Hi Everyone!

It's the story's first part-er (is that even a word?), so hopefully you all like it! I love writing this story, and it makes me so happy to see that an ever growing about of people love this story too! Thank you to all of you who have reviewed thus far and a thank you to those who have just read it, your reviews and views truly matter to me! I have a very hard time finding time to write with all my college work and your words really do help on the rough days, so thank you friends.

Constructive Criticism and Questions are always appreciated!

Enjoy the new chapter!

Inuyasha is not my masterpiece.

Point of view

-X- a later point in time

Sango

Kaede and Sango walked through the village and over to where Miroku was standing talking to a young looking man, who Sango could tell just by looking at him that he was not an experienced Samurai.

He was shorter than Miroku, with short black bangs and hair tied up into a high ponytail to frame his kind looking face. He was wearing a light purple Shitagi, even though she could see that he was not wearing armor, with a dark blue patterned Hakama over it. A matching blue obi is tied over his clothes holding his katana, with a pair of worn zōri on his feet.

"Good day to ye, Samurai. I heard that ye wished ta speak with me."

Miroku and the young Samurai turned to the two women, and a polite smile appeared on the young man's face.

"Yes, Priestess, I do. I'm on a mission you see, and I'm trying to find a castle that should be around here somewhere."

"So ya're lost, is that it?"

The man flushed slightly, then cleared his throat into his fist.

"Yes, Priestess. I was hoping that you might be able to tell me where I may find Castle U-"

Kaede held up a hand to silence him.

"There is nay castle around here, and the closest one be about a five days journey north if ye be a fast walker. But ye'd best not walk that way alone, because to get there ye have to go through Inuyasha's forest."

"Is...is that some kind of dangerous demon then, this Inuyasha?"

"...It'd just safer if ya had some strong company for that part of the journey."

Kaede turned her head to look at Miroku and Sango.

"Perhaps ye two would be interested in going through the forest with him?"

Both Sango and Miroku looked surprised at her for suggesting this, then they looked at each other.

"That depends on what your business at the castle is."

Miroku said evenly, turning to fully face the Samurai.

"We will be no part of any bloodshed, nor political aspirations."

"Oh no, it's nothing like that!"

The man said, hastily shaking his head. He looked around to see if any other villagers were still paying attention to their conversation, which almost none of them were as the novelty of the Samurai had worn off, and leaned in a bit closer.

"There are rumors that have reached my Lord's ears of the lord in the nearby castle having gone mad, so he has asked me to investigate to see if it's true or not."

"Why would your Lord care if this other lord went mad?"

Miroku inquired, voicing the question that Sango had just opened her mouth to ask.

"My Lord recently gave one of his daughters to this lord in marriage, and is very concerned about her safety if this is true."

Miroku nodded sagely with his eyes closed in what Sango recognized as feigned thought.

"A very noble cause indeed, saving a young Princess. I think that we should not only escort this man through the forest, but up to the castle itself. Just to be sure that he gets the information he needs, of course."

Sango gave Miroku's now very innocent expression a hard searching look, before slowly turning back to the Samurai.

"What do these rumors say?"

"Some say simply that he's gone mad, others say that he's possessed by an evil spirit, and a few even think that this is the work of a powerful demon."

Sango's eyes widened, and she looked at Miroku while speaking in a low voice.

"A powerful demon? Do you think that it could have a shard than, Houshi-sama?"

"It is a possibility...making it another good reason to go on this noble quest of his."

Miroku responded although Sango didn't hear that last part of his comment, because if she had she would have given him a nice sized lump on the head.

"We could even cut down a portion of the travel time by riding on Kirara."

Sango said looking up thoughtfully, then she looked back at the Samurai and nodded.

"Alright, we'll accompany you at least as far as the other side of the forest."

Kirara leaped off Sango's shoulder while transforming into her large form, no doubt preparing herself for the journey that they had just agreed to. Sango looked expectantly at the young man, but waited patiently till he got over his initial reactions to witnessing Kirara's somewhat frightening change.

"What's your name?"

He shook himself out of his shock, and smiled the same smile that he had been wearing when she first saw him.

"Nobunaga, Amari."

-X-

They flew over a good portion of Inuyasha's forest without any trouble, and walking through the rest of it proved uneventful as well.

Nobunaga insisted that they stop at every village that they came to after they left the forest, so that he could question the people about the rumors as they got closer to the castle. At first there was nothing very specific or informative, just your general 'I heard it from my cousin's friend' kind of thing. However the closer they got to the castle, the more a disturbing pattern began emerging in their talks to the villagers.

"Are you sure, here too?"

Nobunaga asked an old woman from the nearest village to the castle they had found yet.

"Oh, here was probably one of the first places to suffer the loss of our young women as we live so close. Our Lord only recently started having his men take our girls away to his castle, with no reason given to us, and none of them have returned yet."

All the villages within a 20 mile radius had no young women who were not already married, and in the closest ones, even the young married ones had been taken. More and more rumors of the Lord having been possessed or turned into a demon were whispered to them by the progressively frightened villagers as they got closer and closer to their destination.

"There's definitely some odd happening here, and I feel that it's the work of a demon."

Miroku said during the flight on Kirara that had finally put them in sight of the castle.

"I agree."

Sango said with a nod, eyes fixed on the castle as Kirara drifted down so that they could walk the last mile or so of the distance.

Miroku

"Aren't you glad we came along with you."

Miroku had teased Nobunaga as they neared their destination, but now that they stood at the foot of the outer castle wall, no one was joking. The sky was darkening rapidly, and the air was thick with demonic presence that hung over the castle like a dark fog. They all stood silently for a few seconds, deep in their own thoughts until a guard called out to them from atop the outer perimeter wall.

"Who goes there?!"

Nobunaga moved to answer but was stayed by Miroku's hand on his shoulder, before the monk called up.

"Three weary pilgrims, we ask for sanctuary for the night within the fine lord's protected grounds."

"..What is your troop comprised of?"

Came back a somewhat hesitant question from the guard, Sango and Miroku exchanged surprised and somewhat suspicious looks at this strange question.

"Two men and a woman."

Miroku replied after a couple seconds, purposefully not including Kirara. There was no response from the guard for several minutes, and Miroku was about to call up to him again when a new voice shouted.

"I'm sure my Lord would like to meet with the woman, and says that her companies must wait for her outside."

The gate in front of them opened, and several heavily armed guards appeared.

"You may not have-"

Nobunaga started, but was interrupted by Sango whispering to him.

"Wait!"

She raised her voice slightly so that Miroku could hear her as well.

"This could be a good opportunity for us to get inside. I'll deal with the guards and let you two in, then we can all find and defeat the demon."

Miroku sighed heavily, then nodded to her.

"Be careful, Sango."

She nodded slightly, then walked over to the guards who took her inside while closing the gate with a thud behind themselves.

'Why did we let her go in with them? Women have been vanishing from all over the countryside into this castle and you let her walk in by herself?!"

Miroku gazed steadily at the gate that Sango had just vanished through and answered quietly.

"I am well aware of what has been happening, as is Sango. However, she is right about this being a good opportunity for us to enter this castle, because what chances do you think that we would have to enter if we told them who we really are? I'm curtain that this castle is under the control of a demon and do you think that it would let in a Monk, a Samurai ordered to take back the Princess of this place, and a Taijiya? No, the best way is for Sango to enter and open this door for us. Right, Kirara?"

The little form of Kirara was now perched on the Monk's right shoulder and had been staring up at the castle wall tops with an unreadable expression, then hearing the inquiry looked at Miroku and mewed.

Sango

Sango entered the castle grounds with two guards flanking either side of her, armored and carrying spears. She was just about to quickly disable the two closest ones, when a strange light blue mist came rolling out of the castle's main house and with unnatural speed covered the grounds. Sango's mask with out in a flash, but even as she called out a warning to the men around her while fastening it they were already falling to the ground.

Sango scanned the castle's grounds, but saw no sign of what was responsible for the mist. So still keeping a wary eye out she back-tracked to the main gate, and by the time she got there the mist had almost fully dissipated in the darkness. The gate's sliding bar lock was quite large and heavy, even for the strong Demon-Slayer, so that by the time she got it out of the way there was no trace of the blue mist anywhere.

She pushed open the gate and was greeted by a relieved looking Miroku.

"Ah, Sango! I'm glad to see you're alright, but why do you have your mask on?"

"There's definitely a demon here. As soon as it was completely dark out and the gate was closed, a strange blue mist came out of the main house and did something to the guards."

Sango explained to the two men, her voice having a slight echo sound to it from within the mask.

"I think it just put them to sleep, but I didn't see the demon and I don't know if it is fully aware that we're here yet."

"So it could be quite dangerous from here on out."

Miroku finished thoughtfully while leaning on his shakujō, both looked at Nobunaga who blinked back at them and a couple seconds later processed their unspoken words.

"I'm not scared! I must rescue Princess Tsuyu no matter what!"

Both kept straight faces as he looked at them, then Sango whispered to Miroku as Nobunaga started regaling his Lord's orders to them again for the hundredth time.

"I think he's scared."

"Still, one must commend his loyalty and devotion to the task."

Miroku whispered back as Kirara jumped from his shoulder to Sango's.

"If you are not scared, then let us begin."

I love to know how I'm doing, so a big Thank You to all those who reviewed the last chapter!

Sailor Rain I'm so glad that you're liking the story so far, and yes I do plan on bringing the group together. That's still quite a while away though, and as for if they'll be friends or if they'll fight...we'll just have to wait and see! ;)

Layla347 *blushes* Thanks, Layla!

Lindaminina37 *blushes furiously* Aww, you're such a sweetheart thank you! Don't worry about it, just keep on reading and letting me know what you think of it. :)

A moment of silence to mourn/ponder the loss of JJ and the others who have reviewed the other chapters but have been strangely silent, I hope you guys are doing alright and will be back soon!

Leave a review and I'll thank you too!

Best wishes till next time!