Ronin Shiori* By IBB

*Masterless Samurai Shiori

Me (yet again IBB): *is dragged in by animegirl101 and Inuyasha while clinging tightly to a somewhat singed Sesshoumaru* *animegirl101 and Inuyasha are also somewhat singed*

Inuyasha: *mutters something about "damn pyros"*

animegirl101: Yeah, as you can probably guess, Inuyasha and I had to go forcibly get IBB.

Inuyasha: You never said anything about her being able to conjure fire like that!

animegirl101: I didn't know she could do that! Give me a break, here! She never told me!

Me: *insane/happy* That's because you never asked!

*Inuyasha and animegirl101 plop me in front of the camera*

Me: ...Wait, am I supposed to start the fic now?

Inuyasha & animegirl101: *angrily* YES!

Me: *shrinks back, still clinging to Sesshoumaru* Okay, okay, don't need to be so mean about it... anyway, here's chapter three! *gestures and almost falls off of Sesshoumaru*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------

Chapter Three: The Woman Takes Her Revenge ~ Shiori's Disciple Okami ~

Sobakasu hid behind Komaru and peered cautiously at the young woman in front of them. Kya leaned over and looked at Sobakasu.

"Sobakasu, there's nothing to be afraid of. Sure, last night she managed to defeat ten men without drawing her weapon or totally killing them, but she's not going to hurt you!" Kya told her.

Sobakasu hid even more behind Komaru. Shiori gave Kya an uneasy look.

"I don't think that's helping, Kya-sama..." Shiori sighed. Kya turned and glared at Shiori.

"Well, why don't YOU try doing this yourself, then!" Kya got up and stormed off into the corner. Shiori gave her a nonplused look, then looked at Sobakasu. Sobakasu realized that Shiori was looking at her and pulled on Komaru's gi to hide her face. Komaru twitched his gi and uncovered the six- year-old's face again. Shiori sighed and crouched down. Sobakasu squealed and tried to hide again. Shiori gave her a gentle look.

"There's no need to be afraid little one," she said gently. Komaru arched an eyebrow. Considering the events from the other day, this was not something that he had been expecting. Shiori leaned forward a little bit. Sobakasu hid away further behind Komaru. Shiori gave Sobakasu a friendly smile. Sobakasu answered with a curious look. Shiori leaned forward a little bit more. Sobakasu shrunk back a little. Shiori leaned even farther forward, while Sobakasu hid further. It went on like this for a while, until Shiori suddenly lost her balance and landed awkwardly on her face with a squawk. Everyone else present in the room gave her a strange look. Sobakasu then warily came out of hiding.

"Are you okay, Shiori-san?" she asked, cautiously.

"I'm fine," came the muffled reply. "I meant to do this, that I did!"

Sobakasu wrinkled her nose and gave her a disbelieving look.

"Then why did you make such a funny surprised sound?" she pointed out. Shiori looked up at her and grinned sheepishly, sweatdropping.

"Whatever do you mean?" she asked. Komaru detected a small hint of sarcasm in her voice, but it wasn't until after he had thought about it for a moment.

In a small huff, Sobakasu stormed over and helped Shiori up, reprimanding her for not hearing herself. Kya gaped at the sight. She got up and came over to Shiori and Sobakasu, the latter of which had drifted away from reprimanding the former and was just idly talking. Shiori responded to the little girl's ranting as if she were used to hearing it. There was a faraway look in Shiori's eyes which only Komaru noticed. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

~Why does she suddenly look so distant?~ he wondered. ~Does Sobakasu remind her of a kid she lost or something?~

"Are you listening, Shiori-san?!" Sobakasu exclaimed, shaking both her and Komaru out of their thoughts. Shiori gave Sobakasu a friendly grin.

"Yes, of course I was!" she answered. Sobakasu puffed her cheeks out in annoyance.

"Then why did Shiori-san look like she was thinking of something else?" Komaru looked at Sobakasu in amazement. He was surprised that she had actually noticed. He looked at Shiori. He saw her smile slowly, as if trying to keep herself from making a different face.

"You're very perceptive for someone your age," she commented.

"Shiori-san shouldn't try to go around the question!" Sobakasu exclaimed. "Why did Shiori-san look like she was thinking of something else?!"

Shiori's smile faded, and she bowed her head slightly, letting her bangs hide her eyes. She hesitated for a moment before answering.

"...You just... reminded me of someone I used to know," she answered softly. "That's all..."

Kya and Komaru exchanged glances. They could easily see the awkwardness of the moment, and wanted to have the subject dropped.

Sobakasu, on the other hand, saw the awkwardness, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"What happened to her?" she asked. Kya and Komaru sweatdropped.

"Ah, Sobakasu-chan," Kya started.

"Are you sure that was such a good thing to ask?" Komaru finished.

Sobakasu looked at them.

"What? Did Shiori-san already tell you but left Sobakasu out?" she said, pouting.

"That's not what we meant!" Komaru and Kya said at the same time.

Shiori chuckled. Everyone looked at her. Shiori stood up and smiled at all of them.

"I don't truly know what happened to her," she said, "but if she is still around, she would probably be around So-" She stumbled. She then put a hand behind her head and continued. "I mean, she would probably be about Komaru's age, that she would."

Sobakasu grinned and turned to Komaru.

"Did Komaru hear that?" Sobakasu squeaked. "If we could find her, Komaru would have someone his own age to play with!"

"Whoa, now wait a minute!" Komaru exclaimed, turning pink. The three kids got into a big discussion on this topic, while Shiori watched.

~Maybe I shouldn't have said that, that I shouldn't,~ she thought. She looked down. ~But if I had said what I had originally intended to say- that she would be around Sobakasu's age- it would not have made sense, that it wouldn't.~ She looked back up at the... uh... vividly discussing children. A sad look came to her face. ~But would it have not made sense to them... or to my story?~

She watched the children's discussion for a little longer before sighing softly and turning away.

~It's been a while since I've been among children,~ she thought. ~I guess I'm going to have to get used to it again.~

She quietly walked outside and went around to the back.

"Hey, where did Shiori go?" Komaru exclaimed. The girls stopped and looked around.

"Yeah, where DID she go?" Kya wondered. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Shiori-san! Shiori-san!"

Sobakasu mimicked Kya.

"Shiori-san! Shiori-san! Doko desu ka?" (("Where are you?")) she called.

The calls fell on deaf ears, despite the fact that the ears in question were able to hear them...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------

Shiori wandered around in the backyard, keeping her thoughts to herself. She suddenly stopped and took a half-step back just as a throwing dagger embedded itself at her feet. She narrowed her eyes and looked around, her left hand reaching for the sword at her left. She suddenly jumped up as another throwing dagger flew through the air and embedded itself in the ground where she had been.

She landed behind the dagger and looked around apprehensively, her other hand reaching for the same sword.

"Who's there?" she asked. She crouched a little bit. She turned and jumped again just as another dagger flew through the air where her stomach had been, this time from a different direction. She landed easily and bared her teeth in the general direction that the dagger had come from. "Show yourself!" she barked.

"If you wish!" called a voice behind her. She turned in time to see a blur heading straight towards her. She ducked and it flew right over her. It rolled to a gentle stop and turned to face her.

It was a boy who looked to be about the same age as Komaru. He had long, shaggy black hair with grey flecks tied up in a ponytail. Wolf ears poked out of the wild mess, which also covered the area where his ears should have been. He wore a white chest plate, which was somewhat tinged with red in some spots, secured by straps around his waist and his shoulders. He had simple wooden shoulder plates on the straps. He had brown pants, but the right leg had been torn off at around mid-thigh. He wore a simple brown belt, and a shaggy wolf-like tail the same color as his hair wagged lazily behind him. But what was most interesting about him was the pair of knee and shin plates he wore: they were each decorated with the same gold dragon as the one on the back of Shiori's kimono, and even had a similar color sceme- the part containing the dragon design was black.

The two of them smirked at each other, before getting into battle stances.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------

"It's coming from back here!" Kya shouted, pointing towards the back of the dojo.

"What if Shiori-san's in trouble? What if she's hurt?!" Sobakasu worried.

"Ah, don't worry, Sobakasu-chan," Komaru assured her. "Shiori-san can take care of herself."

They all rounded the corner to find...

Shiori fighting a boy who looked like a cross between a wolf and a human. The boy seemed to be relying on a mixture of claws, teeth, and throwing daggers. Shiori on the other hand was using a mix of speed and other tactics to slowly wear down her opponent. Shiori only looked vaguely tired, whereas her opponent looked like if he took a few more hits he'd be down for the count.

They stood staring each other down, each looking ready to attack.

For a moment, nothing seemed to move.

Suddenly, the strange boy gave a shout and leaped toward Shiori, exposing the throwing daggers he had between each of his fingers. For a moment, she didn't react. Then, suddenly, she sprang up and in a blur of movement slapped all of the throwing daggers out of his hands before going behind him and grabbing his arms. She pulled his arms behind him and then knocked him forward. The end product was that she was now sitting on top of the poor boy and pinning his arms behind his back with only one hand. The boy had a dazed look on his face. Shiori beamed at him.

The boy growled and glared at her.

"Okay, okay, it's good to see you too," he growled. "Now, would you mind getting OFF of me, Shiori-sama?!"

Before anyone could ask, "You know him?" Shiori got off of the strange boy, still beaming.

"Hopefully you've learned something from this, Okami," she chirped. The boy, Okami, sat up and glared at her again.

"Yeah, I've learned that it's not a good idea to try and fight you, even though it's been a while," Okami grumbled, rubbing his back where Shiori had sat on him. Shiori sweatdropped.

"That's not what I meant, Okami, that it isn't," she said. Okami gave her a quizzical look. Then he suddenly grinned and burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you still talk that way!" he laughed. He shook his head. "Even after all this time, some things never change."

"Okay, hold on a sec!" Komaru exclaimed. Shiori and Okami looked over to them with different expressions on their faces. Shiori's was one of surprise, whereas Okami's was a look of cold indifference.

"What?" Okami asked harshly.

"Would one of you two mind explaining to us just HOW you two know each other?!" Komaru demanded.

Shiori tensed up at this. Okami opened his mouth to speak. Shiori noticed this and, too fast for anyone else to track, zipped over and clamped a hand over his mouth. She gave them a big, embarrassed grin.

"Okami was once my disciple, that he was!" she said.

"Really?" Komaru asked, surprised. Okami rolled his eyes and removed her hand.

"You'd better believe it, pal," Okami answered. "She was once a really really good swordsman- er..." Shiori bopped him lightly on the head. He looked at her and sweatdropped. "Ehehehe... I meant samurai..."

"If that's what you meant, then why didn't you say it?" Shiori answered, her tone somewhat cold. He gave her an embarrassed grin. "Anyway, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you for quite a while, that I haven't."

"A woman with a pretty strange outfit and violet eyes sent me to go after ya," he said, "but she never actually told me to kill you." He grinned at her. "Never thought that she had meant YOU when she said 'Shiori.'"

Shiori chuckled at this. She offered a hand to help him up. He took it and she pulled him into a standing position.

Komaru, meanwhile, had a contemplating look on his face.

"Hey, Okami was it?" he said. Okami gave him a cold look.

"Yeah?" he answered gruffly.

"Did you happen to catch the name of the woman who sent you after Shiori?" Komaru asked.

Okami grinned.

"Yeah. She claimed to be the great Shinimegami Kyosawa, but I know better." Okami tapped the side of his nose. "I can recognize her sent a mile away, and let me tell you, that woman was definitely not her."

Komaru scowled at this.

"Not HER again!" he muttered. "When will she learn?"

Okami gave Komaru a quizzical look, then looked to Shiori.

"Y'know, sensei," he said, putting sarcastic emphasis on the word "sensei," "I think we've got quite a bit to catch up on."

Shiori, who either didn't pick up on the sarcasm or was used to it, answered, "Yes, that we do!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------

IBB: *is still clinging to Sesshoumaru and, for some strange reason, purring like a cat*

animegirl101, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru: O.o;;;;

IBB: What?!

animegirl101: Uh... just go review please....

IBB: *getting angry* What are you all staring at?!