Twenty chapters! WOW! Wait a minute . . . why are you still reading this? Don't you have more important things to do? Ah, well, I guess I have better things to do than write, too . . . better, but not as fun.

Sango and Miroku have to decide whether or not they can trust each other.

Everyone should thank Anadria for the new-and-improved readability of these chapters! After receiving her review, I realized that I had completely forgotten to double-space all chapters after number 14. What a drag for you guys to read. (What a drag for me to replace, but . . . Hey, I love my fans. Especially any who make it all the way to the 20th chapter!)

I'd like to thank Kat Morning for the setting of my story, which is based on the alternate universe of her inu fanfic "Blood Ties."

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomeru, Miroku, Sango, Kaede, or any other Inuyasha characters. They are owned by their author/creator, Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 19: Hiten and Manten Arrive

Sango's demon hunters all stayed bunched together as they walked down the hotel's hallway to room 329. In the center of the group was Miroku, with Yuhi and Hojo holding tight to either arm in case he tried to escape. Not that Miroku had any clear idea of what he could accomplish even if his captors did let down their guards. Sango led the way, visibly seething. When everyone was inside, she slammed the door, locked and bolted it.

She turned to Miroku. "Care to explain what the hell happened back there? A strange woman walks in, a demon attacks and, goddamn it, you PROTECT the demon? What's your problem?" Sango crossed her arms and glared. "Look at me, Miroku."

Miroku stared at the carpet. "I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you."

"Baka! You nearly got killed!" Sango was pacing now, tugging nervously on her long braid. "You nearly got us all killed! What were you thinking?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Well, you're right about that one." Sango took a deep breath, then added in a calmer voice, "It's me, Miroku. Can't you just tell me what's going on?"

Miroku sighed. "I'll try. The woman was Kura Sanada, a Senior who went missing days ago."

"Your friend?" Sango asked. "The one you were telling me about?"

"Yeah."

"That's wonderful," Sango said with real feeling. Miroku winced. Sango said apologetically, "Not everyone seemed happy to see her."

"We were happy to see her, it was the news she carried that we didn't like."

"The Nosferatu Gathering?"

"And an alliance with a demon lord. Heaven only knows how she thought she could convince Council."

"So the demon that attacked was--"

"The demon lord. But he didn't attack so much as . . . well, he seemed like he just wanted to grab Kura and go. He broke a bunch of weapons, but didn't actually hurt anyone."

"Except his ally."

"My point is, we should have at least listened to her. Kura may be emotionally volatile, but she's no fool. If she believes that there's a real danger, and that Sesshomeru's willing to help . . . I choose to trust her." Miroku crossed his arms and raised his chin defiantly. "If I get the chance, I'm going to help her. I don't care what Council thinks about my actions."

"You could lose your job."

"Why should I care? I can kill vampires with or without Council's official say-so."

There was a loud crash outside the window, and there was the sound of a woman screaming. Kohaku jerked the window open and said, "Sis, I think it's coming from two floors up."

The squad was out of the room and flying up the stairs in an instant, Miroku close behind. Other hotel guests were peering out of their doorways.

"This is the room!" Sango heaved her immense weapon-- a boomerang made of a giant bone-- and splintered the hollow oak door. Inside were two demons and two young women. A stout toad-like man was strangling one of them. His partner, with the appearance of a handsome young human, had his hand through the other young woman's throat.

The handsome one said regretfully, "I should have realized the bitch would scream."

"Hiten, those look to me like demon hunters," the toad demon exclaimed. "Should we flee?"

"From humans? My dear brother, you must be joking."

"But the lord Sesshomeru said--"

"Screw the old man. Give these demon hunters a taste of your fire, Manten."

Hiten hefted a wicked-looking spear and prepared to attack. Manten, without releasing his victim, breathed a jet of flame at the doorway. The demon hunters leapt back and escaped the fire, but the carpet continued to smolder, filling the room with noxious chemical smoke. Fire alarms blared.

Hiten charged gleefully, stabbing at Kohaku. Sango blocked a series of blows with her bone boomerang. It looked for a moment as if she had the upper hand, but then lightning crackled the length of the spear. It blinded Sango and forced her back into the hallway. Miroku cursed. The door to the room was a natural bottleneck. With Hiten blocking the doorway, Sango's squad was split into two groups: Sango and most of her men were in the hallway fighting against Hiten, while Miroku, Yuhi, Kohaku and one other were trapped in the room with Manten.

To fight, Manten was forced to relinquish his stranglehold on the young woman. During the struggle, Miroku made his way to her side and was relieved to know she was still alive, but unconscious. He rolled her onto her side with one arm extended up above her head. That way, if she threw up while unconscious she wouldn't choke on the bile.

In the hallway, Hiten was covering the walls with burn scars, but hadn't hit any of the demon hunters yet. One hunter used a whip to try to pull the spear from the demon's grasp, but the leather fried to ash the moment it touched the lightning staff. Hiten's skill was forcing the demon hunters to stay back out of his range.

Yuhi kept Manten at bay using a pair of kodachi. Fortunately, the demon could not breathe fire constantly, but only once every 15 seconds or so. The carpet, bedspread and curtains were all on fire. Manten lunged at Miroku, grabbing him by the front of his collar and hoisting him into the air. Kohaku's sickle-and-chain flashed out with perfect accuracy and severed the demon's right arm at the elbow.

Manten howled with pain. Hiten turned and cried, "My brother!" but was too late: the sickle embedded itself in the toad-demon's right eye at the same moment Yuhi's kodachis sliced through his windpipe.

Hiten screamed in anguish, blasting wildly at his brother's killers. Grief-stricken, he ran through the blazing curtains and shattered the window with another spear-blast. He leapt out the fourth-story window and flew away. The small wheels next to his feet spun as if they were pulleys for invisible ropes.

The squad circled around the dead demon. There were some tentative grins as everyone made sure none of the demon hunters had been seriously injured. One of the young women was going around with a fire extinguisher.

Sango beamed. "Nice job, team. Especially you two, Yuhi and Kohaku." She pulled her little brother into a fierce one-armed embrace. He blushed. "Guys, head down to our room. Miroku and I will be along just as soon as Council's cleanup team arrives."

"But Sango," Yuhi protested, looking sideways at Miroku.

Sango interrupted, "That's an order, soldier. Go take a shower, or you'll stink of demon blood for days."

Miroku leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, unwilling to admit how curious he was about Sango's thoughts. "What made you decide I was harmless?"

Sango said, "I haven't made any decision yet. I just want to be sure I'll make the right one. That demon--" she nudged Manten's corpse with her toe, "--said something about a Lord Sesshomeru. Same one?"

"Yeah."

"Apparently, they were doing something against the demon lord's orders when they attacked us." Sango spoke slowly, as if afraid she would arrive at an unpleasant realization.

"He must have told them not to attack Council members while he was negotiating."

"Perhaps. Even if he did, negotiations are over. Why didn't he want us attacked?" She mused to herself, "It could be a trap, but I just can't see the hook."

Miroku said evenly, "Maybe it isn't some trap. Maybe he's just trying to defeat the Nosferatu Lord, like Kura said. Maybe we should trust him."

"That's the other possibility. So, Miroku, it looks like it's up to us to decide. Why don't you start by telling me everything you know about this Demon Lord Sesshomeru?"