Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha. Not liking how many times I've caught myself typing this.

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Chapter Two

Sinister Skies

Amaya watched the group's progress carefully, noting their strengths and

weaknesses, their personalities. She told herself it was so that if she ever had reason

to fight them she'd know what to do, but the truth was that she was beginning to

realize how miserably lonely she was.

Within a few days, she felt like she knew them. Her first impression of Inuyasha

was of a rude, self absorbed half demon. Sometimes, though, he let his guard down

and she saw something else. She saw the sadness in his eyes, when he thought that no one

was watching. She saw the way he cared for Kagome, although he denied it so much

it was really ridiculous. She felt she could relate to him a little bit.

She slept at a distance from their camp this time. The last thing Amaya wanted

was for one of them to find her, to let them know that she'd been following them.

She took off her cloak, rolling it up to make a kind of pillow, and curled up on the ground,

trying to fall asleep in spite of the feeling of dread that filled her.

Inuyasha sat rigidly in the branches of the large oak tree, glaring up at the

sky as if it was to blame for everything that had happened to him. No matter how much

he tried to banish it, the image of Kikyo returned to his mind. That bitch... If I could

stop thinking about her for just once... He glanced down at Kagome. She really did look

like Kikyo. Was that why, that it hurt him so much to look at her, but it hurt even

more to look away?

He frowned, then turned his back on her and leapt to the branch of the next

tree, noiselessly. He kept going, wanting to get as far away from her as he possibly could,

just so that he wouldn't have to think. If he didn't think, he could get away from Kikyo,

at least for a little while.

Amaya opened her eyes. She could hear something. Something above her,

crashing through the trees. Careful not to make any sudden movements, she slowly

inched her hand toward her waist, grasping the handle of the long dagger she had

retrieved from the hut in Kaede's village. What is it? She trembled despite herself.

Could it be a demon?

Whatever it was was getting closer. She braced herself, waiting for it to

show itself.

Inuyasha froze in his place. He sniffed the air. There's something down there...

It smells familiar.

He jumped down from the trees and landed on all fours.

Amaya couldn't muffle her shriek. It was so loud it surprised even her, not

to mention Inuyasha, who had suddenly landed directly in front of her.

In a flash, he'd grabbed her by the throat and lifted her above the ground.

"What the..." He scowled and dropped her. She landed roughly on her knees, then

glared up at him. "You're that girl from the forest. Feh! How disappointing," he

continued, oblivious to the fierce display of anger in her eyes.

"What in all hells..." she growled. "That's two times in the past five days

you've succeeded in throwing me to the ground! What did I do?!"

"What are you doing so close to our camp?"

She turned red and looked at the ground. "It's none of your concern. I happened

to be traveling this way and-"

"Feh! Yeah right! I smelled you more than once. I know you've been following

us. I ain't stupid."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he grabbed her arm, pulled her to her feet,

and started dragging her in the direction of the camp.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?"

He glared at her over his shoulder. "If you're gonna follow me around, you can

at least explain why."

She blanched. He couldn't have picked a worse punishment. Oh, no, she thought

desperately. She could almost guess what they'd think of her now. She lowered her head

in shame and allowed him to pull her through the forest.

Kagome was less than happy when she was awakened at about three o' clock in

the morning by the loud noise of someone crashing through the undergrowth. She looked

up, annoyed, but forgot this when she saw Inuyasha standing there, dragging a blushing

Amaya behind him. "Amaya? What...."

Shippo sat up, yawning. He glared at Inuyasha, annoyed. "Hey, shit fer brains,

what're you doing waking us up so early??"

Sango stirred and sat up. She instinctively reached for her weapon, but realized

that there was no danger, only an annoyed hanyou and a shame-faced girl. "Wh-"

She was cut off suddenly. She jerked up and spun around angrily- Miroku had

reached out and groped her when her back was turned. She slapped him across the face,

hard. "You lech!" Snapped Sango angrily.

"Forgive me, Lady Sango. I must have been sleeping, and I-"

She snorted and sat down a distance away from him. Amaya and Shippo watched

this with confusion and almost fascination.

"What's Amaya doing here?" yawned Kagome, stretching and rubbing her eyes.

"This bitch 's been following us for days. I caught her scent in the forest."

"Hey!" said Amaya, startling them all. They'd been so used to her never speaking

up, that this outburst came as a surprise. "Hey," she repeated more quietly. "I have a

name, you know. It's Amaya. I would appreciate it if you would address me as that instead

of bitch."

"Yeah, Inuyasha," said Shippo, gleeful at any chance to tease him. "You could

at least try to be polite, especially to a girl."

Inuyasha growled, released Amaya, and raised his fist to pound the fox demon into

the ground.

"Sit!" said Kagome quickly.

Amaya watched in shock as the beads around Inuyasha's neck glowed for a split second,

before he slammed face-first into the ground.

"Does this happen often?" she asked curiously.

Sango put on a long suffering expression and nodded sadly. Meanwhile, Inuyasha had

recovered enough to push himself up off the ground and glare at Kagome. "Why you-!"

"You know, if you just tried to be less violent-"

Kagome was interrupted by the sound of wings, beating hard at the air.

They all looked up. Looking down at them from the sky was a fierce looking demon.

She was a female. Her skin was pale white- not the usual "white" skin with a

tinge of pink, but white like new fallen snow. Her eyes were a pale grey, and her hair,

pulled back from her face in a knot, was pale blue-silver. Emerging from her back were

two immense black wings, resembling a bat's.

"How disappointing," she said softly. "I went looking for the famous Inuyasha

and all I get is this mutt with his face in the dirt?"

He growled, got to his feet, and drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath. Amaya was

surprised to see the battered kataana transform into the huge, pulsing blade that Inuyasha

held so easily, but she didn't have much time to dwell on this.

Inuyasha leapt into the air, slashing violently at the demon- but she was now

behind him. She'd dodged his attack easily.

"Really, I was expecting something a bit more impressive."

He glared up at her. "Who the hell ARE you? What do you want with us?!"

She smiled. "My name is Shihya. I am a shadow demon. And I'd be more

than happy to answer your next question. I'm here to kill you all and help myself

to your Shikon shards."