Author's Note: I believe Fluffy's a bit out of character in this chapter, but I don't know how much. I'm trying to get it right, but it's hard since I've just started writing with these characters. Also, I'm sorry if I use any Japanese words incorrectly. I speak very little of the language, although I'm trying to learn it little by little. Corrections are always welcome, as is feedback.

Fallen Star
by Jessa

The consciousness contemplated the white crack in the void. Where would the crack take it if it were to go through? Should it take the chance? The consciousness drifted towards the crack. It sensed trees and grass and decided that the risks were worth leaving this blackness behind.

The consciousness drifted even closer to the crack. As it was sucked through, the consciousness sensed another presence; a demon. Perhaps this crack would take the consciousness home after all...

Chapter 2: Okay, what just happened here?

A sudden, deafening clap of thunder woke all members of the group who weren't already awake. Immediately upon waking, Kirara had transformed into her large demon form and was looking very threatening.

Kagome looked up to see a perfectly clear sky. There were a couple of fluffy clouds floating high up, but nothing to suggest a storm or to indicate where the thunder had come from.

Then a bright, purple-white bolt of lightning struck the forest to the west of them. Shippou leaped into Kagome's arms, his hair standing on end and his tail spiky with fear.

"Kagomeeeeee!" he squealed.

The kitsune's fear was understandable, since the last time purple lightning had struck this forest, a female inu-youkai had appeared and nearly killed the group before Kagome had managed to shoot an arrow into her heart, sealing her soul away.

A wave of dread washed over Kagome.

"I-Inuyasha? Did that lightning just strike where I think it did?"

"What the hell are you talking about, wench? It struck over..." Inuyasha trailed off as he realize where the lightning had struck. "Kuso!" he swore. "We could be in serious trouble if she comes back."

"We need to find out what just happened," Miroku said.

The group immediately set about breaking camp.

"I'm going ahead," Inuyasha said, turning and leaping off into the trees.

"Wait, Inuyasha! I'm coming too!" Kagome yelled after his retreating form and ran after him after stopping to pick up her bow and quiver of arrows.

:o:o:o:o:o:

Sesshoumaru set Rin down behind a boulder and told the frightened child to stay there. He then proceeded back to the clearing. Before he got there, he smelled the scent of another inu-youkai. Female, he thought, so it's not Inuyasha. Although he is approaching.

The statue in the clearing was no longer a statue. The woman was looking around, joy written all over her features. She caught Sesshoumaru's scent and whirled to face him, her blue-white hair flying with the motion.

Her dark golden eyes lit upon seeing him and suddenly she was a blur of motion. She ran straight at Sesshoumaru, who tensed for an attack. He couldn't sense any harmful intent on her part, so he refrained from killing her for the time being. After all, being female, how much damage could she do to him if she decided to attack?

She hit him at a full run and wrapped her arms around his torso in a near- crippling hug. Her expression was that of a child who had just been given the world's best gift.

"Oh it's so good to see another person!" she exclaimed when she finally let go of the stunned, speechless, and slightly embarrassed Sesshoumaru. She immediately began babbling, something about being locked in darkness.

The youkai lord took a moment to assess this, in his opinion, 'pitiful excuse for an inu-youkai.' Her hair fell to her knees and was an almost metallic blue-white color. She had large, expressive eyes many shades darker than Sesshoumaru's own, so dark they almost looked bronze.

Her facial markings were similar to his own. She had two dark purple stripes running horizontally below her eyes across each cheek, though her forehead marking was a silver, eight-pointed star.

Unlike most youkai, she was not tall; the top of her head barely came up to his shoulders. He reminded himself not to underestimate this woman because of her size. Her small, delicate-looking frame belied powerful muscles, as he'd found out when she'd hugged him.

She wore a dark blue kimono with a pattern of pink sakura blossoms scattered over the bottom part of it and zori. The blue in the kimono seemed to shift shades depending upon how the demoness moved.

She was still babbling.

"Cease your endless prattling, wench. I, Sesshoumaru, command it." He was feeling the beginnings of a headache.

"Sesshoumaru? The lord of the Western Lands," she stated. "I thought I recognized your scent. And your markings give you away, as well."

"Sesshoumaru! I should've known. Only you would be stupid enough to bring that bitch back from the dead." A voice sounded from a tree branch off to the left. Sesshoumaru traced the sound back to its owner.

"Inuyasha. Here all by yourself? Surely, then, you are not here to face me. Where is your miko wench?" Sesshoumaru asked, noting the effects his words were having in the hanyou. He also noticed that the woman had disappeared.

"Damn you, Sesshoumaru! I don't need help to deal with you!" Inuyasha leaped off his tree branch, pulled Tetsusaiga from its saya, and was all set to attack when a single word rang out.

"Osuwari!"

The beads around Inuyasha's neck glowed and pulled him down to smack face-first into the dirt, leaving an Inuyasha-shaped depression about a foot deep. When he could get back up, he shot Kagome a withering glare. "Oi, wench, what was that for?"

"We're not here for Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha. We came to see if the demon I sealed away has come back. Obviously," Kagome said, looking around the clearing and seeing nothing but grass, trees, and Inuyasha, "she has. And Sesshoumaru obviously wasn't interested in a confrontation, either. He's gone."

"He's probably following that bitch, wherever she got off to. He's the one that brought her back. I just can't figure out how. Or why. Sesshoumaru's not one to take pity on anything, so why the hell would he bring her back?" Inuyasha swiped at a tree with his claws, splinters of wood flying from the four six-inch-deep gouges.

"Calm down, Inuyasha. We'll wait for the others, then see if we can track your brother and that demoness."

:o:o:o:o:o:

As soon as Sesshoumaru noticed that the female youkai was gone, he took off after her. Fortunately, that miko wench of his half-brother's had provided an adequate and timely distraction for Inuyasha. The taiyoukai reminded himself not to kill the girl outright and their next meeting.

He was caught up in his thoughts when a blue blur slammed into him, catching him off guard and knocking him to the forest floor.

"Why are you following me?" she growled, her claws at his throat.

"You are in my lands, and Inuyasha seems particularly interested in your demise. I am merely curious as to why," he calmly stated.

"Oh. Is that all?" She stood up and dusted off her hands and kimono. "I'm Hoshi, by the way. I'm in your lands because I was looking for the demon who murdered my brother. And the hanyou is 'particularly interested in my demise', to use your words, because I tried to kill him."