Chapter 5: Questions Are Asked, Decisions Are Made

Her eyes opened to a cavern of some type. She blinked her eyes as she tried to remember what happened to her. As she lay there, something in her hands twitched. She looked down at her hands to see a white fluffy thing in her hands. "Odd. It looks familiar…" thought Kagome, her thoughts trailing off as she remembered where she had seen such a thing. As she remembered who had such a soft appendage, she noticed the quite sound of breathing to her left. Turning her head slowly to the left, she saw someone whom she was meeting at her bedside more and more these days. "Sesshoumaru," Kagome whispered. Apparently, Sesshoumaru was only lightly asleep, for her whisper awoke him. She watched as his eyes opened, sleepiness still apparent in his amber eyes. He blinked before turning his head to look at her. She was surprised to see something besides the usual stone cold look in his eyes. Despite his usual stoic face, his eyes showed something, what it was she couldn't tell, but it wasn't any of the usual angered or arrogant looks she had seen before.

She was getting ready to ask what he was doing here when he cut her off. "Would you let go of my tail?" he asked, his voice calm. Confused, she looked at her hands, and realized she had a death grip on his tail. Her face igniting into a fiery redness, she let go of his tail, which wound itself into its usual position around Sesshoumaru. Finding her voice, she asked, "Where are we?" She was surprised once again when it wasn't Sesshoumaru that answered. "You are in my cave," a woman's voice responded. Kagome, trying to lean up to see, discovered painfully that her body was still aching from her wound. As the pain faded, she suddenly remembered what had happened. Looking at where the arrow had been, she found her entire chest covered in bandages. As she realized that her shirt was gone, she looked at Sesshoumaru. "You weren't in the room when-" "No." was all he said, looking away as he cut her off. She could swear he had sounded a bit rushed when he said it. From the other side of the bed, the face of a woman at least in her 30's appeared. She looked human except for her hair, which was a deep blue, and her slit eyes of light blue. She knelt down with a potion in hand and simply said, "Drink this," as she slowly lifted her back so she could drink without choking. Sniffing the drink and finding that it smelled sweet, she found on tasting it that it was anything but sweet tasting. She practically had to force the disgusting liquid down her throat. As the healer lowered her to the bed, Kagome asked what the liquid was for. "It will help remove the last of the dark aura, and numb the pain as your wound heals. Your miko powers have been doing a good job of purifying your blood. There's almost no darkness left," replied the woman. She then said, "I believe you'll be able to leave this afternoon. However, you must rest as much as you can for the next week, so as to help the wound heal." When Kagome nodded, the demoness excused herself and began to leave the room. As she was leaving the room, Kagome suddenly asked her name. She simply smiled and said she was known as the healer. With that, she left the room.

"She certainly enjoys being mysterious." Kagome said after a moment. Sesshoumaru simply looked at her. His constant staring unnerving her, she thought of something to talk about that actually might get a response. "I was thinking I could go home for the week I need to rest." This definitely caught Sesshoumaru's attention. "You wish to go back to the hanyou?" "Oh no, the village isn't my home. It's the well in the forest." Sesshoumaru looked a bit confused by this one. "You live in a well." Kagome sweat dropped as she realized she would have to tell him about the well. "Well, uh, you see, it kinda works like this…" Kagome then told Sesshoumaru EVERYTHING about her, including the well. When she finished, Sesshoumaru simply nodded his head slightly. "You believe me?" Kagome asked, a bit taken off guard. "You have no reason to lie. And even if you did, I would simply kill you," was all he said. "So, will you let me go home?" she asked. Sesshoumaru thought for a moment, and simply nodded. Happy, she smiled at Sesshoumaru and thanked him. His eyes seemed to warm a bit, but only for a second. Tired of laying down, Kagome slowly pulled herself up, when she moved a bit to fast and almost fell back down. She stopped midair as Sesshoumaru's hand shot out and caught her. He then began to help her into a sitting position, her back against the wall. Kagome, dumbfounded and just a bit embarrassed, thanked him when he finished. She then realized that she the top of her school uniform was missing, as well as her socks and shoes. "Um, where are my clothes?" "I had them burned," was his deadpan response? Before Kagome could yell at him, he continued with, " They were tainted with the darkness, so wearing them would have been dangerous. "What am I supposed to wear then? I'm not going to walk around in bandages." She blushed red when Sesshoumaru gave her a funny look. "I'm not walking around naked either!" she yelled at him. Sesshoumaru simply sniffed and replied, "I shall have Jaken get you some clothing." With this he got up and began to leave. "Sesshoumaru." Kagome called, causing him to turn his head in her direction. "Thank you." Was all Kagome said, a blush creeping up her face. Sesshoumaru simply nodded and continued on his way out.

Hours later, on the road, a small group consisting of two demons, a little girl, and a miko were walking towards a village a good day away. The tallest of the demons was in the front, the little girl following behind him, the miko following the girl, and the other demon behind her. As the sun begin to move towards the horizon, the miko spoke out. "Shouldn't we find someplace to rest for the night?" the girl asked, the question directed towards the demon in front. The demon stopped and looked back at both the girl and the miko. He replied, "There is a cave up ahead. We shall rest there." Was all he said, moving forward in a slightly altered path then before. Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the cave Sesshoumaru spoke of. He sent Jaken off to get water, and after telling the girl and miko to stay at the cave, he left to get meat.

Meanwhile, the healer was finding out how irritating a pissed off hanyou could be. "I shall not tell you where Lord Sesshoumaru and the girl went." She said to the hanyou, whom was getting into her face, growling. "If you would please get away from me." "Not until you tell me where Kagome is!" Inuyasha yelled, growling even louder. The healer stared him in the eyes, her eyes simply looking agitated. Sango and Miroku stood off to the side, Shippo clutching Sango's neck. They all sweat dropped as the two demons faced off each other. Then, slowly, the healer brought her hand. She put out her pointer finger and tapped Inuyasha on the side of the neck. The three standing off to the side watched in amazement as Inuyasha fell to the ground and started snoring. After a pause, the healer said, "Would anyone mind having tea, for I am feeling a bit thirsty." The three nodded their heads quickly, and followed the demoness as she went into the cave. On the ground outside the cave entrance, Inuyasha had curled into a ball, sleeping peacefully.

Sesshoumaru returned to the camp after going out to check for possible threats. He had left again after bringing the meat he had gotten to the camp. As he entered the camp again, he saw that the flame had been extinguished. Looking about, he immediately spotted the two girls. Leaning against a tree was the women, Kagome, with Rin in her lap. Both of them were asleep. Sitting near the extinguished flame was Jaken, snoring as usual. He walked over to the two girls, sniffing the air and concentrating his hearing to make sure nothing was near. He bent down to look at Kagome, his nose picking up her scent. He pushed back the instinct that had already gotten him into trouble once, but he still reveled in her smell. He still could not figure out why he found himself attracted to her suddenly, but he was beginning to not care. He looked her over, allowing himself to admit to the beauty that she had. He had seen many female demons who could easily beat her in various physical ways, yet the simple aura of peace and innocence gave her a look, almost a feeling that he had never before seen. How his idiot half-brother could have a hard time choosing between a corpse and this human before him confused him. That another human had not taken her was amazing in itself, even he, had he been human, would have quickly taken her lest another beat him to claiming her.

Standing up, he walked over to a tree just opposite of theirs. As he settled himself into the tree, he began to think over what the girl had told him of the well. The mere thought of something so simple as a well leading into the future was hard to swallow, even after seeing all the thing he had seen, but he had meant it when he said she had no reason to lie. After all, who would lie about their home, and if they did lie, he could think of many better lies to use then a time-traveling well. He would have to try to use the well himself, so as to see this future she talked off. She had spoken very little of what it was like, but what the very idea of seeing the future in just moments sparked his curiosity into a flame. Deciding that he would jump into the well with her, no matter her complaint, he allowed himself to rest.

The healer stood outside her cave, looking at the moon. The humans and the kitsune pup had long taken to bed, exhausted by there hard traveling. She had taken the hanyou into the cave as well, placing him into a bed. She had learned from her conversation with the humans how the girl she had treated had gotten such a wound. After some careful questioning, she had also found the answer to a few questions of her own. She knew that Lord Sesshoumaru would be feeling the effects of what the girl had done, yet he was so foolish as to not ask her. She only hopped he would accept what would happen, for the sake of the girl. She wondered if he would ever realize who to ask what was happening, yet she doubted it. She shook her head, still slightly amazed as to what she had found when cleaning the darkness from the girls soul. It would never cease to amuse her that so innocent of a girl would do what she had done. And odds are she didn't even know she had done it. A smile on her face, she turned, entering her cave for a nights rest, for the coming days would likely be quite interesting.