A/N: Greetings, friends. Oof, I haven't updated anything in so long, but I just got back into Inuyasha and this damn plot bunny has been bouncing around in my head for a while now... So I had to get it out. I'm still not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but I will tell you that I'll usually be basing each chapter around a specific episode. Also, I'm aware that this premise might seem a bit overused... but I couldn't help myself. There, I said it. And I apologize if the 'flow' isn't quite right... I haven't really written anything other than school stuff for a while now... Alright, on with chapter 1!

Chapter 1: Enter Daitan!/Cursed Ink of the Hell-Painter

Daitan narrowed brown eyes at Kagome from behind a tree as the girl cheerily waved goodbye to her family, a large yellow pack slung over her shoulder. They were lying… Kagome isn't sick - she's been going somewhere! She watched Kagome's family shut the door, and Daitan quietly followed the fifteen-year-old as she opened the door to the old wellhouse. It's got Kagome's scent all over it… and some other scent that I don't recognize - a hanyou's!

The older girl's eyes widened as she witnessed Kagome start to climb into the well, completely void of hesitation, and Daitan's body moved before she could think.

"Kagome, wait!" she shouted, leaping with almost inhuman speed toward the well. She saw Kagome's head whip around in shock as Daitan grabbed onto her hand. Unfortunately, the momentum didn't allow Daitan to regain her footing, and so she fell with Kagome down the well. But when she gripped tightly onto her friend with both arms, orienting herself to break Kagome's fall… nothing happened.

Instead, tiny lights twinkled and shimmered around them, and for the first time in a very long time, Daitan was speechless. Dumbfounded. Then, she felt her sneaker-clad feet gently touch the ground, still carrying Kagome. The air smelled very noticeably more fresh, and upon looking up, Daitan could see a clear blue sky.

"Wha- Why were you following me, Daitan!?" shrieked Kagome after a couple moments of stunned silence. Daitan glanced over at Kagome.

"Your parents say that you're sick all the time, and I got worried! But then whenever I came to visit, they would lie and say that you couldn't take visitors… But you were never at home. So you've been coming here all this time? ...Wherever here is…?"

Kagome looked like she was about to explode, but Daitan cut her off.

"Listen, could we get out of this well first? Then you can shout at me all you want."

The younger girl huffed, but agreed grudgingly, stepping up onto Daitan's clasped hands so that she could give her a boost.

Once the two were out of the well though, all hell broke loose.

"What were you doing stalking me like that!? Don't you realize how creepy that is!? I don't care if you're my friend, that's just not right!" Kagome shouted, and Daitan sat against the edge of the well with a somewhat frustrated expression.

"Listen, I only followed you because I was worried that you were in some kind of trouble! Hell, your family was lying for you about where you were, and all this time, everyone thinks that you're always sick, when you've actually been coming here? I mean… what is this place, anyway?" asked Daitan, looking around at the grass and trees around her. It was as if Tokyo had completely vanished off the map. Daitan couldn't smell a single whiff of exhaust… just nature.

Kagome went a bit quiet for a moment, then began again in a much more subdued tone.

"A little while ago, I found out that the well at Higurashi Shrine was actually a portal… to around five hundred years in the past… this is the Feudal Era right now, and there's something I have to do here, so I've been lying and saying that I've been sick. There, are you happy now?"

Daitan let out a little 'hmm' and closed her eyes, crossing her arms in contemplation.

"Well… if you have something you need to do here, and you absolutely cannot avoid it… I'm coming with you!"

"What? No way! It's dangerous here! There are samurai and bandits, not to mention that youkai are real here! It's too dangerous!" argued Kagome, and Daitan almost let out a little snicker at Kagome's mention that 'youkai are real'. Kagome really didn't know the half of it, actually. Standing up straight, Daitan grinned.

"Come on, too dangerous for me? I can handle myself - you, on the other hand, are way younger than me, and you've obviously been doing this for a while now! I'm coming with; you're my friend, Kagome, and I want to keep you safe!"

"Did you not hear me when is said that there are actual, dangerous youkai here…?" muttered Kagome, but Daitan wouldn't hear it.

"All the better that I'm here now! More people means more protection." she said, and Kagome finally gave out.

"Oh… fine! But you'll have to meet my friends first… though I'm not so sure how they'll take the news that you'll be coming with us…"

"I'm sure it'll be fine." said Daitan, an easy smile spreading across her face as she and Kagome began to make their way down the grassy hill and toward the small village of Edo. Along the way, Kagome filled in Daitan about the missions to retrieve all of the Shikon Jewel Shards.

When the two girls the edge of the village, Daitan heard a few children and adults cry out in delight.

"Kagome's back!"

"Who is that with her? Some new ally of hers, perhaps!"

"She's wearing odd clothes like Kagome…"

"Maybe she has spiritual powers as well!"

Daitan chuckled a little, looking down at her plain grey t-shirt, black capris with a tied cloth belt, and red sneakers. She supposed that her clothing would be pretty odd compared to the old kimonos of the Feudal Era. As for spiritual powers… they couldn't be further from the truth.

When the two approached one building in particular, a boy with white hair and wearing bright red robes burst through the doorway. Daitan noticed the little dog ears on top of his head. He was obviously the source of the hanyou scent in the wellhouse back at Higurashi Shrine.

"Kagome, what took you so long!? And who the hell is this!?" he barked, glaring at Daitan. Kagome opened her mouth to answer, but Daitan beat her to it.

"The name's Daitan, little boy, here to help." she said with a lazy smile.

"Hey, who're you calling little boy?!" he growled, and looked as if he were about to tackle her, until Kagome spoke up.

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

The boy, Inuyasha, immediately crashed to the ground, and three others exited the building, a young man dressed in a monk's robes, and a small boy with a fluffy fox tail, pointed ears, and tiny fangs. Inuyasha, huh? Where have I heard that name before…?

"Kagome, I'd figured you'd returned, judging by how fast Inuyasha bolted out of the room - oh, and who is this?" asked the monk, turning to Daitan.

"She smells kinda weird…" remarked the small boy, and Daitan smirked a little.

"That's kinda rude, you know - I think I smell just fine! Anyway, I'm Daitan, a friend of Kagome's from her time! Nice to meet you."

The monk gave her a soft smile and gestured to the tiny youkai child.

"This is Shippo, I am Miroku, and-" he knelt down in front of Daitan, taking her hand in both of his and giving her a blinding smile. Daitan raised an amused eyebrow, but Kagome and Shippo collectively groaned, while Inuyasha still lay prone on the ground.

"I would be honored if you would… bear my child!" finished Miroku, and Daitan burst out laughing.

"Hahah! Well you are pretty cute, I'll give you that, but I'm not looking to have any kids just yet! Besides, my dad can and will tear you to shreds, time travel be damned, so I'll have to give you a no!"

Miroku quickly turned a funny shade of green and stood up straight, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"He says that to all the girls - even though he's a monk, he's also a womanizer." stated Kagome, giving Miroku a deadpan stare. The monk in question laughed nervously, backing away. Meanwhile, Inuyasha had started to get up from his place on the ground.

"Ugh… why are you here, anyway? I thought only Kagome and I could go through the well."

"She just jumped in after me after stalking me!" accused Kagome, and Daitan just sighed.

"I was worried about you! What if you were in trouble, huh? And now that I know you've been coming here, there's no way I'd let you out of my sight now! Besides, I'd say that I'm a pretty dab hand with a katana, so I can protect you while we're on the hunt for these Shikon Jewel Shards!" she said, and Inuyasha growled.

"Feh! A little weakling like you? These are youkai we're talking about; I can tell that you don't even have any spiritual powers, you'd be devoured in seconds!"

"Oh, are you picking a fight with me? I'd be delighted to wipe the floor with your ass!" Daitan grinned excitedly, and Inuyasha reached for the Tessaiga.

"Why you-!"

"GUYS, QUIT IT!" yelled Kagome, and the two went silent, although Inuyasha was still growling at Daitan, whose teeth were still bared in an almost feral grin. "Listen, if we want to find all the jewel shards, we're going to need to all get along! Daitan's clearly not going anywhere, so just quit fighting already and let's get down to business!"

A pregnant silence followed Kagome's outburst, and Daitan's expression softened.

"You're right, Kagome. We're wasting time here over petty power squabbles - we can settle that later. But for now, I'll have to get myself a katana so we can hunt down some of those jewel shards you told me about!"

Kagome had agreed to go with Daitan back through the well so that the older girl could pick up a couple of things… including a katana from home. Kagome had asked her how she even had her own katana, to which Daitan replied "My dad has a lot of swords at home - he gave this one to me when I turned of age."

Now the group was travelling a short ways south, as Kagome had sensed a Shikon jewel shard in that direction. Kagome had brought her bicycle along with her, and Shippo was currently riding in the basket on the front while Kagome walked it, with Inuyasha, Miroku, and Daitan walking beside her.

"Excuse me, Daitan, but I wanted to ask you something."

"Hm? What is it, Miroku?" replied Daitan, hands clasped behind her neck as she walked.

"I was wondering… Why have you not given us a surname?"

Daitan hummed in thought.

"Well, I don't usually give it, because it usually makes people treat me differently… and I don't really like that. Anyway, it doesn't really matter all that much in this time, since nobody seems to really use their surnames very often here."

"I see…" Miroku went silent for another few minutes, before he spoke up once more. "Also, I noticed that you seem to have some kind of strange energy about you, and I'm certain that Shippo and Inuyasha have sensed it as well."

Up nearer to the front, Inuyasha took in a deep whiff through the nose.

"Yeah… you do smell kinda funny… how do we know you're not up to no good?" he asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at Daitan. She smiled her half smile at him.

"I haven't done anything to warrant suspicion so far," she said. "I'm only here because I want to support my friend."

"That's right, Inuyasha, quit bugging Daitan. Besides, I don't really feel anything off about her, she's just a normal human to me." said Kagome, and Shippo piped up.

"But it feels like something's kind of off about her - even I sensed it!"

"What a mystery~" sing-songed Daitan. "Do I have a terrible secret? Who knows~!"

Kagome giggled.

"You're so weird sometimes, you know that? ...Hey, what's with all those crows?" the girl wondered, halting the bike. Inuyasha took in a deep sniff, and Daitan did the same, but more discreetly. Death is in the air…

Sure enough, when the group kept walking, they came upon a muddy field strewn with the corpses of about a hundred samurai, flocks of crows and a few small scavenging youkai fed upon them. But funnily enough, Daitan could neither see nor smell a single drop of blood…

"Ew… I don't think I've ever seen so many bodies…" remarked Shippo, sinking further into the wicker basket. "Must've been some battle… hate to see what the other guys look like…"

Kagome sighed.

"What a surprise, another battleground full of bodies in the Feudal Era."

"You're mistaken. This was no battle." said Inuyasha. "Something's not right- no blood! I can't pick up the scent of blood!"

"It must have been the work of some youkai, and a very strong one to have brought such destruction," Miroku contemplated. "Which must mean that it possesses a shard of the Shikon Jewel."

A sour expression swept across Inuyasha's face as he turned to look Miroku straight in the eye.

"Miroku, let's get one thing straight - I have no intention of teaming up with you, or of sharing any jewel shards with you." he said plainly, but Miroku didn't seem at all concerned.

"'Each man for himself,' that's what you're trying to say?"

"Glad we're on the same track."

As Miroku began to walk away, Shippo spoke from the wicker basket again.

"Dang… and he was starting to grow on me." he said, watching Miroku's back.

"Are you sure you want him to leave, Inuyasha?" asked Kagome, before noticing that Inuyasha was nowhere to be found. "Huh? Where'd he get to?"

Daitan couldn't help but to feel a little confused. Apparently, both Inuyasha and Miroku wanted parts of the Shikon Jewel for separate reasons, and that 'each man for himself' ideology was definitely not going to work in favor of the group for long. Also, both had walked off, leaving themselves and the rest of the group more vulnerable. Daitan leaned in to whisper to Kagome.

"I was under the impression that we were a team? If we're going to be working together, Inuyasha and Miroku need to let go of their own interests first…" she muttered, and Kagome sighed.

"Yeah… Miroku is actually a pretty new member of this group too, and his main goal is to find Naraku and kill him. Before Miroku and Shippo came along, it was just Inuyasha and I. I guess we're still getting to know each other…"

"And Inuyasha has appointed himself the leader of this pack, has he not?"

"Yeah, I guess he- wait, pack?" asked Kagome, raising an eyebrow at Daitan.

Daitan nodded.

"Well, he's half dog youkai, is he not? If he's the alpha, he should still be here and kept us on track, not to mention put Miroku in his place. Then again, Miroku is a human, so I'm not so sure how that would have gone down…"

Kagome, Daitan and Shippo began to move again over the hill, and Shippo turned in his basket to look over at Daitan with a curious expression.

"You sure do seem to know a lot about youkai stuff for a human-"

Shippo was cut off by a shout from over a hill reached their ears.

"Help! There's a youkai!" at that, Kagome quickly mounted her bicycle and looked back at Daitan with a questioning glance.

"Don't worry about me - I can keep up!" said Daitan, and she took off running in front of Kagome, who followed close behind on her bicycle. However, when they got to the top of the hill and looked down, they saw that the youkai in question was actually Inuyasha, holding back a man in dark robes and closely examining a long scroll of parchment. Kagome wasted no time in shouting,

"SIT, BOY!"

Inuyasha immediately crashed to the ground, dropping the parchment. The man he had accosted quickly snatched it up and dashed off, and Inuyasha rushed to get right up in Kagome's face.

"What'd you do that for?!"

"Because you were pestering the poor guy! Why were you picking on him?" asked Kagome, a disapproving look etched onto her face.

"Because he was giving off the same smell of ink as the battlefield!" said Inuyasha, crossing his arms. Daitan's lips turned down. He was right. That field of corpses did smell of ink, and so did that man…

"Still, that's not a very good reason to just up and abandon your pack - you're the self appointed leader, aren't you? You're not doing a very good job." commented Daitan, and Inuyasha growled at her.

"Oh yeah? You that desperate to get into a fight right now?!"

"I wouldn't pick fights with you if you weren't so insecure and didn't act so damn threatened by me all the time - you're acting like prey, so I'm treating you as such."

"Insecure? Threatened?! What the hell are you on abou-" Daitan cut him off, putting an arm out in front of Kagome to keep her from breaking up the argument for them with one of her famous sit commands.

"Listen, you need to focus. I'll back off for now, but I think we'll have to let off some steam later, alright?" she said. She noticed that Shippo was staring at her, open-mouthed, and even Kagome looked a little shocked. Inuyasha still growled, but ultimately cooled off enough to speak in a calmer tone of voice.

"...Anyway, I was going to say that if I can track down the source of the scent, it'll probably lead us to the demon."

Shippo was quick to get his voice back.

"The demon, or anyone who happens to have a letter on hand." he said sarcastically, and that was all it took for the hanyou to once again reach a boiling point.

"Do you want to come up with a better plan, or should we use mine and find the jewel before Miroku?" he spat, and Kagome sighed with exasperation.

"What do you have against Miroku, anyway?"

"So now you're telling me that you like that lecher!?"

"Yeah, I do," Kagome said, before letting out a huff when Inuyasha clearly missed the sarcasm in her voice. "As if. Hm?"

Inuyasha was muttering to himself a little ways away.

"She likes him? What could she possibly see in that guy?"

Daitan cleared her throat loudly.

"Ahem! Remember what I said? We need to stay focused!" she said, and Inuyasha grumbled, but relented, walking with the group in the direction of the scent of ink. If he wants to be the alpha of this pack, he's going to have a lot of work to do… Thought Daitan. Although I guess he didn't really have any examples to follow when he was growing up, from what I've heard about his past…

The sun had long begun to set, and Daitan could tell that they were getting close to the source of the scent of ink. In fact, Daitan could see and hear a man talking to himself further up the road, and Inuyasha dashed ahead to grab the collar of his shirt.

"Excuse me, mind answering a few questions?"

Kagome, possessing duller hearing than Daitan or Shippo groaned and got on her bike to catch up. Daitan ran beside her and Shippo.

"Great, he's picking on some guy again." grumbled Kagome, and Shippo nodded.

"Six innocent peasants down, hundreds of thousands to go."

Daitan didn't hear what Inuyasha or the peasant said next, but the next thing she, Kagome, and Shippo knew was that the peasant threw a scroll in their direction. The scroll unfurled to show a painting of a blue skinned oni holding a polearm, which then seemed to emerge from the paper and gain material form, growling.

The oni attempted a grab at Inuyasha, who dashed backward. Daitan drew her katana, and Kagome stopped in her tracks.

"What is it?"

"It's a youkai, obviously." replied Daitan dryly, readying her weapon. She could see the peasant from before scurry away down the hill to jump into a rowboat, desperately trying to get away.

"Hey, come back here!" shouted Inuyasha, but the oni lifted its polearm into the air and brought it crashing down in front of it, attempting to crush Inuyasha once again. Daitan darted forward, and her katana flashed through the air, lopping off one of the oni's legs at the knee and making it crash down into a kneel as Inuyasha leapt into the air and withdrew his Tessaiga, slicing the oni clean down the middle.

Inuyasha returned to stand protectively in front of Kagome, while Daitan took up her position behind it. But then, the oni swelled like a balloon, and dark black ink suddenly spurted from its wounds, completely drenching both Inuyasha and Daitan.

Inuyasha coughed, looking at his hands with a confused expression.

"What the hell? This is blood and black ink!" he suddenly swayed in place and collapsed backward, and Kagome ran forward to help him up. Daitan was busy spitting out some of the ink that had gotten into her mouth and trying not to pass out from the smell of blood and ink. Good thing my pants are already black. She thought. The shoes could stand to be a bit less vivid, I guess.

Flicking the ink off the blade, Daitan sheathed her katana and regrouped with the others. Shippo was jumping up and down, holding his nose.

"Wow, Daitan, that was so cool for your first time fighting a youkai! Too bad Inuyasha's nose is so sensitive, the smell of blood and ink must have gotten to him…"

The man who had summoned the oni had long made his escape by the time Inuyasha recovered, and by the time they had reached a nearby castle to which the scent trail led, night had already fallen. Kagome pulled up to one of the open shogi screens, and they all heard a familiar voice drifting through the air…

"The princess will undoubtedly be much safer if she were to stay here with me. In the same room… in the same bed…" said Miroku, and Inuyasha interrupted as he came into Miroku's line of vision.

"He's at it again! And I suppose you'll have to search her robes while you're at it too, you pervert!"

Miroku gave them all a somewhat forced smile.

"Well, if it isn't my old dear friends, Kagome and Inuyasha." Inuyasha didn't pay Miroku any heed as he jumped off the back of Kagome's bike. Kagome had offered to let Daitan ride on the back and make Inuyasha run instead, but Daitan had refused. "I have a lot of stamina, so I won't need a break in a while!"

Inuyasha cursed.

"Damn! Must have just missed him…"

"Tell us, Miroku, did the ink youkai pass through here?" asked Kagome, and Miroku's eyebrows shot up in recognition. The monk got to his feet.

"I suppose, but I didn't realize they were made of ink…"

As Kagome and caught Miroku up on what had happened, Daitan sat just outside with Inuyasha and Shippo, eyes shut, but senses alert.

"So… how do we stop an artist who has the power to bring his demons to life?" Miroku speculated, and Shippo chewed thoughtfully on a dumpling before speaking.

"I've seen the Shikon Jewel give people some incredible powers before, but bringing paintings to life?" he then looked up at Inuyasha. "Don't you want to join them in forming a plan?"

"Come off it, don't tell me you're still sulking." said Kagome, letting out a little huff.

"Is something the matter, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, and Inuyasha shifted in his place uncomfortably.

"Just leave me alone."

"Can't you just get over it and work with Miroku this once? Can I say, the guy is so jealous!" Kagome scoffed, and Inuyasha growled.

"Hardly! Why would I be jealous?" Inuyasha and Shippo froze when he saw that Miroku had taken hold of one of Kagome's hands and spoke softly to her. Daitan snorted a tiny laugh.

"Your faith in me is strong, so you at least can sense my pure intentions." said Miroku, and Kagome gently removed his hands from hers.

"Sure. And the fact that you have some jewel shards. There's two… oh, no, looks like three." she said casually, and Miroku looked taken aback.

"You have the power to see the shards?" he asked, and when Inuyasha began to make his way over to Kagome, she quickly shut him down with a "SIT!"

"Would you stop with that?" grumbled Inuyasha. As he and Miroku continued to argue, Daitan had taken Shippo into her arms and was unconsciously stroking his hair. The small boy turned in her grasp, and opened his mouth to speak, but she quickly shushed him.

"There are two men listening, just out of sight. I'm not sure if they intend to harm us, but I can't be certain of their intentions." she whispered, and the fox child kept silent. When the two men left, Daitan sighed.

"They're gone…" she finally remarked. Shippo squinted up at her.

"Daitan… um…" he started, twisting some of the fur from his tail between his tiny clawed fingers. "You… don't seem like a normal human…" he mumbled. Daitan gave him a soft smile.

"If you're wondering if I mean harm to this group, you've got nothing to worry about. I'm here because I want to keep Kagome, and by extension, this group, safe." Daitan got to her feet, and Shippo clambered up onto her shoulder.

"Oi, Inuyasha, did you sense those guys listening in just now?" she asked, and Inuyasha nodded gravely.

"Yeah, I did. We should stay up tonight, they probably heard about Miroku's jewel shards." he said, and when the others nodded in agreement, Daitan gave him an approving smile.

Just as Daitan predicted, two men attempted to sneak into Miroku's room and murder him in his sleep, but Miroku fended them off and immobilized them with his staff, and Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, and Daitan rushed to the scene.

"You alright, Miroku?" asked Inuyasha, and Kagome gasped.

"Look! These men are vassals to this lord!"

"Now, what were you saying about a jewel fragment?" asked Miroku, addressing the two men in his grasp. "Which one of you wants to go first?"

"It isn't our fault! Our lord demanded that we seize your jewel shard!" cried the man on the right, and the man on the left continued.

"The master himself went to take the shard from the artist!"

"You know the whereabouts of this artist - tell me at once!" pressed Miroku, and as soon as he had gotten his answer, he dashed over to Kagome's bicycle.

"Kagome, lend me your contraption for a bit!" without even waiting for an answer, Miroku hopped aboard Kagome's bicycle and sped out of the castle grounds by himself. How does he even know how to ride a bike? Wondered Daitan as Kagome jogged after the monk.

"Wait up, I'll come with you- Ah!" Kagome was cut off by Inuyasha, who quickly scooped her up and slung her onto his back with Shippo. He went to do the same with Daitan, but she shook her head.

"There's no need, more weight will slow you down - I'll run!"

Inuyasha and Daitan sped along the path and into the night, in the direction that Miroku had gone.

In what seemed like no time at all, the group stopped in their tracks in a field, watching as numerous soldiers fled from a dark cloud of youkai.

"You mustn't slay them, or the noxious fumes will overcome you again!" warned Shippo, and Inuyasha nevertheless still drew his Tessaiga. Daitan did the same with her katana.

"Just you watch!" he growled, leaping into the air and cleaving several youkai in two at once. Daitan darted around the hordes of youkai, katana hardly visible as it swished through the air, hardly making a sound as it cut through the ink youkai.

Both Inuyasha and Daitan drew to a halt next to the lord of the castle, who was seated on his horse.

"You saved me, young men! You shall be compensated- ah!" the lord galloped off in fright after the remains of a slain demon collapsed in front of him.

"Whew, someone needs a bath!" commented Kagome, covering her nose. All of them were covered in the blood ink.

"And did that guy just call me a man?" wondered Daitan, looking down at herself. She definitely didn't have the biggest chest, but it was still pretty obvious she was female, right?

Inuyasha made no comment, but swayed where he stood, clearly overcome with nausea. He fell to the ground in a faint, and took Kagome and Shippo down with him. This scent is pretty awful. Thought Daitan, trying to breathe more through her mouth.

"Don't say I didn't warn you…" Shippo mumbled as he pinched his nose.

Daitan's head whipped around at the sound of the roars of the remaining yokai still descending from the sky, moving herself in front of Inuyasha and the others, katana at the ready. Suddenly, Miroku appeared in front of her, striking down the foremost demon with his staff.

"Stay behind me, friends!" he warned as he unwrapped the prayer beads from around his right hand. "This is dangerous - I'm going to unleash the Wind Tunnel!" he shouted, thrusting his right hand forward, and the cloud of ink youkai began to get sucked into the hole in Miroku's palm. So this is the Wind Tunnel Kagome told me about, Daitan thought, watching with reserved fascination. It's pretty fiersome, I'd say.

Once all the youkai in the sky had vanished, Miroku grunted and clasped his hand shut.

"I've never before drawn in so many youkai in one attempt… if I might just rest a bit…"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and another youkai burst from the small hut in front of them, taking the form of a three-headed serpent. The human responsible was mounted on the middle head.

"He must have made another youkai!" shouted Kagome, and Inuyasha drew his Tessaiga once more.

"I'll get him!"

The serpent writhed and tried to snap up Inuyasha in its jaws, and the hanyou dodged, shouting,

"Kagome! Could you tell me where the fragment is!?" She looked up, narrowing her eyes.

"There! In the bamboo inkpot on his waist!"

"I'm all over it!"

Daitan moved in front of the others, watching as Inuyasha leapt onto the serpent's back, and then seemed to have an idea as he turned and shouted… something… that caused the man atop one of the serpent's heads to unleash more youkai from one of his scrolls. Inuyasha, instead of cutting them to ribbons, went with straight punches, working his way up the serpent's back.

"My, what do you call that technique he's using?" asked Miroku, somewhat absently.

"It's called whaling on them." stated Kagome plainly, and Daitan nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, two of the serpent's head turned back and breathed fire right at Inuyasha, but he simply cut through the flames with the Tessaiga and raced up the rest of the way, cutting right through the bamboo inkpot just as the human man leapt from the snake's head.

The snake vanished, and the man tumbled into the grass. Inuyasha was still falling when the ink, which had spilled from the two halves of the inkpot, rushed toward the human man, who held an abandoned katana in his right hand, and now sported a bloody wound in the other.

Everyone watched as the ink sucked the man dry of his blood instead of fusing with it, until his body eventually vanished, and the ink dropped to the grass, lifeless.

"Well… that wasn't how I expected that to go down." said Daitan, breaking the silence.

"The fool… the ink devoured him…" Inuyasha sounded disbelieving, and Kagome brought a hand to her mouth.

"What a terrible way to end…"

"You're telling me - the artist's ambitions must have turned the ink into a parasite," said Inuyasha, staring down at the large puddle of ink. It was still emitting large bubbles. "Imagine, he'd rather have his blood sucked dry than to part with a jewel fragment, and he paid for his foolishness with his life."

The jewel fragment, as though sensing that it was the subject of the conversation, gleamed from within the inky puddle. Daitan could tell that it was tainted with darkness, but Kagome plucked it from the puddle without even batting an eyelash, and upon closer inspection, it had been purified the moment the girl had even touched it. Kagome held it up in front of her.

"So - who wants this?" she asked, and as always, Inuyasha was the first one to say anything.

"Well it's obviously mine!"

"Miroku did his share of work too, remember?" said Kagome, and Miroku smiled.

"Why don't you keep it, Kagome?" he suggested.

"Yeah?" Kagome looked over at Daitan, who shrugged.

"I don't have any need for it. You should be the one to keep it."

"Alright then, done and done!" exclaimed Kagome, tucking the shard into the tiny glass bottle around her neck. When Inuyasha refused to comment, Shippo piped up.

"Good thing someone's grown up." he said. Inuyasha just huffed and turned away, only to meet Daitan's approving smile, to which he rolled his eyes.

It had been a long night, and by the time the group got back on the road, the sun was already starting to rise. They had walked in silence for a long while, but Miroku decided to break it by admitting that he would like to travel with them.

"Really Miroku? You'll come with us?" asked Kagome, and Miroku nodded.

"Gladly. Journeying in the company of two pretty women is so much more enjoyable," Daitan ignored his comment, but Kagome giggled, making Inuyasha grumble. "...And despite Inuyasha's appearance, he's really not such a bad fellow."

The hanyou in question didn't give Miroku a reaction other than a small glance backward, before looking ahead once again. Daitan stuck her hands in her pockets, a half-smile on her face. I think that this will be quite the adventure.

Alright, so I've made it pretty obvious that Daitan isn't human. And she's certainly calm for facing a youkai for the first time... or is it the first? Also, never thought I'd post this, but my brain just kind of went 'what the hell' you know?