Chapter 15

Kagome awoke with a start, her eyes wide and wild as they caught the wide-eyed gaze of Sango. "Where am I?!"

"Damn it, she lost her memory!" Miroku groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "Great, this will tide over well with the Captain!"

"I didn't lose my memory, Miroku." Kagome hissed, pushing her hair back from her face. "Why am I in here?" Looking down at her state of dress, she noticed she was wearing a sleeping yukata, and became more confused. "Why am I dressed like this?"

"What was the last thing you remember?" Sango asked gently, offering her friend a cup of water before sinking into a nearby chair.

"I…I don't know." Kagome bit her lip, running her thumb across the rim of the cup in thought. "I remember following Bankotsu out in to the woods, then he stopping in a clearing for a few minutes before heading back in to camp. It was…sort of weird."

"So you followed him out there for nothing?" Miroku asked skeptically, raising a brow at her hesitant nod. "That does seem weird. Why would Sesshoumaru-sama send you out there anyway? He should've sent his lackey out instead."

"Jaken probably pushed for it, hoping that something bad would've happened to her after embarrassing him in front of everyone yesterday." Sango snorted, taking Kagome's empty cup and standing. "He's such a crybaby."

"Are you sure that's all that happened?" Miroku asked, his hands folding on his lap as he watched the younger girl's reaction. "Myoga had said you were poisoned when you stumbled in here."

"No…I just remember following him out to the woods, and that I wasn't feeling well…I think I may have passed out." Making a face, Kagome pushed the thick blankets off of her legs, ignoring Miroku's sputtering as she moved to push herself off the cot. "What time is it? I probably need to report back to the Captain."

"There's no need, I've already done it." At Kagome's questioning gaze, Sango just smiled before answering, "I told him that you were ill, so no worries. He's keeping a watchful eye on Rin."

"Still…I feel like I need fresh air." Kagome sighed, nodding her thanks as Miroku handed over her clothes. "Shoo, I need to change."

"Why? Aren't you supposed to be keeping up the façade of being a man?" Miroku ducked as a box of tea sailed over his head, hitting the tent with a muffled thump.

"Get out, pervert!" Sango nearly growled, rolling her eyes as Miroku slipped out chuckling. "I swear, he's such a lecher!"

"Aren't they all?" Kagome huffed, slipping the sleeping yukata off before carefully dressing herself. "He better not give me away."

"He won't. If there's someone here you need to trust, it's Miroku."

"I certainly hope so…"

Sesshoumaru sat perched on a nearby post as his soldiers continued to clear rubble from the village in search of any other survivors or salvageable items. There was a small scuffle to his side, and when he looked down, he saw the child standing there, her brown eyes wide and unsure as she looked around at the destruction around her.

"Can you speak?"

The girl looked up at him, hesitating before shaking her head as she lifted a hand and placed it on her throat with a pained expression on her face. Sesshoumaru lifted an eyebrow, slowly moving off the post to squat down next to her. "Remove your hand."

A scar ran across her collar bone, arching up and around the underside of her jaw before disappearing underneath her hair. He gently grasped her small hand in his larger one, examining the line on her wrist as well before looking back up at her. "Were you tied up?"

Receiving a blank look, Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly, moving to stand before turning to a nearby soldier. "Fetch Higurashi, and bring him here with pen and paper."

The soldier saluted him, striding off as Sesshoumaru turned back once more the silent girl, watching her as she continued to survey the broken village with a sad frown on her face. He sighed once more, lowering himself down to the ground before beckoning the child over to him.

A few moments later, Kagome was jogging up towards the pair before skidding to a stop, her eyes widening at what she saw. Sesshoumaru was once more sitting down, but was on the ground, his back resting against the post as he cradled Rin to his chest. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she began to approach the pair once more, but at a slower pace. When she finally reached them, she let out a small bow to the Captain before holding up a rolled up scroll and a piece of charcoal. "I've brought the items you've requested."

"Remember what I asked of you?" Sesshoumaru murmured into Rin's hair, and she nodded, carefully removing herself from his lap before giving Kagome a beaming smile and taking the items from her. She then plopped herself down on the ground between them and began unrolling the scroll, charcoal in hand as she began to scribble on the parchment.

Sesshoumaru glanced up at Kagome then, his golden eyes flashing as he gave her a once over. "I presume your illness has passed?"

"Huh? Oh, yes sir." Kagome nearly stammered, willing herself not the blush as she glanced down at Rin's drawing. "I must have touched or inhaled something that made me -"

In a blink, Sesshoumaru's hand was at her throat, and although it was almost gentle, he applied a little pressure, causing her to squeak in surprise. "Do not lie to me, Higurashi. I do not take kindly to liars. Now tell me what happened."

Biting back a whimper, Kagome nodded, feeling the pressure of her throat. "I followed him out, and then he stopping in the middle of a clearing."

"What did he do?" Sesshoumaru asked in a low voice, clenching his fist. Kagome noticed, but didn't acknowledge it before she continued, "He just hesitated before turning back around and coming back. Then…" she sighed, rubbing at a sore spot on her throat, "I passed out. I remember hearing something, but I'm not sure if it had come from him or not."

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru turned away from her and strode towards the village, leaving Kagome and Rin blinking after him. "I don't understand, I know something else happened, I just can't remember." Kagome muttered as she plopped down on the ground next to Rin. The girl just looked at her, patting her hand sympathetically before turning back to her drawing.

Later that evening, Kagome lay awake long after lights out, her thoughts whirling in her head and chasing any feelings of sleepiness she felt. Images of Souta, her mother and grandfather flew by, different scenarios of what would happen to her and them playing in her mind's eye and making her grow more and more restless by the minute. Something else popped in her mind, an image of the clearing in the woods…blood…Bankotsu's head rolling across the ground…

She sat up suddenly, pitching a snoring Shippo and Myoga off of her stomach and onto the ground. She quickly donned on her uniform, her heart racing as she flew out of the tent, followed by Myoga shouting her name.

"Kagome?! Kagome, where are you going?!"

"I'll be right back - stay here!" She yelled back, putting on a burst of speed. When she finally made it to the medical tent, she shoved the entrance flaps back, gasping for air. "Sango…I…huh?"

Sango was staring at her tiredly, Miroku in a chair next to her, and another man she had never seen before next to him, staring at her like he had just seen a ghost.

"K-Kikyo?"

"K-uh, Souta, meet Inuyasha." Miroku cleared his throat to hide the wince from the pinch he received from Sango for his slip-up. "Higurashi, why are you out of your tent? Lights out was hours ago."

"That's a dude?!"

"I, uh, need to speak to Lady Sango." Kagome replied in a deep voice, trying to ignore the new guy as she sent the nurse a pleading look. Sango nodded, turning to Miroku and giving him a stern look as Kagome slipped out of the tent. "Stay here. That last time my tent went unattended, my pain medicine disappeared."

"I remember what happened in the clearing." Kagome muttered as Sango stepped outside the tent, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from the camp. "I need your help subduing Bankotsu so we can get some answers from him."

"What?!" Sango all but screeched. "Are you nuts?! If we do this without Sesshoumaru-sama's consent -"

"Sango, I saw Bankotsu get his head chopped off, and mine almost went, too!" Kagome hissed, ducking into the dark of the woods before pausing. "I know that it could've been an illusion, but I promise, something big happened in that clearing, and I want answers!"

"What you're asking me to do so goes against all protocol." Sango sighed out, running her hand through her loose, dark hair. After a moment, she sighed again, nodding her head. "You're right. We can't wait until Sesshoumaru-sama gets back -"

"He left?!"

Sango blinked, "Umm, yeah, didn't you know? He went to go send a message to someone and hasn't come back yet."

"Well, let's hurry and do this before he gets back then." Kagome said as they made their way back towards the medical tent, "The last thing I want is for something to go wrong and my cover be blown."

"Inuyasha would get a kick out of it." Sango snorted in amusement, giggling at Kagome's questioning look, "Don't worry about it. Let's just get this over with."

MC: *hides* I'm sosososooooooo sorry for not updating in so long. I know I've said I'd try to update more, and I'm really sorry! RL just gets in the way sometimes - I'm a junior now! I got a new job, we moved again (I'm having problems with places I live, lol) I've only got less than 2 years until I have my degree, and since I'm getting into my actual degree classes, they're really cranking it out on me.

However, now that it's summer break, I'm hoping I can actually motivate myself to pick this back up. I'm about to start working on chapter 16, and maybe I can crank it out. I'm sorry if there's any misspellings or confusion about stuff that's going on, or if something isn't flowing right - if you have any questions about anything (that's happened so far, I'm not giving anything else away that hasn't happened) feel free to message me! I'm typing this on my laptop at work, and I have to keep leaving in the middle of a sentence to ring people up, sooo yeah. Probably why there's not that great of a time flow going on, because I'll be trying to type something, and I keep forgetting where I was.

Anyway, thank you for everyone that's reviewed so far! You guys are all amazing.

- MC