Thank you for all the nice reviews.

To Saro: Thanks for the compliments! Don't worry; I'll get to the part in the summary… I hope.

To everybody else: Thanks for the good reviews! And thanks for telling me what Kirara was… I honestly thought she was a Fox.

Also, I'm sorry if Sango seems a bit out of character. I'm an "Adult swimmer," So I haven't seen many episodes with her in it. I'm going largely off of what I read of other fics, and what little I've seen of her on the show.

Anywho, on with the fic. I don't own InuYasha.

**

            InuYasha growled slightly, rubbing his bruised head. "I don't understand what the big deal is!" He complained to Miroku. "I just wanted to make sure she was okay!"

            Miroku closed his eyes and readjusted the prayer beads on his arm. "I imagine Sango realized Kagome was taking a bath." He said. "Should you wish to know if they're okay, then I could easily go check on them." With that, he rose and headed in the direction Sango had gone.

            InuYasha growled slightly, and threw a stick at him. The stick caught Miroku in the back of his head, knocking him onto the ground. "You'll stay right here, monk!" he snorted.

            Miroku stood up, then glared at InuYasha. "My, my, InuYasha." He accused slyly. "Is that a hint of possessiveness in you're voice?"

            InuYasha leapt to his feet angrily. "Shut up!" He yelled. "I don't care if you look at her or not!" He said defensively, trying not to make the lie to blatant., but failing miserably. "But if you peak, I get 'sat!'"

            "Hah!" rang a childlike voice from behind them. Shippo dashed up and jumped onto InuYasha's head, dancing a little jig. "Inu and Kagome, sittin' in a tree!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes Mating, then comes Inu with a…" The young kitsune suddenly found it very hard to sing, given that his mouth was largely obstructed by InuYasha's fist.

            Miroku struggled to keep his monk's vow of silence at the site of the childish pair. His thoughts, however, were soon distracted as Sango, full clad in her cat-suit, burst into the clearing.

            "InuYasha, Miroku!" She called, dashing over, and grabbing her boomerang. "Kagome senses a big Jewel shard heading this way!"

            InuYasha withdrew his fist from Shippo's face, and nodded, drawing Tutsusaigia.          Miroku picked up his monk's staff and loosed the prayer beads around his fist. Shippo readied his magic Bag O' Tricks (™) and summoned a ball of foxfire into his hand.

            The group formed a defensive circle around the firepit, and watched for the approaching Youkai.

            They all jumped easily a foot in the air as Kirara mewed joyfully from behind them all. The entire group turned around simultaneously, and looked towards the fire pit. Kirara was leaping up and down, attempting to bat at a little ball of string hanging from a thread. Their eyes traveled up the thread to the hand holding it.

            There, standing in midair as if it was solid ground was a girl… or maybe a woman. Either way she was looking decidedly blissful as she dangled the string in front of the little fox youkai's nose. Her face was what was best identified as "Cute," being slightly round, and having a sharp nose. Her eyes were closed into big upward arcs, and her mouth was caught up in a big grin, exposing her fangs. Her hair was crimson, long and full, cascading down her back in waves, tapering to a jet, lustrous black at the tips. Her ears were very long and elflike, and they twitched every once in a while when she giggled. Curving upward, slightly behind her ears, were two long curving horns of the purest ivory, as well as a small, upward curving one on her forehead just slightly above her eyes.

            She had a shapely body encased in a black leather tunic and leggings. Her hands were clawed like InuYasha's, and she wore a pair of black fingerless gloves. She wore no boots, but instead had black cloth wrapping around her feet, leaving her clawed toes and her heel visible.

            Curving gracefully from her back was a pair of large, black, draconic wings. The flapped every once in a while, lifting her slightly from her "Standing" position, and stirring the dust and ash from the firepit. From her tailbone grew a long, scaled dragon-like tail, which twitched in amusement.

            Hanging on a beaded necklace on the front of her bodice, in plain view, was more than half of the Shikon Jewel.

            All four fighters gaped slightly as the odd girl bobbed the cat toy up and down a few more times, then turned towards them, her eyes still closed. "She's a good kitty." She said. Her voice was rich and sonorous, with a slight sensual twinge.

            InuYasha gaped at her, confused. Finally, he shook himself out of it, and glared at the girl. "Listen, wench!" The hanyou demanded. "I don't know why you're here, but if you know what's good for you you'll leave the jewel shards here and run."

            The girl looked at him with a mock hurt expression, somehow managing to look teary eyed without opening her eyes. "Wench?" she asked, "What do you mean?" I'm a good girl…" the hurt expression turned into a grin. "Not like that monk over there." She said, pointing to Miroku.

            The indicated monk gave a look of shock, as well as Sango. "You know Miroku?" She asked, in astonishment. "How?"

            The girl 'walked' over to Sango. "It's a secret." She said in a hushed voice.

            InuYasha growled slightly, and opened his 'other' vision. He could see the winds swirling from the youkai. She might not have looked it, but she was powerful. He grinned slightly as the two breezes formed the windscar. "That's it, wench!" He said, flashing a trademark cocky grin, then barreled into her at top speed. As they flew through the air together, he planted his feet on her stomach, and pushed off. As he launched in the opposite direction, he slashed upward with the Tetsusaigia, slashing neatly across the windscar. The sword sent three bolts of energy ripping across the ground, racing toward the female youkai with deadly intent. The girl flipped over in midair, and flapped her great wings once to stop dead. She turned with an angry look on her face, but it was replaced by shock as the lethal blast slammed into her and drove her across the clearing.

InuYasha landed beside Sango and Miroku, and lofted Tutsusaigia across his

back, smiling smugly. "Well…" Miroku said, watching the dust clear. "That was easy."

            Sango nodded, then rose her head sharply, looking at the rising dust. "Or not." She said, shocked.

            The youkai stood in the middle of the dust cloud, coughing loudly. She gasped in a breath of air, then turned to InuYasha. "You bastard!" She shouted, then fell into another fit of coughing. She took another deep breath and continued, stalking forward while talking. "This is allergy season for me you ingrate!" She ranted, her eyebrows arching over her closed eyes. "Not only that, but if you're gonna try to kill someone, you should do it properly!"

InuYasha gave her an odd look of surprise. "Wha?" He stumbled over his own tongue.

"First of all," She commanded in a teacher-like tone, holding up her pointing finger. "You research you're subject first! How on earth do you know what my capabilities are before you attack me."

"Umm…" InuYasha said, confused.

"Second!" Her middle finger joined the first. "You do not use Tetsusaigia on me!" InuYasha's jaw dropped in amazement. The girl took no notice, but pressed on. "I learned how it worked a few days after it was made, so I can easily know how to counter it! You're lucky I didn't kill you! Look what happened to you're father!"

InuYasha's jaw hit the ground. "You killed my father!?" He demanded.

The odd girl laughed. "No, of coarse not!" She said. "Gave him a few broken ribs and one hell of a headache, though."

InuYasha shook his head. "Hold on, you knew my father?"

The girl laughed. "Of coarse InuYasha." She said, as if she was admonishing a child. "Every youkai knew you're father. I just knew him better than most."

InuYasha gaped in astonishment.

            The youkai shook her head. "Now, on with the lecture," She held up a third finger. "Never tackle a girl."

            InuYasha looked at her expectantly. "Because?" He prompted, now thoroughly confused.

            "It's impolite!" The girl said primly, dusting off the front of her tunic. "besides, I wanna wait till Kagome gets here to start the fight.

            InuYasha growled dangerously. "What do you want with Kagome?" He demanded.  

            The girl cocked her head at him. "Why should I tell you?"

            InuYasha shook his head. 'That's it, wench!" He yelled. "I'm tired of this crap! Who the hell are you?"

            The girl grinned a sly, almost malevolent grin. "Finally, we cut to the chase." She murmured. She stood up, straightened her back, and flared out her wings. "My name… is Atma."

            Both Miroku's and Sango's eyes widened in horror. Miroku gaped at the youkai in front of them, but Sango voiced what they were both thinking. "Oh shit." She whispered.

**

My, my, my! What has Sango and Miroku so spooked? Hehehe!

OH!  The character Atma is mine, but the name comes from Final Fantasy Six, so you can use the name, but please ask my permission before using the my character.