Wheeeee! Reviews! Happy, happy, joy joy!

slvrstarlight: this soon enough? ^.^ Don't get greedy, though. It's only because it's the weekend.

fame'n'fortune: Hehe! Thanks!

Jaded Hanyou Girl: Hmm...well, you shall find out soon, that's all I can say. Or want to say, for that matter.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

He smirked as he rocketed off the branch on his tree, heading for the cliff. The hunt was on!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha was getting frustrated. No--cross that out--he had been frustrated for the past two hours. Surely it didn't take this long to get to the taijiya clan's hideout! Though he could give him quite a bit of credit--no human he had ever known could run half as fast as him and for as long. Miroku ran a few paces behind him, and hadn't seemed to tire yet. The way he ran was similar to his own, too. Leaning forward, legs lightly touching the ground before lifting off again, arms streaming behind him.
"Oi. Bouzo."
"What, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked patiently, lacking enthusiasm. He would bet his staff that the question would be--
"Are you sure you know where it is?"
Figures.
"Yes, Inuyasha."
"It doesn't seem like it." The lizard had said three miles. It had been more than three miles. At least twenty more miles than three miles.
"The taijiya clan the lizard youkai had mentioned has already been disposed of," Miroku replied lightly. "There is no need to go there. The real threat lies at least ten miles from where we are now--this clan has been lying low for the past millennia. They don't go out to hunt--everything is within their own village. They are cleverly hidden away in a cliff face surrounded by practically impenetrable forest; it was only by chance that a bat youkai found them, and he only had time to pass the message before they killed him."
Inuyasha scowled. He hated being left out of things. "And nobody told me this because...?"
"They wanted to kill you off?" Miroku suggested.
"Keh. They've tried that already. Never works."
"Then maybe this time they thought it would."
"It won't. I'm going to destroy this 'weapon' of theirs before they can finish it," he snarled.
"Is this about finishing your mission or keeping your life intact, Inuyasha?" Miroku inquired lazily.
"Keh. Whatever comes first," came the cocky reply.
Silence.
"Inuyasha, you did understand what I just said, right?" Miroku queried cautiously.
"Of course I did. I'll deal with it when it comes." Nothing could defeat him...or so he thought.
"Whatever you say, Inuyasha," Miroku sighed.
"Look, there it us up ahead," Miroku pointed out a wrinkly knob in a chain of mountains winding from the east to west.
"I thought you said that it was at least ten miles from where we were ten minutes ago!"
"Oops. My bad."
"Bouzo..." Inuyasha's vein popped.
"Yes?"
"If you weren't a Messenger, your head would be rolling on the path behind us right now," he snarled.
"Well, then I'm glad for the first time in my life that I'm a Messenger."
Inuyasha stayed silent.
"When we reach the edge of the forest, you might want to stay there and hide for a bit," Miroku informed him.
"And how am I supposed to get inside?"
"No idea. Figure it out yourself."

Inuyasha ended up having to wait until nightfall to creep in. He would meet Miroku at the gates, and he would inform him of what the weapon was. Then Inuyasha would end up having to do all the dirty work--creeping in and destroying the weapon while Miroku raised an alarm of, "Fire!"
Stupid, huh?
Inuyasha sighed as he adjusted his position on the oak tree's branch. The bouzo hadn't even found the entrance to the taijiya clan's hideout yet. It was going to be a long day....
Miroku scoured the cliff face, searching for an opening of some sort. So far, success seemed to be a long way away. Stumbling, Miroku suddenly let go of his grip on the mountain.
A whoosh underneath him caused him to look down. Below him was a girl on a...youkai? A large boomerang made from youkai bones was slung across her back, and all her armor was made from youkai parts. Her thick hair was held back by a ponytail and two strands of hair blew by her cheeks as she gazed up at him, waiting for the right time to catch him.
Thump!
"Hold tight, Houshi-sama," the girl commanded, voice clear and not too sweet. She didn't sound like those stuck-up, sugar-coated women he had known. Instead, she sounded bold and cool, both experienced and not. Living her whole life with only her family around her must have reduced her knowledge of the outside world by a considerable amount. She leaned forward, directing her ride up and to the right.
Miroku couldn't resist. He leaned down slightly, and rubbed her bottom.
Whack!
The girl glared at him, cheeks blushing crimson, and not from the wind. Miroku winced. That was why it had hurt so much--the boomerang was in her hands, and she had bonked him with it. He did not want to make this girl madder than necessary.
"Are you sure you're a priest?" she questioned suspiciously.
Miroku sweatdropped. "Yes, yes, I'm sure."
"You didn't steal that staff and those robes from a more deserving human?" she demanded.
"My dear lady, these days there isn't anybody to steal from, let alone wearing robes and a staff. In fact, the only reason I survived is because of this staff," he dangled it in the air in front of her nose. "Speaking of which, may I know your name?"
"Sango."
"Ah, what a lovely name for a--" he choked on his sentence, minding the dangerous glint in the girl's eyes.
"We're here," she glared at him. All he could see was that they were in a small cave and in front of him was sheer rock. Then she raised her fist and brought it down upon his head, immediately knocking him unconscious.

The idiot houshi! Lucky for him that he had been watching, or else he would never have figured out how to unlock the entrance to the taijiya's domain. The taijiya girl paced carefully three steps to the right, then forward five. Standing there, she raised that boomerang of hers to the ceiling and jabbed at it. Slowly, steadily, the cliff face rose and rose, until he could see a lush valley. So that was how it was done, eh? No wonder they hadn't been found until now.
He smirked as he rocketed off the branch on his tree, heading for the cliff. The hunt was on!

Miroku groggily sat up, shaking his head to clear it from the buzzing thoughts clamoring for attention.
"Gomen nasai for Sango's caution, but we had to make sure you weren't a demon," an amused voice chuckled through the fog. "Sango said that she was delighted to have a chance to knock you out."
"I gathered as much," he muttered thickly. Opening his eyes, he gasped at the sight before him. A green valley stretched before him as far as the eye could see. He looked up, and instead of seeing bare rock, saw a clear blue sky with puffy white clouds crawling their way along.
"What--? How--?" he stammered.
"We found this cave a long time ago, filled with stone that could give off life and light, and recreate the outside world. Each stone has different properties. Some stones here give us rain, others provide energy from the sun, still others give us soil and crops. We call these stones 'Saviors' because they were our saviors. Cheesy, isn't it?" an old woman sat there, gray hair pulled up in a bun, a patch covering her right eye. She introduced herself, saying that she was Kaede, Sango's great-Aunt.
"And so these stones gave you life and protection," Miroku summed her dictation up slowly.
"Correct."
"Do they also control your entrance?" he inquired.
"Ah, you're a sharp lad. As a matter of fact, yes. There are stones placed at the entrance that will let anyone pass by who has a human heart."
A human heart...? Miroku's eyes widened. So much for letting Inuyasha in.
Just then, drums began rolling, cymbals crashing. Peals of laughter and merriment came from all around them as humans burst out of their houses, all clothed in comfortable clothes over their taijiya armor.
"It's starting," Kaede's mouth thinned into a straight line in disapproval.
"What is?"
She turned slowly to face him. "Among all those necessary Savior-stones, we found five unique Savior-stones...together they would make up the ultimate stone, the ultimate weapon. They are planning to create this weapon and--Quick! It's starting!" she stumbled up, running as fast as her aged body would allow. Miroku ran with her, rushing to the center of the...cave? It didn't matter what it was called. All that mattered was that he reach this weapon and destroy it.

"Shit!" Inuyasha cursed. The weapon was already in the process of being built. The old lady--Kaede was her name--had pulled him aside the moment he had entered, and had spoken to him in urgent tones. She told him to destroy the weapon--it was strong, true, but it was not right to violate the code of humanity. Her clan was turning into a great monster, more fearsome than Naraku himself, eviler, even. She could not let that happen. He had to break the weapon, disrupt the ceremony, anything before they inserted it into--
at which point she had been called away. She had hobbled off on her cane after giving him a few warning looks.
From the excited chatter, he gathered that this weapon had the potential to purify all youkai, and dismantle all those biotic weapons Naraku had created. Damn it, he hadn't survived this long to be killed by a mere rock! He rushed in, jumping from tree to tree, making sure that he was not seen. He stopped behind a platform on which a stone star had been carved and raised on two of its points. Five round rocks were placed on the tips. The one on the top glowed with a bluish color and somehow flat while the others glowed golden and were perfectly round.
Strapped to the pentagram was a girl. She seemed to be hanging there from invisible threads, and it took some time for Inuyasha to realize that those stones were holding her up with their force field. Her glossy dark hair went down to the middle of her back, she was dressed in the same uniform as all the other taijiya, except it seemed to flow more and was lightweight. By her side was a bow and quiver full of arrows.
"Friends and citizens, we gather here today to witness the creation of the ultimate weapon, the weapon that will purge and scour the world of all the evil that resides in it! Today, we shall create the Shikon on Tama!" the leader cried.
Cheers rocketed around the cave, bounding off the walls and echoing. Inuyasha vainly tried to protect his sensitive ears to the riot.
"Using this girl, we shall--"
"Stop!" the cry filled the cavern.
Everybody turned to look at the speaker. There stood the girl who saved Miroku=--Sango, was it?--eyes brilliant, figure tense with anger.
"How dare you--" she gritted. "How dare you use Kagome-chan's body as a tool?! HOW DARE YOU?!"
 "You don't know what you're talking about. Her death was a sacrifice--you know we can't operate with a live girl. She agreed to it!"
"Liar! Kagome-chan would never agree to such a horrible thing! You monster!" she hurled herself onto the platform, desperately trying to tear the girl from her place.
"What's going on?" a confused voice interrupted. Miroku stepped up to the platform. "Why are you using a girl for your own ends? Why not yourself?" he suggested amiably.
"Stay back, Houshi. You don't know what you're dealing with," a taijiya snarled. Amber eyes glared out of the shadows at the young girl strapped to the pentagram. The bouzo may not know, but he did.
Inuyasha sighed. He might as well help out. Though with different motives, they all wanted the same thing, right? And besides, he didn't have to kill the girl. Apparently, all he had to do was destroy those five stones on the points. That would do the trick.
Hopping off the trees and onto the platform, he was about to snatch the girl from the pentagram when the taijiya-leader stepped up and took out a long stick and swatted them with it. Taijiya leaped up and caught the threesome, restraining them. Inuyasha didn't make a single attempt to escape. No sense in wasting his energy.
The taijiya-leader picked up a semi-circle--the other half of the blue stone, Inuyasha realized--and brought it up to the top of the pentagram. As he placed it there, he yelled in anguish, as did all the other taijiya, and sparks shot out from all the stones, killing everyone but Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha instantaneously. The girl's eyes opened, gray-blue, and they wandered shakily over the dead bodies and the last survivors. Finally, she brought up a hand and recited softly in an ethereal voice:
Five will journey:
The Survivor,
The Killer,
The Purifier,
The Deceiver
The Prisoner.

Together,
They battle,
...
They kill the tyrant,
...

Remember:
An eye for an eye--
A life for a life.

Here the four are gathered,
One more is needed
To complete the circle.

 Then she fainted. Her limp form toppled forward, falling to her knees. Inuyasha rushed up and caught her, cradling her gently. He sighed.
"Oi, Bouzo?"
"Yes, Inuyasha?"
Sango watched them, unable to say a thing.
"Looks like we failed. Get ready to die in a month," Inuyasha's smile was grim.
"What is your controller?" Miroku asked abruptly.
"Miasma shard. It'll activate in an hour."
"We'll stop that somehow."
"Impossible. Nothing will stop it."
At that moment, the girl stirred, moaning softly.
"Wh-where am I? Where's Sango-chan? Sango-chan!" she jumped up, running to hug her best friend.
"Kagome-chan...Kagome-chan!" Sango sobbed softly.
Kagome suddenly flinched.
"Doshite, Kagome?What's wrong?"
"Miasma...nearby..." she whispered in that same voice she had recited the prophecy in. She let go of Sango, then turned around stiffly, walking over to Inuyasha. Taking an arrow from her quiver, she pierced his right shoulder, ignoring his hiss of pain.
"What are you doing, bitch?" Inuyasha growled.
"Purifying," was her simple answer.
Inuyasha's shout of outrage was cut off when he felt the miasma shard in his shoulder sizzle, and then fade away. He stood up and stared at her, not paying attention to the fact that his shoulder was as good as new.
"What are you?" he whispered.

Preview:
The small kitsune ran for Kagome, proclaiming, "There she is! He promised me that I'd get a Mama, and there she is!"