Hi everyone. I'd like to apologize for the gap of time between posts. I had a lot of school work theses past couple of weeks but I'm done with it now that the year is winding down. SO here it is, chapter 8!

Enjoy!

Meetings
Chapter 8

Yuto carried Sarah as he followed InuYasha. He felt awkward carrying the girl. After all, he was ordered to kill her not save her. She curled closer to him and mumbled incoherently. He sighed. So much for Sade's plan. He drew a sharp breath and nearly dropped the girl. Sade's plan! Shippo, Miroku, and Azurine were in huge danger!

Azurine handed the sleeping Shippo to Miroku as she wrung out her hair. Rain, ice, fire; what was next? She sighed. Shippo opened his eyes.

"Azurine? Miroku? Wha-what happened?" he asked, yawning. "Is the scary weather gone?"

"Nothing important. Come here." Azurine lifted Shippo onto her shoulder where he clung to her and fell back asleep.

The kitsune was almost instantly ripped off Azurine by a demon neither her nor Miroku had sensed. It was easy to tell she was a dog-demon. She picked Shippo up by the tail.

"Lemme go!" Shippo cried. "Azure!"

"Pitiful little thing," the demon laughed. "Name's Mine. That's Mee-nay." She turned to look at Shippo. "I should eat you, little fox."

"Whaa!" Shippo cried. "Azure! Miroku!"

"Leave him alone!" Azurine yelled. Weapon, weapon…hands! Do your stuff! She threw out her left hand. "I mean it!"

"Or what? You going to electrocute me?" she laughed. "Nice try but no."

In Azurine's hand, wind suddenly solidified in the shape of a bow. The bow was strung with lightening. Arrows made of fire and ice hung from her back as if in a quiver. Azurine grabbed an arrow, nocked it and drew back. "This is your last warning. Let the boy go." This is certainly helpful. You hands may be useful yet.

Mine dropped Shippo. He ran behind Azurine and clung to her jeans. Azurine's strength gave out and she let the arrow fly away from the group. It cleared a path through the woods and embedded itself in a tree barely a few inches from Yuto's ear.

"What was that?" he yelped. "Are you trying to kill us?"

(Chibi edit: Does anyone else realize that they keep nearly killing each other?
Azure: Of course. It wouldn't be my fan fic if we weren't all bent on murder.)

"Azurine Deltan I presume?" Mine asked. "I've got a message for you. The witch, Sade, will return on the next new moon. You have three weeks to prepare."

Shippo clung tighter to Azurine's leg. "N-new moon?"

"Do I have an echo? Yes, the new moon. Oh, and by the way Azure…can I call you that?" Mine grinned.

"No," Azurine, Shippo, and Miroku said together. They blinked in surprise at each other.

"Good. Well, Azure, your mother is apparently sending a messenger to kill you, the monk, the kitsune, and the rest. You might not want to put that bow away just yet," Mine warned and began to turn.

"What just happened?" Shippo asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Miroku replied. "Excuse me…Mine, did you say your name was? I've got a question for you."

Oh no, Azurine thought. Here we go again.

"Will you bear my child?"

Zoom in on Mine's ears 'Twik, Twik' She looked back at him as if he had sprouted another head. "Um, no. Goodbye." She was gone.

Offended, Azurine 'hmphed' and walked away with Shippo.

"Hey!" Miroku cried as he scrambled after them. "I didn't mean it! Come back!"

"Idiot," Shippo muttered.

That Night

Azurine sat propped up against the sacred tree where InuYasha had once been pinned with Kikyo's arrow. Of course Azurine didn't know any of that story. To her it was just a tree.

The moon was beginning to sink and Azurine had been sitting there since sunset. She had made the others leave sometime around midnight. They didn't need to get hurt, too. Shippo and Miroku had remained stubbornly at her side for about two and a half hours. That is until Miroku went and did something stupid and Shippo brought him back to the others. So here she was…alone.

She yawned lightly. She was well past exhaustion. Just then, a rustling alerted her to her right and someone cried out. Azurine lifted her wind bow that she'd christened 'The Guardian' and nocked an arrow in place.

"Who's there?" she asked, standing.

Chibi: There ya go! I just realized that I have a lot of typing to do if I want to get the next chapter ready! GAH! SO..much...pressure!