TO THOSE OF YOU WHO JUST RECIEVED AN ALERT, GO BACK ONE CHAPTER TO SEE THE NEW MATERIAL.

A/N: Kagome's words are in italics. (For apologies and groveling see bottom.)

Inuyasha waited outside of Kaede's hut presenting a seldom seen exterior of serenity. Legs crossed, eyes shut, back resting gently against the wooden slats, only spastically twitching ears betrayed his true tension. In truth, Inuyasha wasn't resting, or recovering from the latest arduous battle. No, he was hunting, lying in wait for a certain lecherous monk who hadn't kept his eyes or hands off of Kagome the entire way back from the Peach man's rotten home.

That damn monk had another thing coming if he thought hiding behind Kagome's (admittedly fraying) good graces would save him forever. Inuyasha would protect her virtue whether she wanted it or not. It was a pity Miroku was too useful to dispose of in a more permanent manner, but a little mauling never hurt anyone...

Inuyasha was distracted from these pleasant thoughts by Kagome's voice. Her pleasant murmur had intermingled with Kaede's in the background for quite a while as she recounted their latest shard retrieval, and had been mostly disregarded, but this was worrying.

"I met this guy back home."

Oh no. No No No No No No! Inuyasha grabbed Tesseiga's hilt. This was not good. He didn't know too much about Kagome's era, but he did know one thing. A 'guy' meant distraction. It meant more trips to the well and less time spent hunting jewel shards. It meant Miroku was suddenly the least of his problems. Inuyasha almost swore as he realized that in his agitation he missed more of their conversation. Hastily, he returned his full attention to the horrific words leading through the wall.

"It's not like that!" Kagome sounded righteously indignant, a good sign? "My grandfather forced me to meet him, thanks to some dumb priest agreement made ages ago! One thing just turned into another and now I practically have a teacher and his fiancée living in my house!"

Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. Kagome's grandfather was... odd; all those fake sutras and strange powders that mysteriously become stuck to his back when he went to fetch Kagome were sufficient evidence. Getting Kagome some old geezer as a live in tutor was strange, but perfectly reasonable compared to his usual antics.

The 'guy' was probably wrinkly, smelly, and well on his way to senility. The 'fiancée' had to be some kind of screaming banshee if the two old timers still weren't hitched. Kagome was probably bemoaning her fate to an unsympathetic Kaede. Inuyasha nodded sagely to himself, well pleased with this extrapolation of the discussion. Perhaps this would turn out for the best after all.

"He's annoying," Yes, annoying sounded promising. "kind of like Inuyasha," Hey! "but Ranma's really been able to help me out so I'm not such a dead weight, and even though Akane was scary at first, she's become a good friend."

Kaede murmured something that Inuyasha couldn't quite catch. Darn her scratchy voice, it was too hard to decipher through the layers of wall and insulation.

"Yeah, but it still wasn't enough against that evil hermit, and Inuyasha had to save me—again—and almost got himself killed—again."

Keh. He was half demon, tough. It'd take more than a nutty diamond hard sage to do him in. Even if he was in human form... and even if Miroku and Shippo were shrunk down to miniatures... and even if Kagome ended up stripped naked of clothes and weapons and stuck in a weird cellar hot spring. It turned out fine in the end! Though, that explained why Kagome kept trying to punch the weird mutant peach man. Maybe he hadn't imagined the pink tint in the air around her fists... hmmm...

More murmurs, probably comforting. It was too much to hope that Kaede would scold Kagome for almost getting herself killed.

"The problem is, the whole time I was home, when stupid Inuyasha took the shards and stuffed a tree down the well," That was for her own good! "Ranma kept bugging me about the feudal era. He really wants to come through the well, and thinks that you can help him with his curse. Akane's so determined not to be left behind that she want to come too!"

The old guy wanted to come through the well? No way! He didn't need another hanger on, never mind some squabbling elderly couple! From the sounds of things Kaede wasn't too pleased either. Inuyasha strained his ears, but was only rewarded by snippets of "foolish," "not serious," and "impulsive."

"Well, he is cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water thanks to falling into a magical spring of some sort during a training trip gone wrong." Keh, that sounded funny, might explain the fiancee too. "I've tried to warn him that the feudal era is no walk in the park, but I haven't been able to get through to him. On the other hand, I am grateful for his help thus far, and he offered to keep teaching me martial arts and a new way to channel my spiritual powers. It isn't conditional on a ticket to the past, but I'm not so foolish as to think I'd have time to hunt jewel shards, go to school, and train in three different places! Ranma is ridiculously overconfident, but if even half of what Akane's told me is true he'll be able to hold his own here, probably even better than me."

Able to hold his own? Hah, he doubted it! But, that didn't mean 'Ranma' and 'Akane' couldn't come through, get their miracle cure, and then stay with Kaede while he kept searching for jewel shards. After all, old people ought to stick together, and this way everyone would be happy! Kagome would get to work on 'school' in the village instead of scampering off to the well every other minute, and Kaede would get some extra defense for the village. Its vulnerability had been an itch in the back of his mind ever since the fiasco with Kikyo's ashes.

"It's just; I haven't been able to make any headway with the bow and arrow. I end up feeling stupid and useless every time I try to use it."

No kidding. Kagome's aim sucked, and seemed to only get worse over time.

"Yet after a little over a week's worth of training with Ranma and Akane I already feel stronger."

Well, he certainly hadn't noticed a difference... except for the clothes. At least now he knew where to lay the blame for Kagome's latest apparel. Miroku's look of dismay when Kagome came back in loose pants and a kimono style short sleeved top had been priceless, and Inuyasha had been pleased.

The amount of attention Kagome gathered with that little green skirt and sailor shirt was downright criminal. The way everything rode up as she ran, baring midriff and way too far past the thigh, the number of demons and humans who intended and attempted to molest her... Yes. Inuyasha had been delighted to say goodbye to the stupid "school uniform." That is, until Miroku took it upon himself to reacquaint his hands with Kagome's no longer enticingly displayed posterior, and experimented with different vantages while walking so as to better look down her shirt.

"Can't you think of any way to get them through the well?"

Darn, he'd definitely missed something, but when he got his hands on that monk...

"Thank you Kaede! Ranma probably won't like it, but at least I'll have something to tell them when I get back."

Wait a second, 'go back?' They had jewel shards to find, demons to slay. There was no time for a day or two of 'school' and 'tests!' Didn't she take their quest seriously? How could she keep abandoning them, abandoning him for her utterly unimportant and boring life in the future? A trip home once and a while to see her family once in a while was understandable, but were there no limits!

Inuyasha's balloon of righteous indignation never made it off of the ground thanks to a lack of hot air. Oh yeah, she needed to go home so she could fetch those new tutors. This would make sure that she didn't need to deal with 'studying' as often. Maybe just this once he could let her go without a fuss...but wait a second, when was she planning to consult him, the leader of their little group, about this decision?

"What! But Inuyasha will never agree!"

So she wasn't planning to tell him at all! Keh, figures. Shows what she knows though. Of course he agreed. In fact, he was going to march in there right now and order her to fetch them right away. Maybe he should go along too... nah, no reason to go giving them second thoughts, and in any case, he still had a monk to hunt down.

A/N: Hello readers. This is the part where I bow down and grovel while apologizing profusely for the lateness, shortness, and all around inadequacies of this chapter. If you've read my profile (recently changed) then you know that I have a multitude of reasons for not updating in a little less than a year, and you'll probably be disgruntled to hear that things probably won't get any better.

I'm still super busy, and I'm coming up on midterms, and I still haven't made it to the feudal era in this story, but I'll try to update more (maybe if I can get back into a weekly schedule things will come more easily), and I'm sorry for the wait.

For those who still have any clue what is going on in this story, and have bothered to add me to an alert list, I applaud your tenacity. Thank you for reading.

If any inconsistencies are noticed (it has been a long time) and mentioned I will try to fix them.