A/N: This is the long awaited chapter one. Wow, and look how bad it turned out! Please try to fight the boredom and read it all, please. (Wow, I repeated my 'please's.) I'm not begging you, just asking. I can't force you to do anything… [shotgun clicks behind back] btw, I'm trying to limit my use of bad language; I'll try my hardest to keep it no worse than mild. J Enjoy, if it's worth enjoying.

Disclaimer: Heyy everybody. I, er, um, don't own "InuYasha" (which btw is a d*** good show) or any of its characters, including: Kohaku, Shippou, Kirara, Sango, Kagome, Miroku, (of course) InuYasha, and everything else associated with the show and blah, blah, blah.  Seipei and Maimiyo are mine, though. Not that I thought you'd really be interested in using them, but just to let you know, yah know?

"Wtf? It's a show?"

Yah, you should go watch or read it or whatever. I don't really care… [shotgun clicks again]

"Sounds stupid."

[vein pops, angrily whips out shotgun, accidentally hits head, big bruise swells] READ/WATCH IT, D*****! [fusses over revolver which is stuck to belt] READ/WATCH IT! (Oh, the d*** temptation!)

I.

Shine

Bright Morning Light

Now is the Time to Sing

Your Glory

"Miroku, hurry up!  No time to dawdle," called Sango as she darted towards the village ahead.  Supported on her back was her enormous boomerang, Hiraikotsu; it was a wonder that she had enough strength to carry it, let alone hurl it at her opponents.  Scowling playfully, Miroku stood.  Dusting his ebony and violet robes, he balanced his weight upon his golden shakujou.  The many rings jangled in harmony with Sango's laughter.  Orange, yellow, and beige leaves fell from the treetops, blanketing the forest floor behind them.  Shining brightly, the sun greeted the day, but not as well as Sango's brilliant smile.  Today was a perfect day.

"Wait for me, Sango!"  Rushing after her, Miroku picked up speed and chased her down the ruffled plains of grass beneath them, leaving the ocherous forest behind them.

As Miroku ran, he slipped maladroitly upon a wet patch of grass and began rolling rapidly down the hill like a human snowball.  "AAHHH! Sango, watch OUT! Whoa, whoa, WHOA─!" 

Half-panting, Sango glanced behind her.  "Miroku, slow down!" cried Sango, half laughing.  She gave a shriek of surprise as he bounded towards her, faster and faster.  Sliding on the slippery grass, Sango respited long enough to be caught in Miroku's rolling crusade down the hill.  Coming to a stop in an ocean of flowers, Sango guffawed with laughter.  Miroku, arms spread wide at both sides, merely grinned innocently at her.  He was like angel, an angel without wings, yet longing for them so.

Sango stopped.  She had landed on top of him and was suddenly aware of her awkward stance.  So was Miroku.  Crimson flags rose on both's cheeks as each turned their heads away.   Saying nothing, Sango hastily began to push herself up, only to come short by sliding on Miroku's long robes before falling again.  Inhaling deeply, Sango struggled to keep herself up in spite of her discommodious stance.  Chuckling softly, Miroku smiled as Sango grew ever redder in the face.

"What's so funny, houshi?  I can't move; I'm stuck," Sango persisted, trying to hide her rosy cheeks.

Miroku stopped laughing.  With softening eyes, he gazed right at her, right into the very depths of her soul.  "One is only stuck," he whispered, "if one is in a position in which one wishes not to be in."

Sango stopped fussing and turned her attentiveness towards him.  "Miroku…" 

Miroku's voice was a bit tentative yet so calm, so alluring, so different from his usual groping method.  "Don't you wish to be with me, Sango?" 

Hesitating herself, Sango slowly let herself fall upon Miroku's chest, hearing his heartbeat thump faster as his chest heaved up and down.  In time, both quieted their harsh breathing so as to match each other's heartbeat, to be one in concordant bliss.  The world around them no longer existed, it did not matter anymore.  Nothing did.  All they knew was that there they were, in their own world.  Together.  Alone.  Patches of sunlight streamed from the rare breaches in the forest's canopy.  The perfume of the flowers was enticing.  Ecstasy.

Closing his eyes, Miroku sighed heavily, discording their strong beat.

"W― what's wrong, Miroku?" asked Sango, seemingly upset and offended.

"Sango, can I ask you something…?" he breathed slowly into her ear.  Sango's discomfort diminished, replaced by anxiousness as she nodded slowly.  "Will…" he began.

Sango's eyes widened.

"…you…" Miroku continued, emphasizing each syllable, every word.

Holding her breath, she, too, closed her eyes, waiting for what she had always been waiting for during the long sixteen years of her lonely life. 

"…get off…?" he whispered.

"I do!" she exclaimed ecstatically.  Opening his eyes in perplexity, Miroku pushed his head into the earth, putting distance between him and Sango's seemingly impaired ears.  "Wait, what?" asked Sango, realizing it wasn't the moment of truth.

"Will you please get off?" Miroku repeated.  Sango's sweat dropped as her eye twitched.  "Um, sorry, I didn't really mean for you to fall on top of me, you know? Uh, hehe…?"  His sweat dropped.

Silently, Sango stood, blushing slightly once more.

"What's wrong, Sango?  Is it something I did?"  He looked at his hands and held them in front of her face, signifying where they weren't.

"Oh, it's nothing, Miroku.  You, uh, wanna finish the race to the village?  I bet both of us can beat InuYasha, Shippou, Kagome, and Kirara." she offered.

He smiled in response and nodded.  "Sure, okay then."  With that, he dashed off.

I guess, Sango thought to herself, I can only wish.

Stopping quite a distance between both Sango and the village, Miroku slowed to a walking pace and looked back.  Not today, Miroku, he said, not today.  The golden rings on his shakujou jingled.

—

"Shippou, cut it out!" snarled InuYasha.

"InuYasha, you're such a hypocrite; don't touch my tail!" wailed Shippou.  "You know, the only reason I'm playing with you is because Kirara's with Sango and Miroku―"

"You've got your own ears; play with those!" InuYasha grumbled.

Pushing aside the flap, someone entered the hut and spotted the half-demon's claws clutching onto the fox demon's tail while in turn, the fox child's fingers were persistently rubbing the hanyou's dog-like ears.

InuYasha roared.  "You stupid kid, you scratched my ears!  You're grubby little hands scratched me!"   A mountain erupted from InuYasha's head, swelling like a watermelon and as red as his crimson haorai.

"FYI, I have hands," Shippou taunted, "and I can make a fist, stupid."

"Oh yeah," InuYasha flexed his own claws with a satirical grin, "well I've got cl―!"

"Osuwari," recited Kagome.  Every black bead on InuYasha's necklace glowed a bright fuchsia and brought InuYasha crashing to the ground, dragged down by the gravity of Kagome's simple incantation; simple yet remarkable.  InuYasha twitched on the earth floor, muttering meaningless threats to himself.

Sighing deeply, Kagome walked over to Shippou and asked, "Are you okay, Shippou?  Did InuYasha mess up your tail?"

"Is he okay?  What about me?!  I'm the one who just got embedded into the ground!" InuYasha shouted with his head turned to the side to face Kagome and Shippou.  He looked at them piteously.

"InuYasha got my tail tangled," Shippou complained.  Kagome could not resist succumbing to the toddler before her as his eyes brimmed with tears, at least not over InuYasha.

Slowly staggering to his hands and knees, InuYasha crawled over to them both, still muttering to himself.  "I bet he doesn't even know what FYI means…stupid kid…little brat…thinks he's so cool…"

"For Your Information, InuYasha, Kagome told me," piped Shippou as Kagome delicately straightened out his tail.

"Shut up, before I make you."

"Oh, is that a threat?"

"Very good, retard!"

 "Osuwari."  InuYasha was pulled down once more with a tremendous THUD, shaking the entirety of the crude hut.  "Why do you have to be so obnoxious, InuYasha?  I told you not to fight with Shippou; he's younger than you," Kagome scolded.  Shippou stuck out his tongue mockingly.

"Shippou started it, I swear!  Why do you always blame me?"

"UH!  InuYasha, you're so immature!"  Kagome glanced upon the half-demon; he was about her age, perhaps a little older.  Looking plaintively at InuYasha, Kagome stopped brushing Shippou's tail and turned all of her attention towards InuYasha. 

InuYasha glared at her.  "What're you lookin' at, wench?"  Kagome turned quickly and sniffled, leaving InuYasha and Shippou confused.  "Don't bother muttering to yourself, Kagome, just say it to my face―!" he began, shortly interrupted by Shippou.

"Stupid!" Shippou accused him and bopped him on the head, hard.  "You're so insensitive…"

"Why do I get the feeling that everyone's criticizing me―?"

"I think she's…crying…or…something; I dunno."  He shrugged.  "Why do you always have to be such a jerk?"

"Could yah…cut it out already…?" InuYasha began, his left eye twitching madly and a vein popping out in frustration.  Clearing his throat, InuYasha struggled to calm down.  "Crying?" he repeated.  "Why?  It's not like I said anything sadistic to her.  Humans can be so sensitive."

"How can you be so insensitive?"  Sighing, Shippou remarked to himself, "Besides, seeing your ugly face is bad enough."

"Stupid, I heard that." A fresh bump now erupting from his head, Shippou remained calm and accepted it knowingly.  "I do have ears, yah know," InuYasha explained.

Shoulda known, he told himself.  The cherry atop his head continued swelling.

InuYasha turned his attention to the sniffling maiden beside him.  "Please don't cry, Kagome you know I hate it when―" InuYasha began soliciting, but Kagome had vanished.  The hut's straw flap was the only explanation he needed.

"You shouldn't talk to yourself.  People will wonder," remarked Shippou.

InuYasha ignored him.  "Great, she ran off."

"Wonder why," Shippou grumbled.

InuYasha twitched his sensitive ears.  "Idiot, you are aware that I can hear everything you say, right?"

"Hey, it was your ugly face that scared her off."

"Damn it, that's IT!  Baka, come back here!"

—

"Good evening, sir houshi, lady taijiya.  Won't you please take some bread?  It's quite fresh and is blessed by the sun," offered a humble villager.  A tantalizing aroma wafted from the basket of bread in the villager's hands.

"I helped Mommy, Sir Miroku!  Lady Sango, please taste it!" piped a small girl, supposedly the villager's daughter, who appeared from behind her mother.  The little girl was quite playful, tugging on Sango's kimono.  Yet for such simplistic garments, her kimono looked quite refined; the thread used in sewing arbitrary patches of orange looked like delicate embroidery, and the pale yellow cloth seemed to radiate brilliantly.  Smiling brightly, the small girl shone herself with equal vivacity, a pinch of joie de vivre mixed in.

Overflowing with impatience with a touch of her juvenile innocence, just like Shippou, the small girl was quite talkative, just like Shippou.  "Please try some; it's really good!" the small one insisted again, this time tugging on Miroku's robes. 

Sango giggled to herself, and Miroku grinned. 

Just like Shippou, Sango continued to herself within the realm of her thoughts.

The kind villager and little girl looked at them both, puzzled by their laughter; their sweat dropped. 

"Ow!"  Miroku began gave a sudden cry.  Instinctively, Sango reached for her Hiraikotsu, but her hand eased away from the boomerang.  It seems that it was only the villager's daughter simply shaking Miroku by the collar back and forth alternatively.  And despite her petite size, too!  The golden rings on the houshi's shakujou jingled madly.

"Uh…?" Sango's voice trailed on; her sweat dropped as the villager tried furiously to wrestle her daughter off of Miroku while repeating monotonous sorry's.  Maybe, but…uh…not quite, Sango corrected herself almost instantly.  "She…sure is strong…" Sango awkwardly complimented, although no one seemed to hear her because they were either gasping for air or laughing.

"Okay, okay!" Miroku chuckled between pants.  "We'll have some."  He dug his golden staff into the earth for support.  I hope its good, Miroku thought.

Sango nodded in agreement.  "I bet it'll be great.  Do you mind if we share some with our friends?"  She looked to the villager.  "We got separated in the forest, but I'm sure they should be along shortly."

"Friends?" the villager's daughter echoed.

"Yes, our companions would very much appreciate this hearty feast as much as us; I'm sure!" added Miroku.

"Well…"

"Oh, of course, it would be lovely to share it with their friends, wouldn't it Maimiyo?" pointed out the villager.  "Please, you are welcome in our hut."  The hostess smiled at Sango.  "You're may also leave your weapon there, if you want."

"Ma-I-miyo?"  The reiteration played with Miroku's tongue.

Giggling madly, Maimiyo buried her face in her hands.  "Silly!  It's Maimiyo!"

"Mai-my-mo?" Miroku tried again, twisting the syllables. 

As the two began walking away towards the comfy hut bickering playfully, the villager introduced herself.  "Our village is most humble to you for protecting us from harm's way, Lady Sango.  My name, by the way, is Seipei."  As Seipei and Sango trailed behind Miroku and Maimiyo, their conversation continued.

—

Finally catching her breath, she slowed her pace down to a trot.  Not yet, Kagome told herself, no; not yet!

Exhausted and short of breath, the girl finally stopped, but she kept her eyes shut to the world.  After catching her breath, Kagome looked up, greeted by a forest's canopy teaming with life.  Her school uniform blended in quite nicely, making her seem as another bush next to the tree or another tree limb herself draped, with foliage.  Walking around, Kagome rubbed her eyes constantly, annoyed by the irritating pain.  I hope, she said, I really hope it's here.

The bush behind her rustled; Kagome was still.  Seemingly surveying Kagome, the rustling went around like a whirlpool.  The pain in Kagome's eyes began to stab at her, but she would not even risk a twitch.  Soon it felt like the rustling was around her all at once, growing faster.

—

CRASH!

"Idiot kid, look what you made me do!" whined InuYasha.  A tiny fissure stood cracked in the weather-beaten ground behind him.  The hanyou's fist shook spasmodically.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you can't hit anything," countered Shippou.  "They're just illusions."

"You try this with your eyes closed!" hissed InuYasha.  He can't even do it with his eyes open.  "You talk an awful lot for such a little kid," the hanyou remarked.  Grinning to himself, he shut his eyes tightly once more, distorting his vision.  He turned his head instinctively towards the burned out hole.  "If you don't shut up soon, someone will put yah six feet under."  Maybe even me, InuYasha taunted silently.  Clearing his throat, he yelled, "Ready!"

"I know, I know," muttered Shippou worriedly.  I hope Kagome's okay.  Raising his hands, Shippou produced a tiny blue flame no bigger than an acorn, emitting a turquoise aura; he twisted it into a sphere.  Waving his arms delicately in a pattern around the sphere's circumference as if it were still a single flame instead of a burning orb of blue light, Shippou made it grow in size.  It looked like streams leading away from a river; arms of flames poured from the giant sphere and licked the earth before spinning rapidly into multiple mini balls similar to the original.  "Ready…" Shippou began.

"I already said I was ready!" InuYasha interrupted impatiently, but the transfixed kitsune paid no attention. 

Shippou manipulated his main blue orb with his hands as if trying to perfect its shape.  Obeying the same gesture, the smaller orbs also rounded themselves, simultaneously.  As their puppeteer raised the ball above his head, the other orbs zoomed and circled around the anticipating yet anxious half demon. 

Stressing on his stance and flexing his claws, InuYasha muttered to himself silently.  Come on, come on…

Immediately after Shippou threw down his arms and the giant glowing sphere, the other orbs reacted.  "GO!" Shippou shouted to his vocals' extent.  With that, the flaming blue orbs hurled themselves at their blinded prey.

InuYasha balled his hands into fists and smirked.

—

"It's very nice to meet you, Seipei.  I assure you, it's no trouble at all," Sango reassured.  "That's what we do, you know?  Your village is just one of many who need protection.  Although we are on an important quest, it seems that we can't help but getting caught up in helping others."

"Doesn't it bother you?  If you're on a quest, then your friends and you best be on your way.  It's not much trouble; my village will just have to call the other taijiya from your clan.  I hear your home village is well-trained and respected when it comes to exterminating demons…"

Sango stopped causing Seipei to do the same.  Silence filled the taijiya's mind as her face was drained of color, and her eyes were covered by shadows of dreadful reminiscing.  "Everyone…everyone at my village…is dead.  Everyone…"Hiraikotsu felt ponderous against Sango's back as she shifted her scarred shoulder blades, remembering the pain…

Z

 "Ane-ue, do youkai really spit out fire and poison?"

"Sometimes."

"Oh…"

"Kohaku, are you scared?"

"I-it's nothing really."

"There's no reason to be.  A lord from a nearby village has requested for aid, and we have to help.  He seemed pretty desperate, too.  Anyways, Father says you've improved; otherwise he wouldn't have you come with us tomorrow."

"Really?  I…I dunno.  I don't really wanna fight.  I wish I could just enjoy life, you know?  It's so beautiful."

"Okashira says the scariest youkai are those that portray the appearance of humans, and if they should possess a Shikon shard…" 

Kohaku gasps, inhaling sharply at this notion.

"Others wouldn't be able to enjoy their lives, now would they?"

Kohaku's gaze fell to the ground.  He felt his heart racing.

"Oh, Kohaku," Sango laughed as she clapped her younger brother on the back, "don't worry, you'll be fine."

"F-Father!" Sango cried as he staggered for a second before falling dead on the ground.  Her father splashed in a pool of blood with a blade attached to a chain: Kohaku's kusarikama.  "K-Kohaku…?!  Why…"  Sango jumped up and dodged Kohaku's blow. He ignored her and slaughtered the rest of the taijiya, once close friends and family.  "No, Kohaku, STOP!"  Sango yelled.  Kohaku looked menacingly at her with lifeless eyes; she was the only other taijiya standing.  "KOHAKU!" Sango repeated as she drew out her sword to revert Kohaku's chain and blade assault.  Sparks flew as the weapons clashed.

Sango sheathed her sword.  Running up to her brother as he busily recoiled his kusarikama, Sango skidded on the ground; she was attempting to get behind Kohaku to hit him on the back with her sheathed katana hard enough to knock him cold.  She was gliding near Kohaku's feet, halfway behind him.  But Kohaku was quick.  Grabbing the blade of his kusarikama, he brought it down but only to severe nothing but air.  There was a loud TWANG as metal hit metal.  Sango had been quicker.  Countering, Sango caught the chain with her sword.  Maneuvering her wrists, she skillfully flung Kohaku's weapon several yards away, her katana's sheath with it. 

As Kohaku's monotonous gaze followed his flying kusarikama, Sango noticed a tiny spider glowing on Kohaku's neck with a fluorescent thread leading behind her shoulder; behind to the lord who had originally hired them to protect his village.  It had been too small to see from far away, but now she saw it clearly.  A look of surprise took over Sango's face, but then anger quickly crept in.  "You damn," Sango turned around, "YOUKAI!"  Sango yelled with renewed ferocity while lunging for the surprised lord with her gleaming sword in a terrible rage. 

She stopped short.  Driven deep into her back was Kohaku's kusarikama.  Turning slowly, Sango looked at her brother, choking back her tears.

Suddenly, Kohaku left his trance and broke free from his possessor.  He staggered for a moment and shook rubbed his sweaty forehead.  Looking around in horror, he surveyed the dead bodies laid about him and put his hand up to his mouth as to stifle a scream.  He saw Sango: his sister who had a sharp weapon driven deeply into her back, his sister who had his weapon driven deeply into her back, his sister who was wounded yet miraculously still standing…"Ane-ue…ANE-UE―!"

"Ane-ue…Sango…I'm so s-scared."  Kohaku's body began to shake violently underneath Sango's; their broken armor clattered against one another's.  Both bodies were pierced with numerous arrows sticking out from their reddened backs.  Their comrades lay around them, crying red tears. 

The possessed lord grinned maliciously and accused both taijiya mad and commanding to his captains their death.

"It's okay, Kohaku.  I'm here," Sango tries her hardest to reassure her hope forsaken brother.

"A…Ane…-ue…"

Z

"Miss Sango?  Sango?"

"Hmm…?"  Sango was disrupted from her trance, and just in time to hold back the tears brimming about her eyelids.

"Are you okay, Miss taijiya?" Seipei asked again, emphasizing her concern.

"Oh, I'm fine.  D-don't worry about me.  I―"

"Miss Sango, Mommy, hurry up!  Are you coming or what?" Maimiyo called from inside.

Holding up the straw flap, Miroku added, "The bread is waiting, Sango!  Maimiyo ensures its satisfaction."  Maimiyo beamed up at him.  Releasing the flap, Miroku took up Maimiyo and threw her up, only for her to fall safely in his arms again.

Seipei grinned.  "Sir Miroku―"

"Oh, please, it's Sango and Miroku.  There's no need for rankings.  They make us feel old," Sango laughed.

"You both seem quite young; how old are both of you anyway?  Well, if you don't mind me asking, of course."

"Oh, it's no trouble.  We're just a couple of juveniles: not really children and not yet adults, you know?  You, by the way, seem just the same."

"How is it that you taijiya are so skilled at approximating age?  I didn't know that was part of your job description."  Seipei gave a casual laugh, her spirit spilling with gaiety.  The laugh turned into a crescendo, growing louder.  "Wow," Seipei finally sighed, "I haven't laughed like that in the longest time, even at something not that funny."  It was the sweat-dropping taijiya's turn to laugh.  Their glee was harmonious, helping Sango relax again.

The taijiya continued.  "Maimiyo is a very sweet girl, a bit wild I admit.  She must get it from her mother.  How do you keep up with her?"  Sango smiled warmly.

Seipei suddenly stopped.  Everything felt still and quiet as silence dominated; the voices of Miroku and Maimiyo, the gregarious village, and the rest of the world seemed to drown out into nothingness.  Simply nothing.  Everything seemed to stop, as if there was a knot, a wrinkle, in time.

The villager walked swiftly towards her hut, absconding from the miasmic tension.  In front of the straw flap, Seipei turned her head towards Sango.

"Miroku would make a good father."

Seipei veered away from her hut and began walking elsewhere.  The silence broke and the waltz of life was reborn.  What was that all about?   Sango blinked.  Did I say something wrong…?

And then there was a scream.  It was a chilling, blood-curling scream: the cry of a child.

"Maimiyo!" Seipei shrieked.

"Miroku," Sango breathed in sharply.  "MIROKU!"