InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ My Darling Emiko ❯ Gone ( Chapter 25 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Inuyasha was the first to wake up. The light shining through the leaves hit his eyes and he moaned as the light caused his head to throb. He opened his eyes and blinked them a couple times. It was then that he realized it was daytime, and had been for a few hours, from the look of things. The others were still sleeping and there was no sign of Emiko.

He stood and groaned as his head ached more. Damn, what happened? he thought to himself as he walked over to Kagome. He leaned forward and shook her shoulder. "Hey! Wake up!" he said and she moaned as she opened her eyes.

"Ugh! My head!" she moaned as she blinked her eyes. "Is it morning?" she asked.

"Past that. Have you seen Emiko?"

"Emiko's not here?" Kagome asked worriedly.

"No, and she didn't wake me for my turn at watch either" he said, equally worried.

Kagome stood up and walked over to where Sango was laying with Shippo curled up beside her. She shook Sango until she too woke up, moaning about her aching head. "Did you take watch last night?" Kagome asked. Sango shook her head no.

Shippo woke up and looked around blearily. "Where's Emiko?" he asked

"We're trying to figure that out" Kagome said as Inuyasha walked over to Huyana.

"Hey! Wake Up!" he yelled at Huyana and nudged him with his foot. Huyana opened his eyes and promptly shut them again as the light made his head ache.

"Ugh, what's wrong?" he asked hoarsely.

"Emiko's missing, did you see her?" Kagome asked

"What?" he cried his eyes snapping open in shock. "What do you mean 'missing'?"

"Missing as in, she's gone" Inuyasha growled and turned away from Huyana.

"I'm going to check for her over here" Shippo said and trotted off into the woods.

"Yeah, Sango you go over that way. Miroku, you check over there. Huyana, see if she went to a hot spring or something. I'll go this way. Kagome, stay here, okay?" Inuyasha said. Kagome nodded and they all took off in different directions looking for any clues to Emiko's whereabouts.

"Hey! I've found something!" Shippo yelled and moments later Inuyasha was there.

"What did you find, fox." Inuyasha said as he came up behind him.

"This." he pointed to Emiko's kwan dao, laying on the ground. There was signs of a fight, footprints and scuffmarks in the dirt.

Inuyasha crouched down and picked up Emiko's kwan dao. "She wouldn't have left THIS behind. Something's not right."

Sango and Miroku came running up just then, Kagome behind them. "What did you find?" Miroku asked and gasped when Inuyasha showed him the kwan dao.

"She wouldn't have left that behind, that was her grandfathers." Huyana said sadly and sat down on the ground. Kagome and Sango looked at each other then at Huyana, deciding to leave him alone for now, they looked around the area for any other clues.

"Inuyasha, look!" Kagome said and pointed at some darts stuck in a tree.

Inuyasha leaned forward and looked at the darts. Inhaling deeply, he nodded. "She was here. These darts are poisoned." He walked around the tree as the others watched. Finding no other clues, the Youkai's scent not familiar to him, he headed back towards the camp.

"What should we do?" Sango asked. Inuyasha shook his head.

"I think Sesshomaru is behind this, but I don't know."

"We have to go and get her" Miroku said finally, having been silent since they found the kwan dao.

"No kidding we have to go get her." Inuyasha growled. "But we can't just walk in and demand her back."

"Maybe we should head that way and see if we hear anything?" Kagome asked quietly as she poked the dying embers in the firepit with a stick.

"Yeah, I think that would probably be best" Shippo said. Inuyasha nodded.

"Okay, we'll head towards Sesshomaru's then." he said. They all agreed and started to pack up and head towards Sehsshomaru and, hopefully, to find a live Emiko.