Wow, I think this is the quickest I've updated this story! I was watching Inuyasha and got really motivated. So, okay, I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review. I know this chapter is really short, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!


Murderer

Inuyasha had followed the women down the well an hour after they had gone. It was a safety measure, Kagome had said, in case Amaya got away or couldn't travel through the well. When he arrived on the other side, it was to the sound of insane laughter and a girl that he had once counted as any ally tied to a chair.

She's completely insane, he thought to himself, stalking into the kitchen.

"Ah, here to join the party, Inuyasha!" Amaya said, hysterical laughter still clinging to her. "So, then, Kagome must have told you the story. I must say, you two don't waste time."

He sneered at her as he went to stand at Kagome's side. The inspector still stood in front of Amaya.

"You will tell me the valuables are, Imamura," he said. When she raised an eyebrow at him and refused to talk, he added, "You will spend the rest of your life in prison. I will personally see to that."

"Do what you gotta do," she said, a smirk on her face.

Inuyasha watched as she smiled at all of them, almost as though she knew something that they didn't. And she wasn't telling.


Amaya seethed inside. Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked at the three people in front of her. Damn them all.

When she had fallen into the feudal era, she had known that that would be the place where she would spend the rest of her life. There was no running there, no hiding, no wondering if people knew who she was and what they would do if they figured it out. Now she knew that she had been wrong, she hadn't guarded herself as she should have.

She only hoped that they were falling for her hysterics to cover the fact that she was no longer restrained by the ropes. It had taken her only a few moments for them to come loose as she had pulled her thumb out of socket. Getting the damn thing back in place, however, was proving to be difficult, and her left hand would be worthless otherwise. Pain was not making the acting any easier, and soon she would have to chance her move no matter what, whether it ended in her freedom or her death.

She doubted that Matsumoto would shoot for anything less than a direct threat to his own life. He wanted to close this case nice and neat, no strings or tie-ups. Kagome would be easy to outmaneuver. Inuyasha was the wild card. She didn't know if she could out run him, but she had to chance it.

"So, Matsumoto, tell me, will you kill me now, in this home, or will you wait until we're alone? Tell me how you have planned my death!" she asked, laughing at him as he cringed.

"You're a lunatic."

"Damn right," she said, her head down. She waited in silence for several moments, feeling the calmness surround her. If death is her destiny, than so be it.

Springing up, she hurled the chair at Kagome, watching as the wood caught her shoulder and knocked her to the ground. Inuyasha leapt at her, Tetsusaiga raised high. Amaya ducked under the cut of the blade, brought up her knee and slammed it into his torso. As he stepped back to catch his breath, she went for the door.

The glass slid back into place as she slammed it closed behind her, offering a few more seconds of freedom before Matsumoto was on her tail. His gun raised, he screamed at her to freeze.

Ignoring him, she fled onward, finally breaking through the wooden door of the shed, and leaping down the well. In a flash of purple, she disappeared.

Behind her, the inspector was running and leapt in after her. Kagome and Inuyasha followed soon after, they too were in the well. The flash this time, however, was bright red.


Amaya ran to the village as fast as her legs could take her. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes stung from the sharp, cold wind, but she was not going to stop.

When she reached the village, Sesshomaru waited at the edge with his sword drawn. She could only assume that he had been told of her crimes, and that he was to intercept her should she come back.

"Out of my way," she screamed, leaping as high as she could, flipping in mid-air. She knew that he would aim his sword up toward her as she passed over him, and she clapped her hands against the broadside of Tokijin, using the momentum to twist the sword and wrench it from his hands.

When she landed on her feet, she didn't even look back to see his stunned face, she only threw his weapon to the ground and went for her hut.

In a flash, she had her only two bags on her shoulders and turned to go out the door.

"Amaya?" she heard, and when she turned, Goukuma was standing in the doorway, his jaw clenched.

"Don't make me hurt you," she said, drawing out Souunga as she moved toward him. He unsheathed his own weapon, and gazed down at her.

"Why?" he asked, and she instinctively knew what he meant.

"I had no choice. Now you know why I couldn't love you," she said, tying her sheath at her hip. "Now move," she hissed, but when he refused, she drew back her fist and hit him in the face. He stepped back, and then she went down and swept the back of his legs, sending his sprawling to the ground.

Shouts were heard from the edge of the village. Sesshomaru was coming at her, and not far behind was Inuyasha and Kagome.

Glancing around for a quick escape route, Amaya ran for the north forest, toward the river and to the mountains. The cold air bit at her cheeks and eyes and she felt the sting as branches and limps tore at her hands and face. She threw up her hands blindly, protecting her eyes as she fled through the thick woodland.

The only thing that ran through her mind was escape . . . survival. It was all she knew. From the time she was young, her Grandmother had told her that survival in a world where it was so easy to live would be hard to learn, but she would. Her training had been intense, and she knew how to get through any circumstance.

The bags on her shoulders were cumbersome, and easily caught in the branches, but she tore then free and kept running. Her body wanted to give up as the seconds turned to minutes, and the short stretches turned to miles. How far she ran before she stopped for breath, she didn't know. All she did know was that after a few seconds to collect herself, she was off again.

She took four steps, and then the ground fell from under her. The hill was littered with moss and fallen limbs, and as her body tumbled downward, she couldn't grab a hold of anything. She cried out once, and then her head struck a rock . . . then darkness . . . .

It was strange, though. Beneath her cheek, she could have sworn that she felt the downy softness of a feather . . . .


Oh, no!!! Tell me what you think! I will try to get out the next chapter by next week . . . . but no promises . . . . And check me out at under the penname Tears of My Heart on Fictionpress to check out my story "Night Rain". Until next time, take care!