Kidnaping in Progress, Please Hold.

W.W.- "Yeah, right, like she could kill me. And I have a few questions to ask now that you aren't about to have a mental breakdown, B.B. What the hell happened to my character? She just hanging out in the shadows or what? Why did Talabinya and Loeyla ignore Ankha? She'd nearly killed the mother! How could Loeyla's own mother and mate not recognize her? And what happens with Naraku?"

B.B.- "You write it! I'm done, damn it!"

W.W.- (smirks)

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The nine months passed. While Naraku was still on the loose, and Ankha still hunted for her parents killers, the cat demon and the foxes made friends. Taking them, and only them, aside one day, she explained as loosely as she could. She didn't mention how they had died, only that they had been murdered in front of her. Ankha asked for their forgiveness, something she hadn't done her entire adult life. She was amazed when they gave it.

Ankha's list of revenge grew longer. Now she was after Naraku as well.

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W.W.- "Everyone's after Naraku."

B.B.- "Well, he's an asshole."

W.W.- "I know, I know. I was just remarking on it."

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Soon, it was spring. Ankha had been disappearing for longer and longer times, weeks, even, as the winter passed. She stayed, however, when Sango's birthing time approached. BABIES!

Loeyla's training was finished, and Sango's time had come. Nervous though she was, the Bounty Hunter performed her task flawlessly. It was a girl. During her nine moody months, Sango had chosen name if it had been a boy, and a name for a girl. So, they were ready, and the baby was named Tayallay (Tay-UH-lay), or Tay, for short. Ankha hovered around the baby while Loeyla took care of the new mother. She looked up at Ankha, who was cuddling and purring at the baby.

"You're going to spoil that child before it can even walk."

"And have much fun in doing it." The cat demon chuckled. She looked around. "Where's the monk? He needs to bless this beautiful new baby girl." Loeyla looked amused.

"He's outside, scared stiff." Ankha laid the baby in her crib and went to get him, saying as she went, "Well, at least he's not puking or unconscious. Scared, I can handle."

She walked out of the hut and found Kagome closest to the door. All others had been shooed out back when the birth began. She asked her where she could find Miroku, and followed the human's directions. She found him hyperventilating next to a pond. Coaxing him back was hard but possible. As they neared the hut, screams were heard. Sprinting, she left the monk in the dust as she ran inside to see what the commotion was about. Taking a quick survey, she noticed one thing immediately. The baby was gone!

"What the hell happened? Where is Tayallay? Tell me!" She grabbed Loeyla. "What happened?"

Fighting free of the crazed assassin's grip, Loeyla hurriedly explained. "Naraku appeared, grabbed the baby, said something, and left. There was nothing I could do!" Screaming like a mountain lion, Ankha raced outside, shoving aside the demons and human waiting there. She ran off into the night.

Almost immediately, she came back. She had a bundle in her arms, a bundle covered in dirt.

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W.W.- "Now, I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. Read on."

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Quickly, she shook the dirt off and unrolled the bundle. Inside was a great variety of items. As the people looked on, baffled, she took the blanket that had held everything together and ran up to the hut with it. As she ran past the fire, they could see it shimmering, as if alive. The group followed her inside, the usually calm cat demon's panic shocking them out of their own frenzy.

Ankha laid the quilt on top of the grieving mother, and Songo went directly into a deep sleep. The symbols woven into the material glowed brighter until a bluish glow encased the woman on the bed. Rain gasped. Turning, Kagome asked him what was wrong. He spoke, stammering a little.

"That's a Mirage Blanket. You see that blue glow? Soon, it will cover the whole house, hiding it from all malevolent eyes. That thing is terribly hard to find and extremely valuable. The blanket is practically a legend among Bounty Hunters."

"But Naraku is strong. He'll break the spell."

"It can't be broken unless the placer decides it should be. That's part of what makes it so famous. It can't be broken by anything else." They resumed watching the cat demon.

Searching through her things, Ankha found what she had been looking for. She gestured

for them to gather around her. As soon as they got close, she showed them what she had.

A map, with several strange markings on it, and a thin black object. She spoke.

"No one can stay with Sango." She held up a hand to Miroku's protests. "Naraku would sense your presence and know where she was." Ankha turned to Rain. "And you were only half right. That quilt will also form a certain, well, shield, for lack of a better term. If anyone walks into the house, they will be immediately transported to the other side, into the woods.

"Now, as to the objects before me. As you all know, I am an assassin." Calm now, in charge, she spoke about her profession as if it was of no matter. She waited for their nods. "This map is how I find my targets. I take something of the person I need to find, and after a short ritual, his location appears on the map." Sessho nodded. He had heard of these things, but had never gotten one for himself. They had stopped being made long before he had joined the business. Maybe another day he would ask how she had gotten one. But Ankha had continued.

"This black cloth is really Naraku's hair. So convinced of his strength, he has been careless during these past months. It didn't take much to gather enough for this." She took a small jar from the recesses of her cloak and smeared some of the bitter smelling jell inside it onto the cloth. Quickly, moving with the sureness of long practice, she lit the cloth on fire with a stick of incense. It made Rain slightly ill to see how efficiently she did this, made him think on how many times she must have done it.

Ankha traced symbols with the stick of incense over the quickly burning cloth. Each time an ember hit a new bit of jell, the symbol flared brightly then faded. When it was done burning, she sprinkled the ashes of the incense and the material on the yellowed paper of the map. She lifted the paper to her face and she gently blew them off. As they watched, a bit of ash stuck to a place far from where they were, a day's journey, perhaps. Ankha pointed to the spot and said "There. We'll find him and the child there."

"How do you know that the child will be with him?" Sessho asked. She turned to him.

"I know. Did anyone hear what he said when he left?" Loeyla had heard him.

"He said 'Here, kitty, kitty.'" Ankha's eye twitched with irritation.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, that's all."

"So, he knows about me asking around for him." She grinned in a frightening manner. "He'll be expecting us. Let's not keep him waiting." She rolled up the map and, putting it in her cloak with the jar, she turned to look at the slowly bluing house.

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Rain - "Man, that's a nice cloak. What else do you have in there?"

Ankha - "Stuff."

Rain - "Stuff? Just 'Stuff'?"

Ankha - (glaring at him meaningfully) "STUFF. Now leave me alone. You don't need to know what's in here."

Rain - "Do you have the kitchen sink?" (Rain hits the ground after Ankha thumped him on the head. She walks away, tail swishing.)

Ankha - "Stuff, Rain. Just stuff"

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Ankha muttered something and drew more symbols in the air. Gathering her other objects, she tucked them away in her cloak, all except for a small pouch, which she tied within easy reach. Seeing the question in their eyes, she carefully put her hand inside. Gingerly she withdrew an item. It was a tiny dagger, no bigger than a pinky nail, with a green tip. Loeyla's eyes grew large.

"Poison." She growled.

"Yes. Extremely poisonous daggers." She whispered to it and it obediently lengthened, the green disappearing. "It can stretch into a thin sword." She shank it back. "It took me years to learn to throw these. It's a lost art, really. I'm the only one who knows how to use them to their optimum anymore. The man who taught me died."

Uneasily, Inuyasha wondered just how the man had died. After carefully, almost lovingly, putting the dagger back, she closed the bag and turned to them. "Let's go." Ankha scooped up Shippo and carried him as they ran. As they neared their destination, they ran into Sesshomiru's faithful servant, Rin. She was sleeping in a little nest of grass. When awoken and questioned, she did not know of Naraku's absence. Sessho sent her away on a meaningless errand. Then they considered what they beheld before them.

It was a skull. A skull that led into the mountain. From it's size, it had once belonged to a dragon demon. Rain felt as if he should know something about this, but couldn't put his finger on it. Shrugging, he put the thought in the back of his mind. Ankha gestured that they should sit down. Swiftly, they did, and so did she, after scanning the area.

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B.B- "Where are you going with this? Hmm?"

W.W.- "Into the mountain, dumb ass! As if that isn't perfectly obvious."

B.B.- "Oops, sorry, blond moment."

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"There doesn't appear to be anyone guarding the entrance." Ankha said. "I'll walk up and see if any spells are on the place." Slowly, she crept out of her hiding place, wishing she could take the time to see if there was another entrance not so obvious. She might of, if it had just been her, but it's not. Besides, this was revenge, not to mention a rescue.

Quickly, looking more like a shadow than anything else, she approached the skull. Nimbly, she leapt over the front bottom teeth and entered the darkness.

It took Rain a few minutes to realize that she wasn't going to come back out again.

"That woman! She's going after Naraku alone! She'll die! He'll rip her apart!"

"Good riddance." Mumbled Inuyasha, but that was all he got out before Rain started to strangle him.

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B.B.- "That's all folks!" (Waits for your response) "Now, wait a minute, don't get mad."

W.W.- "Let me help!"

B.B.- "Fine."

W.W.- "Keep an eye out for another story by B.B. and me. That shall be the next stage in our little story."

B.B.- " 'k, folk, R+R! Until we finish

'TOTAL CONTROL',

(that's the next book), hear the dreaded words... 'To be continued.'

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