Hunter's Heart (Chapter 1: Who?)
by IronRaven

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and company aren't mine. They are the property of Rumiko Takahashi-sama.

We know that Sango just killed the man she had once loved, and that shards had been stolen by his companion tanuki. Would you like to find out more? :)

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"So, bozou, what did you do this time? She didn't even slap you."

"I did nothing."

"Sure, Miroku. Just like every other time you did nothing."

Ignoring the agreeing males, Kagome brushed the dust from her hair. Kirara's abrupt take off had sprayed the others with dirt and gravel. Her thoughts switched to her friend, wondering why she had taken off like that, and to Shippou, who had wandered ahead of the others, examining the many signs of spring. Past the boy, lay the village that Sango had mysteriously left to check out from above.

Even if the leaves aren't all out yet, at least it is pretty.

"Inuyasha, you know I said nothing, and did nothing, you were between us the entire time."

"Feh! You were thinking something though."

Shippou paused before a cluster of shrubs. Something smelt good. Very good. Smoke, sure, a ways off, but this was sweet, and close. Dropping to his hands and knees, the boy looked under the plants, spotting the source of the delicious scent. "Hey, guys, anyone want some honey? There is a bee hive here, and somehow it made it through the winter!"

Sniffing the air, Inuyasha looked around. Honey? It's too early for the bees to have any, and anything left over winter would have been... Old smoke... "Shippou, don't touch it! It's a trap!" Tessaiga sprang from its scabbard to punctuate his words, flowing into it's true form, but the warning was too late.

The snare closed around the kit's wrist when he tugged at the promised sweetness, lifting him from his feet with a shriek of surprise. Nearly as one, Kagome and Miroku shouted the boy's name, running towards him. Inuyasha covered the same ground with a leap, but he went into the trees at the roadside, seeking the scent of their ambusher. That's pine smoke, but there are no pines here.

Diving into the nearest thicket of ash and cherry, Inuyasha chased the source of the scent. Behind him, Shippou had just used a splash of fox fire to burn through the rope holding him from the ground, and he clung to Kagome. Several meters away, Miroku scanned the bushes, ready to slash with the head of his shajuko, or to rip away the covers around the kazaana. He took one step towards the break that the hanyou had formed, when the stand of saplings exploded into a flying mass of splinters, shorn branches and a hanyou, forcing the three on the road to duck.

Inuyasha slid to a stop on his feet, snarling at the pain of having been the missile that had blown through the trees. "If that's how you want to play it, then...."

"Yes, thief, it is. I am being paid to bring you to the people you stole from." The speaker was a wraith, a shadow, moving with almost unnatural speed. Shippou blinked as he tried to identify the foe. Whatever it was, it was all black, and it smelled human. The only humans who were that fast were miko and houshi. And Sango.

"Hey, Miroku, I think the man wants to talk to you. You're the only thief we've got." With that single jibe at his friend, and a lop sided grin, the dog demon jumped back towards his foe, the great sword beginning a mighty blow at the shadow. The black form blocked the strike with it's own sword, as long as Tessaiga, but not as thick. The two fighters leaned into their blades, trying to force the other off balance.

"No, halfbreed, I come for you and all your party. Where is the other one, the ronin?" leaping back to escape Inuyasha's kick at his feet, the shadowy voice entered the sunlit road between Kagome and Miroku. He was dressed in the battlesuit of a taijya, his armour purest black where Sango's was coral. He wore the scabbard of a no-dachi across his back, the weapon in his hand, with a wakazashi at his waist, along with a few small pouches. His hair was a long braid of raven, and he possessed a lean runner's body. Above the mask were strong, calm eyes the color of a thunder cloud at twilight. Unfortunately for him, he landed within a few strides of Miroku.

"Sango is a lady of deepest integrity and honor, taijya. She is not a thief." Swiping the head of his staff into the backs of their attacker's right knee, the monk's jaw was set in determination and indignation. From his new position on his back, the hunter grabbed for the shakujo, pulling the monk off balance, and driving the pommel of the massive sword into his belly. As the hunter sprang to his feet, Miroku fell to his knees, fighting to breath and to not retch.

But that was all the time that needed for Inuyasha to reach him. A clawed white hand grabbed a handful of black armour, throwing the fighter into a tree with a dull thump. With the Tessaiga already raised, there was no chance for their enemy not to be cleaved into two pieces, unless Inuyasha checked his stoke.

Or unless something large an heavy struck his blade, such as the hairikitsu. The massive bone weapon flew between the hunter and the hanyou, tearing their weapons from their grasp, the two swords landing in the brother of the bush that had ensnared Shippou.

"Inuyasha, stop! I will talk to him!" With a spray of dirt and wood chips, Kirara landed close, allowing Sango to get between the combatants. Pushing them both in their chests, the masked hunter put Inuyasha back, and pinned the stranger to the tree. She turned to their enemy, flexing her arm to bare the blades hidden in her sleeve. "Who are you? You wear the garb of my people! I am the last, imposter!"

"Sango? Is that you?"

"He's lying Sango, Miroku said your name!" Kagome lowered her hand to silence Shippou, while the miko hoped that there would be no blood shed. Her friends' drawn weapons made her think it was unlikely.

"No, boy, I have known Sango for many years." Reaching up to lower his mask, he bared a face hardened by battle and weathered by the sun, but still youthful, about the same age as Miroku. A trio of long, raking scar streaked the right side of his face from ear to chin, the reminder of a set of claws.

"But you left years ago... I thought you were dead...." Any further words on his part were trapped in his chest as Sango hugged him tight, a look of relief on her face, knowing she was not the last one, that at least one other hunter survived. She clung to him, burying her face into his neck, trying to stay afloat as memories of simpler, happier times crashed down on her like a tsunami.

Finding her voice, Kagome broke the silence. "I guess they know each other." Looking from the new exterminator to Miroku, she was struck by how much alike they looked. They could be brothers. They look more alike than Kikyou and I do.

Raising his face from her shoulder, the mysterious young man swept his grey eyes across the party. "Hai. My name is Kiyoshi. I am Sango's betrothed."

At those words, the universe seemed to stop. Everyone froze, staring, mouths open in shock. Even the birds seemed stunned into silence by his claim. In such a quiet, one could hear the ring of a dropped pin.

Or the pieces of a houshi's shattered heart. Betrothed?

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Author's notes:
*passes Miroku a bottle of whiskey* This will ease the pain, or at least replace it for a while, kid.

If you let smoke cover your scent, you are less likely to disturb animals, as it will cover the smell of you being human. It was used the same way to cover the scent of human hands on traps. Problem is that the scent clings to you, while smoke from a fire flows and spreads. Good thing that most animals don't have logical thinking.

Kiyoshi: means purity
No-dachi: Basically a katana on steroids. Big-assed sword designed to reach guys up on horses and/or take out the horses' legs.
Ningen: human
Ronin: "Wave man"; a masterless samurai who lived without honor, surviving as mercenaries and bandits. Technically, Inuyasha is a ronin. And a hanyou one at that, so he had all the rights in that era that a blade of grass did.