The group of four—now five—were casually walking about the provided dirt path. The newest member blabbering on and on and managing to keep a conversation flowing without too much effort. Of course, there were some that remained silent no matter what she said—Sesshomaru and A-Un.

"The dog was massive! It was as big as a mountain, bigger than Maru-Maru! You've never seen anything like it! Maru-Maru would be a pup compared to him!"

The white-haired male sudden growled, making her freeze in her tracks temporarily with sweat trickling down her face. She was quick to start another round of stories she had, and with the exaggerations she made, it was hard to tell whether they were true or not. She was a traveller that went to many places, but she would never tell them where she would go in those three years.

Strange, but she always did tell tales of what she had seen in this place of hers. Jaken seemed to think her stories were real, and he had a very good judge of character and was basically a truth detector half of the time! Sesshomaru safely assumed that most of them were true, but it was more or less likely that she was exaggerating.

"Well, on another one of my adventures, I met this whale that was twice as big as the mountain we see here! A big warship isn't even the size of its eyes!"

Jaken gaped, "Really? There is a creature like that? Does it have a name?"

"Yep! He's called Laboon, but I call him Boon-Boon!"

Sometimes, her tales were so out of this world that there was no way for it to be real—but the way her eyes light up, it made Sesshomaru believe that she really did see this inhumanly whale on her travels. Still, he had to wonder… Where does she go in those years?

Rin asks, "Do they really exist? They sound so surreal!"

"Of course! I just wish you could see him for yourself someday!"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes.

Interesting… Why would she say something like that?

"Oh, I also met this human that could turn into smoke! He acts a bit like Maru-Maru, but he has a bit of humour!"

Why are all the human she meets male? Sesshomaru wondered to himself. Must she always compare them to me?

"Is that even possible? Are you sure he was human?" Jaken wondered.

"He was human alright! He gained these powers sure, but he couldn't go in any type of water or he would drown to his death!"

The girl asks, "What, why?"

"It's the price he has to pay for gaining his powers. For every good thing, there is always an equal bad thing to counteract it. It's the way of the world, Rin-Rin."

She had probably spent the next hour telling them all the stories she was willing to tell, some of them believable while others were not. Some were so unrealistic that they wanted to see these areas for themselves, but of course, Miho had told them that it would be impossible unless they travelled with her—and she would never allow that.

Eventually, she had stopped with her stories and decided to change the subject. It was something a bit more relevant to why they were travelling in the first place—which was surprising, since she always seemed to know what was going on.

"Anyway, why are you guys travelling?"

Jaken replied, "We're on a hunt for a half-demon called Naraku."

"OK… I don't think I want to know why at the moment. But if he's your enemy, he's my enemy!"

Suddenly, the dog demon stopped in his tracks and spun on his heel. She somehow found herself being face to face with the dog, his body a lot closer than she would've generally liked in any circumstances. Sweat trickled down her face, wondering if she had done something to make him upset—she had no idea what she could've done to cause this kind of reaction from him.

"Why's that?" he asks lowly. "Why make yourself an ally to me?"

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, "As long as my loyalties lies with you, I will always be on your side! Besides, I've been your ally since the first we met, Maru-Maru!"

His glare seemed to dig holes in her head, but she just smiled back at him and waiting for a response. He slowly backed off, and started leading the way again. She watched him for a few seconds, while the rest of them just looked at the lord with confusion before finally following after him.

Well, that's weird… I wonder why he would ask me such a question…

Ah well, doesn't matter!

The group had been travelling down the path for quite some while, and for once, the female demon had not peeped a word and spent the majority of the time humming some random tunes that she apparently heard on one of her journeys.

Of course, that mindful peacefulness had been obliterated the second a loud grumble of Miho's stomach was heard. Haha, to say the least, it was utterly noisy and the male demons couldn't help but think that she hadn't changed at all since the first time they had met. She was practically laughing her head off, at herself too!

"You hungry, Rin-Rin?" she asks the girl. "Because I'm hungry!"

I do not understand why a strong demon like her has to eat, Sesshomaru wondered with a expressionless face. She acts too much like a human.

The little girl placed her hands on her stomach, nodding her head in agreement and looking towards the dog demon. Sesshomaru nodded his head slowly, not having much interest since he was sure that Miho would keep her protected. Besides, it was up to the child whether she was hungry or not, not him.

"Jaken will go with you."

With those last words, he just walked off and left the three of them to hunt for some food. The female demon was first to cheer, running off in the direction of the forest and yelling at them that she could hear water streaming not too far away.

When they had arrived, there was indeed a small river with plenty of fish to catch. Rin quickly pulled up her kimono so it wouldn't get wet, before stepping into the cold water and trying to catch some fish barehanded. Miho was quick to join her, practically splashing water anyway and frustratingly trying to grab a fish by its tail.

As Jaken had expected, it had slipped out of her hand and she was forced to restart her progress all over again. Even from the first time they had met, she had never been one to catch fish well and would often spend an hour trying to catch 10 fishes.

Though, with the help of Rin, there progress wasn't as bad as the times Miho had to do all the food catching for herself. Sometimes, his lord would have to help because she was taking too long—it was hilarious but quite degrading.

"Ha, I caught one!" Miho cheered. "Hey Kin-Kin, why don't you try to catch some too? You have to work to eat you know! Well, unless you don't know how to catch fish…"

"Hmph! Of course I do, you insolent wench! I know a lot more things than that puny brain of yours can hold!"

The small demon proceeded to walk into the stream, his staff left on the ground and stupidly flailing around in the river. He was practically splashing water everywhere, while Rin just effortlessly caught more fish for them all.

Is she a fish god or something? Miho thought obliviously.

"Go Kin-Kin, go! I'm sure you can catch one!"

"Do not insult me, woman!"

Miho continued to cheer for the little imp for a while longer, before stopping and deciding to catch some other meat for their food. She could hear another beast galloping around in the forest, banging a few trees and snorting—a boar for sure.

With those thoughts in mind, she scrounged her way out of the river and dropped what fish she managed to capture into the pile that Rin had caught. The size difference was great, and she was beginning to think that perhaps she should stick to hunting only—fishing was a very difficult task; it required skill and apparently, she didn't have that.

"Kin-Kin, Rin-Rin! I'll be back! I'm going to catch some boar for our feast! Kin-Kin, protect Rin-Rin, OK?"

"Of course! Are you questioning me, woman?"

"Nope! I'll be off then!"

She shook off the heels of her feet from the rain drops, before starting to charge into the forest at her top speed. Though, before she could get very far, someone had grabbed a hold of her wrist and tugged her back—quite hard too. Too hard that she ended up falling backwards as a result, but fortunately, someone had caught her—she was assuming since there was a hand on each shoulder she had.

She easily got back onto her feet, turning around to face her sudden attacker and her apparent saviour. It turned out to be Sesshomaru, who had his usual blank face on—she wondered how he even keeps his face like that, does he even have any emotions in that head of his?

Probably… He's just really good at hiding them…

Unlike me…

"Do you need something, Maru-Maru?"

His eyes flicked for an instant, "Where are you going?"

She grinned, "Like I said, hunting. I won't take too long, and you can always join me if you get bored!"

"You act too much like a human," he simply stated. "I do not sense any demon malice in you anywhere. Why?"

"Huh? Oh that…" she frowned. "Well, as you know, I'm not like other demons. I'm not really one for human bloodshed, and I don't really like hunting down demons either. Sure, I have my own bloodlust, but I have a lot more control over it than others since I don't particularly enjoy blood. Well, I think that's why it ain't as… Prominent…"

"You are too soft."

"Well, being soft has its strong point!" she declared. "Besides, you're getting soft yourself, Maru-Maru!"

He growled, "You are wrong."

"Nah-ah! You have a human traveling with you, and you hate humans! Oh wait, maybe you hit your head on something! Did you get a concussion while I was away, Maru-Maru? Please do not be so, I like you as you are!"

His eyes flashed with what seemed to be anger, seemingly not to be pleased with the mocking sarcasm she had and only receiving laughter as his prize. At this rate, there was not even any point in questioning anymore—she was an odd demon with human attributes, there was nothing more to it.

Well there was, but she wasn't one to talk about such—things that demons normally did. At least there was one thing about her that was demon-like; secretive and mysterious.

"Why do I even try?" he growled. "Nevermind, just leave. I will stay with Rin and Jaken."

"Yes, yes, Lord Fluffy!" she joked with a mock salut. "Bye bye!"

She quickly ran away before the dog demon could kill her for such a degrading nickname, he was wondering why he even dealt with her anymore. She was annoying, disrespectful and the definition of a child—more so than the actual child, Rin! He should've killed her ages ago, so what made him stop all those years ago?

He couldn't remember, and frankly, he didn't care, but at the moment, he wanted to know. He had to know why he didn't kill this volcanic lion all those years ago.

"You know there's no need to hide, I know you're out there. Come on out, will you?... Hello there! I'm Miho, nice to meet you! What's your name?"

That was right. He did not kill her because she was not afraid of his presence. She was not afraid of anything—at least, not anything that he was aware of. She was kind and friendly when they first met, and deep down, he knew that her voice had lured him into a small trap of friendship.

Whether she knew it or not, she had everyone in the palm of her hands. For a demon, she was extremely friendly and he had no doubt that Rin might catch that personality of hers and become just like her.

He hoped not, he didn't need another hyperactive girl to be his companion.

"Food! Food! Food, food, food!"

Or someone that was ridiculously obsessed with food and needed at least five boars to fill her stomach. What kind of woman had such a large appetite? She was far from the definition of a proper lady, or even a woman! If anything, she seemed to turn into a man every day.

The only thing that could be considered a bit feminine was her red hair, it had grown longer over the years and now reached to her mid-back. Since it was so long—and probably a hindrance in fighting—she had tied it in a low ponytail and had it swept over her shoulder.

Though, admittedly, this almost made her look mainly if not for the feminine features on her face—at least she had that going for her…

Why was he even thinking of this to begin with? Such feeble thoughts shouldn't even be there, let alone of whether the she-demon looked like a woman or not!

This woman is doing more harm than good…

"Ne, ne, Maru-Maru!"

She came running in with a dead boar on her shoulders, coming to a quick stop in front of him and smiling widely—she was probably proud of her accomplishment since her fishing skills were awful, even he had to agree with that after seeing her failures over the years.

"Keep watch over the meat for me, yeah? I still need to find more to fill all our stomachs! I'll be back, and don't try to eat any!"

She ran off once more, leaving him with his thoughts again and to care for the food that would feed her and his other two companions.

I should kill off the woman before she becomes nothing more than a nuisance.

And yet, whenever he looked at her and saw those fearless smiles of hers, he couldn't help but want to see more.