The afternoon sun reached its peak as the group entered a tranquil forest, but the feeling of foreboding that Akari felt was still there. 'Why won't it go away? Surely no harm can befall me while I'm with this group of experienced fighters.' Akari tried her hardest to shake the feeling off again. Fifteen minutes later, she felt cold, not only cold, but empty as well. Empty like something was missing, a very important something. Suddenly she felt very dizzy; she stumbled. 'What is going on? I'm never like this,' she thought to herself. Then, she heard a collective gasp come from the others. She looked up to see a person leaning on a tree. Well, at first glance that's what it looked like; the person had an arrow piercing their shoulder. It was much like how Inu Yasha was imprisoned by Kikyo.

"We have to release that person," said Inu Yasha emotionally, "no one deserves to die like that." That was the last Akari heard as her world went black. She fell to the ground unconscious unaware that her life was about to take a turn for the worse, a major turn. Miroku picked up the poor girl while Kagome (I changed it to Kagome it was Inu Yasha, it would make sense that since she is a reincarnation of a priestess that she would be able to set the person free and not a demon or hanyou.) freed the person from their prison. Since both of them (Akari and the mysterious person) required special attention, the group headed for the nearest village as quickly as possible.

When they reached the village, they called upon the service of the local apothecary. The old man was stumped as to what happened with Akari. The group had no choice, but to stay in the village for the night. They laid down the poor two souls on rice mats. The person's black hair fell out of their face. Upon closer examination, the group noted with fascination the person was indeed a woman, a very beautiful woman. Her features were calm and pristine, as if death could not mar her beauty, but perhaps the most mind-straining thing about her was that she looked almost exactly like Akari. Tomorrow, they would give the woman a proper burial; it was the least they could do for her. One by one, the gang drifted off to sleep, wondering what happened to their newest group member.

Akari woke in the middle of the night. She was shocked to find that her feeling was correct about something bad happening, but what was this ominous power that was draining her strength? She looked around and her eyes landed on the woman Kagome had released. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized the woman looked almost identical to her. This was what was draining her energy! She could tell. The first thing Akari's brain told her to do was run for it; get as far away from this—thing as possible. So that's Akari did. She bolted into the forest and hoped that she would never lay eyes on the woman again.

The sun shone through the window, effectively waking everyone up. Now by everyone, it means everyone. The strange woman's lids fluttered open to reveal striking blue eyes. The group stared at her in absolute astonishment. They all thought her for dead! Yet here she was, stretching and then standing before them in all her glory (not naked y'all, I mean glory as in enigma). She was quite tall for a normal human woman, but then again she was far from normal, not that anyone knew this, except the woman. Her eyes traveled over all of them, analyzing the group critically. After what seemed like an eternity she bowed in respect and then left the small hut.

"HEY! Wait! We save you and then you just walk off? How ungrateful is that?" Yelled Inu Yasha, running after her. The group followed his lead. The woman merely turned and raised an eyebrow. It was as if she was saying: 'What is it you want exactly?' Inu Yasha sighed in resignation. "Or if you don't want to talk the least you could give us is a thanks and a name." The woman blinked. Surely the bow sufficed as a sufficient enough 'thank you.' Oh well. It's not like it's going to hurt anyone.

"My apologies," she said, her voice was soft and melodious, "I thank you for your kindness. You said you wanted my name as well?" He nodded. "Very well, my name is Utsukushii Okami (In Japanese that means 'Beautiful Wolf'), it is my great pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Making a rash decision, Kagome decided that this woman should travel with them. Nothing as beautiful as she should go out in the wilderness alone. "It's a pleasure to meet you Utsukushii. If it is all right with my friends, would you like to travel with us? Perhaps you could help us find our missing friend, she looks quite a bit like you." The others nodded their heads in consent. At first the woman narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but then looked apologetic.

"I am sorry, but I cannot in good conscience travel with you until I solve a rather personal matter. Please forgive me, I do not wish to appear rude in any way. Ummm… Can I ask one small favor?" The group nodded again. "Can you tell me where I might find a sword? I'm afraid I lost mine."

"You didn't lose it. When we found you we took you here," said Kagome. She turned red. "You see, we thought you were dead, so we thought we could make could use of your weapons. We went to the village blacksmith to get them fixed. We have them now, do you want them back?"

"If it is not too much to ask, then yes," Utsukushii replied. Kagome handed the woman her weapons back. The group by and large was basically wondering the same thing: 'What personal matter did she need to solve that involved the use of weapons?' They thought better not ask. "Thank you for all that you have done. I am eternally in your debt." She turned on her heel and walked towards the woods. The five friends watch her form diminish until they could no longer see her.

"There was something odd about her," said Inu Yasha. "She had no scent."

"Just forget about it Inu Yasha, we have more important matters to attend to than what that strange woman smelled like," said Sango. "Come on, let's gather our stuff and head on out of here. We have a friend to find."

Utsukushii picked up her pace. She needed to find this girl Inu Yasha's group was talking about. Utsukushii was much more intelligent then she let on; by now she had already figured out that that girl held part of her soul. She wanted it back. She would not take part of it and move on, if she wanted to rise to her full potential, she needed all of her soul, and that girl was going to give it to her, whether by force or willingly, she didn't care. She sniffed the air and caught an unfamiliar feminine scent. It was traveling alone. Utsukushii smirked. Perfect. She broke out into a run and in no time at all caught up with the girl that had gone missing.

"Going somewhere?" Asked Utsukushii. Akari turned around and gasped. This was like a living nightmare; she had hoped to escape this woman and yet she could not rid herself of this person.

"Wh-what do you want from me?" Stuttered Akari.

"I want what is rightfully mine; my soul," said Utsukushii in a deadly whisper. She drew her sword, dropping all pretences that she even had a heart. This girl's life was not her problem and she didn't care if she killed her to get her soul back. So that's exactly what Utsukushii did. With one slash the girl was killed so effectively that not a drop of blood was spilt. Utsukushii felt her power restore to its former height. Yes, after all of these years she was finally free. She inhaled the clean air and in doing so caught the scent of a demon nearby. She positioned herself in a battle stance.

Sesshomaru's keen nose identified two foreign scents. He was not sure if they were potentially dangerous to his pack, so he decided to check it out. He quickly located where the two scents were coming from and took off at breathtaking speed. As he neared, he slowed down, came to a stop, and watched the scene unravel before his golden eyes. The two scents were that of human women, or at least that is what his nose told him. One of them appeared to be hostile while the other was obviously terrified. He could smell it as plain as day. In one quick movement the hostile woman cut the other down, expertly managing not to spill any blood. It was then that Sesshomaru noticed the woman's aura; it was extremely strong now. This woman was not normal. He saw her tense and she became aware of his presence. Against better judgment he walked into her line of sight. As he neared her he could not deny that this woman was beautiful. If she were a demon, he just might take her as a mate, if only for the sole purpose of producing an heir. Alas, she was not, in fact, she had no scent, something about that was familiar, but Sesshomaru could not think of what it was. The woman watched him with narrowed eyes, trying to determine if he was a threat. Apparently she found her answer when she sheathed her sword, obviously deciding he was not going to attack.

"Who are you?" The woman asked harshly.

"I could ask the same thing of you," retorted Sesshomaru.

"I believe I asked you first."

"Very well, I am Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands."

Utsukushii bowed. "It is an honor to meet you. I am Utsukushii Okami."

"I have to ask: why did you cut down the girl?"