I'm so sorry that I took so long to update. Spring break's been so hectic! This has also been a difficult chapter to write; you'll see what I mean.

Day Four

After bidding their patron farewell, the gang headed to the nearest village. Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo were well in front with Miroku and Taki lagging behind from sleep deprivation. They carried on a hushed conversation.

"What time did you come back inside?" Miroku asked.

"Around 2," Taki answered.

"That's strange. Around the same time, I saw a few people get in a scuffle. One of them looked exactly like you." He looked over at Taki. "Why do you look so surprised?"

A thousand and one curses went through Taki's head. "Because, well, I saw the same fight."

"Really…" The tiniest bit of sarcasm was heard in his voice.

"Yes, I saw the woman you were talking about right after the fight."

"Didn't you come inside right after the fight?"

Shit! Taki thought heatedly. "We didn't speak or anything, I just saw her."

"Right, Sango." Miroku was apparently tired of playing games. He stopped and looked dead at her. "What's really going on?"

Taki stopped too, looking as confused and puzzled as she could. "What do you-" She felt a searing pain on her right thigh. She yelped and grabbed her leg, wincing a bit. She'd hidden Mekki-Maru on her right thigh, and now it was reacting so fiercely that it burned Taki's skin. There were multiple Soul Edge pieces near.

"Um…" Miroku was deciding if she was bluffing or not. Well, it looked real enough. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Taki answered quickly, straightening up and hiding the fading pain. Up ahead, Kagome had also stopped and was looking all around her. "Jewel shards," she said in a peculiar disbelief, "Lots and lots of jewel shards."

"Jackpot!" Inuyasha replied instantly, and took off, carrying Kagome. Taki's puzzlement was now genuine; it was a big coincidence for many Soul Edge pieces and many Shikon jewel shards to be in the same area, let alone in such large quantities. She didn't have time to ponder it. She and Miroku got on Kilala and went to catch up with everyone else, except Shippo, who got left behind:

"Hey! This is the third time this week! Come back!" (A/N: Just joking, ya'll! He bummed a ride…somewhere…)

The vicinity of the sacred objects was a very large and populous town. People were packed on the street, walking very quickly and oblivious to everything else. One small group stuck out of the crowd. There were three of them; one man was carrying a long stick and wearing a red tattered robe, the girl was wielding a thin sword and wearing a black outfit that was way too small, and the last man was the stranger-looking one, with blonde hair done in an outdated style and a faraway look in his eyes. They were currently bragging about their "new" form of currency:

"I don't even know what the real form of currency is around here," Kilik said, "and quite frankly I don't care. We just give these peons a few of these shiny things and we get whatever we want!" He opened his hand to reveal about seven jewel shards. "I've even gotten a piece of Soul Edge with one of these babies!"

Xianghua giggled with that high-pitched, bubbly, go-out-and-hang-yourself voice of hers. "Yeah, they're a bunch of fools, huh?" She started up again but stopped in mid-giggle when she felt someone take her hand. It was none other than…

"Hello, will you bear my child?"

Xianghua blinked a few times, and then started giggling again. "Sorry, buddy, but I'm barren. It's a funny story, too! See, I was running around the castle looking for No-Name, but what I didn't know was that it was stuck point-up in the floor, so when I tripped, it-" A team of horses come racing by. Everyone within earshot gasped. Xianghua continued. "And then I…"

"Oh!" was the common reply. A woman fainted. People became wide-eyed and began moving away. Kilik jabbed Xianghua with Kali-Yuga and whispered sharply, "What did I tell you about telling that story?"

Kagome stepped forward. "You know, I've been hearing a lot about this 'Soul Edge' lately. Would you mind explaining it to us?"

"Ooh!" Xianghua squealed, clapping her hands together, "Story time!" She grabbed Maxi by the arm. "Maxi, it's story time!"

Maxi just stared blankly. After a few moments he uttered, "Where am I? Who are you? Who am I?"

Everyone sat down in a circle like in kindergarten, even Inuyasha, after asking and begging and threats. Xianghua began. "So in the beginning, there were two swords: Soul Edge and Soul Calibur…"

"Excuse me," Taki said, standing up.

"But Sango, don't you wanna hear the story?"

Taki smiled. "It's okay. I think I heard this one before." She went towards the trees. In that interesting meeting, Taki made a calculation of the number of Soul Edge pieces. Kilik had around three, Maxi had two, and Xianghua also had three. Even if it meant getting caught, she couldn't afford to pass up all of those pieces. Sango would have to go AWOL for a spell. After making sure that she was completely alone, she threw down a ninja cannon, and in the flash she was "Taki" again. She re-entered the town and began jumping roofs. When she caught sight of Xianghua, who'd apparently gotten off-track of her story, she began her offensive attack, diving straight into the middle of the circle, doing that high-pitched primal scream.

Everyone immediately scattered and got a hold of their weapons…yes, even Maxi. Taki eyeballed the three with her prize. "You," she said, pointing Rekki-Maru at them, "Give me Soul Edge and you may leave with your lives."

"Hey!" Kagome said from behind her, "You can't-"

"Stay out of this, girl," Taki hissed, not turning around or even moving.

Xianghua finally became serious. "You'll have to take them from us, Taki." Kilik nodded in affirmation.

Taki smirked. "That's not a problem at all."

Maxi, however, let his guard down, if only for a moment. "Haven't I seen you before?" he asked, sounding more confused than ever. With extreme speed she knocked Maxi to the ground and held Rekki-Maru at his throat. She used her free hand to search his person for Soul Edge. After finding them, she beckoned to Kilik and Xianghua.

Xianghua began running, but stopped when she got within 5 feet of Taki. "Just kidding!" she said with a wink and knelt down. Kilik came flying over her and swung at Taki. She was quick enough to block and take a stab at Kilik, who barely missed her blade. The both of them carried on with near-misses.

Shippo stared at the fight, very confused. "Shouldn't we, like, help or something?"

"I don't know," came Inuyasha's reply, "If we just asked, I think they'd give us the jewel shards."

Kagome looked around. "It's strange that Sango left right before this started…"

"Isn't it?" Miroku looked in the direction that "Sango" went. "I'm going to look for her."

Taki finally took Kilik out by faking a stab and kicking him right in the chin. His head was thrown back and he hit the ground hard. She confiscated his pieces of Soul Edge and looked at Xianghua. "Your turn," she said. She took that moment in time to notice that Miroku had gone after Sango, just as she'd expected. She hoped her plan would get him off of her back…

Miroku followed Taki's steps exactly, which led him to the woods. He didn't have to search far before he found Hiraikotsu leaning against a tree, and a figure on the other side of it. The only thing visible was her hair and a sleeve of her kimono. "Sango?" he started, taking a step forward.

"Stay where you are," was the reply.

Miroku stopped, confused. "Okay…what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I was feeling tired and it was quiet here."

"Is your leg still bothering you?"

"Just a little. It's nothing to worry about."

"Well, aren't you coming back?"

"In a moment. Go ahead without me, I'll meet you shortly."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes." Her hand went up and waved the question off. "Just leave me here a little longer."

"If you're sure." He turned and left. When the jangling off his staff could no longer be heard, the girl, dressed in Sango's kimono, jumped up and almost tripped because the kimono was too big. Snickering, she went up to Hiraikotsu. It was blocking the view of a bag of gold, surrounded by a green glow. After a few seconds, the glow stopped and the bag fell out of the tree and into the girl's hands. She threw it up in the air and caught it. "Yes. I'm eating something other than ants tonight!"

Taki and Xianghua were still fighting. Neither had landed a blow until Taki used Mekki-Maru and floored her. She knelt to search her for Soul Edge when Xianghua struck her right in the leg. "Just kidding!" she cried triumphantly.

"Argh!" Taki grabbed her leg. There was no blood, because everybody knows that Soul Calibur characters don't bleed. "You little hag!"

Xianghua stood up and dusted herself off. "Better luck next t-" There was a flash of light, and soon after Xianghua was truly unconscious on the ground.

"It isn't over until you can't fight anymore," Taki spat. The three knocked out fighters surrounded her, and she was now in possession of eight more pieces of Soul Edge. She looked at the bystanders, who were looking right back at her. "Are you going to try and stop me?"

Silence met her. "Um, isn't that a demonic blade?" someone asked.

Taki unsheathed Mekki-Maru. "It is."

"Then what are you doing with it?" Shippo asked nosily.

"It's my blade," Taki retorted.

"Aren't you a demon slayer?"

"Yes, how did you-"

"So why do you still have that?"

"Because, foolish child, you can't kill a sword, and if I destroy the demon that possesses it, then it won't be demonic anymore. My Kami, how much did Xianghua tell you?"

"Enough." Miroku began to remove the rosary. "Soul Edge is much too powerful for me to allow existing." He released the Wind Tunnel. Taki, immediately recognizing the danger, bounded out of the way. Mekki-Maru, however, slid out of its sheath and headed into the vortex. When it came about a foot away from being swallowed up, Miroku quickly drew his hand back, and the blade fell to the ground with a subtle clank.

Taki landed back on the ground and snatched Mekki-Maru back up. After sheathing it, she turned her back on the others. "It burned, didn't it?" she asked. Miroku gave no answer. Taki chuckled. "Soul Edge is too strong right now, but I will make sure of its obliteration." She turned her head to the side to take one last glance at them. "I suggest you stick to one goal." She took a few steps and began jumping roofs again.

"She's right, you know," Kagome commented as they all watched Taki go. "We need to handle our own problems first before trying to solve everyone else's." She knelt down and searched for the jewel shards that Kilik dropped. "Here," she said as she found all seven and put them in her jar, "we can get out of this crazy town now."

"Hey," Taki came back with Sango's clothes on again, "What's going-" She was interrupted by their quick rushing past her.

"No time to talk, you don't know what's going to happen in this crazy place!"

Oh my gosh ya'll! This is a record-breaking chapter! This is the most I've ever written for just one chapter, and it's the most number of SCII characters I've used in this story. This took an unusually long time for me to write, so make it worth my while and review. And while you're at it, review the next chapter in my 2-for-1 special!

Night Four

For the first time all week, Taki slept. That's right, slept with no interruptions or disturbances. The end for now.

Well, I had to give her a break sometime…