Sayaka yawned as the warmth of the morning sun pried her heavy eyelids open and pulled her out of the dream world, back into reality. She slid out of the tree and landed cat-like onto the ground below. This morning felt somewhat different, though, and how it felt different, Sayaka was not sure of. She knew why it was different—because she had met Sesshoumaru the previous night and everything she heard and saw was a contradiction of what she ‘knew’ about the taiyokai.

Sayaka sighed as she moved her bare feet through the dew-covered grass, walking towards a nearby stream. Her thoughts were clouded with the words of Sesshoumaru and the hanyou woman that he had been traveling with. The more she thought of the matter, the more she pondered whether her father had intentionally set her against the taiyokai for his own personal reasons.

She had loved her father as much as any daughter should—she always did as she was told, she worked more than her share in order to insure that they were never hungry, she even watched over their village to insure that they were never attacked. However, in spite of all of the good she did for her father, she often found herself being put off, ignored, and sent away when guests were present. Very rarely did the villagers see her in the light of day. They did not seem to be afraid of her, in fact, they were rather appreciative of their ‘village watchdog’.

But, oftentimes, when the villagers visited her home to express their gratitude, her father either sent them away or did not tell her of their hospitality. He would also tell her frightening stories of the taiyokai of the West—how he destroyed entire villages, took children from their homes so that he could hear their agonized screams as he tortured them. He told her tales of how her mother once was deceived into loving the wretched monster and that as soon as her mother gave birth to Sayaka, the taiyokai was informed and sent assassins to kill her.

Yet, the image she had of Sesshoumaru and who he actually seemed to be were such opposites that Sayaka was left wondering who exactly was lying. With all of her heart, she wanted to believe that her father would never lie or use her, but her intuition told her that Sesshoumaru wasn’t who her father told her about. He did not seem like a monster at all. He was traveling with a hanyou woman and a human girl! How could any cold-blooded blood-thirsty killer travel with such a group?

No matter how she tried to rearrange them, the pieces of the puzzle did not seem to fit. Everything seemed to contradict itself. Sayaka became rather tempted to search for and speak with Sesshoumaru once more.

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Inu Yasha yawned as he stood from the campfire that he and Miroku had built the previous night. [Three weeks and no sign of the jewel shards… I wish Kagome was with us… if for no other reason, we would at least progressing with our search. Not to mention that I wouldn’t feel so empty all of the time…]

Miroku smiled as he slowly sat up from where he had slept that night. Even though the traveling friends were short by two people, they all still managed to get along with one another and, what’s more, he and Sango were growing steadily closer. He was glad that she seemed to feel the same about him and he felt about her, even though she wanted to keep the pace of the relationship slow enough that he still was not about to lose his virginity for some time.

Miroku also noted that, in spite of the lonely feeling that the three felt in Kagome’s absence, everyone seemed to be somewhat better off. Sango did not seem to dwell on her misfortunes involving her younger brother nearly as much and Inu Yasha did not seem to act nearly as moody as he usually would. He shrugged the thought off, though, as he found himself in sudden need of a drink. He waved at Inu Yasha, indicating where he was going, and then proceeded to walk towards a stream that was shortly away from their camp.

Miroku slowed down, though, when he saw a young woman standing on the opposite side of the stream, seemingly deep in thought. He took a long look at her, considering her attractiveness and whether she appeared to be threatening. Seeing as she was not only a very lovely young woman, but also unarmed and appearing harmless, Miroku continued to the edge of the stream. "A very lovely morning, don’t you think so?"

The woman shrugged as she took a quick glance at the monk opposite herself. "What do you want?"

Miroku chuckled lightly as he carefully stepped over a few stones that jutted out of the stream and crossed the shallow, yet wide, stream. "Only to add that you are even more lovely than this morning is, my lady. Tell me, do you have a name that matches your beauty?"

The woman sighed as she looked down to her reflection, brown hair slightly framing her face, her dark blue eyes flickered with sadness, and her lavender kimono slightly dirty. [How could I forget this morning? Perhaps this is another reason everything seems odd…] She cleared her throat and returned Miroku’s smile. "My name is Sayaka. And you, houshi, do you have a name?"

Miroku beamed as he answered, "My name is Miroku… Tell me, Sayaka, are you lost in these woods?"

Sayaka sighed as she glanced down at her hands—what were normally her sharp, lengthened claws now appeared as mere, human fingernails. "I’m not lost, I’m merely journeying alone… I wouldn’t much mind company, though, at least, not until sunset…"

"What happens sunset?"

[This is something that has happened every month since I was a child… I have no reason to act this way…] Sayaka forced herself to blush and smile. "It’s a secret, houshi…"

Miroku grinned slyly as he led Sayaka across the stream and towards the camp. "A secret, ne? What kind of secret?"

Sayaka repressed an animalistic growl as she replied flatly, "The kind I don’t tell absolute strangers."

Miroku nodded, as though he actually understood. "If you would like, you may stay in the presence of myself and my companions for the day."

Sayaka looked towards the sun as it slowly began its cycle for the day, gradually climbing into the top of the sky. "Of course, houshi-sama."

Miroku smiled as he pushed through the bushes and tree branches that were in their way and finally reached the place where Inu Yasha stood waiting. "Sayaka-sama, this is my friend Inu Yasha, and over there sleeping is my… ahem… girlfriend, Sango."

Sayaka stared at Inu Yasha in spite of herself. He was a hanyou, yes, but his features seemed familiar… "An interesting lot of you people are wandering together, ne, houshi-sama?"

Miroku nodded with a thin smile on his face as he glanced over to Sango’s sleeping form. [I should only hope that Sango does not become cross with me for this…]

Inu Yasha shot an annoyed glare towards Miroku as he examined the woman shortly behind him. "Sayaka, huh? Perhaps I may seem rude asking this, but is there any particular reason that you are staring at me?"

Sayaka blushed as shook her head as she stepped nearer to Inu Yasha. "No… You are a hanyou, are you not?"

Inu Yasha rolled his eyes as he sarcastically replied, "No, I was just born funny-looking."

Sayaka nodded and bowed her head apologetically. "A dog, correct?"

"What’s it to you?"

Sayaka hesitated, looking deep into his amber, nearly golden eyes, and took a quick glance as his lengthy, silver hair. "You… you aren’t related to the taiyokai, Sesshoumaru, are you?"

Inu Yasha scoffed, but was careful not to act too disgusted, seeing as he felt that he owed Sesshoumaru a debt for caring for Kagome. "He is my half-brother, but I do not quite view him as family."

Sayaka nodded slowly, realizing that she would be able to ask of Inu Yasha’s opinion of Sesshoumaru’s honesty.

Inu Yasha eyed Sayaka warily as he reconsidered her question. "How do you know of Sesshoumaru?"

Sayaka’s eyes flickered with something indefinable momentarily as she nonchalantly shrugged. "He’s the taiyokai of the West, is there any reason one has to be special to know of the local nobles?"

"I suppose not…" Inu Yasha continued staring at Sayaka, and though she did seem rather attractive, something about her did not quite seem right… [She doesn’t seem like most humans… any regular human would have assumed that I was a full-yokai and never would have been able to tell if I was dog, cat, bull, whatever… However… she seems to have an unusual interest or knowledge of Sesshoumaru, even though she doesn’t seem to want to tell me…]

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. Well, sort of a long chapter, but don’t worry, I might just get a few more in before school’s out! ^_~ As usual, R & R, critical comments are always helpful! ^_^

(Thanks to the person who pointed out a flawed sentence in the last chapter, I hadn’t realized that I had been so vague in that particular paragraph. However, I can only hope that most people were able to figure it out on their own…)

One more thing, once school’s out, I’ll be, as I’ve said a bazillion times prior, slow between updates. * Sarcastically thanks gasoline companies for high prices * (Yeah, who else has to drive and deal with $2+ a gallon of gas?) Not only because of that…. But I’ve also decided to buy my own copy of the classic novel… Dracula! I’ve recently re-watched the Hellsing anime and have been reading Hellsing fanfics, so I’ve had a sudden interest in vampires… (imagine that…) I do know though, that this interest may end in a fan fic by the end of summer, so lets all cross our fingers and hope for an idea! ^_~ (And please, dear God, let me have something that isn’t about Kagome and Sesshoumaru becoming vampires—there are so many of those out there that tend to be poorly and hastily written…)

Ja ne,

Ryoko Yuy