The air is filled with the nasty mix of ink, and decay; aromas that clash with the beautiful blue sky but is the result of a battlefield that lays before us. Stepping to the border of the battlefield is painful for my senses; my nose burns, my eyes sting, and I can practically taste the inky scent in the air, making me almost gag. Crows scatter up into the sky, cawing at our approach now that we've interrupted their feastings on the newly killed corpses. Keeping behind Inuyasha with Shippo close to my right, I hope that his body mass will prevent some of the stench from hitting me when a breeze starts up, but it doesn't. Immediately, a headache starts to throb from the smell. The monk, Miroku, is still with us, having traveled along the roads by our side for a bit now, but for no apparent reason. Inuyasha and him, having been doing nothing but murmuring insults at one another all day, leaving me wondering why he decided to go in the same direction as us.

"This was no battle. Something's not right. No blood, I can't pick up the scent of it," says Inuyasha, he tilts his head towards the sky and sniffs the air, only a displeased and confused expression is left.

"It must be the work of some demon. And a very strong one, to have wrought this destruction. Which means, it could possess a shard of the shikon jewel," a sly smile crosses Miroku's face.

"We're not teaming up with you, or sharing any jewel shards!" Inuyasha growls at the grinning monk.

"So, each man for himself?"

"Yes, exactly!" Inuyasha scowls.

"Then I shall take my leave of you now, better for us to compete from afar," the monk turns on his sandals and heads down the hilly field to our right, which is still the general direction we are heading in. We're going to run into him again, I can tell.

"Should we just be letting him leave?" Shippo asks.

Inuyasha has the right to be pushing Miroku away; this time period is surrounded in battle, war, conflict and betrayals, and to just entrust someone who just stole from us, to travel with us, may be a little dangerous. But then again, to let a human just walk off in search of a powerful demon has me worrying a little bit. Sure, he has that unusual wind tunnel thing in his hand, but who knows how powerful this demon is and whether or not it'd get affected by his ability.

"Help! Demon!" Screams someone from the other side of a short cliff. When we look back, Inuyasha is nowhere in sight, leaving us to turn in the direction of the still screaming man. We reach the cliff in seconds, peering down to spot Inuyasha with a man gripped in one hand and a scroll in the other.

"Inuyasha!" I yell, placing both hands on my hips as I glare down at the pesky demon.

He releases the man, letting him go tumbling to the ground and throws the scroll at him. "The ink smells familiar. The same smell of ink as the battlefield. I can track the source and it'll lead us to the demon."

Ink. It is unusual that the smell of ink is mixed in with the smells of battle, and there were great amounts of stains that wasn't blood, all over the ground. Could those have been ink? Inuyasha climbs up the cliff to us.

"Okay, let's get going then." I reply.

We walk up a slope that the road leads us over with a river to our left and a cliff side to our right. Above us, the sunsets in the horizon, casting oranges, yellows, pinks and purples, giving way to a beautiful sight. Suddenly, Inuyasha sniffs the air and rushes ahead of us, leaving Shippo and I behind as we make our way to the top of the hill. He disappears over it, and once he does, we hear another scream coming from the other side, that is also a male. Shippo and I look at one another and roll our eyes; we've been at this all day. Reaching the top of the hill, in no hurry since we've lost the care to help those he's been bullying. We spot him, yet with another man, in his grip. The guy is little, scrawny and wearing a blue long sleeved shirt, with blue baggy pants with a scroll in his hand. He squirms pathetically in Inuyasha's grip, and when he does, my eyes follow the scroll.

I don't have a good feeling about this. Something about this particular scroll sends chills down my spine.

"Excuse me, mind answering a few questions?" Regardless of the torture Inuyasha is putting this man through, he asks this with surprising politeness.

"I warn you, I'm powerful!" The little man spits out but then fidgets in Inuyasha's grip yet again, "I mean! I am merely a second rate artist!" He changes course with his words, but not quick enough to not have me raising a brow in curiosity.

Crossing my arms, I approach the two with suspicion setting in. The closer I get to the man the stronger the feeling of something wrong gets, "something's not right, Inuyasha."

He glances at me and nods, glaring back down at the man in his grip. He pulls him up closer to his face, "answer me, why is it you reek of ink and fresh human blood?!"

My eyes narrow when Inuyasha says this. I can vaguely pick up the smell of blood and ink, but I didn't notice it right away until Inuyasha brought it up.

"Release me!" The man snaps, finally, he rips out of Inuyasha's strong hold and runs ahead a few feet before turning back towards us. Taking one end of his scroll he throws it out fully exposing a black and white picture of a fat horned demon with a crescent moon staff, surrounded by flames. Exposed to the sun, the picture changes colors and fills out completely, tearing from the scroll and becoming a beast of reality as he staggers out of the picture and in front of us. As this occurs, up above us gnarly black clouds start to consume the sky, looking like something out of a painting themselves.

The little man throws the scroll to the side and bursts off down the hill to our left where the river is, tumbling onto his butt as he slips down to the riverside and into a somehow well prepared boat. The demon roars at us, lifting up his crescent moon staff and thrusting it downwards to us. Inuyasha wraps his arm around my waist and leaps us out of the way so quickly that I am hazy when we land. My legs struggle to catch themselves before ultimately stiffening up.

Inuyasha unsheathes Tetsaiga and rushes forward, thrusting up his blade, and cutting right through the demon like butter. The demon roars again as the cut glows red. He explodes into a thick black liquid that fills the air with a heavy scent of ink. The explosion catches Inuyasha, covering him in what looks like black painters' ink and blood mixed together.

Inuyasha groans, his body shifting back and forth, and suddenly falls back into the ink.

"Inuyasha?" Shippo and I say in unison, as we run up to the pile of blood and ink goop. Shippo halts before the ink, squeezing his nose with his hand and shifting back and forth just as Inuyasha had. The smell must be too much for their highly sensitive noses. Slowly, I step into the goop, grumbling to myself as the nasty waste squishes through my toes. Digging underneath Inuyasha arms, I pull him up and out of the mass of ink and blood and onto the dirt pathway.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" I grumble out as I almost fall backwards from pulling his weight.

He makes some kind of noise that I can't distinguish. Dropping him onto the ground, I look over to the watery bank where I can barely see the little man out on the other side and decide; it's time to wash the dog.

It's well passed nightfall when we approach a small city with a generous size palace at the end. We've been following the scent of ink and blood ever since the river, but that little man was fast on his feet. As we approach, up above the palace, the same black painted clouds start to roll up, sending painted lightning down here and there as rumbling can be heard.

"Look, there!" Inuyasha points to the clouds, "We've caught up! Get on my back!"

Without another word, Shippo and I climb onto Inuyasha's back as he springs up towards the city and palace, but by the time we reach the exquisite palace, the clouds slowly disperse. We come to land next to the right porch by a sliding door that is open with light illuminating from it. Inside is Miroku, surrounded by food, a royally dressed princess and a regal man.

"You need not thank me, and I bear no grudge toward your men. But I fear the danger has yet to pass. Indeed, the princess would undoubtedly be safer if she were to stay here with me. Here in the same room. Sharing the same bed." Miroku smiles while eyeing up the princess to his left. She giggles into her sleeve shyly.

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouts, letting me down from his back so I may stand next to him, "He's at it again! And I suppose you'll need to search her robes while you're at it too, you pervert!"

Miroku looks over to us nonchalantly, as if having expected us this entire time. "If it isn't my dear friends, Keara and Inuyasha."

Miroku and I, sit in a dimly lit room surrounded by thin screen walls, while Inuyasha and Shippo sit out on the porch where a screen door has been slid open. The princess and her comrades gave us some privacy so we may discuss the matter at hands and hopefully rid them of this problem as well. While we sit, discussing the human Inuyasha and I saw on the road, I've noticed the three little shards Miroku holds under his shirt, against his chest. They are pure and bright, but they aren't screaming for help – so for right now – I will let him hold them while we're close by.

"I didn't realize they were made of ink…. But he can manipulate the demons?" asks Miroku.

"Yes. He's no demon himself though, but a human." I reply.

"Very troubling. A human with such strength must be drawing from the power of the jewel shard."

"It'd make sense," though I didn't sense the jewel on him at the time of his attack on us. This has me frustrated, because I am useless on our search for him unless the shard starts speaking or showing itself to me. I hate being useless.

"How do we stop an artist who has the power to bring his demons to life." Miroku fingers his chin as he thinks out loud but I already know the answer.

"We find the source of the power and destroy it. Just like the hair demon Inuyasha and I fought back when we first met. It had a source, we found it, and we destroyed it."

"This is true." The monk smiles.

Rolling my head to the side where Inuyasha slumps forward, and grumbling something incoherent to me, to Shippo. "Come join us, Inuyasha."

"No!"

"Is something the matter?" Miroku asks, crossing his arms together within his long sleeves.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha growls out, clearly getting irritated for some reason.

"You need to get over it and work with Miroku. It'd only be this once, plus we need the shards that he has."

"You can see the shards?" Miroku asks in surprise, patting the spot where they sit against his chest.

Inuyasha rises up so quickly, he's a blur of red, he then rushes towards us at full walking speed. An angry scowl penetrates his face and his eyes narrow aggressively. He's coming to take Miroku's shards away, I can tell just by the way he's walking with his fists at his sides clenched tight.

"No." I command.

The half demon pauses, glaring down at me briefly before returning his gaze back at the monk.

"I collected these shards on my own. Taking them would make you a thief." Miroku pats his chest where the shards are and looks sadly up at Inuyasha.

"You stole the shards from Keara!" Inuyasha yells, his knuckles going white.

"Your powers of recall are greater than I would have imagined."

Here we go again….

I lie staring at the wooden ceiling restless in the dark. Shippo sleeps soundlessly beside me, covered up in the thin blankets we were given; and Inuyasha, is at the end of the thin mattress we are using for a bed. His head is perked up in a constant 'look out' manner, with his ears twitching occasionally. Finally having enough, I sit up frowning, earning a curious gaze from him.

"Can't sleep," I mumble.

"Neither can I."

Bringing my legs to my chest and hugging them tight, I rummage through my mind trying to find any clues as to where this shard could be – where the hell is this damn artist – what and how is he doing it? If the ink was what came to life, and he didn't have the shard on him – could it be the ink that he has with him that he is using to create this work, be the cause of all this mess?

"Maybe the ink was enchanted," I think out loud.

"You think so?" he asks.

Looking back up at him, I nod slowly. "It is the only thing that I can come up with."

"Better than nothing."

*Bang**Crash*

Loud banging can be heard next door to us, where Miroku is sleeping, and then following after is the sound of yelling that prompts Inuyasha to stand up, and wake the sleeping fox demon.

"Did you hear that?!" Inuyasha yells, but before I can even answer, he is out the sliding door and running down the porch. Spitting out a curse, I pick up Shippo just to be sure we are not going to be attacked next, and rush after him.

When we arrive, Miroku has two guards' men caught by their necks by his staff. "Now, what were you saying about a jewel fragment?" Miroku demands.

"Our Lord demanded that we seize your jewel shard! He himself went to take the shard from the artist!" One of the two men spits out, struggling to get free.

So, they do know where the artist is.

"Tell us, now!" Miroku commands.

After they squirm to get air, they finally tell us that the artist lives just outside of town in a small shack of home. Hearing this, Miroku pushes them out from his grip and across the room. He swiftly leaves the palace without another word. Climbing onto Inuyasha's back, we follow him.

Once out of the town, we can see a painted cloud up above a hill with a single shack and tree upon it. Amongst the hill are dozens of armed men being attacked by various amount of colorful demons spewing out from the inky clouds.

"Don't attack the demons, otherwise the ink will get to you again," I state the obvious.

Inuyasha grumbles and leaps one last time to the bottom of the hill, allowing Shippo and I to climb off. He unsheathes Tetsaiga and aims the point of the blade to the sky full of demons. "I know, I know, I got this." He hurries forward on foot at first, and about half way up the hill he leaps up into the air, bypassing the armed men and slices at a good chunk of the demons. But the moment his sword makes contact, the demons explode into an inky mess, sending him flying back down towards us. We jump out of the way just in time for Inuyasha to land on his back with ink covering his entire body.

"Well, that was dumb," I mumble.

We don't have time to respond to the actions surrounding us because the demons turn their direction for us. Miroku steps between the demons and Shippo and I, raising his stuff just in time to hit the closest demon on the forehead sending a beaming golden light into him before he explodes as well. Behind me, Inuyasha struggles to get up, I step to him to help but he's up and shaking himself violently before I can offer up a hand. Majority of the ink comes off his form, surprisingly not staining his clothes, hair or skin.

"Stay behind me! This will be dangerous. I'll unleash the wind tunnel!" As Miroku says this, he unwraps the sacred prayer beads from his right hand and unleashes the wind tunnel that almost killed me the just a day ago. This time, the tunnel faces the demons, and sucks them in with a swirling burst of wind power. The last demon is sucked in within seconds, leaving Miroku to fall to one knee, weak and sluggish, as he wraps back up his hand. He pants, trying to catch his breath, "I have never…. Drawn in so many beasts in one attempt. If I might just rest a bit."

There isn't time to rest; not a moment too soon does the ground shake and quiver all around us. Blasting from the roof of the shake grows a massive three headed snake that could compete with the size of lady centipede. On the middle head sits the little man from before, on his back he carries a basket and just below that dangles a wooden ink pot that glows a brilliant dark purple. Inside is a jewel of the shard – but it's not like the other – it has been tainted.

"There!" I shout, pointing up at the man, "He has the jewel! It's in his ink pot!"

"Good job, Keara, leave the rest to me!" Inuyasha grins widely. He springs into action immediately, racing to catch up to the slithering demon that starts to encircle us, readying to attack us at any moment. Inuyasha doesn't give it a chance to, he bonds onto its slick red back and climbs his way up the long body. "Hey Miroku, you'll never impress anyone with those flashy antics!" He boasts.

Really, right now? Do we really get time for this Inuyasha? Grumbling to myself, I cross my arms against my chest and scowl up at Inuyasha. He doesn't see it though, regardless of his insults, he solely focused on the enemy ahead of him.

The little man shouts down at Inuyasha, flailing a long scroll at him as more demons spill out of the paper. "Miserable wretch, behold!" The demons roll down to Inuyasha without much aim from the movement of the serpent below them. Clenching his claws at his sides, Inuyasha swings at each and every one of them, tearing them to pieces as they come at him, spilling their inky juices down the slick red back of the serpent. Leaving no time to rest, he dashes up towards the little man.

"Isn't that trick getting old?!" Inuyasha bellows, punching one last demon that lingers.

Miroku stands up beside me, finally able to keep on two feet again. "My! What do you call the technique he's using?"

"Beating the shit out of them," I reply.

"Hand over the jewel!" shouts Inuyasha.

On que to his command, the snake head on the left turns his way, opening its mouth to reveal a ball of fire swirling inside. It spits the fire down at him, engulfing him completely in the fiery hell.

"You underestimate me! The flames of my hellfire shall burn you to the bone!" The little man laughs hysterically.

But it doesn't. Instead, the flames follow Inuyasha as he slowly makes his approach. "Take your damn last chance to surrender." The little man's eyes widen in shock, and they further grow when Inuyasha slices through the flame using his Tetsaiga, completely extinguishing the hellfire. He jumps up and at the man, his sword at his side and ready to swing.

"Stay back! You cannot have the jewel! It is my last chance at happiness!" The little man yells. He takes his chance and leaps off the serpent just in time for Inuyasha to swing; catching the ink pot on the man's waist. It explodes, releasing the inky substance into the air and the jewel that follows.

The little man lands on his butt a quarter down the hill, and keeps on rolling until he is stopped by a tree. His back hits it hard, taking out most of his air but it doesn't stop him from gaping at the destruction of his ink pot. He gets to his feet swiftly, eyes still wide and beady, "My ink! My ink has been spilled!" Growling loudly, he unsheathes a small sword from his waist band and cuts into his left forearm. Dropping the blade, he lifts up his arm sacrificially, "hear me, ink! I give you my blood. Feast on my lifeblood!"

As if alive, the parasitic ink rushes from the sky before it can even land and surrounds the little man as he laughs at the sight. "All mine! I shall never let anyone take you!" But as he says this, his skin wrinkles and shrinks, making him appear older and drained of blood. "No, no! The ink did not fuse with my blood, it devoured it! Help me!"

But we don't move. None of us do. Inuyasha lands feet ahead of us and feet away from him, but stands there as the man is devoured completely until there is nothing left but a pile of black and bloody ink on the ground. Amongst the ink, bubbles start to burst in the center soon revealing a single tiny shard of the jewel. Its brilliant dark purple light glows, but does not call for my help. It was never threatened – it took what it wanted from the human instead.

"The jewel consumed him," I say. Hesitantly, I step barefooted into the ink; the mushy texture sinks between my toes but doesn't attempt to suck the life out of me as it had with him. Feeling that I am safe to continue, I step gradually to the jewel. Like I expected, the shard isn't glowing its normal shade, and the jewel itself is a near black color. "The shard is tainted." Sighing, I pick up the jewel. Once in my hand, the black shard glows brilliantly light purple once again, changing its color back to normal.

By morning, we are walking along another trail together, Miroku to my left and Inuyasha on my right as Shippo sits comfortably on my right shoulder. We did well together – fighting alongside one another instead at each other.

"So, do you want to join us?" I ask, curious as to why he is even following us on this road to begin with. We could have separated but instead we all headed in the same direction, together, as a group.

"Gladly. Journeying in the company of a pretty woman is much more enjoyable!" Miroku smiles warmly.

My heart flutters at the compliment, not used to such kind words. Up ahead, I can hear Inuyasha grumbling to himself once again, crossing his arms and slumping forward. Ignoring his negativity, I smile back at Miroku. "Alright, but don't go trying to steal our shards again, otherwise you won't have Inuyasha to worry about, but me instead."

"Oh, my." The monk chuckles.

And just like that, our group grew yet again. And our journey for the shards continues.