Here is the other chapter I promised.

Bouken

"Where am I?"

Sango shivered not for being cold but for being in the place where she was. Her eyes were useless, since she was surrounded by darkness. The frustration that came for not being able to examine the landscape made her breathing quickened, all she saw were shadows, she had not a clue of where she was, or how it was this location. The only thing she knew was that she was all alone.

She stretched her arms in front of her in an attempt to know where she was going. Her steps were small, each time she laid a foot on the ground she did it carefully as expecting to fall in any minute, her hearing sense didn't help at all, there was no sound to be used as a guide. Her nose couldn't perceive any perfume.

There was nothing, and that scared her to an extreme she didn't believe it was possible.

"Am I dead?"

She dare to say it aloud, expecting for an answer that never came. To not see, smell, or hear anything, left her defenseless and she had never liked to be vulnerable.

"This is not the way I have decided to die, I need to finish Naraku… I can't be dead….I haven't achieved my goals…. Don't you hear me?….. Anyone….I can't be dead…."

"The only reason to be alive is to destroy a monster….If that's the case you don't deserve living"

Sango turned to all directions trying to spot the source of the mysterious voice. It wasn't the voice of the woman in the forest or any voice she had heard before.

"Who are you? Where are you?"

"It doesn't matter where I am. What matters is where you are and why you are there."

"What do you mean with that? Get out from wherever you are!"

"The shadows can be deceived, they don't let you see what you need"

"Stop talking in riddles!"

The exterminator was getting tired of this little annoying voice whose owner didn't have the courage to show itself. She tried to locate the source of the sound, but it was impossible, it was as if the voice came from every place.

Sango (Great! I'm losing my mind)

"Answer me, am I dead? Am I in the other world?"

"There are more than one way to be dead"

"I don't get you"

"Is it your body the one who's dead or is it your soul? If it's only one of them, are you really dead? And how long have you been dead?"

"Why can't you speak as a normal person would do? Explain where I am and who you are!"

She hoped the voice would answer her questions or at least keep her in company, no sure why she would have appreciated that.

"I had never had problems dealing with solitude, Why is it so heavy now? I mean I didn't think it was a problem. When I was alone I could think of my family. I also thought about my brother.

"About retrieving him? If you dare to lie, I'll leave you alone again"

"Of course I thought of recovering him"

"I assume you'd like to be alone in here"

"What is that supposed to mean?  Of course I thought of recovering him! I wanted him to be safe!

"I never doubted you cared about his well-being. I know how much you love him but I didn't ask you that, what I inquired was if you really believed you could retrieve your brother. I'm wondering if you really thought that Kohaku would be back to his normal self after all what happened, after all the pain Naraku caused him. Besides he had already lost his life, wasn't that struggling with an unavoidable faith? His path through this world was over as unjust as you may see it. He'd be in peace if Naraku hadn't disturbed the process. And you knew it Sango, all this time you had known that Kohaku does no longer belongs to the world of the living"

"I….I …Why are you doing this to me? Am I part of your little sick joke? Well, I'm tired of playing it. Go, look for another one to torture!"

And with that she started running not caring to where she was doing it. All she needed to do was to get away from that voice.

She ran through the darkness, it was as if the place didn't have limits, as it would go on and on until the end of times. Soon her legs gave up and she fell to the floor. How had her life turned so horrible in just a year? She yearned for her former life where she had Kohaku and her family. Life was less hectic. All her pain was Naraku's fault. He took her happiness and that's why she wanted him dead by her own hands.

Suddenly a light passed by so quickly that Sango didn't notice it. Then another and another light until a group of them where already lightening the girl. By this moment she turned to see them, for one minute she thought the were fireflies but how could these insects being in here? Even with the light they offered, darkness still dominated the place but the exterminator couldn't help but to be a little bit relieved.

Soon she'd regret to leave her defense down for being marveled by the insects' light.

The exterminator didn't feel the hit until she was already laying in the ground. She turned to see who had hit her but saw nothing. Almost immediately she felt how someone kicked her in the back.

She drew her katana ready to slice her enemy, now this would be a real test since she didn't know what she was fighting. She attempted to take her Hiraikotsu but remembered that the woman in the forest had had the gesture of  sending her here without it. The best would be to keep the katana in front of her, so if her enemy attacked, he'd cut himself and that would indicate her where her attacker was. The other option was to focus and try to catch him by the sound of his steps.

In any case Sango prayed that neither could he see.

Her breath stopped as soon as she felt the skin of her right leg being scratched by what it felt as 4 knives. That would mean that her enemy had some kind of claws.

Well, at least that little information would be useful, she had to opt for plan B.

The exterminator tried to focus all of her attention, but the sound of metal against metal distracted her, her opponent had tried a front attack and found her katana waiting form him.

Without moving she quickly readied her sword to attack her rival as soon as he tried to attack her for the back. If she was right, the aggressor wasn't smart at all, until now he had tried very predictable strikes that is she could see, she'd have avoided them without a great deal of effort. So, if he found resistance in the front and no confrontation in the back, he'd try to get to her in that way.  Secondly, he couldn't see any better than her, because he wouldn't have tried a front attack since she was expecting him with her katana.

When she heard a growl, she used all of her strength to push her katana through her enemy. This was her chance, she'd not die not until her revenge was accomplished. She had chosen to fight and more importantly to win.

She turned to see how the fireflies now illuminated the corpse of what would have been a demon. He was deformed as she had never seen, its three eyes were at different levels. What should have been his nose was only a piece of skin hanging in his face, as if someone had bitten it. His mouth was more raised in the right than in the left, and his green long tongue stuck out while saliva and strange violet liquid fell from his mouth. His naked body resembled that of a skeleton. He stretched his left arm to her as if trying to take her with him.

Fortunately for the exterminator, her katana had hit him right in the middle of the chest. He went down while looking at her. Sango sighed and turned her face until something called her attention.

The little fireflies surrounded the corpse and starting eating it. After their banquet they flew around Sango, who watched the insects. The only source of light, a potential killer. She'd have to be more than careful.

"Sango?"

Her heart almost stopped, her breath quickened as never, her mouth and eyes opened as wide as they could, her mind stopped thinking, and her chest felt as it were about to explode, in addition to the fact that all of her body seemed to lack of strength in this right moment.

She turned and whispered,

"Houshi-sama?"      

Wow! I'm sure you didn't see that coming. So many questions, Who's the woman of the forest? Whose voice is the one from the beginning? Where is Sango? And What is Miroku doing there? 

As you can see I'm a dangerous writer who likes the plot twists. So keep on reading to find out what I have in store for our favorite exterminator and our beloved monk.

Thanks for reading so far! I want to thank all who had read and reviewed. I appreciate your kind words and your suggestions.

I'm very interested in hearing from you!