AN: What can I say? You are all the greatest readers a girl could ask for!! Dia and del_kaidin, you two rock! Thank you so much for all your support!!!

I took a seat, at her insistence, between Kohana and Keitaro. I didn't really want to be that near to him, especially after that shock of a revelation that I had just received. He settled beside me, glowing with glee and smugness over his victory over me. I was seething inside, but I put on a friendly smile, forced my feelings down for the meantime. Let him wait till later and then I'll let him have it. Especially now that I knew his secret as well. Kohana happily handed me a bowl of rice as her mother served everyone and proceeded to show me carefully how to use the chopsticks, which I found absolutely adorable.

"Kohana, what are you doing?" asked Sango softly.

"Kin and Kyoshi said she was a foreigner, and didn't speak our language, so I bet she doesn't know how to use the chopsticks, so I'm teaching her!" she said a matter-of-factly. Kagome opened her mouth to explain otherwise but I caught her eye and winked, and pretended to be enthralled with my lesson, purposely fumbling with my sticks a few times, just to give the little girl the satisfaction of teaching a grown up something. Once I 'mastered' it, she giggled and returned to her own seat, and began eating, every once in a while glancing over to make sure I was eating correctly. Everyone seemed to catch on to my ruse, for they smiled softly as they watched us.

Kaemon was watching me a little too closely, and it was starting to make me uncomfortable. Granted he had already shown which genes were prominent in his blood, though even Miroku never seemed to act this way to Sango. Maybe he did, how well did I really know everyone. I could only rely on stories that could have been edited. I made sure I didn't look at him once, perhaps it was better to avoid making him think some of the interest was returned. He was very handsome, this I couldn't ignore. He mirrored his father's charismatic smile, his painfully beautiful face, and those incredibly deep eyes. Perhaps he was too pushy, that could have been it. I never trusted overly flattering men, they were usually after something that they wouldn't get from me, and under all his attentions, was the underlining emotion of just that. I sighed softly and stared intently at my dinner, and listened in on the variety of conversations that surrounded me.

"Poor child, you said she couldn't get back through the well?" Miroku said, glancing at me for a second before turning back to Inuyasha and Kagome.

"According to Keitaro, that's what he saw. She jumped into the well, and he heard her hit the ground. But we still don't know how she got here in the first place. I thought the well was sealed before Keitaro was born," Inuyasha said, looking concerned.

"I don't understand it either, I've been back myself, the time slip still won't work for me. She definitely doesn't carry the Shikon no Tama; no reincarnations to worry about this time, so I don't even know how she made it through. The other thing is how did she get to the well in the first place, she's from the west, and while Jii-san might have been foolish enough to sell our story to a manga company, I don't think he would have set up the shrine as a tourist stop, " Kagome said softly with a sigh.

"What is going to happen to her now?" Kohaku added softly, giving me a sympathetic glance.

"She'll stay with us of course, and until I can remember enough of my schooling to speak to her and find out what happened, or till she learns enough of our language to speak, we're going to have to play this by ear." Kagome said softly.

You can only stare at an empty bowl of rice for so long, before looking suspicious. Once that thought crossed my mind, I placed the bowl to the side, and began to look for something else to occupy my time. The ties on my pants, yes that looked interesting! Geez, was I being pathetic, maybe I should just up and tell them I understood what they were saying.

Kohana finished her dinner with a flourish and decided I made a more comfortable seat than the wooden floor, so she slid into my lap again. Ah, a welcome distraction. I smiled and gently began to scratch the bottom of her ears. She purred softly and Keitaro rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous because she's scratching my ears and not yours," Kohana said and stuck her tongue out at him, "Cause I know you like to have your ears scratched a lot, Mamma told me!" He blinked and looked surprised and glanced at me. I smiled smugly. Oh, he did, did he? He glanced away and snorted indignantly. I just slowly switched from scratching Kohana's ears to running my fingers in her hair, smoothing it out between my fingers. I gather a small section of her ivory hair, just around her ears, and began braiding it into one long slender braid. She blinked curiously and reached up, and I moved her hand along it. She squealed with delight.

"Mamma, she's weaving my hair!" she exclaimed and the other adults looked over, smiling. I blushed and pretended not to notice.

"Well, Kohana has certainly taken to her," Kaemon commented, "I noticed the twins did has well. She certainly has a way with children. She'll make a good mother some day." He grinned, and his brothers simply rolled their eyes. Keitaro on the other hand, looked less than pleased. I murmured softly in English, "Not that you'll have any part in what children I might have."

Keitaro snorted loudly, coughing on the water that he was just drinking, and everyone turned to look at him. My will power not to laugh right then and there was stretched pretty thin. I knew he understood every word I was saying, and he avoided looking at me, as he cleared his throat. Kohana glanced at her brother, then at me, and grinned, before settling back down.

"Kaemon, how goes your training," Inuyasha asked.

"Wonderful, the lord thinks I have great promise as a samurai, and my sensei says I'm the best student he has!" Kaemon crowed proudly. Inuyasha nodded, "Hai, that is wonderful news. I'm sure you have shown proper gratitude to your mother for all the training she gave you as a pup. I'm sure the skills of a taijia have come in handy in showing off to your peers."

Kaemon blinked and blushed faintly, looking down at his feet. Kagome laughed and smacked her husband on the arm, "Inuyasha, don't deflate the boy's ego that easily. I remember a young man who thought he was the greatest just because he carried a sword around, and he didn't even know how to use it properly." Inuyasha looked flustered a second and yelled, "Well that young man saved your hide with that sword, so be quiet woman!" He blinked and shut his mouth with an audible click. Kagome just smiled softly, and remained calm. Some part of me wished to see the infamous Osuwari in action, but I didn't think that was fair to Inuyasha.

"And you Naoko?"

"Oh, I have decided to leave the monastery," he said softly, much to the amazement of his parents. It seemed to be news to them.

"Naoko, whatever for, I thought you enjoyed your studies!" Sango exclaimed, and he nodded. "Hai Mother, I did, but I had a dream that the Buddha came and spoke to me. He told me that I would reach the nirvana I seek in the village here, so I spoke to the other monks and they encouraged me to follow this dream. I have decided to set up a school for the children, and teach them to read and write." He smiled proudly, and Maeko spoke up for the first time.

"That's wonderful news, I know the children will be excited, and perhaps then I can get some work done, instead of them chasing after me all the day," she laughed softly. Kagome smiled, "Yes Naoko, indeed this will be wonderful news."

"I also wanted to speak to you about another idea I had. I want to teach all the children in the village, even the ones that don't live in the village." Miroku looked confused for a moment, but before he could speak, Naoko exclaimed, "I want to invite the youkai cubs from friendly packs around to come and learn with the human children as well."

Everyone froze and stared at him, and his face flushed. Kagome glanced at her husband, who looked just as surprised as everyone else. "Naoko, that indeed is a noble idea but, " Naoko cut her off.

"No Kagome-sama," he said, bowing towards her, "No buts, all children deserve to enjoy learning together, no matter whether they are human, youkai or hanyou." The three hanyous in the room sparked with surprise. "All my life, I grew up with stories about what great things Inuyasha did on your travels. But I also heard the sad things that happened to him, because he belonged to two worlds that didn't want him. Even Shiori has told me of how difficult it was for her and her mother, because of her heritage. The children of this village have grown up with all of us, Keitaro and Shippou, and the younger ones now with Kohana and the twins. We've seen that it can happen. I want to spread that to others, and if I can start here, perhaps others will continue the work elsewhere, until there is no longer a fear between any of us."

I froze in my braiding, in a state of shock. Sango spoke up, "Naoko," she began but Miroku stopped her.

"And if others wished to come to this school, to accept those ideas, and they are not part of this village, how will you accommodate them?" Naoku looked a little surprised and thought a moment.

"Fighters are fostered into the homes of lords to learn their crafts, perhaps I could set up a place for those who wish to learn to come and live, so they would not have to travel so often. The older ones could help keep things in order, and keep an eye on the younger ones." Naoko replied slowly, as his father nodded, "And would you allow only boys, or could girls attend as well?"

"Any child that wishes may come, no matter if they are male or female, Mother and Kagome have proven enough that women are just as learned as men, no matter what others may think."

"Heavens boy, perhaps you would like the push the sun across the sky while you're at it, you might have an easier time, " Inuyasha joked and Kagome gave him a threatening look.

"Naoko, I think it's a wonderful idea, and I'm sure the villagers will agree with me. I will present this idea to them at the next village gathering, and once everything is set up, I'm sure word will spread quickly to other villages." Kagome encouraged him, and he smiled brightly. "I was hoping you would all like to add your expertise as well. Father could aid in the reading and writing, and Kagome, if you have the time to spare, I'm sure herbal knowledge for some of the girls would be something very valuable for them to return home with."

I zoned out slightly as they continued discussing other matters of the school. Kohana had fallen asleep in my lap and now my legs were joining her in her slumber. Her little hands were clinging to my shirt as she nuzzled against me.

I carefully wrapped my arms around her, without waking her and rose to my feet. Everyone glanced up at me, and saw the sleeping child, understanding. Kagome started to rise to her feet, but I shook my head, motioning with my hand to stay as I carefully made my way to the small bedroom I saw off the main room. There were three futons spread out, light blankets spread over each of them, and the smallest lay in the middle, a small white yukata spread out neatly over it. I carefully knelt and began to take off Kohana's kimono, careful not to wake her. She mumbled in her sleep, nothing intelligent as I dressed her again in the yukata, and pulled back the sheet. She mumbled again and began to open her eyes. I shushed her softly, "Go back to sleep Kohana," I said in Japanese. She yawned and whispered, "Sing to me onee-san, sing me a song in your world."

She didn't seemed to surprised that I could speak to her, so I settled on my side beside her, propping my head up on my elbow and sang softly the first thing that came to mind. Ironically it was one of the songs from the Inuyasha series, but one that I loved because it was soft and melodic. I didn't know the Japanese words, so I sang the words to "Every heart" in English. She smiled, and curled up beside me and slipped back into sleep. I felt several presences in the doorway, and knew I was being watched, but the moment was so blissfully peaceful I didn't care. Eventually they began to disappear until only one remained the one I wished would go away the most. Keitaro.

As I finished, I very slowly and carefully pried myself away from her tiny fingers, and rose, holding my breath to prevent her from even hearing that as I moved. I tiptoed away from the sleeping child. He opened his mouth to speak and I quickly covered his lips with my hand, glaring at him to be quiet as I continued walking out the doorway of the bedroom and back into the main room.

Thankfully a cool breeze from the coming evening was blowing in, and I stood in the doorway, looking out. Everyone had disappeared, leaving me to face Keitaro by myself. I sighed and turned around to face him, might as well get this over with.

AN: Don't hate me, I had to stop here, cause I only get so much time to get on the computer and type and my times about up, but I'll write more/type more tomorrow, I promise!!