-I said I would try, and try I will. Getting updates just takes so long when I have to type in class. As of right now, I have the next few chapters sketched out in my head, but nothing definite for the ending. I will be taking suggestions on chapter ideas and character development, so if you'd want to leave an idea, post it in the comments or PM me personally pls-

SONG OF CHANGE CHAPTER 20

Inuyasha had to admit that the rest had been relaxing for the first hour or two, but as soon as his body stopped feeling like it was trying to rip itself into shreds, lying around with Kagome fussing over him like a mother hen got a bit old.

And he was thirsty, which was a bit of a problem.

"You're sure Nazuna's gonna be back," he stated for the fifth time that hour, and Kagome glared tiredly at him and didn't answer.

"It's been forever," he said, and rolled onto his side and moodily stared into the trees.

"A few hours isn't forever, Inuyasha." Kagome growled, and Inuyasha abandoned his tree-watch in favor of glaring at her instead, but after a few seconds, relented and looked away. "I think I'm dying," he said lamely, and buried his face into his paws.

Kagome was unamused.

"It was much more convincing when you were coughing up blood," she said, and if looks could kill, he'd have been dead for several hours.

"But," she admitted, "I am starting to worry about Nazuna."

Inuyasha perked up as she spoke, sensing weakness. "Then we'll go looking for her!"

"But what abou-"

"Never mind the poison," he dismissed, and shook himself off, "I'm fine now."

Kagome glowered, but said nothing, which was in itself a victory.

Inuyasha stretched slowly- and after hours of being cramped on the ground, Kami it felt nice- and shook himself again. Kagome cleared her throat, interrupting his brief session of aerobics, and motioned to the treeline.

"What's the hurry?" He questioned as they headed deeper into the forest.

"The spiders come out at night, mostly," Kagome answered, and gave him a look. "We don't want to have to worry about anyone getting bitten again."

He glared, but wisely said nothing more on the subject.

The further they followed Nazuna's disappearing scent, the thicker the spiderwebs hanging on the tree branches became.

"We really should have kept walking on that road," Inuyasha said, eying a thick swathe of webs in mistrust.

"Helping Nazuna was the right thing to do," Kagome replied, but the strained expression she wore hinted otherwise.

"We could have been back at the territory by now." He argued, and brushed a web off of his paw.

Kagome scowled, but said nothing.

Then, as oak and birch trees faded into tall, looming pines, the spiderwebs thickened into a barrier of sorts. "Why," Inuyasha said, looking up at the hanging strands, "Would anyone make a den here?"

"The spiders weren't here when Nazuna and her grandpa came here," Kagome clarified, "But I have to admit the lack of sky is a bit…. off-putting."

Inuyasha snorted. "Creepy, you mean."

Kagome shrugged, "Just a bit."

"You really think she's here?" Kagome asked Inuyasha as he sniffed around the nearest cluster of web.

He nodded, and kept smelling the ground, cringing as his sensitive nose was overwhelmed by the bitter tang of spider venom and carrion. "She's here," he affirmed, and motioned towards a passage through the webs. "I can barely make it out, but she's here, or was here."

Kagome shuddered. "Are we gonna go through that?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "If we wanna find her, we have to."

"Eugh," she said, but squeezed through the gap in anyway, stifling squeaks and yips of displeasure as her paws sank into sticky strands.

"No chance of finding water in there?" Inuyasha called hopefully, "Maybe she found water in there but couldn't get out?"

"No chance," Kagome affirmed, "It's disgusting in here."

Inuyasha sighed heavily, and squeezed through the gap with a resigned sigh. Being thirsty sucked.

Before him lay the wreckage of what had once been a den. There was a small burrow laden with cobwebs under the roots of a massive fir, and around it lay the corpses of spiders and various web-laden forms that reeked of poison and death.

"Eurgh," Inuyasha said, and Kagome nodded. "Eurgh about sums it up."

She crept closer to a web-encased bundle on the ground and prodded it cautiously with a paw.

The webbing cracked open and fell back to expose a bloated black and blue corpse of a crow just starting to decay. A rancid odor filled the hollow as the crow came into view.

"Oh Kami," She whimpered, and gave a strangled squeal of disgust and fear as small spiders began to pour out of the half-opened beak of the bird, clacking their tiny jaws ferociously.

"Why would Nazuna be here?" Kagome whimpered, and crept back to Inuyasha where he stood frozen.

"This was a den," he stated, and walked forward stiff legged. "This was where she left her grandpa to go find help."

"Oh," Kagome breathed, "She came back for him. Of course she did."

"That explains why she never came back," Inuyasha grunted, "I guess we took too long."

Kagome bristled indignantly. "That wasn't our fault!"

Inuyasha shrugged. "When she last saw me, I wasn't in any shape to help rescue anybody, and I guess she didn't think that'd you'd leave without me."

"She was right about that," Kagome murmured softly, and moved forward again. "Where do you think she'd be?"

"Not in that den," Inuyasha said dryly, "It's covered with webs, and Kami knows how many spiders live in there now. For all we know, both she and her grandpa could be in those sacks."

Kagome made a strangled noise, and began to nose around another bundle. This time, however, she didn't touch it.

"Can't you scent her anymore?" Kagome asked, and wrinkled her nose in disgust when she took a breath. "On second thought, don't try. It hurts to breathe in this stench."

Inuyasha nodded in agreement, and began to stalk around the tree. "I see prints," he said softly, and nosed around the ground, "But I can't tell whose they are."

"You tried," Kagome said comfortingly, and placed her paw down next to the print. "It's smaller than mine," she stated, "It might be Nazuna's."

Inuyasha snorted derisively. "For all we know that could be the prints of the last unfortunate victim that wandered in here."

Kagome scowled at him. "Fine, be negative. I, for one, intend to follow them."

"It's a stupid thing to do," He said bluntly, "You're gonna end up bitten."

….. But he followed her all the same.

The further they went, the worse the smell became.

"Kami…" Kagome groaned, rubbing her nose on her paw, "How can anything live in here?"

Inuyasha twitched an ear, trying to feign nonchalance despite his watering eyes. "I wouldn't really call this living.."

"Guh," Kagome agreed, and looked around with an expression of utmost disgust. "It's hard to imagine what this place looked like before the spiders."

"Probably a lot like any other forest," Inuyasha replied dryly, "Birds, trees, acceptably sized and non-poisonous spiders…"

"I get the point already," Kagome growled, ears flicking back in irritation, "We need to hurry, it's getting dark."

"You don't need to remind me," Inuyasha sighed, looking up at the dark branches shielding the sky above him, "I don't wanna be here any longer that I have to be."

"But," Kagome interrupted him, "From the looks of things, I think we'll be leaving soon."

Inuyasha paused, and looked back at where the black wolf had stopped. "Why..?" He asked slowly, "We haven't found them yet… Have we?"

"We have," the she-wolf affirmed, "But on second thought, we might be here longer than I thought."

"No." Inuyasha stated, walking up to stand beside his packmate, "We're not staying longer than we need to."

She said nothing, only looked on ahead.

In the gloom of the forest, two silhouettes were visible, on leaning heavily on the other, moving forward slowly. The scent of decay and infection reached Inuyasha long before he could clearly make out the figures, and once he saw the pair, he reeled back in horror.

Nazuna had found her grandfather, yes, but the spiders got to him first.