She ran as fast as she could after the fading scent of the villain that had stolen her friend.  She knew that it was useless to try and run him down, she'd seen the show enough time to realize the futility of her actions, but she had to get to Nathaniel.  She had to make sure he was alright.  She had to get him back.  Her heart was sick with the thoughts of what Naraku had done to him.  There had been blood on that shirt, and lots of it, but she knew better than to assume he was dead.

    She reached the road and caught another scent, Inuyasha's.  She wondered if they would help her, they were after the same person, but Inuyasha thought she was in league with Naraku and would probably be against her coming with them.  She decided to tail them, keeping far enough away to avoid detection, but staying just within range of his scent.  She stayed down wind, running softly, using all the knowledge her character had to keep off their "radar".

    One night, about a week after she'd started to track them, Inuyasha's scent dropped off the map.  It wasn't that it faded or that she'd lost it.  It wasjust gone.  She crouched down so she was closer to the dirt road and took an experimental sniff.  She'd never actually tried to "sniff" anyone out before and the experience was not something she'd forget in a hurry.  It was like trying to find Waldo on a page of red and black stripes.  She stayed there for a full five minutes before she stood up, growling.  She looked around, trying to find foot prints or soemthing to tell her which way they'd gone, but there were none.  Then it came to her, a barrier.  She'd see them before on the show.  She took a couple steps back and focused on the area in front of her, it seemed clear, but the she saw it...a shimmering near the tree line.  She was right.  She walked up to it and stretched a hand out, touching it experimentally.  Her hand passed through.  She grinned and took off again, following the foot prints that Inuyasha's group had left when they passed through the barrier.  As she ran, she felt something hit her shoulder, knocking her down.

    "I knew someone was following us," she heard Sango say.  She swore to herself, holding her shoulder where blood was starting to seep through her clothes.

    "You again?  Why were you following us?" Inuyasha asked, walking over and pulling her up by her injured arm.  She shouted out as he moved her and closed her eyes against the pain that shot through her.

    "Put her down Inuyasha, she's hurt," Kagome shouted.  He looked over at her with a face that said "shut up" as plain as day.

    "I'll put her down when she answers my question," he said, squeezing her upper arm.  She hissed, gritting her teeth and baring her fangs at him, her eyes turning red as her energy spiked.

    "I wasn't following you, I was looking for someone," she growled, gasping as he let her go.  Kagome walked over to her cautiously and tried to touch her arm but she just glared at her, moving away from all of them and glaring at them.

    "Why were you following us?" Kagome asked.  Sarah looked down, weighing her options and decided that telling them would be an enormous wast of time, so she just looked up at her and growled.

    "I told you, i wasn't, but thank you for the shoulder wound, i really needed my life to be that much worse," she said, glaring at them all in turn before getting up and backing into the trees.  Once she was out of sight, she slouched over against a tree and pulled out the shirt Naraku had dropped.  She tore pieces of it off and shrugged off her own shirt, putting a bandage around her shoulder and another aroundher chest where the edge of the boomerang had hit her.  She could feel that she'd at least bruised her ribs if not broken them, but all she could do was keep pressure on them and hope they healed up by themselves.  She shrugged her shirt back on, gasping as pain lanced through her shoulder and chest and then sat back against the tree to rest.  She knew she couldn't follow Inuyasha's group anymore, they'd be looking out for her now and if she got caught again, there wouldn't be any talking her way out of it.

    She woke lat that night and she could tell, even without opening her eyes, that she wasn't alone.  She could hear someone breathing close to her.  The heart beat was fast, too fast for an adult unless they were having a heart attack, so it had to be a child.  Rin.  She knew she was right, as she heard Jaken come stumbling into the clearing she was in, talking very loud and fast about her wandering off.  His voice stopped suddenly when he saw her.

    "Who is she?  Why are you giving her our food?" he asked.

    "She's hurt, look, her shirt had blood on it," Rin said, pointing to the blood stains on her shoulders.

    "So?  She was clearly stupid enough to get wounded, come, Lord Sesshoumaru is back and he is waiting for us," he said.  She heard footsteps approaching and she opened her eyes, looking at the food and then at him.  He met her gaze for all of a second before he started to back away.

    "You're awake, oh, your eyes are pretty.  What's your name?  This girl is Rin," she said, grinning toothily at her.

    "I'm Riyo," she said, sitting up.

    "Rin, why do you keep me waiting?" a man emerged from the forest and looked at the young girl.

    "Sorry my lord, this girl found a new friend, her name is Riyo, she is hurt," Rin said, getting up and running over to Sesshoumaru.  He looked up at her and then to her back.  His eyes got suddenly angry and he walked over to her quickly, she could barely see him move.

    "Where is Naraku?" he asked; his voice dealy quiet.

    "I don't know," she said.  "That isn't a scar, it's a tattoo," she didn't bother to look at him, she just rolled her eyes and rested against the tree, wincing.

    "Where is he, tell me," he grabbed her shoulder, making her look at him.  She gasped and gritted her teeth, her eyes watering.

    "I told you, I DON'T KNOW.  If I knew I wouldn't have had to tail Inuyasha all over hell in creation to try and find him.  Trust me, no one wantes to find him more than me.  Now let go of my shoulder before you lose your other arm," she growled, her eyes tinting red.  Sesshoumaru seemed taken aback.  Never before had a woman of any race stood up to him so blatantly.  He was intrigued and for a long time all he could do was stare at her.  Finally he loosened his grip and stood, looking down at his now bloody hand.

    "Jaken, take the girl and Rin to Ah Un, I must see someone," he said, walking off into the forest again.