OMG I NEED FUNIONS! But for now I will settle for hot Cheeto fries. Moving on. I'm sick oh ignoring the lol so I'm ganna start using it. A.T.

Dylan looked to Mai's stomach and laughed.

" Let's stop for the night. Besides any longer and Mai's stomach will attack."

" Damn right it will!"

Mai dropped herself by tree.

" Oh thank goth! My legs have been jellyfied. lol."

Miroku looked to Mai.

" Why do you say that?"

" What? Goth? Cause I don't refer to god. So as not to insult people, I say goth. Besides that's what I am."

" So what's a goth?"

Mai sweat-dropped while his question drew the others attention.

' This is just sad.'

Dylan Shook his head.

" It's the Feudal Era Mai. Goth wasn't even thought of yet. It means a dark person."

" NAIVE! That is a lie! Let me clarify first by saying that is SO not it and you mean personality. Goth is based off a type of music that appeals to

people with a darkish personality or blah. Although over the years it's watered down... Sigh... like everything else good in life. Anyway, I myself am

a goth but being so doesn't really mean you have to have a super dark personality or be depressed or any of that noise. It's a style of life and

things like that. But in the end, it's all just a label."

Mai takes a sip of water that Kagome gave her then looks at all the confused faces.

" I lost you didn't I..."

*Group Nod*

Dylan smiled at Mai and all her oddness.

" If only you held that that much enthusiasm for school. Especially math."

She shot him a blank look.

" Oh yeah, ha ha real funny."

" So what are these jewel shards you're looking for exactly." Kagome went into a full explanation. ( To which my ass is WAY to lazy to type. MEH!)

Mai + Dylan: Wow.

Mai pulled her hair up into a high ponytail then wrapped it into a large messy bun.

" Sounds like a hell of a woman."

Inuyasha went on to explain about Kikyo and what Naraku did. Dylan questioned how it returned after all this time.

" Through Kagome. She's Kikyo's reincarnation."

" Cool... but complicated." Mai spoke but was muffled by the huge bites of apple in her mouth.

" That's why we journey around looking for the shards and try to keep Naraku from getting them. He has almost all of them."

" Sooo... bad guy right?"

" Pretty much."

Dylan took a bite of his orange.

" How did the jewel break into shards?"

Kagome explained, but when she got to the part about how it actually broke she because embarrassed.

" LOL! If it was me that birdy would have been lunch."

Mai smirked while rubbing her still half empty belly. She's like a freaking cow, multiple stomachs.

" Eew. It was a demon Mai! That's nasty!"

" Still a bird."

Mai finished her apple then moved on to a bag of Funions!

" The key, dear brother, is to not. be. picky."

" Well I came prepared with plenty of food so no need to worry about her eating strange things Dylan."

" That's never stopped her before. Oh by the way Kagome, could you teach me how to cook?"

" Sure. What about Mai?"

" I can cook pretty well, I just have no problem surviving off a twig. Thanks though."

" This actually works out well then. I tutor you and Mai, and you teach me to cook. I'd have asked Mai already but the Madame wouldn't let Mai

anywhere near the kitchen."

" HEY! I said I wasn't the one who put the can in the over! It was stupid Tom! That jerk..."

Dylan rolled his eyes. He knew she didn't because he saw Tom do it right after Mai walked out of said kitchen after getting a juice. But of course

no one listened.

" Besides, Mai's good with survival skills. One time she disappeared for a few days, having the whole orphanage in an uproar looking for her.

Turns out she was in a cave a half a mile away, and she disappeared because she stole all the cookies."

" lol I'm not sure what that really had to do with survival considering I basically lived off those things, but It showed my thieving skills. She didn't

even notice i had taken them until After the whole thing. Though in the end the old hag made me clean her office for a month. I think what you're

thinking of is the camping trip Dyl. That's when I wondered off for a couple days. lol I had Madame in such a panic, and I was only a couple yards

away."

" Oh yeah. That was funny. She was star gazing that night she was gone. Where we live you can't really see then at all."

Dylan looked up to the night sky, then his jaw dropped.

" Oh wow. Mai, you're ganna love this. Look up."

Mai aimed her gaze to the sky. The face she had was of sheer amazement, so much so that it looked like she was ganna cry. She slowly stood.

" Oh my goth..."

Kagome and the others looked up as well.

" I keep forgetting we can't see this where we live with all the lights."

Miroku shrugged. " We're used to it but it does look incredible."

Mai didn't hardly notice the tears spilling from her eyes.

" We're ganna get to see this every time we come here with Kagome. Especially with vacation coming up next month."

Mai wiped away the tears before they were noticed.

"It's not possible to really get used to something as beautiful as this."

Mai leaned against the tree, slowly sitting against it and falling asleep, never once turning her head from the sky.

Shippo sat next to her.

" Wow. She fell asleep quick."

" Yeah she does when she's looking at the sky, day or night. It's getting late. Let's try to get some sleep... night."

Dylan yawned as he laid down in the soft grass.

*Early Morning*

Mai was sneaking around, trying to catch a frog she had her eye on for a little prank. She caught it just as Shippo awoke.

" What are you doing?"

Shippo rubbed the sleep from his eyes as Mai shushed him. She snuck over to Inuyasha and laid the frog on his head.

" This'll be good..."

She whispered to herself as she stood straight.

" Good morning guys. Wakey Wakey. We've got walkin' to do."

Dylan yawned, but froze when he saw what Mai did.

" Um... Inuyasha..."

Everyone else was trying, and failing, to hold in the laughs.

Inuyasha yawned as well, then he noticed the others as they let loose a flurry of laughter.

" What?"

RIBBIT.

Inuyasha freaks out instantly, causing Mai and the others to loose control. The all fell over laughing.

" Aww. Inu has a new friend."

Mai was holding her sides.

" Get Off!"

The frog hopped away into the forest while he turned to the group.

" Who put that thing on my head?"

Dylan was still fighting giggles.

" Calm down Inuyasha. It was funny. Not saying it was me, but we all had a good laugh about it."

Mai trying her best to breath.

" Except... for the frog! LOL! It was scared shitless!"

Inuyasha glared at Mai as she composed her self and gave an innocent smile.

" Not buyin' it Mai."

" Oh fine. Guilty as charged."

Dylan didn't even have to guess. Miroku looked up to see smoke coming up over he tree line.

" I see smoke."

Kagome looked in the same direction.

" Hey Inuyasha, is that a town ahead?"

He jumped up into the trees for a better look.

" Yeah."

He jumped back down to rejoin the others.

Mai jumped in joy.

" Yes! Town means bath. Bath means CLEAN! Let's go!"

" Mai, smoke isn't a good thing." ' But a bath does sound good.'

Dylan was in his own thoughts till Mai started walking. " Never know."

*Town*

They arrived only to find the town in burnt ruins. Mai walked forward a ways.

" What the hell happened?"

Miroku cautiously walked to a burnt structure.

" This isn't good, the damage is fresh."

Mai looked around till she noticed prints on the ground. She kneeled down and inspected them closely.

" Mai?"

" What ever caused this isn't human."

Inuyasha sniffed the air as Mai pulled a bat from her bag, following the tracks.

" Mai get back here!"

Inuyasha followed after Mai. Dylan and the others turned and immediately began to follow.

" Mai!" ' Damn it. Why do you always run towards the danger?'

Mai ran for a minute before she came to a sudden stop, the others right behind her.

Inuyasha stopped directly behind her.

" What?"

Mai's grip on the bat tightened as a huge, black shadow dog with blazing red eyes came out from the shadows. Shippo clung to Kagome and was

slightly shaking.

" What is that?"

The demon dog kept it's eyes on Mai as Mai spoke, also keeping her eyes on the creature.

" It's what did this."

Mai stood stone still as she watched the blood drip from the creatures lips.

" You have a familiar scent."

A deep raspy voice came from the creature in front of Mai.

" You sick bastard."

Mai raised her bat a little higher as her eyes and face where unreadable.

Dylan looked around for a weapon while Mai and the dog had a stare down.

' This demon seems... so familiar, but I've never seem it before...'

The demon shifted its weight slightly.

" So, you have returned."

Mai was confused but didn't show it.

" The queen will be most pleased."

With that, it turned and disappeared into the shadows.

" HEY! Get back here!"

Mai tried to take off after it but Inuyasha grabbed a hold of her and held her tight.

" Let me go!"

" No! You can't go after it!"

" Why not?"

Dylan came a step closer.

" What did it mean be she returned? And what queen?"

Kagome stood by him with Shippo still clinging to her.

" Is it possible Mai is a reincarnation of someone? Maybe a princess?"

" A princess?"

Shippo and the others looked to Mai who was still being held by Inuyasha. Miroku looked to Mai in thought.

" Yes. The demon did seem to know you. I wounder if that's why it didn't attack her once it saw her."

Songo stood beside Miroku, also in thought.

" It's possible. But I've never heard of human royalty controlling demons."

" I'm not sure about that part about being human."

Everyone looked at Mai who now stood still in Inuyasha's grasp with her gaze and bat aimed to the ground.

"There's something I've never shown anyone."

She stepped away from Inuyasha and turned to the others with her left hand lifted to chest level, a ways from her body. It became engulfed in a

purple flame.

" You know Dyl, how I became an orphan? It was all over the news... remember?"

" Um... I remember seeing an apartment complex burning. It was you? Because of that?"

He and the others had their eyes on the flame.

" Many people were killed. But no one really knows what happened. Some guys were trying to rob us... and my dad was killed trying to fight them

off, and they raped and killed my mom in front of me. I was still really little then. They came after me next. When they got too close, I blacked out.

All I remember is a flash of light, and their bodies in ashes at my feet. The apartment was burnt and on fire, as well as some walls that were

broken down. I passed out. I only remember waking in a hospital after that. I ran away at night and lived on the streets for a few years before I

got caught shop lifting. They took me to the orphanage then, and I was around 8 years old. When I sat alone in my room, this flame would start

appearing in my hands. I didn't come out of my room till I got some control over it, enough to hide it from everyone else."

" I wounder what it means."

" I don't know. I was adopted by those people, so it could mean anything."

" You were? I though those were your real parents." ' Mai's more like me than I ever realized.'

Inuyasha stepped a little closer to Mai and the flame still blazing in her hand.

" Hm. So, this power emerged when you were in danger? It could prove useful on our journey since you say you can control it, unlike Dylan."

" Inuyasha! How rude! SIT!"

CRASH.

" In a way, he's right. What good am I?"

" I'm more dangerous than useful. And don't think like that Dylan. I can't really control it that well so I refuse to use it. A lot of shit happened to me

and I still never used it. If anyone found out, they'd use me for it."

Kagome nodded in understanding.

" I see. You're definitely a target then."

Dylan suddenly became worried.

" You mean Naraku will come after her?"

Miroku stepped towards Dylan.

" He'll probably send Kagura or one of his other incarnations after her."

" Incarnations?"

Kagome once again took up explaining things.

" Oh. So that's why you're after him. The jewel shards make him stronger and harder to defeat."

Mai extinguished the flame.

" Well damn."

Miroku looked directly at Mai.

" And anything that can make him more powerful, he goes after it."

" So he'll be after me."

Inuyasha laid a hand on her shoulder.

" Exactly. So we can't let him get you."

" Great. Now I'm basically being babysat."

" Unless you don't use your powers in front of him."

Inuyasha turned to Dylan.

" That would work, if he didn't have the saimyosho."

Mai shot him a dumb look.

" Ok you lost me..."

" Naraku's poisonous insects." Songo looked around as she said this.

Mai's face went blank.

" Oh ok. So I just won't use it ever."

Inuyasha turned his gaze back to her.

" Well if the insects aren't around then you can."

Dylan looked at Mai.

" So why didn't you tell me about your gift Mai? Were you ever ganna tell me?"

" Look, I didn't want to repeat my past, plus you know kids at the orphanage eavesdrop. I couldn't risk it or put you in danger."

" I understand but what about outside? You could have told me then."

" After the accident I was being watched. The government found it strange that that explosion came from my apartment, yet the bodies were

turned to ash and I was mostly unharmed. Even when I ran away I was watched, but they had no definite proof so they couldn't do anything to

me. Here in Japan, they have no jurisdiction, also I'll be 18 soon enough and I won't have to go back to that Orphanage, and I could adopt you

legally as my brother and get you out. Although it's the government... they'll find a way to find me. I'm not safe anywhere."