stifling a yawn.

 

“Shippo is gone!”

 

Eyes quickly snapped into focus and Kurama stood up and did a quick scan of the camp space.

 

“Be quiet Kagome. I'm trying to sleep and the monkeys are steeling my cookies.” Sango's muffled voice could be heard from her pillow.

 

“Sango!” Kagome yelled ignoring continued nonsense from her sleep deprived friend. “Shippo is missing!” She began to walk toward the woods yelling. “Shippo! Shippo! Shippo! Come here right now! Shippo!” Her yelling woke up everyone including Hiei who was not expecting such a scream this early so he ungracefully fell out of the tree then glared at everyone as if daring them to say anything. He was ignored as everyone grasped the situation and began to fan out for the kit.

 

Sango woke up slightly, got out of bed then stomped over to Hiei. “Hey Mr. Gravity, go up into the trees and look for Shippo.”

 

“Why should I?”

 

Kurama walked right in between them. “Not now you two! Hiei, go up and get an eagle eye view.” Hiei nodded and disappeared then Kurama turned to the slayer. “Sango go search over there and….” Kurama let out an annoyed sigh. “Miroku.” He looked over and the monk who seemed to be still asleep…somehow.

 

Kuwabara looked at the monk then Kurama. “I'll get him up.” Kuwabara went over to him and muttered something in Miroku's ear that sounded suspiciously like `Sango and pole-dancing' and he burst up wide awake and jumped out of bed looking around.

 

Kurama ignored them as Kuwabara explained the situation and Miroku began to pout, instead he went after Kagome who was going rather far into the woods. “Kagome!” He caught up with her. “Please don't go too far by yourself you could get lost.”

 

Kagome looked at him with newly tear-stained eyes. “What do you expect me to do? I can't sit around and do nothing! He's like a son to me and if anything happens to him I'll…I'll…” Kagome took a shaky breath in as more tears began to form. “I'll…” A sob tore from her throat and she fell to the ground and started crying.

 

Kurama knelt down next to the girl and without thinking he pulled her into a tight embrace against his strong chest. He began to make soothing sounds and rubbed circles on her back. “Shhh, Kagome don't worry. We'll find him. He couldn't have gone far.”

 

Kagome took a minute to calm down but after many calming breaths and circles rubbed she began to calm down. She slowly pulled her head away from him and nodded slowly while furiously trying to wipe away some of the tears. “T-Thank you. I know we will find him. I-I just h-have t-to believe he's o-okay.” She said while taking more deep breaths and looking up at Kurama with his arms still around her. They stared at each other for a moment, neither breaking eye contact nor pulling away.

 

“Kagome I think I found some…” Sango stopped dead in her tracks making Kohoku who was following her run into her back as she saw the two inches apart. “Woops sorry, I didn't mean to um…!” She said with a blush and turned around.

 

As fast as lightning Kurama and Kagome were standing apart and looking in opposite directions looking flustered.

 

“No, no Sango it was nothing, I mean, it was um, ah…. What did you find?” Kagome said while attempting to hide her blush with her hair and holding it around her cheeks.

 

Sango slowly turned to face them as she held out what appeared to be a spinning top. “I found Shippo's toy-top-thing.” She said with a small blush still on her cheeks and holding the object out.

 

Kagome cheered as she snatched the toy from Sango forgetting her earlier embarrassment. “Where did you find it?”

 

Kohoku pointed to the berries Shippo had used to paint with earlier. “Over there, some of the flowers have new drawings on them. I think he was trying to paint you a picture to make you feel better or something like that.” He paused and looked down sadly thinking it was his fault.

 

Sango looked at Kagome who hadn't taken her eyes off the toy. “The good news is it doesn't look like a fight or anything. It actually looks like nothing happened. I haven't found any evidence of any sort of struggle or anything. Maybe he just fell asleep somewhere and we are over reacting.”

 

Kagome looked from the toy to Sango. “I think we both know that isn't true.” She took a shaky breath and Sango fidgeted. “We have to find him; we have to find out what's going on and why people are disappearing”

 

After another quick examination of the berry bush they went back to the camp fire. Hiei showed up later but said there was no sign of the kit for miles around. Miroku also showed up and sighed sadly and stared into the fire. “Where could my favorite kid friend have gone?”

 

Most ignored him and stared into the small fire Sango and Hiei had started. (Not trying to work together I assure you! She just got the wood and he lit it…having a fire demon around is handy sometimes.)

 

While they stared at the flames slowly devouring the logs they heard a loud and obnoxious voice from the woods.

 

“Hey guys I didn't find anything about the little…”

 

Miroku turned his head toward where they had just heard Kuwabara's voice and footsteps. “Kuwabara?” Miroku yelled getting the attention of everyone. “Kuwabara?” Miroku stood up and began to walk toward where he had last heard him. “Kuwabara that isn't funny!” Miroku looked around but couldn't find any sign of the carrot top.

 

Within a minute everyone was looking around that area of the woods looking for the tall and loud spirit detective in training (or whatever he is). After a good twenty minutes of looking everyone knew it had happened again. Kagome began to slowly back up and look around frantically. “Okay, now I'm scared.” She said in a horse whisper. “What happens if I'm next or…how can people just disappear? We were just talking to Kuwabara and…oh.”

 

“Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you.” Kurama said as he walked over to Kagome and stopped her before she almost walked into the fire. “Told you.” He said with a smirk; she wasn't really amused but nodded anyway.

 

“Well fox what are we going to do now?” Hiei asked with almost a hint of concern…almost.

 

“Wait, what if they are being captured?” asked Miroku. “Maybe by Naraku?” He asked as he sat down on a stone as far away from where Kuwabara had disappeared but still close to the others as he could get.

 

“No, if someone was capturing them so close we would notice their energy.” Kurama rationalized as he put his head in his hands to think.

 

“Well, what if it's one of us doing it? We wouldn't recognize a different energy.” Miroku murmured as he looked pointedly at Hiei.

 

“If you believe I did it you are out of your mind.” Hiei growled sending a death glare back at Miroku.

 

“Why not? It makes sense; I don't trust you and I never have. You are the only one who was missing or far away from all of the attacks, as a matter of fact Kuwabara tried to warn us and look what happened to him, I bet it is Hiei!” Miroku said icily as he took out his staff and put it in front of him in case Hiei attacked him right then.

 

“No Hiei couldn't have done it, he was asleep in the tree when Shippo disappeared and was just behind us when Kuwabara was disappeared.” Sango said supersizing everyone by standing up for Hiei. “Besides, he couldn't pull that off even if he wanted to.”

 

Before Hiei could respond Miroku did, “He moves as fast as lightning! He could easily stop Kuwabara then run back to where he was. Also maybe he was so tired because he had spent all night kit hunting.” Miroku said pointing the staff directly at Hiei.

 

“You're forgetting one thing monk, why would I do it?”

 

Miroku thought for a second then right when he was about to open his mouth to retort Kurama interjected. “Finger pointing will get us nowhere.” Kurama slowly pushed Miroku's staff back to an upright position and turned to Kagome and Sango. “Let's just make it to the next village and we will ask the villagers if they have seen any of our friends, until then we should stay extra close as a group. No wondering off!” He gave a pointed look at Kagome.

 

“Fine but I still don't trust him.” Miroku muttered and turned and looked away.

 

The mangled remains of their team packed up the camp and began their hike to the next village. Sango was staying extremely close to Kohoku; Hiei not far from her. Kagome and Kurama leading the way and Miroku in the back holding Kirara. It was clear to all how much their numbers were dwindling and it made everyone nervous. After hours of almost complete silence they decided to break for food.

 

Miroku seemed to think that his earlier acting out may not have been the best approach so he thought he might help direct since Kagome seemed too distracted to and InuYasha and Yusuke were not there. “We should start a fire first. Who can get firewood?”

 

“I can get it Miroku.” Sango said as she took Kirara from him and set her down to grow full size.

 

“Hn, I'll get it.” Hiei said as he disappeared into the forest. Sango merely blinked where he had been, shrugged, and picked up mini Kirara again.

 

If Kurama didn't know any better he would of thought that Hiei was worried about the slayer going into the forest alone. He smirked at the thought then dismissed it as his imagination going wild

 

After a few minutes Hiei came back with the firewood and made a fire in no time at all. Kagome set to work on cooking and soon some Raman soup was ready to serve. (Even though most were tired of eating it that was all that she seemed to carry on her… most blamed InuYasha for this.)

 

Sango pulled out some dried mean from her pouch and spread it around. They needed some form of substance beside chicken-flavored noodles. “Here Kohoku try some…” Sango looked to her left where Kohoku was and froze. “Oh no…Kohoku.” Sango got up and began to look around frantically. “No, no, no this isn't happening.” She put down Kirara and she grew to her full size. “How did this happen, I was just watching him a second ago, Kohoku where are you?”

 

Kagome face became pure panic. “Sango you're not telling me…”

 

“Kohoku is gone!”

 

Kagome's eyes grew big, “What? Oh, god no, not Kohoku too.”

 

“I'm going to go find him and there's no stopping me.” Sango said as she grabbed her Hiraikotsu and got on Kirara and soared off into the woods.

 

Miroku got up and yelled after her; “Sango wait! You should have someone accompany you.” Within a second a blur of black flew past him as Hiei ran off to follow Sango.

 

“We have to go after her!” Kagome yelled. “She might get lost or…” Kagome's eyes grew wide with the possibilities. “We can't let her go off alone!”

 

“Hiei went after her; he won't let anything happen to a comrade.” Kurama said using soft tones to calm the terrified girl.

 

The black blur appeared again and Hiei was in the middle of their camp and he looked pissed!

 

“What happened?” Miroku asked while craning his neck in the direction Sango had gone.

 

Hiei looked at the monk and growled quietly; “She rounded a bend and they were gone.”

 

“You mean you lost her?” Kagome asked as her hand began shaking.

 

Hiei growled again: “Hn, no, I mean she disappeared.”

 

Miroku seemed to phase out of his own body “I-I don't believe it, maybe she just…I don't know but she can't be gone.”

 

While Miroku was muttering more about `can't be gone' Kurama watched Hiei as he walked over to a tree and just stared off into space. Kurama could swear he saw Hiei's eyes get foggy but then the mist disappeared instantly and an angry expression replaced it. His jagon glowed for a second then he cursed. He couldn't find anyone no matter how many times he used his jagon, Sango was no exception. He closed his eye again and his third eye glowed again, refusing to give up.

 

“This can't be happening! What's going to happen?” Kagome said as she bit her fingernails and stared off where her best friend had gone and new tears made streaks across her cheeks.

 

And in all truth no one knew what was happening No one knew what to say to her. After all, how can people disappear? It's not possible. Is it?

 

 

 

Yay!!!! You get a cookie for reading all of it…wow, it sure was long, GOOD JOB! Anyway…So what is happening??? Where are they going??? You'll find out soon enough. Oh and isn't it frustrurating!!! JUST KISS HER ALREADY!!! Plus a new small development with Yusuke and Kagome… Oh well, heh, I like being evil…and I love messing with Hiei and Sango. I hope it was worth the wait! I'll try to update soon! Oh and I'm sorry for my insensitive comment about Kikyo, she is an interesting character and I know everyone does not hate her…I just don't really like her. *stabs Kikyo plushy* I'm over it…Anyway, READ AND REVIEW!!!!! PLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You do your job and I'll do mine!

-Youshiie