Still in shock from everything that just happened, Akimoto looked on at her rescuer with widened eyes. He just stood in front of her, not turning back to face her.

"I…Inuya—" Just as Akimoto was about to say his name, something small and sparkly sat on the ground before her; something she hadn't noticed before. Approaching it slowly and squinting her eyes, Akimoto said, "Is…that…?"

"Huh?" Inuyasha turned around to see what she was eyeing. Once he saw it, his eyes widened. "Sacred Jewel shards!" He immediately lunged down to try to pick up the two shards.

Without warning, however, a familiar force smashed Inuyasha down into the ground before he even had an opportunity to touch them.

"Oh, come on!" He yelled in frustration. "Can't I get a break at least once?!"

Putting her hand over her chest, Akimoto felt her heart beating fast. A pocket of nerves seemed to drop down into her stomach as she processed the unbelievable situation.

Taking a deep breath in and out, she put her poker face back on and reached down to pick up the two jewel shards. Once in her hands, she noted how small they were: about the length of a dime and quite thin.

Were these in the tree he split apart? They're so small! It's a miracle I even saw these. Realizing how small they were made the weight of the ordeal really sit on her. How was she going to find all of the shards when they're so tiny?!

"Hey! I earned those!" Inuyasha yelled up from his spot on the ground where he was still being pushed down.

Blinking, Akimoto remembered that Inuyasha was there. "Thanks for saving me again. But…why are you here?"

Inuyasha's voice was muffled as he spoke into the ground.

Suddenly, the force was lifted from him, giving him relief to sit up.

With an annoyed expression, Inuyasha spoke to her, "You're makin' it real hard to believe you're not doing that on purpose!"

It's not that I can't do it on purpose, it's more like most of the time it happens when I don't want it to…not that he'd believe that.

Akimoto just stared at him with her poker face—neither confirming nor denying his statement.

Seeing that she'd stay quiet, he crossed his arms and spoke matter-of-factly. "I'm here because you're going to find all of the jewel shards for me."

"…why would I do that?"

He gave her a mischievous grin. "Because without me, you're dead. Even if you somehow take out the demons that'll no doubt come after you, you'll probably end up killing yourself with your own power." He gestured to the decimated tree.

Blushing from the embarrassing insinuation, Akimoto kept her poker face intact. "That was just…a fluke…" Despite her doing her best to look confident and uncaring, her words were shaky and uncertain.

"Flukes get you killed out here. Tch. That power of yours is wasted on the likes of you," he told her harshly.

Akimoto's expression remained unchanged, but she tightened her grip on her microphone. I know these powers are probably wasted on me…but…they're MINE. Even if I gave up and went back to my world, there's no turning off what I have. I can't just forget. These wind powers are a part of me, and I'm going to use them to make things right.

"…why do you need me anyway?" She asked him, calmly. "Just look for them on your own. Wouldn't I just be a burden to you?" As if I'd let you have them anyway.

"It's not like I can smell the jewel shards; they don't have a scent. Besides, you're old lady there tipped me off that you've got some special ability to find them. So, I'm gonna use it."

"The old—" Visibly bothered, Akimoto swiftly turned around to face Taiitsukun. "You told him I could do what?"

Taiitsukun said, "Actually, I told him that you 'will' possess the ability to find the shards. You don't have it yet."

"But…but why tell him anything like that? He has no noble intent; he wants them for himself! I'm supposed to protect the jewel from people like him!" Is this just another stupid test?!

"The fact remains that you need someone to protect you. As strong as you are, you lack control, and no control will lead to your premature downfall. He's your best option."

"Why can't you just come with me? You're clearly stronger than either of us!"

"I'm not your babysitter."

"But you want him to be?"

"What I want is for you to trust me."

"Why should I?! YOU GAVE THE JEWEL TO A DEMON!" On that last word, Akimoto's power immediately triggered along with her glowing symbols. A strong gust picked up and encircled the three of them. Clenching onto her microphone, Akimoto brought it up to her lips. I'll show them that I can control it. She gritted her teeth, trying to fight back the tidal wave of doubt welling up inside of her. I HAVE to control it. I have to…

Singing a loud but steady note, the wind force increased as well as its speed. I'll make the leaves of all these trees sway without any damage! Akimoto effortlessly sang the next note a few notches higher than the last. The wind responded by pulling down the clouds from the sky to form a funnel around them as the wind speeds increased more and more. The trees around them responded by swaying their branches. But within seconds, their trunks began to writhe.

Being with the eye of this tornado and bearing witness to its increasingly destructive power, Inuyasha tried to get Akimoto's attention. "Hey! Girl! Give it a rest already! We get it, you're strong. Now shut it off before you get us all killed." The half-demon considered leaping out and away from the danger zone, but he wasn't sure just how wide this display of power was. Seeing how she sliced apart the powerful Sacred Jewel shard, she probably wouldn't have much issue ripping him up either.

Upon hearing his warning, Akimoto stopped singing and inspected the scene. The wind's force was increasing, and trees were being torn up from their roots. She put her arms down to her sides, but the wind wouldn't cease, nor would the symbols all over her body go away.

The blood drained from her face.

Not again.

Why won't it stop?!

Gripping her microphone once more, Akimoto brought it up to her lips and shouted, "ENOUGH! Stop blowing! I order you! Stop! Please!"

The wind's power had increased so much that the trees and everything else caught in it were being shred to pieces. Do add to the already frightful situation, the eye of the tornado was closing in on them, threatening to bring them all into its clutches.

Inuyasha cautiously backed away from the shrinking edge as his anxiety caused sweat to run down the side of his face.

"I said stop!" Akimoto continued to shout into her wand, but to no avail.

Why…?

Taiitsukun, still unfazed by all of this, pondered on the current situation. This is an unexpected complication. Here I thought the biggest challenge would be getting past her emotional burdens. But it turns out that her composition is giving her the most trouble. I'll have to approach things a different way than I did the others. I'll have to work backwards.

The old woman then sighed and said, "I've seen enough." With a wave of her hand, a golden portal opened beneath the three of them and they fell through. Before Akimoto and Inuyasha could process what had happened, they had found themselves newly dropped onto a grassy cliff overlooking the area. The sudden interference caused Akimoto's symbols to disappear as she blinked in confusion.

"What the heck was that?" Inuyasha asked with an aggravated tone while inspecting his surroundings.

Not acknowledging his question, Akimoto peered down the cliff and into the valley below and what she saw horrified her.

There was a large, nearly barren wasteland of dirt and shredded tree bits scattered across a large mile diameter. It was almost in the shape of a perfect circle as the edges led back into a luscious forest.

Akimoto recognized that area. That's where they just were.

Seeing the blatant destruction, the young woman began to hyperventilate as her heart rate increased. Troublesome thoughts filled her mind.

I…did all that? Were there people in there? Nothing is moving anywhere! No sign of life at all. What if…what if I killed someone?!

At some point, her psyche couldn't take it anymore and Akimoto collapsed to the ground, fainted.

Seeing her unmoving body, Inuyasha stood up and looked at her in disgust. "Pathetic."

"For someone so 'pathetic' she almost did away with you quite quickly…and easily I might add," Taiitsukun told him matter-of-factly.

He shot back. "Yeah? Well, she almost offed herself as well…again."

"The wind wouldn't have killed her."

"Bull! Those winds would slice up anything."

"I'm not debating this with you."

While the two of them spoke, Akimoto regained consciousness and slowly sat up, still with a disturbed and guilty expression.

"Taiitsukun…did I…tell me that I didn't…was anybody else…?"

Catching on to what she was trying to ask, Taiitsukun reassured her, "Nobody was around. You killed neither demons nor humans."

With that, Akimoto let out a deep sigh of relief and then sat on the ground and thought in silence.

"Where's that confidence now, huh?" Inuyasha taunted. "Not so hot anymore, are ya—"

"I'll do it," Akimoto said in a low tone.

"Eh?" Inuyasha blinked at her in confusion. "You'll do what?"

Without turning to face him, Akimoto said, "I'll let you help me search for the jewel shards."

Offended, Inuyasha proceeded to go off on her. "What? Me help you? No! You're helping—"

"It's done," Taiitsukun announced, cutting him off.

"What's done?" He aggressively asked.

"You both are in agreement. You'll travel together and find the shards of the Shikon Jewel. Don't complicate it with semantics," she told them. "Akimoto, stand up."

Feeling dejected, Akimoto complied without a word and faced Taiitsukun.

"You now have the ability to detect jewel shards."

"What?!" Inuyasha and Akimoto asked at the same time.

"How?" Akimoto asked.

"When we were down there and you were accidentally summoning that tornado, I created a small portal and sent the jewel shards through it and into your wand, which was glowing at the time."

"You did what with my jewel shards?!" Inuyasha shouted accusingly.

"How…did I not notice that?"

"The portal was really small, and your eyes were closed for a good portion of that display. When you activate your powers, no doubt you've noticed that your wand glows along with those symbols on your body?"

"Uh…yeah…I noticed."

"Remember, that wand of yours is merely an extension of your power—it came from your body. So, when you use your powers, it converts back into the energy from whence it was manifested. When in that state, it loses a bit of its tangibility making it easier to fuse it with other energy-based objects, such as the jewel shards. Seeing as how the wand is connected with your body and the jewel shards are in the wand, you now have a connection with the jewel shards. Does that make sense?"

That was a lot of information to take in. Nevertheless, Akimoto replied, "I…guess?"

Taiitsukun continued. "When you get near a jewel shard while out on your adventures, your body, and even your wand, should have a physical reaction to it. When that happens, you and Inuyasha can decide how to proceed."

"How the heck do we get those shards out of that weird stick-think of hers when we find all of them?!" Inuyasha demanded.

"Don't worry about it," Taiitsukun told him.

"I'm not worried about it, because you're gonna tell me!"

Taiitsukun shot him an intimidating glare. "I said…don't worry about it."

Body freezing from fearful instinct, a chill ran down Inuyasha's spine. He quickly turned away from her and spoke towards nobody, trying to maintain his machismo. "Whatever. When the time comes, I'll figure it out."

Taiitsukun scowled at him before returning her attention back to Akimoto. "And now to address your current problem: All that brute strength and you can't even hold back a little. What you need is discipline—a lesson in constraint."

"What…kind of lesson?" Akimoto asked, warily.

"It is my goal to get you to be able to not only create a gentle breeze that merely sways the leaves of a tree, but also to be able to concentrate your blast into a skinny stream tiny enough to leave a clean hole through a single leaf."

"But…Every time I try, everything gets..." Akimoto looked over at the decimation she caused and grimaced.

Taiitsukun then held up her hand. Within a few seconds, a small glass-like sphere appeared in her palm. It was about the size of a marble. "Take this," she told Akimoto.

With slight hesitation, Akimoto reached for the marble. The moment she used her pincer grasp on it, it shattered. Her eyes widened in shame. "Wha…I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean—"

"Don't fret. Look."

The shattered remains of the marble converted into golden energy that reconstructed it back into the glass marble it once was.

"You won't be able to permanently break it. This is your homework: Until you can hold this marble for twenty seconds without it breaking, you won't be able to move on to the next phase of your training."

"What's holding it going to do?"

"This item will teach you how to be gentle and hold back your natural strength. Once you are in the right mindset to accomplish this task, then you'll understand what it takes to have some restraint with your magic. This small amount of my energy," the marble converted back into golden energy and began to revolve around Akimoto, "will turn into a marble whenever you hold up your hand and make this motion." Taiitsukun demonstrated by taking her index finger and thumb and pinching them towards each other. Without fail, the energy came to her and formed as a marble between her fingers. She then let go to allow the energy to orbit around Akimoto once more.

"Whenever you wish to practice, just make that gesture. I'll know when you've accomplished this task."

Akimoto looked around at the tiny trail of energy revolving around her body as if it were her moon. She made the pincer-grasp gesture. The energy instantly made its way to her hand and formed into the marble. Before even a second could go by, the marble shattered the moment she pressed down. With the immediate failure, Akimoto gasped and then frowned.

Inuyasha groaned. "All that power…completely wasted."

Snapping her head towards him, Taiitsukun warned, "Hush. And don't forget you are now her bodyguard. Keep her safe while she trains."

"Hey! Don't forget the only reason I'm coming along is for the jewel shards."

"Yes, I'm aware. As long as she's alive, she'll lead you to them."

Hearing their banter, Akimoto frowned. The only reason I have to rely on him is because I'm so incompetent with these abilities. I'm useful to no one right now. She watched the golden energy orbiting her. Sighing, she put her poker face back on as she looked over towards Inuyasha. So be it. I'll put up with him as long as it takes…and I won't let him stop me from completing my mission. I'm going to do this. I have to. I…need to.

"Alright then. Are we done here?" Akimoto asked.

"I was done a while ago," Inuyasha told her with an attitude. "You're the one who just had to stick around to prove something. Why don't you do the both of us a favor and not try doing that again?"

"…I won't do that again," she told him.

A bit shocked from her calm compliance, he was at a loss since he was expecting to snap back with a comeback. "Uh…yeah. Okay, then! Then…don't!"

Not giving eye contact, she said, "I'm sorry…"

"Huh? Why the heck're you apologizing? I don't want that from you."

Akimoto sighed. "You were right. I got too confident when…I really have no idea what I'm doing. Even if something like that doesn't get me killed, which it could, I might end up hurting others. And…I don't think…you deserve what I almost did to you…" She kept her face down to hide her small blush of humility. "So…I'm sorry."

Eyes wide from the unexpected apology, Inuyasha scoffed and looked away sheepishly. "Shut up. I don't care about any of that. But if it makes you feel better, then whatever." He spoke in a lower volume as if talking to himself. "Darn straight I'm right…maybe you'll start listen to me more often. Stupid girl…"

Inuyasha began to walk away. Akimoto, after giving Taiitsukun one last glance, followed suit, still limping.

As Akimoto walked, she had a difficult time getting the destructive scene of that valley out of her head. She then held up her wand and stared at it.

This is my power…I've got to control it. Please…don't let this end up like… Images of motionless children on the ground with a black smoke-like substance emanating from their bodies flashed in her mind momentarily. Closing her eyes tight, she shook her head to shoo away the disturbing memories.

Opening her eyes again, she looked on at the wand with a desperate expression.

Let this turn out differently…

…please…