~ One Week Later ~

Sayaka shivered as she leaned against the cold stone wall. She watched for the bamboo door to open, waiting for her semi-regular meal to arrive. Since she had been imprisoned, Kagura had been fairly regular about visiting her, but sometimes it seemed as though days passed between meals or visits. During these times, Sayaka decided to concentrate on many things other than her current predicament.

Among the many things she had begun to ponder, Inu Yasha often arose in her thoughts. Would he come to rescue her? Would he rescue her out of his sense of duty, or in hopes that she may then get to know him better? Sayaka shook her head sadly. [Why do I torture myself like this? Even if he did come for me—that doesn’t mean that he’s going to just automatically fall in love with me or anything… No one has ever wanted anything to do with me before, why should that change now?]

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Kagura sighed as she repeated to Naraku the orders that he had just issued to her. She did not much enjoy this type of mission, but it was either do this or die—so many choices, what’s a woman to do? She did not look back as she exited the mansion, withdrew a feather from her hair, and flew away.

The wind tugged at her hair as she sped through the night sky. However, in the distance, where Inu Yasha was supposed to be, the wind howled and scraped together, as though in anger. She knew that this happened sometimes when too many opposing auras gathered together—something that happened often enough around Naraku’s mansion. Her interest caused her to beckon the winds faster, so that she could see just what was causing the uneasy winds.

She stopped just overhead of a small campfire without any smoke—one of the taijiya woman’s tricks. She looked down to see quite an odd group—Sesshoumaru, Kouga, Inu Yasha, the taijiya, the houshi, and a hanyou woman, the one that Naraku had tried to capture. She took in a deep breath before she decided to land, right next to the houshi and the taijiya—in all likelihood, the safest place to be. "Naraku has sent me with a message."

Inu Yasha moved his hand, gradually, away from the Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru looked up curiously at Kagura, knowing that she presented no danger, but he did want to know what Naraku wanted to tell them so badly. Kagome stepped nearer to Sesshoumaru, as though for protection. Of course, that did not go to say that she held back her tongue as well. "What is it that you have to say? What’s Naraku doing with Sayaka?"

Kagura sighed as she stepped nervously away from Kouga, whom had been leering at her the entire time. "Naraku wanted me to tell you that she’s alive, but if you meander too long, she will quickly lose her head. He wants Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru to come to the mansion—he did not specify whether he minded other company. I suppose that it goes without saying that he will be prepared for all of you…"

"Doesn't it always?" Inu Yasha spat. He smiled cruelly as he stood and approached Kagura. "Listen, tell your master that he’d better pray, because when I show up, I’ll have been more than ready to send someone to hell—might as well be him."

Sesshoumaru stared at Kagura for a few moments, thinking. "How much time do we have?"

Kagura eyed Sesshoumaru suspiciously, but was much more wary of Kouga and Inu Yasha’s movements. "He figured that you would be following me to the mansion—I don’t know…"

Sesshoumaru nodded, fixing his gaze on Kagome. "Tell him that I’ll be along in two days—I think he can wait that long."

Kagura nodded, then withdrew a feather from her hair and flew away. She was no longer willing to risk herself among the group of Naraku’s enemies, whom all seemed eager to kill her.

Kagome gazed at Sesshoumaru, confused. "Two days?"

"We have to go somewhere first—the sooner we go, the better." Sesshoumaru stood and nudged Aun awake. His eyes darted around the group for the most likely babysitter. "Taijiya, can you be trusted to watch Rin while we are gone?"

Sango looked at the sleeping child and nodded. "Go on—I’ll watch her."

Sesshoumaru nodded as he mounted Aun, holding his hand out for Kagome. "Come on, Kana-chan, time is of the essence."

"Where are we going?"

"I’ll explain when we get there." Sesshoumaru pulled Kagome onto the two-headed dragon’s back and threw a distasteful look towards his younger sibling. "Inu Yasha—don’t go running into battle just yet—wait for as long as possible. All of you need to stay here or close by. When we return, we’ll be ready to finish all of this."

Inu Yasha nodded as he watched Sesshoumaru push his heel against the dragon’s side, issuing the beast to move into the air. He waited until Sesshoumaru and Kagome were out of sight before he slammed his fist into the ground. "Dammit…"

Kouga smirked as he watched Inu Yasha’s tantrum. "So, she picked your brother instead of you—goes to show that the gentleman wins."

Inu Yasha released a feral growl from his throat as he lunged for Kouga. Sango pushed Hiraikotsu in his way, shooting Inu Yasha a cold glare. "I don’t care how pissed you are, you don’t need to fight with Kouga right now. We can deal with this sort of disagreement after Naraku has been killed."

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Kagome leaned forward to speak with Sesshoumaru. She felt excited about finally being able to get away from having to deal with Inu Yasha’s mood swings. However, it was the purpose of this sudden expedition that intrigued her. "Sesshou-kun, where are we going?"

Sesshoumaru glanced back at Kagome, a smile on his lips. "You didn’t think that I was going to make you use an ordinary bow to do this, did you?"

"Well… I guess so…" Kagome downcast her eyes, slightly embarrassed. Knowing that her silence would begin to bother Sesshoumaru, Kagome moved on to her next question. "Where are we going to get this bow?"

"You’ll see in due time, Kana-chan."

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Kagura reluctantly landed in front of Naraku’s mansion home. She took in a deep breath before she passed on Sesshoumaru’s reply to Naraku’s invitation. "They said they would take two days."

[Brash, yes, but I suppose I shall allow it…] Naraku nodded thoughtfully, leaned back in his chair. "To say their prayers, I assume?"

"They did not tell me, Naraku-sama…" Kagura bowed as she entered the mansion and headed towards the dungeon-room, to tell Sayaka the news. She grabbed a small loaf of bread that had been carelessly left in the kitchens and continued through the long hallway. She pulled out the latch for the bamboo door and dropped through the opening.

She looked in the dim light to see Sayaka, sitting against the wall, half-asleep. "Sayaka… Only two more days…"

Sayaka stirred awake and reached her hand out for the bread that Kagura had brought. "Two days, ne?"

Kagura nodded, the dim light barely showing her thin smile. "It’ll all be over."

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A.N. Well, I know that this chapter was short, but, what the heck—I wanna make a new chapter for the next part, okay? ^_~