Xanthas sat with the girl, talking and drinking sake. "So, what you're saying is, that's the guy that's giving Inuyasha and Kagome so much trouble?"

"Not exactly."

"Right. He makes puppets of himself out of little dolls?"

"Yeah. Don't know why he attacked you, though."

"Odd character. I wouldn't put it past an evil guy to attack the first new person he sees, though. I have an unfortunate bad luck streak when it comes to meeting a lot of new people. There's always at least one that's out to get me."

"That's terrible. I hope you've at least found some friends during your journey. By the way…I never introduced myself. The name's Sango. I'm a Demon Huntress. I've been tracking down Naraku with Kagome and Inuyasha for a long time now. Kagome senses Jewel Shards, and we have a monk with us that handles things to deal with magic," She flinched as she said the word 'monk'.

"Pleasure's all mine. I'm Xanthas. I'm trying to….well, it's kinda a long story. I'll tell you about it later. But don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. It's not that I don't interfere sometimes…it's just that you seem like a nice person."

Sango's eyes widened.

"Sango? What's…" Xanthas looked behind her, and saw a figure in a purple robe, with his hand in a peculiar place.

He was about to say something to the person in the robe when Sango turned around. "YOU PERVERT! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

She began to slap the man continuously in the face, until she backed him up to a tree. Xanthas could only sit wondering what in the world was going on. After a time of watching Sango attack the man, he finally said something. "Um…somebody wanna clue me in here?"

After a final, satisfying punch, Sango turned her back to the man and walked back toward Xanthas. "That," she said, pointing back at the man, who was holding his face and frowning, "is the monk. His name is Miroku, and he's a pervert. Always…well, you saw."

"I did. Hmph. Guy needs to get himself a girlfriend instead of pulling crap like that."

Miroku smirked. "Perhaps I should."

"That is, unless you can't GET a girlfriend because of what you do."

"You should watch what you say, kid. I've got some powerful magic."

Miroku held out a small piece of paper with some strange writing on it.

Xanthas drew his sword, and sliced the paper in half in Miroku's hand. Resheathing the blade, he simply said, "Don't call me kid."

A bead of sweat trickled down Miroku's face. This guy was fast. Real fast. He pulled out his staff, and was about to strike, when Sango jumped in front of him. "Miroku, STOP!"

"Why should I stop? He was going to kill me!"

Xanthas scoffed. "Hardly. I just didn't feel like getting a nasty papercut."

Miroku growled.

"Miroku, you need to think twice before you attack someone. This guy just took down that Naraku puppet we'd been chasing by himself. He's strong, but I don't think he's evil."

"Why should I? I bet if Inuyasha found this kid, he'd sooner slice off his head than look at him."

"Inuyasha? Met him a little while ago, before I went into this forest. I didn't exactly get a warm welcome from him, but we didn't fight. That Kagome sure was nice, though. I think she wanted to help me. So, I take it you guys are helping them? Why'd you split up?"

"Well, we went off to find the puppet. But we knew that it'd end up being a dead end, so Inuyasha and Kagome went off to see if they couldn't find another Jewel Shard. The Shikkon Jewel has the power to grant the wish of anyone that holds it. We're trying to complete the Jewel. Inuyasha wants it to turn into a full demon…or so he says. See, he's a half-demon right now. That means he has both demon and human blood in him. His father was a demon, and his mother was human. He's always felt weaker than other demons, because of his half blood. He's got this sword..."

"Sango, we don't need to bore him with all the details."

"Right. Well, anyway, Naraku is the evil demon who originally tried to get the Jewel, but it was shattered, and its pieces were scattered across the continent. Right now, he's trying to get shards too. He's got quite a few, but so do we. Naraku is personally responsible for the murder of pretty much everyone in my village. You could say I have something of a grudge. Miroku over here…he's cursed. Those beads, holding that piece of cloth over his hand…they're not just for show."

Miroku held out his hand.

"They hide his curse…the Wind Tunnel. It's terrible. It consumes everything…soon, it will consume Miroku as well. The only way to break the curse is for him to kill Naraku."

"Hm. So, that's why you're with Inuyasha and Kagome? You're following them around and helping them out because you know one day you guys are gonna fight Naraku?"

"Basically."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to find Naraku and take him down then and there?"

Sango laughed. "You'd think that, but it's not easy to find Naraku. He's good at hiding."

"Hmph. He's supposed to be that powerful, and he hides, and uses puppets to do his bidding? Sounds like a coward to me. A pathetic coward."

Miroku smirked. "You know, I'm beginning to like you."

Sango smiled. "So, you feel like helping us? I mean, you took out that puppet without even trying. We could use someone like you."

"I don't know…I really should get back to trying to find my…"

Just then, a shadow appeared. Xanthas couldn't see what the shadow was of, but it gave him the chills just looking at it. "Your heart? Is that what you're looking for?"

Xanthas put his hand on the Nothing Blade, ready to draw again.

"Oh, don't be foolish. I don't have your heart. I'm just a messenger."

Sango butted in. "Your…heart? What's going on?"

Xanthas sighed. "My heart…was taken from me. I don't really have emotions right now…even though it may seem like I do. It's just an illusion. I'm remembering emotions that I used to have before it happened."

"It would have to be something powerful, to take your heart. How was it taken?" asked Miroku.

"The Heartless. They take people's hearts, and the people then turn into Heartless themselves. Their bodies and minds are left behind, as what are called Nobodies. Somehow, my conscious self reawakened in my Nobody. Now, I'm looking to find my heart, so I can be whole again."

The shadow laughed. "Yes…about your heart. I know where it is."

"Where is my heart? TELL ME!" Xanthas gripped his blade hilt more firmly.

"I thought it would be obvious. Your heart is in the hands of Naraku."

"It's…here?!"

"Yes, that's what I said, foolish boy. Naraku has your heart."

"Hold it…who are you? Why are you helping me? Or are you just helping him by getting me close to him?"

The shadowy creature chuckled. "I don't really see any reason to answer any of those questions. I've done what I have to do. Now I'm leaving."

He turned his back and was about to walk away, when a voice was heard. It was Inuyasha's. "Sesshomaru, I've got a bone to pick with you!"

Sango and Miroku readied their weapons. If this shadow really was Sesshomaru, Inuyasha might need some help.

"Don't waste your energy, brother. I'm not here to fight you. I'm not here to fight anyone. I was only here to relay some information to Xanthas."

"Xanthas? That guy from earlier? So, he's working with you, is he?!"

"Of course not, fool. I don't 'work' with anyone. I do as I please. Now, I'm leaving. One day, I will kill you. But it won't be today. I have other matters to attend to."

Sesshomaru was walking away when he suddenly saw Xanthas in front of him. He was startled. The kid was fast.

"You're not going anywhere until I get some answers. Why'd you tell me about my heart? How do you know so much about me?"

"If you must know, Naraku knows a little more about what's going on in other worlds than you might think."

"So you got that information from Naraku? Why? What's in it for you?"

Sesshomaru laughed, and pulled back his sleeve discreetly, so that only Xanthas could see. Xanthas saw some stitches. Strangely, he could see that the arm color was slightly different than Sesshomaru's body color.

"This isn't my arm. It's a human arm. Don't ask why I need it. I don't need it yet, but I will. Now, let me be. "I've done what I needed to do."

Xanthas stepped aside, and Sesshomaru began to walk away.

Inuyasha spat. "He's working with Naraku! I knew it! The bastard!"

He began to charge at Sesshomaru, but Kagome grabbed his shoulder. "Not now, Inuyasha. We need to find Naraku. All the Jewel Shards have been collected."

Inuyasha clenched his fist. "So it's time, then?"

"Yeah. C'mon, Sango, Miroku. We gotta go find Naraku. He's the only other one with Jewel Shards."

Sango looked back at Xanthas. "You coming?"

"Oh, I'm coming. If Naraku's got my heart, I'll take him down to get it."

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. He didn't like some new guy helping all of a sudden, but he seemed to have some sort of grudge against Naraku too now. He shook it off. He knew he couldn't hold back a grudge. The same thing happened with Miroku once. He just told himself he'd watch this guy carefully, to make sure nothing bad happened.

"How are we going to track Naraku?" asked Xanthas.

"There's been news of a demon attack on a nearby town. We'll start there. Maybe someone knows something."

"All right, then, let's go."

Xanthas, Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, and Kagome all walked out of the forest, down a path through the hills. They could see a puff of smoke in the distance. Something about it told them that was where they needed to look.