All right!! Here is Chapter 3!! Please read and review!!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own ANYTHING from this anime or manga except the storyline and the characters I make up. The rest belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.


Kagome opened her eyes slowly and yawned, stretching. It was a beautiful morning and the little fox youkai next to her was still sleeping. She crept out of her sleeping bag slowly so as not to wake up Shippo. She gazed around the camp seeing that everybody else was still sleeping and looked up to see Inuyasha sleeping in a tree. Then her eyes fell on the strange girl that they had rescued the other day. She was still sleeping and the scratches she had on her face and body were still red and fresh. Kagome shivered as she thought what the girl had to go through being chased by the monster.

She went over to her backpack and opened it. She took out a pot and went about the area gathering the materials necessary to make a campfire. Kagome didn't notice that Inuyasha was awake and watching her actions. She was, therefore, startled when his rough voice cut into her business.

"That's not how you do it," he said.

"Inuyasha!!" she said, looking up at the hanyou. "You're awake!"

"So are you." He hopped down from his branch and took her pitiful bundle of sticks. "Get some stones."

"O-OK," Kagome stammered. She went to the nearby stream that was hidden behind some big trees and gathered the biggest stones she could find.

"Put them there," Inuyasha said, without looking up. He was arranging the bigger branches he had managed to find. Kagome set down the stones and watched him sort the stones into a circle around the branches. "Now you can light it."

Ten minutes later, Kagome had the water in her pot bubbling and splashing about. She put some sort of a mixture in it and started to stir it. The smell of the mixture woke up the others. Sango got up and shook awake Miroku, who was muttering perverted things.

"Eh—what?" Miroku asked, flabbergasted. "Sango?"

Sango smirked. "Expecting someone else, lecher?"

"Why, no," he said, "I was merely surprised to see your shining face so early in the morning."

"Then why were you muttering, 'Will you please bear my child?' " she asked suspiciously.

"Was I really?" Miroku said innocently. "You must have been dreaming."

A loud slap sounded around the campfire. Miroku had a red handprint on his cheek while a furious Sango hovered over him.

"Me? Dreaming?" Sango repeated. "You were the one dreaming, lecherous monk!!!"

Kagome sighed, still stirring the pot. Both Inuyasha and Shippo were watching the fight with interest. It wasn't every morning that Sango and Miroku fought about his impure habits.

"What are you guys fighting about?" a strange voice broke into their squabble. "Lecherous thoughts?"

"Good morning," Kagome said to the strange girl. "Did you sleep well?"

"Really well, thanks!" she replied, smiling. "What's your name?"

"Kagome," Kagome said. "The monk over there is Miroku and demon-slayer next to him is Sango. That's Inuyasha and the fox youkai is Shippo. The two-tailed cat is Kirara. What's yours?"

"It's Miya," she said. (A/N In Japanese Miya means "beautiful night")

"Miya," Kagome repeated. She smiled. "That's really pretty."

"So, Miya," Miroku said, rubbing his abused cheek, "could you tell us a little more about that strange place we found you in?"

Miya looked really uncertain as she said slowly, "I don't know much about it either. It's just a strange place that opens up now and then. I fall into it often, though." She smiled ruefully. "It's not a nice place to be. Eventually, you kinda get used to it."

"So what about that strange monster?" Inuyasha asked.

Miya shuddered and replied, "That's a real monster. They live all over the place. I'm not sure what they are. They always go after me."

"Do you know where it went?" Kagome said, kneeling down next Miya. She noted that the girl had queer blue eyes that seemed to go on and on. Kagome blinked once to clear her head of the images Miya's eyes showed her.

"Somewhere in the fog?" Miya said vaguely. "I don't really know. Why are you so interested in it?"

"Because it had a Shikon jewel fragment," Kagome explained.

Miya was interested. "Really? That might explain why it was so strong. I can normally take care of those things but this time it just wouldn't leave me be no matter how many times I attacked it."

"How'd you attack it?" Shippo asked. He bounded in to Miya's lap. "You don't have any weapons."

"Er—I had a knife with me but I lost it," Miya said.

Inuyasha sniffed the air. He could smell that she was lying but didn't say anything.

"What do you fight with?" Miya asked the group.

Shippo puffed out his chest proudly. "I'm a fox youkai so I fight with illusions. Want to see my smashing top?"

Miya noted the panicked looks the others were giving her and said, "No, thanks, but I'm sure it's really powerful!" Shippo beamed.

"I'm a miko," Kagome said. "I use my spiritual powers and imbue them in my arrows before striking." (A/N Miko is another word for priestess.)

"I have my boomerang, various poisons, and other weapons," Sango said.

"I am a monk with a cursed hand that will draw in anything," Miroku said.

"I've got my claws and my trusty Tessaiga," said Inuyasha.

"It looks kinda beat up to me," Miya criticized.

Inuyasha growled. Miya ignored him and looked at Kagome's arrows. She asked, "Can I try them?"

"All right," Kagome said. "Be careful, though."

"Don't worry, I will." Miya looked over the arrows in Kagome's quiver and chose a straight one that would fly true. She tested the string on the bow expertly and took her stance aiming for a groove in a tree that was fifteen yards away from the group.

She aimed carefully, looking down the arrow for a good course to go. Miya drew the bow string taut and then let go, the arrow flying straight. It hit the groove in a direct bull's eye, much to the amazement of Kagome and the others.

"Even Kagome isn't that good," Inuyasha said. Kagome looked at the hanyou, peeved.

"Very nice," Miroku commented.

"It's a nice bow," Miya said. "I'd like to get one myself."

"You can ask Kaede for one," said Kagome.

"Speaking of Kaede," Sango said, "shouldn't we go back? We've lost all traces of the sacred jewel. Even Naraku isn't liable to show up."

"Naraku?" Miya asked. "Who's he?"

"Just a bad guy who poked a hole in Miroku's hand, killed of Sango's entire village, and pitted Inuyasha against another miko named Kikyo," Shippo said.

Miya paled. "That bad?"

"Yup," Shippo said. Kirara meowed. She scratched her ear.

"Come on, Kirara," Sango said, picking up her boomerang. "We won't get anywhere just by talking." Kirara meowed again and transformed in a glory blaze of fire.

"Sango's right." Miroku moved closer to Sango and his hand roamed to its favorite place: her bottom.

Sango slammed her boomerang onto his head. "Pervert." A large bump formed on Miroku's head. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Your beauty is unparalleled, my dear Sango," Miroku responded. Miya had trouble stifling her giggles. Miroku looked at her as if noticing her for the first time and went over to her. He clasped a bemused Miya's hands in both of his and looked at her very seriously. Everybody in the group knew what was going to happen next. "Miya, would you consider bearing my child?"

Seeing a very furious Sango about to whack Miroku on the head again with her boomerang Miya said, "Thanks for the offer, Miroku." Sango froze, dumfounded. Inuyasha exchanged shocked looks with Kagome and Shippo stopped sucking his lollipop to swallow it and choke. Miya then said, "I don't think that I'm your type though. It seems your fiancé will soon have a heart attack if this goes on." She politely removed her hands from Miroku's and helped Shippo get the lollipop out his throat.

Miroku swallowed. "How'd you know?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Miya asked innocently. She added, "Congratulations, Sango."

Sango lowered her boomerang and gave Miroku a glare. "For what it's worth. I tried to wring a promise out of him not to do that anymore but all I got from him was an 'I'll try.' "

"That's better than nothing," Miya said. Sango smiled and strapped her boomerang to her back. Five minutes later, the group was ready to go.


"So ye want a bow?" an old woman asked Miya. She wore a patch over her right eye and she was stooped over with age. She wore a priestess's garments with baggy red pants and a baggy white long-sleeved shirt.

"Yes, Lady Kaede," Miroku said. "This is Miya."

"Hello," Miya said. "I'd like a strong, sturdy bow."

Kaede thought for a moment and then nodded. "I have an extra. Wait inside the hut while I fetch it." She went outside and then opened the straw flap that served as a door. "Would ye like arrows, too?"

"If it isn't too much trouble," Miya said, delighted.

Five minutes went by when Kaede came back in with a longbow and a quiver stuffed to the brim with arrows.

"Can ye handle a longbow?" the old woman inquired.

"Indeed, Lady Kaede," Miya said.

"Just hurry up, old hag," Inuyasha interrupted. "We want to get going."

"Get going where?" Kagome asked Inuyasha. She had taken out her first aid kit and was bandaging Miya's scratches. "We have no leads."

"Don't you guys normally travel for them?" Miya asked, wincing as the raw scratches were covered up. Her new bow and arrows were next to her.

"We'd like to rest a while, though," Sango explained. Kirara was curled up in her lap. "It's also important that we replenish our supplies."

"Didn't Kagome just do that the day before yesterday?" Inuyasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but you ate everything up," Kagome informed him. She had finished bandaging the girl and closed her kit. "Besides, now that Miya's with us we'll need more. That means I have to go into the well."

"To drown yourself?" Miya asked. She felt the bandages covering her face.

Kagome chuckled nervously. "No, not quite."

"The well they speak of is dry, child," Kaede said. "It is known as the Bone Eaters Well because when the bones of demons were thrown into it they disappeared over the course of a few days."

Miya nodded to show she understood.

"Now that that's settled, I'll be off," Kagome said brightly. She picked up her bag and opened the door flap. "Is that all right, Inuyasha?"

"Feh. It's not like I have a say in the matter anyway."

Without another word, Kagome went out. Miya could sense a slight sadness in the air. She followed Kagome outside and told the others that she was going to catch a breath of fresh air.

"There's enough of it to go around," Inuyasha said.

"I know. That's why I want it," Miya said.

Miroku, Sango, and Shippo had to stifle smiles at Miya's reply. As she went out Shippo said, "Well, she shut you up, Inuyasha." He was silenced as Inuyasha's fist came down on his head. He clutched his head and wailed. "Inuyasha!! Why'd you do that?!"

"No reason," Inuyasha scoffed. He went out after the two girls.

"Very strange," Miroku said. A shifty grin spread across his features.

"What are you thinking?" Sango asked warily.

"Nothing," Miroku said, still grinning. "Just that maybe Inuyasha has gone after Miya and Kagome to hear if they're saying anything about him."

"Wanna spy?" Sango asked.

"Definitely," Miroku answered. The two got up and went out the door flap after Inuyasha.

"I'm going, too," Shippo decided. He was stopped only by a gnarled old hand on his pants.

"No, ye are not going, Shippo," Kaede said. "Ye can help me grind these herbs."

Amidst Shippo's groans and Kaede's insistent voice, two spies followed another spy to eavesdrop on a certain conversation.


I know some of you are going to think this is another filler chapter and it is in a way so don't hate me! I think I'm going to put some action in the next chapter (I think). Besides, aren't you curious about what's going to happen?

I'll try to update soon!