A hoard of thieves rode over the country side after their latest pillage. They were still bragging about how much they stole from the village they just destroyed. Their horses thundered along the ground as they rode off into the sunset.

"We should hurry and find shelter, I hear demons come out a night," explained one of the men.

"Ha," scoffed another one. "Demons? We can't afford to be afraid of demons!"

Up ahead, they spotted man standing in the middle of the pathway. His shadowy silhouette from the setting sun hid his face. But it was none other than Sesshomaru. The men slowed their horses as they drew near.

"What's that? A Demon?"

"No, it's just a human. But look at his armor and sword? Let's kill him and take all he has!"

They drew their swords and charged for Sesshomaru. He turned to reveal a huge blue demon claw for a left arm. By the time the men saw this, it was already too late. With one swing, Sesshomaru slashed all the thieves—horses and all! Shiori and Jaken stepped from the tall grasses behind Sesshomaru. Shiori quietly eyed the mess he'd made with the humans and went over the bless them.

"Excellent work my lord!" praised Jaken.

Sesshomaru said nothing as he examined his replacement arm. The weak demon arm was obviously unable to keep up with Sesshomaru's power. Jaken, however, didn't seem to notice this and continued to praise the arm.

"As I expected, that torn arm from that blue demon you killed earlier is very powerful!"

Sesshomaru promptly stepped on Jaken's head, forcing him to the ground.

"Are you blind, Jaken?" he demanded as he ripped off the arm and threw it to the ground. "It's been rendered useless."

"Oh dear, already? That was fast," Jaken marveled while rubbing his head. He checked the detached arm and poked it with his staff.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Shiori gliding over to him. "That arm still has some of Lord Sesshomaru's energy in it. It could be dangerous."

"Oh what do you know?" he asked and continued poking the arm.

As he was about to poke again, the hand suddenly caught Jaken in its grasp. He panicked as it began to constrict his tiny body in an attempt to kill him. After much struggling, he finally broke free of the arm just in time to watch it disintegrate.

"Apparently nothing," she said slyly.

"Go find me a more suitable demon and bring me back his arm," he said sharply to Jaken, "know that if you don't, I will have to kill you."

"Eck!" gulped Jaken. "I should've just listened to mother and became a ferryman. That damn Inuyasha! This is all his fault! Even though it's been a while since he chopped off Lord Sesshomaru's arm and stole tessaiga he's still suffering from the effects!"

Sesshomaru stared into the setting sun. He knew it was useless to attach a new arm because it would only be temporary. His demonic aura was so powerful and pure, that it destroyed any of his replacement arms. It was pointless.

"It appears you're in a bit of a fix," said a dark voice from behind them. All 3 turned to find a man in a white baboon cloak sitting before them. Jaken ducked behind Sesshomaru. How had he gotten so close without being detected by any of them? He gave Shiori a sinister vibe…..

"If I'm not mistaken, you are the older brother of Inuyasha, are you not?"

"And what do you want?" Sesshomaru casually asked. "Should I know you?" He didn't like the scent or aura he was picking up from this guy either.

"I am someone, like yourself, who despises Inuyasha," the man said. "Forgive me, but I happened to overhear your conversation right now. Perhaps I can be of assistance."

He held out a human arm before Sesshomaru. "Please, make use of this arm my lord."

"What?" Jaken freaked. "That's a human arm! Don't insult Lord Sesshomaru in that way! How can that be of any help?"

The man nodded, "Yes, it's true this arm did belong to a human. But it has a shikon fragment embedded into it."

"A shard of the shikon jewel?" Shiori inquired. "No good can ever come from using those tainted things. Just what is he up to?"

"If you use this human arm with the jewel shard, you'll be able to use Inuyasha's tessaiga as your own. I've heard that tessaiga is a sword that protects humans, so naturally a demon such as you would be unable to touch the sword."

"Tessaiga protects humans? Could that be why that human girl was the one to draw tessaiga?" Shiori wondered.

"You mentioned something about your hatred for Inuyasha; tell me, do you plan on using me to extract your revenge?" Sesshomaru question the baboon man.

"Yes," he said frankly, "I do."

"What! How dare you!" fussed Jaken.

Sesshomaru ignored him, "hmm, sounds interesting. Alright, I'll take the arm."

"What?" said a surprised Jaken. Shiori was also surprised at Sesshomaru's newfound alliance.

"Oh, and one more thing," said the man darkly, "take this hive with you. It should prove to be very useful."

He took the hive and handed it to Shiori, then took the human arm and attached it to his body. Shiori looked over the strange hive. Just what kind of insects did it belong to?

"I should know the name of the one I make a pact with," Sesshomaru demanded.

"My apologies," the man said dryly, "I'm called Naraku."

"Very well Naraku," Sesshomaru calmly stated, "you have yourself a deal."

…..

"Ah, I'm so glad we don't have to camp outside for the night!" Kagome sang happily. She was enjoying a bowl of rice with Inuyasha in a nice mansion.

Inuyasha growled, "Oh, well excuse me for having you stay outside all the time!"

"Touchy isn't he?" she commented.

"I think he's just mad because the entire thing was Miroku's idea," said a little fox demon named Shippo.

Shippo was 1 of their 2 newest travelling companions. They met him while battling 2 evil demon brothers, and he's stayed with them ever since. Miroku, their newest companion, was a wandering monk. He traveled the countryside exorcising demons from human villages. He was different from other monks; he bore the curse of the wind tunnel in his right hand. His wind tunnel could practically suck anything inside and had its uses. However, each year it would become bigger and eventually swallow him whole. Just as his grandfather and father before him were sucked into theirs. The only way to stop the wind tunnel cycle is to kill the one who gave them the curse, the evil Naraku.

"Now then, shall we have a good rest?" said Miroku cheerfully as he stepped into the room.

Inuyasha stared at him, "there's something I don't understand about your powers."

"Yes?'

"How is it that whenever we need a place to sleep, we always end up finding the biggest mansion in the area which also happens to have an ominous cloud over it?" He interrogated Miroku.

"Ah, you've noticed that? Well they say a falsehood is sometimes the expedite path." He said frankly.

"Wha-" Inuyasha looked at Miroku in shock. He couldn't believe he'd just said that. "You're even more twisted than I thought!"

"I had a feeling it was a lie,"Kagome thought to herself. "Huh? Is that….."

She stood up and look towards the door. She sensed a jewel shard—it was coming this way! Only Kagome had the ability to sense the shards. She alerted Inuyasha and Miroku who were still going on about Miroku's fake exorcisms.

"I sense the shard of the shikon jewel," she announced, "And I also sense an evil coming this way."

"What?" exclaimed both Inuyasha and Miroku.

All of them rushed outside to see a giant demon headed straight for them. Inuyasha and Kagome recognized this demon as one of Sesshomaru's minions. Sesshomaru revealed himself to be sitting on the head of the demon, smirking down on them all. Shiori, who looked completely uninterested in what was going on, sat by his side. Jaken stood behind them both.

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha said with contempt. He eyed Shiori. "And her again."

Everyone stared as Sesshomaru extracted his poison claw and jumped down from the giant demon. He nearly struck Inuyasha, who managed to dodge it in time, and spread poisonous cloud throughout the air. Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo ran for cover. Once the cloud cleared, a large crater in the ground was revealed.

"As usual you're slow to react, little brother," Sesshomaru ridiculed.

"What the hell do you want now!" demanded Inuyasha.

"I'm here for the tessaiga of course,"

"Still haven't given up on it, huh?"

Sesshomaru calmly looked at Inuyasha, "draw your sword Inuyasha. Or will you surrender it now without the need for a battle?"

"Ha," Inuyasha scorned, "No chance! This time I'll cut off more than just your arm!"

With that, Inuyasha charged into battle with Sesshomaru.

"They know one another?" Miroku asked Kagome.

"That's his older brother. But he isn't a half demon like Inuyasha, he's the real thing." She began thinking to herself, "Last time he wasn't even able to touch the tessaiga, so why would that have changed now?"

"Who's that?" he asked pointing to Shiori.

Kagome looked, "Her name's Shiori. Other than that, I don't know that much about her. She was there when we first encountered Sesshomaru, but then suddenly disappeared. When we came back from claiming tessaiga, she appeared again."

"Is she also a half demon?" he asked.

"No," she said shaking her head. "Based on a comment she made to Inuyasha about him being just a half demon, I'd say she was a full fledge demon. Besides, Sesshomaru hates humans and half demons alike. He'd never associate with her."

"Strange, I'm sensing a strong demonic aura from her, yet I'm also sensing strong spiritual power. This time of power usually belongs only to a priest or priestess. Why is that?" Miroku thought.

Shiori watched from the demon's head as Inuyasha carelessly swung his tessaiga around, missing Sesshomaru ever time. Sesshomaru mocked him for not being able to unlock its full power. Apparently, Sesshomaru knew how to use the sword in ways his brother didn't. She glanced down at the hive they were given by Naraku. When would be the time to use it?

"Did we really have to make such a grand entrance?" she grumbled. She hated having so much attention drawn to them. After all, she was sitting in the sky!

"Yes, of course we did! Lord Sesshomaru deserves a grand entrance," Jaken proclaimed. "Besides, he must make an example of that half vermin."

She rolled her eyes. Shiori wasn't talking to him, she was only thinking out loud. As if Jaken needed another excuse to praise Sesshomaru's greatness.

"Shiori, I'm surprised you're still here. I thought you would've been attack by human emotions and run off, like the last time."

She tried to ignore him, but he kept talking.

"Especially the way you reacted to hearing that flute. That was priceless!" his laughter soon fell short when he realized she was giving him an icy glare.

"I …told you…never…to bring…that up…" she coolly as she scowled at Jaken. Jaken yelped and ducked under the demon's hair for cover.

Shiori turned her attention to the burning village. Most of the villagers had already fled—taking their emotions with them. Shiori would be fine. She wouldn't have to distance herself this time.

"Gah," Inuyasha cried in pain.

Shiori looked back to the battle. Sesshomaru had Inuyasha by his left hand and was poisoning him. He was trying to force Inuyasha into letting go of tessaiga. Inuyasha refused to back down and forced Sesshomaru back with his sword. His friends stared in awe as he overpowered his older brother. Their cheers soon turned to cries as Sesshomaru used his energy whip to knock tessaiga from Inuyasha's hand. He then glided towards it and gracefully picked up the sword.

"What?" Inuyasha said with shock. "That's impossible!"

"Now Inuyasha, I'll show you the real power of tessaiga." he stated. "Jaken do it now."

"Yes my lord," said Jaken popping out of the demon's hair. "Go forth!" He commanded the huge demon. The demon obeyed and struck down on a nearby mountainside. The plan was to shake up the demons they gathered their earlier. It worked and about a hundred demons came spewing out.

"Now watch as I slay a hundred demons with just 1 swing," said a cocky Sesshomaru.

He instantly took tessaiga and swung it with such force that not only were the demons destroyed, but most of the mountain was as well. Everyone stared at the now leveled mountain. Things weren't looking good at all.

"And now, it is your turn Inuyasha. Your blood will be stained on tessaiga's blade," he flatly stated.

"No," cried Kagome as she rushed in front of Inuyasha. She was attempting to shield him. "Stop this!"

"You're the human girl from last time," he calmly stated. "Isn't that lovely? You want to die together."

"Eh?" shrieked Kagome.

"Get back, Kagome," ordered Inuyasha.

Miroku had also stepped up, "I can stand this no longer. Both of you get behind me, now!"

"Hey! Move Miroku! I wanna stand in front!" complained Inuyasha.

"Don't be such a stubborn mule!" Miroku shot back.

Sesshomaru observed the bickering Inuyasha and Miroku, "That monk…"

Shiori was also staring at Miroku. She remembered something Naraku told them if they encountered Inuyasha's monk companion.

"Traveling with Inuyasha, will be a young Monk. He may prove to be even more troublesome than the Inuyasha. Should you have issues with him, use this hive."

It was true, she could sense spiritual power from the monk, but it wasn't nearly enough to destroy them. Then, Shiori eyed the dangling rosary beads from his right hand.

"Rosary beads, on his hand? I don't like the looks of this at all. Something's about to happen."

"Lord Sesshomaru! Save your strength! Allow me to take care of this lowly monk!" bellowed Jaken.

"Very well, I shall observe," approved Sesshomaru.

"I'm gonna make you into mince meat!" shouted Jaken as he commanded the demon to squish them with its hand.

Miroku took the rosary beads from his hand and unleashed his wind tunnel on the giant demon.

"Wind tunnel!" he shouted.

"Ah!" gasped Shiori.

Shiori pulled Jaken by the collar and managed to jump off the demon's back a second before Miroku opened the wind tunnel. They landed off to the side, out of his wind tunnel's treacherous path. The wind, and everything it could carry, became sucked in. An alarmed Sesshomaru jumped back, anchored tessaiga into the ground, and held onto it.

"His right hand…it's some kind of vortex," Shiori thought to herself. She looked to the hive she was holding onto. "I figured there was something odd about him carrying those rosary beads. They kept it closed. I suppose now is as good time to use it. How cunning that Naraku is."

She threw the hive at the wind tunnel and out flew hundreds of insects. They didn't even wait to be suck up by Miroku's wind tunnel, they straight into it.

"Insects?" said a puzzled Miroku. "Where did they come from, why are they flying in?"

Shippo looked over at Shiori. "It was her, she did it!"

Miroku suddenly closed up his wind tunnel and wrapped his fist in his rosary beads. The giant demon fell dead. Miroku was in pain. The insects he sucked in had poisoned his body. Sesshomaru and Shiori watched everything in amazement.

"Well, that was an interesting show," he said while pulling tessaiga from the ground, "but now it's time for you to die."

Inuyasha clamped on to his bloody wound he recieved when Sesshomaru tried to melt his arm.

"I don't think so!" he yelled. "Blades of blood!"

He fired his hardened blood at Sesshomaru, who blocked the attack. But the attack distracted him long enough for Inuyasha to drag Miroku behind the dead demon's giant body. Miroku was badly injured by the poison and couldn't even walk.

"It's useless to hide!" bellowed an angered Sesshomaru. "Die!"

He swung tessaiga and obliterated the giant demon's body. Nothing was left but rotting chunks of flesh. Sesshomaru appeared to have won.

"I won't die that easily!" Inuyasha sprung from the flesh toward Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru moved to strike, but Inuyasha blocked his attack with tessaiga's sheath.

"Huh, he's using the sheath as a shield?" Sesshomaru thought. "That won't hold up against me much longer!"

Shiori and Jaken, in the meantime, made their way over to the scarps of dead demon. Shiori was disgusted by the chunks of flesh discarded on the ground. Such recklessness. She said a small prayer for the dead demon's soul.

"Why must you always do that?" asked Jaken.

"Someone's got to respect the fallen," she responded.

She heard a noise behind her, and saw Miroku and Shippo climbing from the flesh. The sheath protected them as well. Miroku crawled over to them.

"You're still alive?" she asked Miroku.

"Perhaps you'd like to explain something to me," he began, "how is it we've never met, yet you seem to have specifically brought those insects for me."

"You don't have the right to know such things, you bastard!" spat Jaken.

Miroku grabbed Jaken and beat him over the head several times. Shiori knelt down to be at eye level with Miroku. He instantly stopped beating Jaken and stared at her.

"Aren't monks suppose to be non violent? What a contradiction you are," she calmly joked.

"You," he marveled at her beauty before gaining his composure again, "I want answers now! Where did you get that nest?"

"From a man in a white baboon cloak, apparently he despises Inuyasha. He said you'd be travelling with him and to use it against you," she told him.

"What? Then that means this guy's been following us around?" He thought.

"Who is this man? Tell me his name?"

"His said his name was Naraku," she could feel the fear elevating in both Miroku and Shippo. They were well aware of Naraku.

"Where has he gone?" Miroku demanded to know.

Shiori shrugged, "I've no idea. But I wouldn't be too concerned about that right now, I'd be more concerned about that poison spreading in your body."

Miroku sunk down. He'd almost forgotten about the poison he sucked in from the insects. Shiori stood back up and faced the battle. Sesshomaru's face was bleeding and tessaiga had been returned to its original form.

"Shiori!" yelled a voice from behind her. It was Kagome; she was running towards them with medicine for Miroku. She stood in front of the dying Miroku and stared Shiori down. She had a bow and arrow ready to fire at Shiori. Shiori noted that she had a lot more courage than the last time. "Get away from my friends!"

"Kagome, was it?" she asked bleakly. "Interesting, I had no idea we were already on a first name basin. Especially since this is our first time exchanging words."

"Eh," Kagome's face dropped a little bit. She was unsure of how to react to that. "Get back!"

"I'm afraid you'll need something stronger than a sacred arrow if you want to purify me," said Shiori.

"Uh, sacred arrow?" Kagome was puzzled. "What's she talking about?"

Shiori could see that Kagome was confused. Didn't this girl know of her own spiritual power? Although she wasn't fully paying attention to the battle, she knew Kagome's arrow was what reverted tessaiga back to katana form. But she wasn't even aware it was a sacred that she fired. Shiori was initially alarmed by the power she sensed in Kagome. But it seemed the power she sensed was dormant. It was as good as useless if she didn't know how to utilize it.

"Kagome, being the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo, naturally has some of her power." Miroku thought. "This woman was also able to sense something about her."

"You can't possibly purify me," Shiori stated.

"Is that because you're half tennin and can't be purified by normal means?" asked Miroku.

Shiori looked down at Miroku in anger. Kagome and Shippo tried not to show any fear. This girl's glare was scarier to them than Sesshomaru was. Jaken too lived in fear of Shiori's glare. Miroku, however, was unphased.

"Judging by your reaction, I'd say I was correct. You are half tennin," he said with satisfactory.

"Well aren't you a clever one, monk," she said sarcastically. "Of course someone with a religious background such as yours should be able to figure that out."

"Tennin? What's that?" asked Kagome.

"It's a celestial demon, possibly the closest to an angel as a demon can be. They live in a land where the air is completely purified, known as the sacred lands. Tennin are the only demons with spiritual power and don't emit any demonic aura from their body."

Miroku coughed, but continued talking, "That's why I was confused when I sensed spiritual energy from you yet I also sensed a demonic aura. That could only be possible if you were a human possessed by a demon, or demon of with half tennin origin. Once I took note of your physical appearance, I knew it was the latter option. Tennin are described as beings with white hair and lilac eyes."

Kagome knelt down to give him some medicine. She looked back to Shiori, who seemed to soften her gaze. She examined her dark hair and violet eyes.

"I knew I could sense something strange about her. She doesn't really match the physical description of a tennin. Instead of lilac eyes, she has violet. Instead of white hair, she has black. She must look like a combination of both her parents."

"What I haven't figured is your other half of origin. I'm sensing a very powerful demonic aura from you. What are you?" Miroku asked.

He was gaining his strength back thanks to Kagome's modern medicine. He was able to sit up a little more. From the ground, Shiori appeared to be looming down at him.

"So, you want to know?" she questioned. "I, Shiori, am the daughter of a tennin and shinigami."