Chapter 42: Red

The television flickered brightly in the living room as Inu-Yasha squinted, bleary-eyed, at the screen. He wasn't watching anything interest, just a dubbed 80's horror film that he couldn't place. He stretched his legs out far until he felt his back pop a little and then he resumed sitting cross-legged on the end of the couch, a bored look on his face.

x

After feeling a strange sensation on the roof, Inu-Yasha had returned to the indoors, feeling unnerved. Even now, he felt as if he was being observed. His initial reaction was to try to put it on his sense of paranoia, especially while human, but he knew that in his case, whatever was bothering him was most likely completely legitimate. Though he looked exhausted outwardly, his mind was alert, and he kept his diminished senses weary.

x

Upon entering the house, he had noticed something red out of the corner of his eye again, registering it as some sort of shape his mind couldn't place. Now, he waited for it to return.

x

A few minutes passed before Inu-Yasha felt the hair on the back of his neck begin to stand on end. His body tensed a little and a shape entered his peripheral ever so slightly. He didn't move and neither did it. Inu-Yasha pulled in a steadying breath and shifted in his seat slightly. The shape, bright red and quite large, seemed to shift forward, slinking almost like an animal towards him. He gulped, unsure of what to make of it. The red shape moved ever closer, as if by some greater sense of anticipation, always staying just at the edge of Inu-Yasha's vision. He grimaced, trying to keep his eyes from wandering and he stared ahead at the television until it (whatever the thing was) stalled beside him on the ground next to the couch.

x

It was then that Inu-Yasha struck. Still not looking directly at the thing, his hand shot out, grasping tightly to a portion of the shape as he flipped over the arm of the sofa, flipping the something over in the process. He was shocked to hear a feminine cry of surprise, and when he finally laid eyes on what had been stalking him, he was stunned to see that his hand had clasped around the scruff of a tiger-sized feline whose pelt shone an unnatural red. Inu-Yasha gawked as the upside-down cat creature began to laugh quietly before disappearing completely into a red fog, slipping away through the boy's fingers before vanishing completely. Inu-Yasha toppled backwards, shocked, his heart pounding.

"The fuck?" he gasped.

Did someone sneak drugs into my food?

The laughter echoed back through the kitchen, louder now, and, startling Inu-Yasha again, the cat emerged, her head inclined to the side.

"I'm sorry to frighten you," she said, again taking the boy off guard, "I was just watching out. I didn't think you'd be able to notice me, as you are now."

Inu-Yasha was baffled. He gulped.

"Who... Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

The cat merely bared fang in a grin and said,

"Say 'hi' to your brother from me, okay?" before vanishing completely, almost literally in the blink of an eye.

Inu-Yasha sat in place for a few minutes, trying to figure out what had just happened. Eventually, he put his forehead in his palm, confused beyond reason.

Why does all this weird shit happen in this house? First Kagome's giant spirit dog, now a red fog cat and-

Inu-Yasha's heart stalled for a moment and his head shot up as his eyes widened.

A Kouken-Konjou? he wondered, Oh, shit! Can it be mine? I've never seen it before. Maybe Koga's? No, she said to say hi to Sessho-Maru.

Inu-Yasha's thoughts were racing.

"Well, fuck!" he cursed, heaving himself to his feet.

x

He walked into the kitchen, picked up the phone and purposefully dialled in his home phone number. The phone rang only once before it was picked up.

"What's wrong now, Inu-Yasha?" Sessho-Maru asked on the end of the line.

The man sounded more bored than irritated, for which Inu-Yasha was quite relieved.

"Do I have a Kouken-Konjou?" he asked.

"...What?"

"A Kouken-Konjou. Do I have one?"

"I... don't see why you wouldn't, most people have one, Inu-Yasha. Whether or not it can materialize is a different issue all together..."

He seemed puzzled.

"Why do you ask?" he wondered.

"There was a weird red cat thing in the house, she said some stuff about watching me, and then told me to say 'hi' to you," the boy answered hastily.

For a moment, there was no sound on the other end of the line. Inu-Yasha listened intently, but with human ears he could hear nothing.

"Sessho-Maru?" he said hesitantly.

"Did she tell you her name?" the youkai asked quietly.

"No," Inu-Yasha replied, confused, "Why?"

Again, there was silence, but after a moment he heard his brother sigh.

"No reason. You're right, it was probably just a Kouken-Konjou; nothing to worry about."

"Why is she here now?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"Could be any number of things. If she was clearly darting in and out of your gaze, it was probably her first time being strong enough to come to this world. She may have just been testing, or she might have foreseen something. Then again, if that were the case, if she was a Kouken-Konjou, she would have let you know."

"Oh, okay..." Inu-Yasha said, feeling a bit reassured, "Thanks."

"Not an issue. Please don't call again unless it's an emergency: tomorrow's a school day."

With that, Sessho-Maru hung up. Inu-Yasha slowly did so as well. He had almost forgotten that Sessho-Maru had taken Rin into the house. The boy took a deep breath, still a bit shaken.

Shit always happens when I'm human! Damn it, he thought.

He folded his arms to his chest and looked around, trying to will himself to be able to sense whatever was going on around him. Unfortunately, he felt nothing different. He gulped and then, tiredly, turned to the pot of coffee he had made earlier. It was lukewarm now. He poured himself another mug and dumped sugar liberally into it. He sighed. He hoped Kagome was faring better than he was.

oOoOoOoO

As the theatre emptied, Kagome trailed with Koga behind the other patrons, feeling pretty content with the action flick they had just finished watching. Koga seemed very excited and he eagerly retold his favourite moments, grinning and cheerful. Kagome was glad to see him so happy and seeming okay compared to earlier. She supposed the sleep had really been good for him. After the boy had finished his ramble, he looked at Kagome expectantly.

"What did you like most?" he asked eagerly.

"Um..." Kagome said blankly, "The explosion on the roof?"

"Oh yeah, that was really cool," Koga replied brightly.

They wandered through the theatre to an area near the food bar, towards a crowded group of tables and took seats at a small table next to a wall.

"So, what next?" Kagome inquired.

"Oh, we're still going?"

Koga seemed a little surprised and the girl faltered for just a moment before smiling and saying, "Yep, the plan was for all night." Koga looked confused for a moment before nodding.

"Right, I forgot," he admitted.

"Are you getting tired yet?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm okay," he said.

He gave her the thumbs-up and she snickered.

"I'm glad," she said brightly, "Want me to get us some food here? Or should we go somewhere else?"

Koga stared at her with a surprised look on his face and after a moment, he shrugged, indecisive. Kagome was glad that he hadn't settled on theatre food because, in all honesty, it wasn't very good and she needed to kill more time.

"Let's head out again," she decided, standing up again, "There's bound to be some places around."

Koga got up and followed her as she beckoned him towards the exit.

x

Outside, the night air was cool and refreshing. Kagome stretched her arms above her head contentedly and looked to Koga; she could tell he was much more comfortable outside. As she readjusted her jacket, she looked at the boy curiously.

They really are like animals sometimes, aren't they? she mused a little fondly.

"What do you feel like?" she asked, "Burgers?"

"Sounds good to me," he replied.

The girl nodded and looked around, trying to get her bearings though Koga swiftly pointed up the road to their right.

"That way," he said.

"How-?" Kagome began, but then shook her head at her own forgetfulness and said, "Right, your nose."

He smiled a bit bashfully and the two began to walk again. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Koga eyed Kagome shyly.

"Hey," he said, "Thanks for this."

"Oh, no problem, movie nights out are fun," she replied with a grin.

"Not just that," Koga said, "Just... you know, in general."

"Oh," Kagome laughed and she was about to again mention how little of an issue it was when she was jerked from her train of thought by the wolf-whistle of a boy out the window of a passing car. The girl's reactionary middle finger went up despite her surprise and Koga bared his fangs and snarled almost as automatically.

"That son of a bitch, I'll-" he began, but Kagome's hand went to his shoulder and he looked at her in surprise as she laughed tiredly and shook her head.

"You know, teenage boys, assholes and such," she explained.

Koga looked at her and then up the road, though the car hand vanished.

"I could still catch them," he suggested.

"And do what?" Kagome asked.

She smiled.

"Thanks, but it's not a big deal," she assured him.

Koga looked a bit uneasy, nodded, but then drooped his head and mumbled something under his breath. Kagome looked at him inquisitively and poked him in the side and he grimaced a bit, blushed, and repeated, "What kind of brother am I to let some douchebag do that to my 'sister'?" Kagome's eyes went wide and she stalled in her tracks and, to Koga's surprise, burst out laughing and gave him a quick hug. His face went bright red and he hesitantly patted her shoulder, only to have her pull back and ruffle his hair.

"I like you," she decided, "Don't worry, you're a good brother!"

She grinned widely; it was contagious and soon Koga was smiling too as they began to walk again.

oOoOoOoO

As Kagome and Koga arrived at their destination, Inu-Yasha sat at home crunched up on the couch with a plate of Chinese food on his knees. He still felt odd and a bit paranoid as he watched television, but Sessho-Maru's words had reassured him despite the strange giant cat that had been in the house. Weirder things had happened, he supposed. He found himself thinking about Kagome and how she was doing once more, struck with an uncomfortable sense of jealousy as he unwillingly imagined the okami youkai sitting in a restaurant with her. He forced it from his mind as he stared blankly at the television.

x

The boy finished eating and, leaving the plate on the arm of the couch, he lazily went upstairs and into his room, trying to find something to do. Since his room had previously belonged to Kagome's younger brother, Sota, the books on the shelf above the desk were catered to a much younger audience. Inu-Yasha frowned and paused, wondering if Kagome would mind if he scoured her room for books. After a moment he decided that there wouldn't be an issue, he left his room and went into hers.

x

Immediately, not being able to smell the girl as normal bothered him and struck him with a sense of longing he hadn't anticipated. He grimaced a little as he stepped further into the girl's room. He noticed that her bed wasn't made and half of her blankets lay on the floor, as did her pyjamas. He could spy a bit of a shelf as a part of her end table, so he lifted the blankets away and shoved them back onto her bed. He knelt to the shelf to inspect it with curiosity. He was a little surprised to see that quite a few of the books were fairly girly mangas, along with some novels he didn't recognize and a few books in English. He dropped into a cross-legged position on the floor as he pushed books aside to look at their titles until he found one that didn't quite look like the others. It was small, but heavier than expected, and had no writing on the spine or the front. Inu-Yasha inquisitively pulled the book from the shelf and flipped it open, only to automatically realize it was a photo album as he was greeted with four blurry, amateur photos of Buyo inside a plastic sheet.

x

Inu-Yasha paused before turning the page. Was this too intrusive? He frowned.

I dunno... was it really hidden? Did she not want me to see this? Maybe she just never mentioned it because it wasn't important? he mused, perplexing himself a little.

Curiosity took him and he flipped the page, only to see more pictures of Buyo. He smiled a little.

No big deal, just cat photos, he thought.

He flipped another page and now came to more family oriented photos. He saw a picture of a much younger Kagome. Though she was smiling with Buyo on her lap, her eyes were on the cat and not on the photographer and she looked tired and vacant. A little strange for a girl of what appeared to be ten or so, but he supposed it wasn't that surprising considering her history. He saw a few more pictures of her: outside a shrine that he assumed was her other home, at school, at a park, always with the same, startlingly world-weary sort of expression, though she always seemed to have more life whenever her younger brother was in the photo with her.

She must have had a hard time, Inu-Yasha thought a bit sadly, She said her mom always used to travel, like she's doing right now. Kagome must have had to take on a lot of responsibility.

Inu-Yasha continued through the photo album, finding pictures of a woman who, judging by the small resemblance he noticed to Kagome, was her mother. There was also a very short. elderly man in a few of the pictures who seemed to always have a scowl on his face. One picture near the back of the album threw Inu-Yasha off however. In the picture he saw Kagome's mother, much younger, grasping a small, maybe two year old, Kagome in her arms as she stood side by side with a young man who stared at where the camera would have been with an uncommon fascination. They seemed happy, though, and Inu-Yasha was a bit startled to notice this strange man's resemblance to Kagome. This was most obvious in his eyes that were a bright hazel, like hers, and unlike her mother's.

x

The boy inclined his head curiously as he stared at the photo.

"Kagome hasn't looked through that in years," came Buyo's voice.

Inu-Yasha looked over his shoulder curiously as the cat prowled into the room and sat beside the boy, looking at the book more intently.

"Then why is it here?" Inu-Yasha questioned.

"Dunno, she always has it in her room. Doesn't look at it, though. Another one of her habits."

The cat seemed strangely pleased and the boy looked back at him with an inquisitive frown. He tapped the photo he had been looking at and placed the book in front of Buyo on the floor.

"Do you know who this is?" he asked, "Were you around back then?"

The cat leaned forward and squinted at the image.

"Yes. I'm Kagome's age, you know," he stated almost proudly, "And I remember him."

"Who is he?"

"Why so curious?"

"She mentioned to me one time that she suspected that her 'father' wasn't really her father, and... well, now that I see this guy, I sorta feel that way too," he explained.

Buyo looked at the man in the photo intently.

"I remember him," he repeated, "His name was Hyougin. I don't remember a whole lot. Believe it or not, I wasn't always as sagely and coherent as I am now."

He smiled jokingly and Inu-Yasha scoffed a little and patted Buyo on the head.

"I remember I could speak with him, though. Not that I had anything interesting to say back then," he said, "I believe he vanished about 12 years ago."

"Weird," Inu-Yasha mumbled, "Do you think... he could be Kagome's dad?"

"I honestly couldn't say," he said, "He was very kind though."

Buyo frowned.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder what happened to him."

Buyo tilted his head one way and then the other and then stood, mumbling something to himself as he paced about in a circle.

"What's up?" Inu-Yasha asked as he turned to watch.

"I just... It's weird, I never really wondered where that man went before," Buyo admitted.

He looked almost ashamed until Inu-Yasha reached out and roughly ruffled his ears.

"Well, you are just a cat," the boy said jokingly.

"Oh thanks."

Buyo batted at Inu-Yasha's hand playfully. The boy poked the cat on the forehead and then, carefully, he closed the photo album and returned it to its place. Instead, he pulled out what seemed to be some sort of fantasy novel, judging by the strange hellbeast on the cover.

x

As Inu-Yasha returned to the main floor to read on the couch, he couldn't help his mind from wandering. Who was that man in the photo? Why had he vanished so suddenly? It became so distracting that he often had to trace back and reread a few pages as his eyes had been following the words but his mind did not acknowledge them. It took him another thirty minutes before he realized that the book was not a fantasy, but was a mystery novel. He then paused to wonder about the cover image, and then began to wonder why he was wondering about the cover image. He slammed the book shut and leaned his head back, grumbling out, "Fuck it," before heading upstairs to his room.

oOoOoOoO

Koga had been sitting with Kagome in a restaurant for almost an hour and he could tell that, for some reason, she was stalling. She had ordered them three rounds of appetizers before dinner and after that had done everything rather slowly. Though Koga enjoyed spending the time with her, he couldn't help but find her behaviour odd. Kagome seemed like a person who was almost always in some sort of rush, from the way she did things to the way she spoke. Even when she was eating dinner, he could see her forcing herself to slow down. She was also keeping track of time meticulously. The combination of the two was very strange indeed.

x

Koga tried to puzzle through what Kagome was thinking, even after she had paid the bill and they left, heading back towards the movie theatre to catch the next general batch of showtimes.

"So," Kagome said to him as they strolled along the same sidewalk they had walked up before, "What do you think? Got any ideas for the next movie?"

"Not really," Koga said absently.

"Hmm..."

Kagome pouted her lips a little and frowned in thought; Koga looked at her, feeling almost as if he could see the gears in her head turning as she made some unknown calculations that were rightly extended by how tired she seemed all ready.

"What about the new one about a wolf-man?" she asked after a while, flashing Koga a grin, "that should be funny for you, huh?"

As the okami looked a little surprised, he couldn't help but notice that under Kagome's breath, she said, mostly to herself, "It's pretty long, too."

"Well... yeah, okay," Koga agreed, and the girl's face automatically brightened.

The boy was a bit confused though. It felt almost like she was trying to distract him from something, though he couldn't figure out what. He could see how tired she was, and yet she still wanted to stay out... and away from Inu-Yasha as well. He found this particularly strange, especially considering how attached the two of them seemed.

Could she be trying to keep me out of the house? I wonder why? Koga mused, Did I do something wrong?

He was snapped out of his thoughts suddenly by Kagome calling his name. She had stopped walking and was looking at him curiously. He too had stopped rather unconsciously, probably following her.

"Sorry, what?" he asked dazedly.

Kagome inclined her head and then laughed a little before lightly bopping him with her fist before continuing to walk. He followed hurriedly.

"I said, what sort of movies do you usually like? Next time we can do more planning and try to find really good ones or something," she said.

"Oh! Um... I dunno, actually, I haven't watched a whole lot of movies," he admitted as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"You'd like martial arts films," Kagome decided.

Koga watched her closely, noting the way she forced her eyes to go wide as if to shock herself back into "awake-ness" as she made herself hold in a yawn. She must have been tired as well. Was there something back home he wasn't supposed to know about? Koga decided to test his theory. He yawned pointedly and then said, "Actually, you know, I'm getting a bit tired. Do you think we should call it a night?" He saw Kagome panic briefly, her eyes going wide as she put her hands up a little, but then she forced a grin.

"Oh, are you sure? The wolf-man movie seemed like it would be pretty good. We could get coffee, that should keep you up."

Koga smiled a little. Of course she would try to keep him here.

I wonder what's going on? he thought.

"Is there a place around here?" he asked.

"We passed one on the way," the girl said.

She lifted her small MP3 player from her jacket pocket and looked at it to check the time for what seemed to be the twentieth time that night.

"We have time," she said quietly as if to reassure herself.

The youkai inclined his head, noting that Kagome had probably forgotten that, no matter how quiet she spoke, he would always hear her. He nodded and followed as Kagome began to head back the way they had come, away from the theatre and towards and the coffee shop.

oOoOoOoO

After sitting for a while in a small, late-night, chain coffee shop, the two headed back to the theatre. Kagome's tired mind was racing. She felt like, somehow, Koga was catching on. She wasn't sure what to do, but she was becoming exhausted. She still had almost four hours to kill and she was unsure of what to do. She checked the time on her MP3 player again groggily only to realize that she had forgotten the showtimes back at the theatre. Silently cursing herself, she continued ahead, unaware of Koga's eyes on hers as if he were trying to read her thoughts.

x

Soon, they were back in the highly illuminated entryway of the movie theatre. Kagome winced in the light and tried to see the playing times of the movies. The last one would be in half an hour. She sighed in relief, still unaware of Koga's probing gaze. When she looked back to him he looked off absently and said, "You seem really tired, are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Um... Yes, yes! Definitely!" the girl insisted, forcing herself to brighten, "I'm okay, I could keep going all night!"
Koga fought to hold in a "that's what she said," and smiled a little to himself before looking in her direction again, only to find her gone. He was a bit startled, but then noticed her heading towards the ticket desk again. He felt a sense of guilt that she kept paying for everything but, in all honesty, he had very little money. He doubted he would have even been able to cover half of this night's expenses. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and looked a bit troubled, but then looked back at Kagome. She was just being handed back two tickets by a young man who looked a bit high. She turned to head back to Koga, nearly bumping into a boy with bright red hair on her way. She apologized hurriedly and scurried back to her friend's side, blushing a bit with embarrassment as she handed him his ticket.

"We still have a little while," she said.

He saw her try not to yawn again and couldn't help a faint smile from crossing his face.

x

They returned to the table at the side near the concessions (which was now closed) and sat once more, though this time the area was bereft of patrons.

"So," Kagome said, a little unsure of what to talk about.

"So," the demon agreed, smiling a little, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go home now?"

Kagome wanted to answer yes, he could see it, but she smiled back at him as if she thought he was joking and raised her eyebrow, saying,

"Don't be silly, I all ready paid for the tickets!"

"Right, right," Koga said, nodding.

He leaned his chin on his hand and Kagome stifled another yawn.

She really wants to keep me here, he thought, bemused, What secret is she trying to keep? It must have to do with Inu-Yasha, why else wouldn't he have come?

Kaga was surprised that he hadn't come to that conclusion sooner. He sat up suddenly, startling the girl across from him, and then gave her an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry," he said, "But did you see a washroom anywhere?"

"Oh! Yeah, over that way."

She turned and pointed behind her where Koga saw a small hallway in the distance marked by a sign with a basic human figure on it.

"Thanks," he said quickly.

He got to his feet, saying, "I'll be right back," and then headed towards the washroom.

x

Koga ducked into the room quickly. It was wide and bright with tiles, and was relatively clean. It was obvious to the youkai that there was no one else inside and so, quickly, he began to look for a way out. His curiosity was getting the better of him, and almost at once he spotted a small, high window on the far wall that he could see what appeared to be a bush through in the dark. He paused to think. Getting out would be simple, and he could get to Kagome's house and back within just a few minutes. He bit his lip. It didn't feel quite right, but he really wanted to know what was going on. He stared at the window, wondering. Koga cast a glance over his shoulder, and then looked back towards the window. He bit his lip and then stalled, rubbing his brow.

Nah, I can't just leave her. That's not fair.

He let out a sigh and turned back to the door of the restroom and walked back outside.

x

Kagome was still sitting at the table and leaning her head on her fist, looking very tired. She smiled obliviously upon seeing him and he grinned back as he sat with her again, though he immediately felt guilty for thinking of leaving her. She looked so sleepy that she seemed close to collapse.

"What time is it?" he asked.

Kagome blinked heavily at him before lifting her wrist as if to check her watch, only to realize she wasn't wearing one. She dipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a battered MP3 player, pressed a button on it and stared at it before saying, "A bit past 12:40." Koga eyed her curiously and then said, "Seriously, you look tired. Did you want to head home?"

As he had expected, Kagome jolted with surprise and suddenly seemed more awake. She shook her head and laughed nervously.

"Um, no, no I'm okay," she said.

Internally, she felt drained even as she said it, but she kept smiling, unaware that Koga could tell that she was forcing it. The okami patted her shoulder and said, "Okay. But this is the last one."

x

After leaving the concession area, they walked back into the hallway lined with theatres, found the theatre listed on their tickets and wandered in. The dark inside emphasized Kagome's drowsiness and she stifled a yawn once more. Even though the stairs in the theatre were lit up, she stumbled in the dark. Koga grabbed her gently, guiding her to an aisle seat easily. Kagome plopped down and smiled at him gratefully as he ducked by her and took the seat to her left. The screen was still displaying a pre-show of still ads for cars and candy, and due to the lack of brain stimuli, Kagome's head began to droop a little. Koga looked a little amused and nudged her with his elbow. She jerked up a little and laughed shyly.

"Sorry, I'm just tired," she admitted.

Koga nodded understandingly. The girl looked embarrassed, though she was quickly distracted by Koga's eyes. Interestingly enough, his iris was a little enlarged and she could pick out a tiny black dot in the center of the blue.

"Weird," she whispered in awe.

Koga shot her a questioning glance.

"Oh, sorry, I was just looking at the change in your eyes," she said, "Do you have very good night vision?"

"Detail-wise, I don't notice a difference between in here and outside," he explained simply, "Same's true for most of us."

"That's awesome," she said.

Even after the trailers started, Kagome was still visibly more interested in watching Koga's eyes than the screen despite the fact that her own eyelids had started to droop. Koga was rather oblivious to this until he noticed Kagome starting to lean toward the aisle in an odd manner. Looking at her face, however, he automatically saw that she had dosed off. Quickly, the boy grabbed her, trying to sit her back up, but she merely slumped against him instead of falling from her seat. He vainly tried to prop her back up, but she fell back against him with no signs of waking. Koga blushed unwittingly and he looked at her with shy curiosity. He wondered if he should try to wake her up at all. He considered it carefully and was about to try when the movie began to blare. He cringed a little, waiting for his ears to adjust. He turned his gaze on Kagome soon afterwards. She was still sound asleep. The youkai sighed, slumped a little, and then dipped his right shoulder a little so she could be a little more comfortable as he sat and stared absently at the mildly ridiculous film playing on the screen before him.

oOoOoOoO

It was nearing the hour of 4am and Inu-Yasha sat in the dark, his back to the largest tree in Kagome's backyard. His eyes were closed and he was letting his mind drift. It was the closest to sleep he would allow himself to get. He had been there for almost an hour and a half and had come outside again after getting bored of video games. Buyo had all ready gone to sleep. Though Inu-Yasha envied the cat, his own sense of paranoia wouldn't let him rest. He listened to the sounds of the night in relative contentment until a new sound, a thud on concrete, sent a chill of surprise up his spine.

x

The boy's eyes snapped open and he squinted through the dark and got to his feet. He could hear footsteps and, very cautiously, he edged up against the side of the house and peered around to the front. To his immediate relief, he saw Koga standing on the walkway to the front door, carefully lowering a very sleepy-looking Kagome from his arms.
"Oof, thanks," he heard her say tiredly.

"It was quicker, I think," the wolf said brightly, though he too sounded rather groggy.

Kagome approached the door and he saw her disappear into the house. Koga paused outside the door for a moment, looking confused. Inu-Yasha could see him testing the air and the boy froze utterly, trying not even to breath. After just a few moment, Inu-Yasha heard Kagome's questioning call to the other demon, who pushed away his suspicions and went inside, closing the door behind him. Inu-Yasha quietly let out the air he had been holding in and edged back around the house.

x

Inside, Kagome discarded her jacket and boots in the closet by the door. Koga followed her lead and looked around. He didn't see Inu-Yasha around, though he did see Buyo, asleep on the couch. He also noticed that something in the house smelled a little funny, though he couldn't quite figure out why. He shrugged it off, not seeing anything suspicious, and then yawned.

"I think I'll go to bed," he decided.

"Good call," Kagome said with a quiet laugh, "Good night!"

"Yeah, goodnight. And... you know, thanks again."

He smiled at her and she returned his tired but cheerful expression, giving him the thumbs up. She watched as the boy scooted upstairs and then she looked around curiously, wondering if Inu-Yasha was lurking about. She didn't see him in the living room anywhere, but then it struck her that she might not be looking for the right hints: Inu-Yasha would look different tonight.

x

Very quietly, she edged around the living room, though she still saw no one but Buyo. A little puzzled but not overly concerned, Kagome went upstairs just in time to see Koga, his lights off, close his bedroom door. The girl smiled a little, generally in a good mood and a bit proud of herself, though she did feel a little bad for falling asleep on Koga during the wolf-man movie, even when the projector had malfunctioned halfway through and caused a good twenty minute delay. She unwittingly blushed just a little as she headed into her own bedroom. Inu-Yasha was not inside but she was a bit surprised to see that he had obviously made her bed. There was also a piece of paper on her night-table. Curiously, she picked it up, only to find that it said, "I looked at your photo album and borrowed a book, I hope you don't mind."

"Oh," she said to herself, a little surprised.

She had almost forgotten she had a photo album in her room. She was almost tempted to look at it herself now that her memory had been jogged, but she immediately realized that it would keep her awake and decided against it.

x

The girl changed out of her clothes and into baggy grey slacks and green t-shirt for pyjamas. She rubbed her eyes tiredly on the back of her hand and then decided to do one more pass for Inu-Yasha. She left her room, stifling a yawn with her hand. She saw Inu-Yasha's lights were off and his door was ajar, though when she peeked in she didn't see him in there either. Frowning a little Kagome turned, only to bump into the chest of the boy she had been looking for.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Sorry-!"

"Sorry!" he replied, overlapping her, grasping her shoulders lightly to steady her, and then laughed a little, "Sorry, I was trying to see what you were looking at."

Kagome laughed a little and took a step back, but was a bit stunned by what she saw. Her hanyou now had dark hair and eyes that seemed almost violet, and looked, for all intents and purposes, human. He looked at her a little shyly, noticing that she had begun to stare at him with surprised curiosity.

"I was looking for you," she said, though her tone was absent as her mind was obviously on other things.

She edged up to him, her eyes locked on his. Cautiously, she raised her hands to his face and guided his head sideways, inspecting him as he flinched in embarrassment. She drew her fingers through his hair and then leaned up closer to his face, studying the colour of his eyes before pulling a bit of his hair forward and then staring at it as well.

"What are you doing?" he asked a little shyly, only to shudder when Kagome ran an inspecting finger along the edge of his ear, "Ah!"

Kagome pulled back, smiling apologetically, but she laughed a little upon noticing a bit of pink on his cheeks as he straightened his neck and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, it's just... you look human! It's weird!"

She said this cheerily, her expression full of fascination.

"I bet you look like your mom, huh?" she said.

Her smile widened and Inu-Yasha looked startled, but he laughed a little and said, "You remembered about that?"

Kagome nodded and then took his hands in hers, looking at them curiously. She recognized his hands, undoubtedly, but she couldn't help but think they looked a little strange without claws. Inu-Yasha followed her gaze and he felt his face heat up a little. He edged a little closer to her and asked, "So... did you have an okay time?"

"Oh, yeah," Kagome said, but she still seemed very interested in his hands, and then after a moment of quiet, she looked up at him with a fond expression, "You should come next time."

She released him and patted his shoulder approvingly as he nodded. She went silent again, looking at him with unspoken fascination, seeming as if she wanted to ask him something until he tilted his head and said, "What is it?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just... wondering what it's like to make a change like this," she said, "You don't mind me asking, do you?"

He shook his head and ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Well the thing is, this has happened for as long as I can remember, so... I mean, I guess it's normal for me. It can be kinda... annoying."

He shrugged and Kagome nodded as if urging him to continue, though she began heading into his room and he followed, putting his hands into his pockets.

"It feels like I'm sick. Because... you know, I'm weaker, can't smell, all that."

He shrugged again as Kagome began to look worried.

"It's only one night," he said reassuringly, and the girl nodded.

x

Though she had been heading to sit on the bed, Kagome turned back to the boy, leaned forward and hugged him around his chest tightly, and, startled, he stared at her for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. His embrace was a little less sure than usual, though Kagome also felt like his grasp on her was quite light. She was a little confused by this, but she grinned and snickered.

"You're so brave," she said, "Hanyous are really fascinating, you know?"

Inu-Yasha blushed and, as Kagome pressed a little closer and rested her head against him comfortably, the boy felt his heart begin to beat faster and, shuddering a little, he hugged her just a little tighter. Before he could even attempt to stop himself, he whispered, his voice soft, "I missed you." Kagome, surprised, pulled back a bit and took him by the shoulders, tilting her head, but then smiled and leaned forward to kiss him gently. Inu-Yasha felt his head spin unlike it had ever done before, his heart pounding as he kissed the girl back, cupping the back of her head and stroking her hair. When he drew back, his heart was still beating much too quickly and he couldn't help but pant just a little, his eyelids drooping. Kagome pet his head reassuringly and before he knew it, she had guided him to a sitting position on the bed, where she knelt down to be at his eye level and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Y... Yeah, fine," he breathed.

Kagome bit her lip, concerned, until Inu-Yasha's blueish gaze locked on her and, despite his embarrassment, he mumbled, "I'm sorry, when I'm... like this, I get.. um, I overreact."

Kagome blinked with a blank expression, but then nodded as if she understood.

"Ooh, so you become more like... a human guy," she snickered.

She laughed even harder as she saw her boyfriend's face turn red, but then quietened herself as she recalled that Koga was trying to sleep in the other room.

"It's funny," she said quietly, "It's... interesting to see you as a human."

She smiled, though Inu-Yasha was silent. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Is it… okay…?" he asked quietly.

Kagome looked surprised and she leaned forward towards him again, blinking blankly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"This… You… I mean, you don't mind, do you?" he asked.

He gestured to himself. Kagome was taken aback. He almost sounded timid.

"Mind? No, I don't mind," she assured him, "It's just a part of who you are."

She grinned at him and he looked back at her shyly.

"So, you… Do you… prefer… this?" he asked cautiously.

The girl stared at him blankly.

"Prefer…? No, I don't prefer you looking human, Inu-Yasha, I prefer you being… however you like!"

She laughed and patted him on the head as he looked back at her with wide eyes.

"I like you and your hanyou self looking like a hanyou."

She smiled and hopped up onto the bed beside him, bonking him on the head.

"A hanyou who looks like a human isn't any fun, yeah?"

Inu-Yasha looked a Kagome blankly for a moment before he nodded and smiled.

"Yeah…" he agreed, "Thanks, Kagome."

Kagome inclined her head and her grin widened.

"You're such a dork, you know that?" she said.

She kissed his cheek and he grinned at her and leaned his forehead tiredly against hers.

"Hey," she said gently, "You know, we have about three hours before we have to get ready for class. I think it'd be safe to sleep, huh?"

Inu-Yasha pulled away a little and shook his head.

"Not until I'm hanyou again," he said.

Kagome pouted and bonked him on the head with her fist again.

"What could possibly happen in three hours?" she demanded.

"Anything," Inu-Yasha replied simply, "I told you: I never sleep while I'm human."

"Not even… just this once? You look exhausted," said Kagome with a pitying frown.

Again, Inu-Yasha shook his head, bowing his head tiredly and pushing his bangs out of his face.

"No. The one time I fall asleep like this is going to be the one time something goes to shit," he said.

"You think?" Kagome wondered.

"It's just the sort of luck I have."

Kagome shrugged and patted his shoulder before flopped back, sprawling sleepily. Inu-Yasha looked at her quizzically and said, "You going to sleep then?"

"Yep. You try too, when the sun starts to come up, okay? Maybe you can at least get an hour or so in."

Inu-Yasha nodded a little and Kagome grinned at him approvingly before yawning, stretching, and then curling up on the bed and waving him closer. Confused, he leaned towards her and she poked him on the nose while sticking her tongue out. He smiled tiredly and she patted his shoulder before snuggling down into the blankets and closing her eyes.

x

Kagome seemed to doze off quickly, as Inu-Yasha suspected she would. He cast a glance at the window and his heart leapt when he saw that the sky was starting to brighten just a little. He knew that, now, changes would be gradual until the sun actually hit him. He looked ahead absently, bored of reading and even more bored of trying to stay awake, but he knew it wouldn't be much longer. He turned his gaze onto Kagome and watched her fondly.

She's so cute... he thought, but was automatically taken aback, Whoa... never actually put that into words before. Shit.

A second aspect of his inner voice began to laugh at him, saying, You're such a sap, while a third volunteered that it was just the tired human in him talking. Despite the fact that no one could hear his internal chatter, Inu-Yasha blushed a little and looked up to the ceiling. He would be normal soon.

x

An hour passed strenuously by, with Inu-Yasha feeling his power slowly ebb back into his body. The sun seeped through the window and the hanyou's groggy gaze flitted towards it, his eyes brightening to their normal golden as the light hit them, his hair bleaching under the sun's rays. He cringed just a little at the feeling of his ear system rearranging, and closed his eyes and attempted to ignore the feeling of his ears completely shifting and changing shape. When he opened his eyes, he was a little startled to see Kagome's eyes open just a crack, looking at him sleepily.

"Uh... Kagome, are you-?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," she said in a soft, groggy voice ,"I just..."

She yawned.

"I just was curious about what happens when you change."

Inu-Yasha nodded a little and, finally, flopped backwards onto the pillow. Kagome let out a sleepy laugh and clung closer to him.

"You're such an interesting creature," she chuckled.

Inu-Yasha felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn't help but relax as she lazily patted him on the head.
"Let's try to sleep for an hour at least, yeah?" Kagome said.

"Good call," the hanyou answered.

He was really was tired. Beside him, the girl hugged him contently and stretched up to kiss him gently. He happily returned the gesture, pleased without the human anxiety he had felt only a little while before at the touch of her lips against his own, and then clung to her sleepily. Before he could think of anything more, his eyelids drooped closed. The black was a comfort on his mind and he was unwilling to pull himself out of it. He dozed off within minutes.

x

Kagome watched the slumbering hanyou for just a few moments. He looked peaceful again, which inevitably put a small smile on Kagome's face. She stretched her back tiredly and, after smothering a yawn, snuggled down into the blankets and against Inu-Yasha's side and wrapped her arms around around him to pull him close.

oOoOoOoO

"Wow..."

"Koga, that's just the caf-"

"Wow."

"It's not really that special-"

"Wow!"

x

Kagome's face was pulled into a tired smile as she put a hand to her brow. Beside her Koga, startlingly alert, his eyes wide and excited, looked at the rooms and the people throughout the hallway of the high school with cheerful interest.

"I haven't been inside a high school. It's cool!" he said brightly.

Behind them, Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes, folding his arms against his chest but he was a tad amused by Koga's exuberance.

"I can't believe you're so awake," he muttered.

"I think I'm running on tired-high," the youkai admitted.

"Lucky," Kagome laughed.

She still looked rather tired from the night before, but her smile was cheerful despite the dark circles under her eyes. The three wandered down the hallway and Kagome searched the lockers for hers but, to her own embarrassment, she couldn't remember the number. She paused, causing the boys to stop along with her, and backtracked a bit, trying to find the locker until Inu-Yasha approached one and pointed to it.

"1316," he said, and then laughed a little and said, "Maybe you should write it down?"

"Oh, well..." Kagome said embarrassedly.

She took the lock in hand and paused again, staring at it blankly. Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes at her and bumped her aside, turning the dials and popping the lock open with ease.

"Stupid," he chided at Kagome jokingly.

"Shut up," she whined, shoving him.

He began to laugh and stepped aside for her to grab her text books from her locker. She put them in her bag and then shouldered it before slamming the locker and locking it again. Inu-Yasha inclined his head as he watched her shift her bag on her shoulder and a look of concern flashed across his face.

"How's your back feeling?" he asked quietly.

"Fine," she replied brightly without missing a beat.

"Why, what happened to her back?" Koga asked, alert and sounding worried.

Inu-Yasha leaned over to him and said quietly, "She got shot."

"Hey!" Kagome yelped, but Koga looked at her with shock and dismay.

"That was you?" he barked.

"Shhh!" she said, clapping her hand over his mouth, "No one gets shot in Tokyo! People will make a big deal!"

Koga nodded quickly and Kagome pulled back and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment as Inu-Yasha snickered a little.

"Hah, okay, let's get to class," she insisted, nudging the hanyou with her elbow.

Inu-Yasha nodded and put his hands in his jacket pockets and they began to walk. Koga hurried along behind them and put a concerned hand on Kagome's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Kagome nodded and smiled at him brightly, though he pulled his hand away from her and shoved them in his pockets shyly when Inu-Yasha cut his eyes at him.

x

They went down the hallway until they arrived at the art room they had frequented several times before and Kagome picked the table near the back of the room and plopped down in a chair, leaning back and putting her feet up with a grin. The teacher hadn't arrived yet but there were a few other students meandering about in the room. Inu-Yasha dropped down beside her and Koga, still looking around curiously, sat on her other side.

"What class is this?" he asked.

"Art," Kagome replied.

She rocked back and forth on her chair a little, but then yelped as the chair went back a bit too far. Inu-Yasha put his hand against the back of it, steadying it without any effort and laughing a little.

"Watch it," the hanyou chided.

Koga tried not to laugh as Kagome looked back at Inu-Yasha with a shy smile. She put her feet on the ground and he released her. She slumped forward and made an exasperated sound.

x

Within moments, the teacher walked into the room and looked around. When her eyes landed on Inu-Yasha and Kagome, she looked quite startled, and reasonably so: neither of them had been to class in over a week.

"Higurashi-" the woman began, sounding surprised, but Kagome looked up at the sound of her name and then jumped to her feet.

"Oh! Hi! I have a note for you," she said hurriedly.

She ducked around Inu-Yasha and, digging into her pocket, approached the teacher and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Kagome bit her lip and tried to straighten out the note before she passed it over to her teacher with a timid grin.

"Sorry we weren't in class," she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at Inu-Yasha, "And um..."

As the teacher read over the note and her mouth slowly began to hang open in shock, Kagome fished the other note about Koga joining the class and passed that to her as well. The woman all but ignored it and looked at Kagome with shock.

"This... This can't be true," she said quietly.

"I wish," Kagome joked, "Um... I mean, you can call my doctor, though if you-"

"Are you okay?" the teacher asked, her voice hushed.

Kagome smiled shyly and nodded. After the teacher hesitantly took a look at the second note and then handed them back, Kagome awkwardly headed back to the table and sat back down between her friends. She folded her arms on the table and put her head down on top of them and, beside her, Inu-Yasha mimicked her.

"Oh hi," she said.

"Hi," he replied, "So... I have a question."

"Hmm?"

"Am I still blind or what?"

Koga looked at them with a confused expression on his face, though Kagome looked contemplative and raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm... I dunno. I mean... what do you think?" she asked.

Inu-Yasha shrugged and they both looked to Koga. Before they could ask, he shrugged and shook his head quickly.

"I think, maybe, yes," Inu-Yasha said.

"Okay," Kagome agreed, "Saves some explaining."

She reached out to him and patted his baseball cap clad head. He stuck his tongue out at her and then sat back up. He saw other students starting enter the room, giving them passing but relatively disinterested glances before continuing on with their own business. He tried to remember where he would look when he couldn't see, but, obviously, he had never been able to watch himself.

"Where should I be looking?" Inu-Yasha asked, hushed.

Koga looked at him with puzzlement and Kagome stared at him, thinking back to when Inu-Yasha had been blind. She recalled that his eyes were actually fairly alert, especially when someone was talking to him and he had even been able to hold eye contact rather consistently. When not directly talking to someone, she recalled that his gaze was mostly blank, like a person whose mind was lost in thought. She was about to convey this to him, when the teacher began to start the class.

x

Kagome was a bit disappointed when the teacher pulled down a white screen at the front of the class and turned on a projector to teach them art history; it meant that she couldn't really chat with her friends during the class as usual. She nudged him with her elbow.

"I'll tell you after," she whispered.

He nodded and then rested his chin in his palm. Kagome began to take notes and Koga, seeming actually interested and excited about the class, borrowed a pen and paper from her to take his own notes. Inu-Yasha almost did the same, but Kagome nudged him away, reminding him he wasn't supposed to be able to see. The hanyou felt a bit bad that she had to take all the notes, but he was also a little relieved: he was too tired to be able to concentrate on what the teacher was saying.

x

At the end of the class, Kagome packed up her things, as well as the notes Koga had taken. She couldn't help but notice, as she watched the other students leaving the room around them, that there was a specific absence of Cho. After what the girl's mother had told her, Kagome was a bit curious about what was going through Cho's head. Was there a reason the girl had told her mother that she and Kagome were friends? It was rather strange, but Kagome decided it wasn't really worth dwelling on too much.

x

She stretched her arms above her head and Inu-Yasha stood up from his chair. Koga followed, looking rather cheerful.

"Your first high school class, Koga," Kagome said, "What did you think?"

"It was pretty interesting," the wolf said brightly, "I kinda like this, are most classes like this?"

Kagome nodded and then took Inu-Yasha's hand. He looked a bit surprised but she whispered, "Blind," at him and he mumbled, "Oh, right," with embarrassment.

"There are also some big assignments sometimes, and gym is different. It's mostly just running around," the girl explained as the three of them began to head out of the room.

"And so, we just walk around and go to all sorts of classes?" Koga asked, eyeing the hallway curiously again as they stepped out.

"Yeah. It's not like a normal school though, experimental learning and all that; when we move back to the shrine, it's more like... you stay in one room and the teachers come to you though."

"My school was like that," Inu-Yasha stated, "Though I like walking around between classes... I'm also really lazy."

Koga laughed a bit and nodded his agreement and Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Dogs," she scolded jokingly, "I like walking around."

"But you're so tired!" Koga exclaimed, seeming surprised.

"I like stretching my legs," she said brightly.

They proceeded to their language class next, only to find it in disarray. Students were rushing around the crowded classroom, and there was a group two boys and a girl hurrying to set up a DVD player as well as a television set and a bristol board with pictures of cakes taped to it.

"What's going on?" Koga asked curiously.

He looked to Kagome and Inu-Yasha, though Kagome merely shook her head in bafflement and the hanyou was doing his best not to let his eyes follow anyone.

"Presentations?" Kagome suggested.

"Yes, Higurashi, not like you would know," an unfamiliar voice said from behind them.

Kagome jumped though the demons around her didn't, though Koga turned with an interested expression on his face.

x

Behind them, seeming unusually imposing and tall, stood a woman in her forties with her prematurely greying hair tied back in a tight bun and her face pulled into an annoyed scowl. She folded her arms as observed the three teenagers before her as the rest of the class ran rampant behind them. Inu-Yasha blinked blankly, as did Koga, as Kagome froze and then fumbled in her pockets for a moment.

"Oh!" Kagome said, "Sorry for missing class!"

Before their teacher could chastise her, she pulled out the notes she had given to her previous teacher and handed them to her, looking at her hopefully. She read them, her brow furrowed, and looked to Koga.

"Your brother?" she asked a bit skeptically.

Koga nodded quickly and Kagome smiled sheepishly. She looked down at the notes, her frown deepening, and then she said, "You three will have to catch up on this assignment, then."

"Yeah, of course," Kagome said as her friends nodded along with her, "Um... what is it?"

The teacher rolled her eyes and handed Kagome's notes back to her.

"Take a mundane subject matter and make it interesting in any way you can. Now take a seat."

Quickly, the three scurried to some empty desks at the back of the room. Koga, as always, sat very carefully due to the tail he had to hide under his clothes. Kagome and Inu-Yasha flopped in their seats and Kagome automatically slumped onto her desk. Inu-Yasha leaned over to her and whispered, "What a bitch!" He laughed a little and Kagome put her finger to her lips and then snickered.

"What are we gonna to about the assignment?" Koga inquired curiously.

Kagome was about to answer, but the rest of the students had finally begun to settle down and the three they had seen rushing around at the start had gathered at the front of the class.

"We'll figure some shit out later," Inu-Yasha said quietly.

Kagome nodded her agreement. At a glare from the teacher, the class finally went silent and one of the boys at the front of the class began their presentation: it was about choosing what cake to buy from a store. Beside Kagome, Inu-Yasha folded his arms on his desk and rested his chin on them, muttering, "Mundane," to himself. The girl tried to hide a smile as she put her elbow on the desk and leaned her cheek against her palm, bored. Even the excitable Koga seemed rather uninterested.

x

After a little while, Kagome looked between her friends and had to hold in a laugh. Here she was, sitting between two youkai of unimaginable power who were nodding off in a high school language classroom. She smiled a little to herself, amused with how ludicrous it still seemed to her when she really thought about it.

x

By the end of class, there had only been three presentations shown; the other two had been equally boring: one had been about combing a dog while the other had been about tooth brushing. It seemed as if making something boring into something interesting had been relatively unsuccessful in all three cases. As the teenagers in the classroom began to hurriedly gather their belongings to flee, the teacher stood up and in a loud voice said, "You three", while pointing to Kagome, Inu-Yasha, and Koga.

"You three will go on Thursday," she said.

"Wait, what?" Kagome barked, only to be drowned out as the bell rang loudly and the sound of her fellow students became all but a roar.

The teacher slipped from the room before she could even pick her out amongst the gathering people.

"Well, that's not fair," Kagome said huffily.

"Pain in the ass," Inu-Yasha agreed, rolling his eyes.

They both glanced at Koga, wondering if he would spout something optimistic as he had with most of the other school-related incidences, but he merely shrugged and said, "Kagome, I don't think the teacher likes you."

Kagome was a bit surprised and she began to pout despite herself while beside her, Inu-Yasha took one look at her expression and began to laugh loudly.

"Hey," she whined, whacking his arm with her knuckles.

He snickered, took a deep breath to calm himself, and grabbed her hand with a grin.

"Let's get lunch," he said brightly.

"Lunch!" Koga echoed, grinning immediately and Kagome's face lightened as well.

She nodded and puffed out her chest a little, striding in front of Inu-Yasha and pulling him along with her.

x

As they went down the hall towards the cafeteria, Koga watched his two new friends with a sort of fascination. He hadn't really spent time in the company of humans in years, and he had never met another demon before. He couldn't help but think how lucky he was to have found Kagome. She seemed, to him, to be uncommonly kind. It was this that made him think that what had happened the previous night wasn't anything malicious. Still, he was puzzled by it, and he was just beginning to contemplate asking Inu-Yasha about it when they arrived at the cafeteria.

"Everyone okay with eating in here?" Kagome inquired.

Inu-Yasha nodded and Koga agreed as well, and Kagome looked at them both intently.

"Noses okay?" she asked.

Inu-Yasha gave her the thumbs-up while Koga nodded readilly, so Kagome smiled and led them through the wide, bustling room to an empty table against a wall. Inu-Yasha sat down on the bench with his back to the wall and looked to Kagome expectantly, though she had paused with a startled expression on her face. She slapped herself in the forehead with her palm.

"I forgot to make lunches," she said, "Um..."

She patted her pockets and searched inside them while the hanyou before her began to smirk. He fished inside his own pocket and then grabbed her arm.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, only to have him put a few bills into her hand.

"There, you nincompoop," he laughed.

"Ooh, thanks, I'll be right back!" she said cheerily.

She pranced away towards the back of the cafeteria where food was sold as Inu-Yasha watched her with an amused smile on his face.

x

Koga looked a bit puzzled but then sat tentatively on the bench a little ways away from the hanyou and looked at him curiously. He was about to voice the gnawing question that had been on his mind since the night before, but instead he looked away in embarrassment; he felt like he was intruding far too much. Inu-Yasha inclined his head and his brow furrowed a bit.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," the youkai replied quickly.

Inu-Yasha stared at him with probing eyes for a few seconds before he shrugged, folded his arms to his chest and closed his eyes tiredly.

"I have no idea how you two have so much energy," he muttered.

Koga said nothing, though he span his thoughts around in his head a few more times before looking to the hanyou with a determined expression on his face.

"Hey," Koga said a bit awkwardly, "Look..."

"Hmmm?"

The hanyou opened one eye curiously.

"I don't know what was up yesterday," Koga said slowly, but then smiled a bit, "But, seriously, just ask me to go out for the night."

He laughed as Inu-Yasha inclined his head, seeming a little surprised.

"Oh, so you... knew?" the hanyou wondered.

"I figured something was up," Koga replied, shrugging.

"It's nothing against you," Inu-Yasha said simply, "It's just... some personal stuff for me, it's nothing that big. It's only one night a month."

Koga nodded and though he was a bit curious as to what exactly happened once a month, he didn't press the matter.
"So, are things... I mean, we're cool, right?" Koga asked hesitantly.

Inu-Yasha looked at him inquisitively for a moment, but then began to laugh a little.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he assured the other demon, "Did you guys see that new werewolf movie?"

"Yep."

"How accurate was it?"

"Not at all."

Inu-Yasha smirked a little and Koga seemed increasingly cheerful. The hanyou closed his eyes again and leaned his head back against the wall. The wolf folded his arms on the table and looked to Inu-Yasha, raising his eyebrows. Before he could ask why the hanyou was so tired, Kagome stumbled back over to their table carrying three trays of food rather precariously in her arms.

"Oh hi guys," she said, and Koga stood and took two trays from her and passed one over to Inu-Yasha.

"Oh, shit, I didn't know you were getting so much," Inu-Yasha said, "If you asked I would have-"

"You're "blind", don't worry about it," she said.

She slid onto the bench on the opposite side of the table and dropped her own tray down, unable to stop a yawn.

"I'm going to bed at like, seven tonight," she announced.

"That sounds like a good idea," Inu-Yasha agreed as he began to eat.

"What about that assignment?" Koga asked.

Kagome groaned and thumped her forehead down onto the table. The wolf looked a little embarrassed while Inu-Yasha smiled sympathetically and patted the girl on her head. She slowly looked up and let out a sigh.

"Any ideas?" she asked.

The hanyou shrugged and Koga looked a bit downtrodden as he shook his head. The three were quiet for a moment, trying to think of what to do until Kagome began to giggle a little. Inu-Yasha inclined his head and Koga seemed confused until Kagome said, "It's weird to be worrying about school again." Her boyfriend smiled at her a little forlornly but laughed quietly despite himself, only to go rigid for an instant as he picked up an unmistakable scent.

"Oh, there she is," he said with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

Kagome was about to ask who when Inu-Yasha straightened up as if to get a better view around him and then nodded his head towards the entrance way to the cafeteria. His nose told him that the tall, exceedingly thin girl in tight clothing with her hands on her hips and a disapproving scowl on her brow as she observed the crowd before her was Cho. Inu-Yasha had never seen her before to it was a little odd to match her face to the scent.

x

Though Koga seemed totally baffled, Kagome turned to look over her shoulder and simply said, "Oh." As if Cho had heard her, the girl's eyes shot to Kagome and she immediately began striding over. Kagome nearly jumped and turned back to the table, her eyes wide, and she put a hand to her head.

"I think she saw me," she said.

Inu-Yasha ducked down a little and muttered, "What do you think she wants?" as Koga looked back at the approaching Cho and then to his friends, looking perplexed. Within seconds, the other girl arrived at their table and stood at the end of it, placing her hands down heavily on the tabletop. Strangely, her eyes were locked on Kagome.

"Higurashi, I need to talk to you," she demanded.

Kagome looked startled and glanced at her friends and then back to Cho. She noticed Inu-Yasha looked rather worried, and she frowned up at the other girl in confusion.

"What about?" she asked.

Cho's preened eyebrows bent into an annoyed frown and she folded her arms tightly to her chest.

"Private!" she said, rolling her eyes.

Kagome bit her lip, looked between the equally confused Inu-Yasha and Koga, and then shrugged and got to her feet.

"Okay, fine," she said with a shrug.

Cho seemed a bit relieved and then beckoned Kagome to follow as she headed back out of the cafeteria. Kagome looked back at Inu-Yasha, who mouthed "What the hell?", to which she simply shook her head in bafflement, jerked her thumb over her shoulder, and then turned and hurried after Cho.

x

Inu-Yasha frowned a bit as he watched Kagome go. This seemed very out of character for Cho. He also couldn't help but think that she looked a bit ill. Beside him, Koga looked to him, still seeming confused, and said, "A friend of yours?"

"No," Inu-Yasha said, and he scratched his head a bit, "That was weird."

"Should we follow them?" the wolf asked, sounding concerned.

The hanyou shook his head and sighed, leaning forward to rest his chin in his hand on the table, wondering what the strange girl wanted.

x

Out in the hall, Cho guided Kagome to a wall out of the way of passing students and folded her arms to her chest tightly, frowning at the other girl intently. Kagome was utterly confused and looked back at Cho with an expression that conveyed exactly that.

"I need to ask you something," Cho demanded, "And I need a really, really honest answer, okay Higurashi?"

Kagome inclined her head, her eyes wide, and she pointed to herself, saying "Me?", as her mind reeled a little and the girl across from her nodded.

"Why me?" Kagome asked.

"It's personal," Cho answered, effectively not answering a thing in Kagome's mind.

"Are you joking or something? Because... I don't get it," Kagome said, scratching her head.

"No, listen, I need to ask you a personal question," she said, "I need it to be you.

"Why me? Why not one of your zillion friends?" Kagome asked, "Don't you pretty much know the whole school? Look."

The girl pointed across the hall to a boy standing, facing a poster on the wall, and Cho looked at him as well.

"You probably know that random guy better than you know me. So what's going on?"

Kagome raised her eyebrow and the other girl looked a bit flustered. She stared into her eyes before seeming immensely frustrated.

"I can't just talk to anyone! They're...!"

The girl drooped and seemed, for once, at a loss for words. Kagome raised her eyebrow until Cho finally said, "Sheep."

"Sheep?" Kagome repeated.

"Well, yeah! They, you know, follow the crowd, meaning... well, me," she said, and though it was a very Cho-ish thing to say, Kagome felt a surprising lack of narcissism in her comment.

After all, it was true. Cho was at the height of popularity within the high school setting, to the point where she actually had what could only be described as "cronies" at her beck and call.

"I just... I need someone who will be brutally honest with me," the girl said, "And, I figured, since... you know, you don't like me, you could-"

"Tell you the truth?" Kagome asked, a bit confused, but then said, "Sure, Cho, what do you want?"

The other girl paused and put a hand to her chin. She looked as if she was trying to find the words and Kagome waited patiently.

"Am I, um...?" Cho said hesitantly, but then shook her head, "Nevermind, it's stupid."

"Just ask me, will you?" Kagome said, rolling her eyes.

Cho, startling, wilted a bit and mumbled something to the ground that Kagome couldn't hear.

"Sorry, what?" the girl asked, confused.

"Am I... Am I fat?" Cho asked quietly.

She looked at Kagome with surprising intensity. Kagome blinked at the girl in response and stared at her blankly for a moment before saying, "No. No, you're not. Are you okay?" Cho's face flushed and she folded her arms to her chest, seeming to almost cling to herself for a moment before she frowned at Kagome.

"You're lying, you're-"

"Cho, listen, if you were any thinner, I would think you didn't eat food," Kagome said, still confused.

Cho bit her lip and was silent for a while, causing Kagome's heart to sink.

"Oh, my god," she whispered, "You're not-"

"Oh, no, no, not... I mean... I haven't gone that far," Cho replied quickly, "No, it's just... I don't know, some new man comes waltzing into my mother's life and suddenly I'm some little nothing in the background, and then..."

She paused and looked somewhat cynical and then rolled her eyes at herself.

"Why am I even telling you this?" she wondered.

Kagome shook her head and shrugged, but then said, "Look, I know we... you know, don't really get along at all, but if... it ever gets to be too much, you can come over to my place. I know what that's like, believe it or not."

Cho seemed taken aback for an instant and Kagome felt her face flush, and she was surprised to see Cho smile a bit.
"That explains a lot," she muttered, but before Kagome could call her on being rather rude, she said, "Thanks, Higurashi, I actually really appreciate it."

x

Kagome smiled hesitantly and nodded, and the other girl seemed to automatically perk up, her eyes brightening and she said, "Great! But I'm still getting Inu-kun!" before striding off down the hall towards a group of girls rounding a corner towards them, though Cho couldn't seem to resist shooting Kagome a genuine smile (probably the first the Kagome had ever seen on her face) over her shoulder.

oOoOoOoO

Inu-Yasha's ear twitched as he picked out the sound of Kagome's breathing back towards the door and he opened his eyes a little to pick her out of the crowd. A little while previously, Koga had hopped across to the other side of the table and had finally crashed. He was now napping with his head on his folded arms. Kagome now approached and sat down with a sigh where the wolf had been previously and stared at his empty food tray for a moment before realizing that hers was still across the table; she switched them and took a bite out of her cheap sandwich.

x

"Welcome back," Inu-Yasha said, blinking heavily and forcing his eyes open, "What did she want?"

"She was having family troubles, I dunno," Kagome said, still looking a bit confused.

"Oh," the hanyou replied, feigning understanding, and then he inclined his head, "So, what did she need you for?"

"Just to... listen, I guess. I forgot to ask her why she told her mom we were friends. Oh well," she mused quietly, and then stuck her tongue out, "Ugh, this sandwich is terrible. Do you want it?"

"Yes, yes I do."

Kagome smiled and passed him the food, which he scarfed rather neutrally as she checked the time on her MP3 player. She groaned a bit and then shoved it in her pocket and slumped on the table. Curiously, Inu-Yasha slumped beside her and looked into her face with his eyebrows raised.

"Got any ideas about the project yet?" she asked.

He shook his head and she sighed.

"I'm bored," she explained, "I want to go home, but I know that's a bad idea."

The hanyou nodded and Kagome made a "blah" sound and then leaned into him and hugged him around his middle tiredly as if wanting to use him like a pillow. He put his arms around her almost immediately and she smiled and huddled up to him. She thanked him very quietly and he grinned to himself. To her surprise, he lifted her up as he slid backwards to lean up against the wall and he plopped her into his lap. He began to run his claws through her hair contentedly and she glanced back over her shoulder a little to grin at him.

"Haven't done this in a while," she commented, and before he could say anything, she said, "Don't ask if I mind. Because I don't."

"Good," he replied.

x

Kagome quite enjoyed the feeling of his claws through her hair, though it made her eyelids droop. She eventually closed her eyes and leaned back a bit, to which he smiled and clutched her to his chest. She felt instantly safe and secure in his grasp, and her mind felt foggy and tired; for an moment, she almost fell asleep, completely forgetting she was at school. Behind her, Inu-Yasha smiled a bit at her as she slumped in his arms, though he envied her a little. He was quite tired as well after last night and though he said nothing, Kagome patted one of his arms and leaned her head back as she opened her eyes to look up into his face, saying, "Sorry, you must be way sleepier than me."

"Nah, I'm fine," he said, though Kagome gave him a knowing smile and sat up and off him.

She turned around on the bench as he released her and she leaned up to him and put a cautious hand under his hat to rub his right ear.

"Kagome," he scolded jokingly, his face flushing, and he batted her hand away, "Not in public!"

The girl pouted for a moment but then smiled, nodding.

"You're right."

She hugged him around his shoulders instead and he felt a blush creep across his face again as he embraced her in return. Kagome grinned a bit. He didn't seem very hesitant to hold her like he had been the previous evening.

"This is much better than last night!" she joked.

Inu-Yasha inclined his head curiously.

"What do you mean, was I doing something different?" he wondered.

"Well," Kagome said, pulling back, and then lowered her voice to a whisper, "When you were looked human, you just seemed a bit more shy, you know? You were holding me really lightly."

Inu-Yasha looked surprised but then a blush crossed his face and he smiled awkwardly.

"Sorry," he said.

"What?" Kagome asked, laughing.

"No, it's just..."

The boy bit his lip. It was a little complicated to explain, but he grabbed her hand in attempt to give an example of why he had acted the way he did.

"Feel this?" he asked, squeezing her hand a little, "Feel this amount of pressure?"

"Um, yes?" Kagome said.

She looked at him with puzzlement.

"Why?"

"I'm trying to explain," the hanyou laughed, "This is how much I'm used to exerting when dealing with humans."
Kagome nodded but still looked curious and confused.

"If I were to exert the amount of pressure that is considered "normal" strength for me, your hand would be broken."
The girl's eyes went wide and Inu-Yasha smiled shyly.

"That's why... I was so light yesterday, that's what I'm used to doing," he explained.

"Well... well, jeez!" Kagome exclaimed, "That's... Wow. You're really strong, then. Is that hard to do, I mean-?"

"No," he interrupted, "It's... pretty easy, I've never had any problems controlling my strength."

"I think Koga did, he was breaking a wall when we were on the run when I met him," Kagome said quietly.

Inu-Yasha tried not to laugh but felt a little twinge of superiority, though he said nothing.

"Well, it happens," he confessed, shrugging.

Kagome smiled at him with a sort of admiration that confused him and he felt himself blush a little.

"You're so cool," the girl said fondly.

x

Inu-Yasha knew he was blushing now and he looked to the table, letting out a shy, "Nah..." Kagome didn't argue with him, but she continued to smile at him in a way that told him she knew better. He said nothing more but he silently appreciated her words.

x

Soon enough, the school-bell sounded to alert them to the change of classes, so after waking Koga up, the three teens left the cafeteria. To Kagome's dismay, their next class was math: she had forgotten how utterly boring it was. She showed her notes of absence to her teacher and then sat through the rest of the class with the two demons by her side. Koga seemed to be as perplexed as she was by what they were being taught; despite Inu-Yasha being completely bored, he was the only one of the three who knew what was going on. Afterwards, gym class was dismissed: literally. After explaining to her final teacher why she had been absent, the woman had adamantly refused to let Kagome participate on the grounds of injury and had dismissed them from class. It was all for the best, however, because, as Inu-Yasha pointed out, Kagome had forgotten to turn in her poetry assignment, an issue that she quickly rectified before the three left the school and got into Inu-Yasha's car to drive home.

oOoOoOoO

In the car on the way back, Koga was obviously interested in interior fixings of the vehicle, while Kagome was simply happy to be sitting in a seat that was not made of hard plastic. As they drove towards home, Kagome bounced on her seat just a little and looked to Inu-Yasha. He drove rather casually, but she noticed he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and that his steering wheel was bent strangely in two places.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the dents.

"I broke it," the hanyou replied absently.

Koga leaned up from the back seat and looked at the wheel curiously.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Probably had to do with when Kagome met you, actually," the hanyou replied, and before either of them could ask, he elaborated, "I can feel the basics of Kagome's emotions, and when she freaked out, so did I."

"Oh! I'm sorry," Kagome said quickly, and Koga nodded his agreement, saying a swift, "Sorry!" as well.

Inu-Yasha shrugged and laughed just a little, saying, "Don't worry, it's a pretty old car. And it's my own fault for being jumpy as hell." Kagome smiled a little and Koga sat back and looked out the window as they neared their street. After a few moments of quiet, Kagome voiced,

"I kinda wanna drive."

"Me too," Koga agreed.

"Gotta be eighteen," Inu-Yasha said.

"You're not," the girl said, poking his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I thought I was," he laughed, and as Koga leaned up to ask, Inu-Yasha answered quickly, "Weird, I know, but I didn't know my real birthday until recently."

"Oh... Well, fair enough," the wolf replied, leaning back again, "I don't know my real birthday either."

"What?" Kagome asked, turning in her seat to look at him and pouting a bit, "But I thought you said it was the same as mine!"

"That's the day my mom found me," he said, smiling, "I'm... probably a few days older, but we just stuck with that date anyway."

"Aw," Kagome whined, "I'm the youngest again."

Koga smiled apologetically and Inu-Yasha laughed. She stuck her tongue out at him and then looked out the window. She could see they were nearly home and she felt rather excited to get there and lie down on the sofa. Inu-Yasha glanced at her briefly before he pulled into their driveway and parked; he could see how tired she was.

x

As he switched the engine off, Kagome hopped out of the passenger seat. He left the car rather quickly as well, followed by a stumbling Koga, only to notice Buyo up on the roof. He was huddled up near the chimney and did not seem at all happy. Confused and inclining his head, Inu-Yasha walked closer to the house and called, "Hey, cat!" Buyo hopped up a bit, wide-eyed and Kagome waved at him. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, Buyo hurried to the edge of the roof closest to the teenagers.

"There's something in the house," he said swiftly.

Inu-Yasha felt a jolt of irritation more than anything else, but the sight to the smile completely falling from Kagome's face into a look of fear made him frown deeply. Koga looked incredibly startled and asked, "What is it?" loudly, putting a hand near his face as if to bite on his nails.

"I don't smell anything," Inu-Yasha commented, frowning.

"It's... a cat... thingy," Buyo volunteered, "I really don't know, it might be a ghost, I... I don't know!"

He leaned forward and put a paw to his face. Kagome edged closer to Inu-Yasha and grasped his hand tightly, looking to him for some sort of reassurance. He frowned a bit and said, "I'll go check it out."

"Let me come," Kagome voiced automatically, but Inu-Yasha shook his head.

"Give me just a minute to make sure it's all safe."

Kagome bit her lip and Koga looked at them worriedly. The hanyou pulled away from Kagome but patted her shoulder reassuringly before he walked quickly into the house.

x

Inside, the house seemed just as they had left it (rather messy and with half of the lights on), except for there was a faint smell of fresh food coming from the kitchen. This in itself was strange, but Inu-Yasha was also concerned about not being able to scent any sort of intruder. With caution in his step, he walked into the kitchen and was startled to see a large plate of expertly crafted riceballs on the table, accompanied by a folded piece of paper with a smiley-face on it. Very carefully, the hanyou walked around the table, eying the room fully as he went before he picked up the paper and opened it. There was a note scrawled across it in very neat writing, though the characters were in an older form than he was used to. It read: "Dear Inu-Yasha, I'm sorry for startling you last night. My name is Akai and I have been appointed to protect you, though I'm not all that good at manifesting yet and I will only be able to see you in person every three months or so. Nonetheless, I thought you should know that I mean only to help you: you can ask your brother about it, he'll confirm, I'm sure. Be sure to mention my name. Please stay safe, and enjoy the riceballs!" The letter was signed again with the name "Akai", and accented with a heart-shape. Inu-Yasha was stunned. As he came back to his own thoughts, he found his pulse to be racing; he took a deep breath to steady himself. Glancing around one last time, he then looked down at the letter in his hand.

So, she must be one of these spirits, he thought.

He decided he would confirm with Sessho-Maru, as she had suggested in the letter, but he felt altogether relieved. Quickly, he walked back outside, only to see Kagome, Koga, and Buyo clinging to each other in the front yard, all seeming rather scared.

x

Upon seeing him, Kagome's eyes went wide and she broke away from the group and rushed up the front steps to him.

"So?" she demanded anxiously.

"Kouken kanjou," he said simply.

The girl replied to him with gawking expression and she asked, "Fluffy?" to which Inu-Yasha shook his head and replied, "No, I think she's mine. She just learned to manifest."

"So, it's all okay, then?" Koga asked shakily, squeezing Buyo in his arms tightly.

Inu-Yasha nodded and the group let out a collective sigh and Kagome, grabbing his hand, walked into the house, though he quickly showed her to the kitchen and the letter as well. She grabbed it and read it curiously while Inu-Yasha grabbed one of the riceballs and bit it tentatively. Finding it rather good, he ate it without trepidation as Koga scurried inside behind them and peeked into the room. He released Buyo onto the table and Inu-Yasha looked at him curiously.

"Did you see her?" he asked.

Again, before Koga could question, Kagome placed the letter into his hands for him to read as Buyo nodded.

"Yeah, it was like... this weird... cat-ish thing and then a girl with red hair. I freaked out, especially 'cause I couldn't smell her," the cat explained.

"She was a ghost," the hanyou explained.

"A ghost?" Koga repeated, looking concerned.

"It doesn't matter," Inu-Yasha said with a sigh, offering Koga a riceball.

The wolf took it hesitantly and sat down at the table, where Buyo returned to him and flopped in front of him.

"Is this normal?" Kagome wondered.

"It's probably more normal than you think it is," the hanyou replied.

He tossed a riceball at her and she, fumbling a little, caught it and tasted it. Her eyes lit up and she said, "Inu-Yasha, I like your ghosty."

He smiled a little and sat down at the table as well.

"Okay, so... I'm definitely going to have to call my brother about this," he said.

"And we have to work on that weird project," Koga added.

Kagome, sitting down, flopped on the table with an "awwww", making a face that clearly displayed her disappointment.
"But you guys, I wanna sleep," she whined.

"We'll have to do the whole thing tomorrow," Inu-Yasha said, "And... you know... decide what to do."

Kagome whined and thumped her forehead onto the table.

"We could just... film a whole bunch of stuff and claim its something," Koga suggested, "I mean... we sort of have more important stuff to worry about than school assignments. Like ghosts. And evil government agencies. Right?"

"That's the spirit," Buyo joked, rolling onto his side.

"Sounds like a plan," Inu-Yasha agreed, "We'll just work on it tomorrow. We can go see my brother and film there."

"Oh, yeah, and I can ask him about my zappy powers," Kagome said brightly, looking up.

"Spiritual powers," Buyo corrected.

"Whatever. That's a good idea," the girl said, pointing to Inu-Yasha as if to somehow congratulate him.

He shrugged and Kagome reached out for another riceball.

"These are delicious," she said, "Fluffy never cooked for me."

"Fluffy?" Koga repeated with a confused frown.

"My doggie-man ghost," Kagome replied brightly, and then pointed to Inu-Yasha, "You wouldn't even believe how much his eyes looked like yours, my friend."

Inu-Yasha felt a strange sense of deja vu that didn't seem rational to him and he shrugged it off, asking, "Why, was he a demon or something?"

Kagome nodded matter-of-factly and though Koga still looked a bit lost, he said, "That's pretty cool," a bit absently before hiding a yawn behind his hand. Kagome made a face as if trying not to do the same and then stood.

"I think I'mma nap," she announced.

"Good. I'll go out and buy a camera," Inu-Yasha said.

"Cool plan," the girl said, offering her hand to him for a high-five.

He slapped it and she repeated with Koga and then waved to them and wandered, yawning, from the room.

x

The two youkai waited for a short amount of time after she left, and then Koga looked to Inu-Yasha with a worried expression on his face.

"Is she okay?" he asked.

The hanyou nodded.

"Yeah, she's just... she's human, you know, her body can't take as much stress."

"Right, right..."

Koga looked a bit disheartened and Inu-Yasha raised his eyebrows a bit.

"You thought of her more like a youkai," he said, a little surprised.

"Just sometimes," the wolf admitted, "I forget, sometimes, that there's a big difference, but... You, I mean... you're half, right? So I guess you're a lot more aware of human stuff."

"Feh," the hanyou scoffed quietly, and he got to his feet, "I guess I'll go out and buy us a camera."

"Do you mind if...? I mean, can I come?" Koga asked.

Inu-Yasha shrugged and nodded. Koga practically leaped to his feet and he automatically perked up. Inu-Yasha found this rather amusing. He headed to the front door and Koga followed. After putting on their shoes, they went back out to the car; Koga eagerly hopping into the passenger-side while Inu-Yasha stared at his driver's side seat for a moment, wondering how soon he should try to get a new car or if he should at all before getting in.
"We'll go to the mall, I guess," he announced as he started the car.

x

As they pulled out of the driveway again, Koga did his seatbelt up quickly and he looked to Inu-Yasha, a slight frown on his face. He wanted to ask about Kagome. He was worried about her, but the hanyou didn't seem overly concerned. The youkai sat back as they began to drive, playing over his question in his mind a few times until, beside him, Inu-Yasha smirked just a little and said, "If you have a question, just ask."

"Is Kagome really okay?" Koga asked without missing a beat, though he immediately seemed embarrassed.

He hoped he hadn't seemed too forward.

"What? Yeah, I guess. She's just tired," he said, raising one eyebrow a bit, "Why?"

"No, I mean... Well... I guess, her back. Is it really okay?" the demon asked, worry clear on his face.

"Her back?"

Inu-Yasha was a bit surprised but he nodded nonetheless.

"The wound still bugs her a little sometimes... Hell, it's only been like, two weeks since it happened. I'm glad it's not worse, you know?" he said.

Koga nodded though he still felt pangs of worry in his chest. He had known humans weren't as durable as youkai, but he supposed it hadn't really sunk in until now. Beside him, Inu-Yasha cut his eyes in his direction.

"You really like her, huh?" he asked.

Red streaked across Koga's face and he turned his gaze to the window beside him.

"She's my first real friend," he said, "After what happened when we met, I dunno, I just kinda want to know she's okay, you know?"

Inu-Yasha said nothing, but again, Koga surprised him. He understood though, probably more than the youkai could comprehend.

"Yeah," he said after a moment, and the wolf turned to look at him with wide eyes.

"How long have you known her?" Koga asked curiously.

"A... month. Wow, is that really it?" the hanyou mused aloud.

Koga seemed completely blown away and all he said was, "Wow," before he put a hand to his head and said, "Sorry for all the questions."

"Forget it," the hanyou replied with a shrug.

They sat in silence for a while until, Koga, still rather curious, piped up again with, "Sorry. Another question. Can I ask... what happened?"

"A guy shot her," Inu-Yasha said.

His voice was bland, but it was easy to see that he was suppressing a long-past anger. Koga's face flushed a little.

"I mean... what happened?"

He stared at Inu-Yasha, who looked over at him briefly before turning his eyes back on the road and letting out a short, tired laugh.

"Long story," he said, and when Koga continued to stare at him, he laughed again and elaborated, "Almost two years ago, I was caught and nearly killed, and the fuckers held some sort of vendetta or something when I got out. I was caught and injected with a chemical that blinded me at the end of August, but I got away again. I met Kagome and she, being the ridiculous person she is, took me in. But we quickly got too close, and she sort of got involved in all this shit. Worst part is, she didn't even know why. I hadn't told her I wasn't human. Anyway, I got ambushed in a fucking grocery store of all places, and we ended up having to hide out in the woods for a few days. This dude, who I sort of maimed or something two years ago, made it all really personal and he went out of his way to try to kill Kagome. He shot her. I killed him."

He shrugged, unaware that Koga's face had paled and he looked a bit sick.

"So, basically, it's all my fault," Inu-Yasha said.

"Kagome'd hit you if she heard you say that," Koga said quietly.

The hanyou shrugged. He peered awkwardly up through his windshield, seeing a sign for the mall, and he made the final turn it would take to get them to their destination.

"It's true," he said simply.

Koga was very quiet until they finally pulled into the parking lot of the mall. When the car finally stopped, he said,
"Sorry. I didn't know you had it so hard."

Inu-Yasha merely shrugged and then got out of the car. Koga followed hurriedly as if he didn't want to be left behind.

x

In a way, the mall astounded Koga at first sight. They were at Shiro Mall, a huge building that towered five floors into the sky, with a shining white bird on its side. The paved walkways around it were swarming with people. rushing and loud, and even more people were visible inside beyond the sliding glass doors. Even as Inu-Yasha casually strolled ahead, Koga felt overwhelmed and he hurried to catch up.

"This is huge," he said, awed.

"Never been?" the hanyou asked.

"Not since I was a kid," he replied, gazing around, "Hey... Are we safe out here like this?"

"Everyone's too busy with their own crap to care what some teenagers are doing," Inu-Yasha replied with a grin, "Even if we do look a little... abnormal."

Koga understood immediately and nodded, smiling a little to himself. He normally wasn't one for crowds, but he knew this was much safer than being alone. Inu-Yasha was thinking similarly. It annoyed him, however, that he had to be thinking about safety so much, even when just going to the mall.

x

The two youkai headed inside the mall and began to wander, looking for a store to buy a camera from. The wolf still found the place utterly fascinating; Inu-Yasha found it rather fun just to watch him peek in all the stores and become excited once he found what was in there. On the second floor, they found an electronics store that sold cameras, among countless other technological devices stocked along tall shelves and long counters. As Koga darted around, reading the specs of different cameras at one end of the store, Inu-Yasha found a separate outlet in the store that sold cell-phones. After searching through the different makes and plans, he purchased three phones on his credit card; he did have a cell phone at home, but it was old and unreliable. He thought that each of the residents of the house (minus Buyo) should probably be keeping a phone handy, just in case.

x

When Inu-Yasha returned to Koga near the cameras, he found that the youkai was writing camera make-numbers on his hand with a blue pen rather enthusiastically.

"Having fun?" the hanyou asked.

Koga looked at him and his expression was very serious.

"There's a lot of cameras," he said, "I've written the best ones within all the different price brackets down."

He showed Inu-Yasha his hand and the hanyou stared at it blankly as Koga continued to say, "I'm not sure how much money we have. This one is the best, though."

He pointed at a slightly smudged set of numbers on the top of his list. Inu-Yasha squinted at the numbers.

"Can you show me?" he asked a bit embarrassedly.

Koga nodded and lead the hanyou to the cameras, where they picked up one that was rather expensive and high-end for a consumer model, along with some tapes to film on.

x

When they left the store, Koga was more than excited to begin working, having never actually used a camera of any sorts before, though he was concerned about how expensive it had been. Inu-Yasha brushed it off: his money came from his brother's seemingly endless funds, so he wasn't worried in the least.

"This'll be cool," Koga proclaimed when they reached the parking lot once more.

"Well... maybe, for a school project," Inu-Yasha admitted.

He shoved his hand in his pocket to search for his car-keys as they strode across the bustling parking lot and back to Inu-Yasha's car. He walked to the driver's side door and unlocked it. Koga hopped in on the other side, grasping their bag (which was wrapped around four rather large boxes) of purchases tightly in his lap. As Inu-Yasha got in and started the car, Koga was struggling to pull the camera box out of the bag without dropping the cellphones. The hanyou started the car but waited, watching Koga until he got the box out and placed the bag between his feet on the floor before he actually began to drive. The wolf fiddled with the box carefully, reading the sides with wide-eyed curiosity before opening it to stare in awe at a remarkably thick manual.

"So cool," he murmured, and then began to read.

Inu-Yasha smiled just a little and turned on the radio to let some music play. After a few songs passed them by, Koga looked up from the manual and said, "Sorry I'm ignoring you," with an embarrassed look on his face. Inu-Yasha shrugged and made a dismissive "feh" noise.

"How's the camera?" he asked.

"It's cool. Seems pretty easy to use," Koga replied.

He suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Being back in the car jogged the memory of the conversation he had had with Inu-Yasha on the way there. With all the excitement, he had unwittingly put it out of his mind. However, he knew the story the hanyou had shared with him must have been rather personal. He felt bad; he hadn't told where he had come from, really, to either of his new friends yet. It wasn't that it was a huge secret, but it was still very painful for him to think about. Nonetheless, he wanted them to know. Quietly, he packed the manual away and closed the box.
"You know, what you told me before?" Koga said, "Thanks."

"Well, you're part of the group now, ne? It's better to just make it common knowledge," the hanyou replied, shrugging again.

Koga felt surprised, but he nodded and said,

"Yeah. I wanted to say... I want you to know what happened to me, too."

Inu-Yasha's eyes went wide with surprise and he looked to Koga briefly until he realized he should have his eyes on the road and promptly began steering again.

"Why me? I'd expect you to want to tell Kagome," he said.

The wolf was quiet and he frowned a little as if in thought and then stated quite confidently, "Because I want you to trust me."

Inu-Yasha smirked just a little and he nodded.

"All right. Shoot."

"Okay, um... where to start?" Koga pondered aloud, and then continued, "I was raised by a human. My mom was a teacher who found me outside her work one day when I was just a few days old. She raised me as human, until I was ten. I guess I was pretty inconspicuous, and out of the way until then."

He looked rather sad for a moment and Inu-Yasha turned onto their street finally.

"Hang on, nearly there," he interrupted.

Koga waited until Inu-Yasha had pulled up into the driveway and parked. The hanyou then looked at the wolf with interest, but said, "You don't have to tell me."

"I feel like I should," Koga said, "Anyway, sometime then... when I was ten and whatever, these dudes noticed me. I didn't know who they are or what they wanted, but I know now they were from the same group that tried to kill us the other day. They followed me home, and I'm not too sure what happened after that, but they set my house on fire."
Grief and anger crossed the youkai's face and Inu-Yasha automatically felt sorry for him. He said nothing, though, and Koga continued.

"My mom was killed. I was sent into foster care. It was good, actually, my foster parents were really great people, but then one day, I noticed more people like the ones that killed my mom, and they were following me again. I ran away from my foster parents, because... you know, I didn't want them to get hurt. And then I turned into a wolf and moved in with some feral dogs until... well, you know."

He looked almost embarrassed and looked to Inu-Yasha. The hanyou's face was rather neutral except for his furrowed brow, but Koga could tell somehow that he was upset.

"I'm sorry," Inu-Yasha said.

Koga nodded and smiled a little.

"One day, I'll avenge her. My mom, I mean," he said.

The hanyou nodded and grinned a little.

"Yeah. You will."

oOoOoOoO

It wasn't long before the two went inside with their new electronics. It was obvious from the quiet that Kagome was still asleep, so both of them did their best to be quiet. When Koga went upstairs to quietly fiddle with the camera, Inu-Yasha picked up the phone downstairs to call his brother. However, as he waited for an answer, sitting on the table cross-legged and chewing on another riceball, the hanyou was surprised to hear the voice of a young girl answer a bright, "Hello?" after just one ring.

"Rin, is that you?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"Yeah. Inu-Yasha-kun?"

"Yep."

"Oh, cool," the little girl replied cheerily, "You want to talk to Dad?"

Inu-Yasha smiled and tried not to laugh.

"Yeah. Thanks, kid."

He heard feet scampering and a faint call of, "Daddy, phone!" before there was a scuffle and Sessho-Maru's voice asked, "What now?"

"Hi to you too," the hanyou laughed, "Is it cool that we come over tomorrow around... 3 or 4 in the afternoon?"
"Why?"

"I need to talk to you about some crap and Kagome wants to ask you something," he explained.

"We're talking now," the youkai replied a bit sharply.

"Well, it's more like I have something to show you. The kouken-kanjou left something," he said, "She left a message for you."

Sessho-Maru was silent for a long while and Inu-Yasha began to drum his fingers on the table impatiently.

"So?" he asked.

"That's very annoying," he replied, "Fine. I'm at work until 2:30, so don't bother coming before then."

With that, he hung up just as the word "thanks" was leaving his brother's lips. Inu-Yasha held the phone away from him and frowned at it grumpily and then sighed.

"Whatever," he grumbled.

Oh well, Kagome'll be happy, he thought.

oOoOoOoO

Inu-Yasha didn't spend much more time awake. After helping Koga program their new camera and eating dinner, the hanyou couldn't find much to keep himself busy. He was still rather tired after the last few days, so proceeded upstairs shortly after the sun had set. When he turned into his room, however, he was surprised to see that Kagome was sprawled, asleep across his bed, her small frame somehow managing to occupy most of the space due to the way she was lying. Electing not to move her, the hanyou simply took a change of clothes from the dresser and switched into her room instead. Her bed was a bit smaller than his, but he didn't mind: he often curled up as he slept anyway.

x

Once he hit the bed and got under the covers, the hanyou was promptly asleep. For several hours he lay, his body beginning to quake: he knew nothing of the nightmares that had begun to plague his mind until he awoke in the dead of night, panting and trembling with the sound of his heart pounding in his ears and a faint, phantom scent of blood stinging his nostrils. Fear struck him and he didn't even want to open his eyes to the darkness of the room, as if his mind somehow believed that that was not what he would see there. He knew it was irrational, and yet he still couldn't shove his fright aside.

x

The sudden noise of his door creaking made his entire body jump, but a faint light on the back of his lids allowed him to push through the fear for just a moment, enough to force himself to look into the squinting, bleary eyes, he could see Kagome, dragging a blanket with her, seeming almost to be sleepwalking. She hobbled over to the bed, a fist rubbing at her eye, plopped down and slumped onto her side, whispering, "Shove." Inu-Yasha moved over without question and Kagome, with quite a bit of effort, tossed her blanket over them awkwardly and then hooked her arms around Inu-Yasha's chest.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

"Sleeping," she replied bluntly as she huddled close to him.

"Oh," he said groggily.

"Why you in here?" Kagome mumbled.

Inu-Yasha paused for a moment to think where else he could have been, but then remembered Kagome's take-over of his bed in the other room.

"I didn't want to move you."

"Neh... move me."

Inu-Yasha laughed tiredly and Kagome smiled just a little. She squirmed up and looked him in the face, a light, puzzled frown on her brow.

"It's just... I dunno. I felt like you needed..."

Inu-Yasha's eyes opened a little wider and he looked back at her with confusion. She smiled sheepishly but then put her hands behind his head, drew him towards her and kissed his forehead very gently. He tried to hide his surprise; she didn't seem to notice at all because she simply clung to him again and closed her eyes.

"Eh... Nevermind. Good night," she said tiredly.

x

Inu-Yasha watched her with puzzlement, his heart beginning to beat at a more fevered pace. Had she known? He said nothing, however, because the sound of her breathing had rapidly calmed and he could only suspect that she was all ready asleep. He sighed quietly, though he could still feel his body shaking a little; he was glad Kagome hadn't seen him like he was. He hugged onto the girl cautiously, hoping his trembling wouldn't disturb her and he closed his eyes tightly as if trying to force sleep to come back to him. The girl in his arms held him even more tightly and, to his surprise, began to lightly rub his back with one hand. After a few moments, he quietly whispered, "Thank you," but got no response. She was asleep.

There... really is something special about this girl, isn't there? he thought, She's starting to be able to read me like I can read her.

Despite this, he wouldn't tell her about his nightmares. He had faltered just once and told her too much. He didn't want what lived in the back of his mind to become present in hers as well.

oOoOoOoO

The next morning, Inu-Yasha remembered little of what had occurred during the night; Kagome recalled none of it, so was startled to find herself waking in a place she had not fallen asleep in. Shortly after, downstairs, the two discovered Koga, wide awake, filming Buyo from the kitchen table. Inu-Yasha explained his short discussion with Sessho-Maru from the previous day, which excited Kagome greatly: she was eager to start learning about her powers. Koga, too, was anxious for this to happen, not only to continue trying out the camera, but Inu-Yasha had mentioned Ah-Un in passing and he was more than eager to meet a dragon.

x

That day, they progressed through the normalcy of school with the anxiety of waiting for the extraordinary. Kagome, in particular, had trouble sitting still even for twenty minutes at a time. Something about school bothered her much more than it had before. To sit in class between two demons still made her head spin, and to know that there was so much out there she didn't know about; to know that there really were extraordinary things, and that she may be one of them... it was a bit too much. She felt like school wasn't worth it. She felt like she should be doing something more. She didn't know how to explain it, however. She wanted to express her feelings to Inu-Yasha, but she didn't know how much of it he would really understand, and she didn't want to come off as insensitive.

x

Regularity hit Kagome squarely on the head during math class, however, where future career surveys were passed out in accordance with the principal's and guidance office's wishes. The form asked about skills and experience, as well as school and general likes and dislikes. She was at a bit of a loss. She watched as Koga tried very hard to answer the multiple choice question blocks while Inu-Yasha filled out the blocks in a manner that would form a frowny-face. She, on the other-hand, was at a loss and had barely began to fill out her form when they were collected again. The three of them left the school soon afterwards, missing their physical education class once more in favour of starting the drive to Sessho-Maru's house. They hurried out of the school and into Inu-Yasha's car as soon as they were able to.

x

"I totally failed that test," Kagome whined as they pulled out of the school parking lot.

"Failed it?" Inu-Yasha laughed.

"Can you even fail it?" Koga pondered from the back seat.

"It was all personal preferences, I don't think you could fail it, Kagome," the hanyou said with a slightly concerned frown, "It isn't like that trigonometry test you probably failed two weeks ago."

Kagome pouted and frowned, and then folded her arms to her chest, grumbling, "But I couldn't even finish this one..." before she yelped involuntarily as the car hit a pothole. As Inu-Yasha let out a hurried, "Sorry!", Koga laughed a little. He leaned up from the back seat and poked Kagome's shoulder.

"Why didn't you fill it out?"

She looked at him a bit embarrassedly and scratched her head absently.

"Well, I didn't really know how to answer most of it," she admitted.

"What, there isn't anything you wanted to be when you grew up, Kags?" Inu-Yasha asked, cutting his eyes at her.

"I didn't have plans," she replied quietly.

"No?"

He sounded rather cynical, and Kagome began to snicker a little.

"Well, when I was little I wanted to grow up to be a bear. Or a fireman. And then I wanted to be a ballerina, and then a vet. I guess I never really grew out of that one."

She laughed and rubbed the back of her head as Koga snickered along with her and Inu-Yasha smiled.

"But the thing is, I'm not really... good at anything," Kagome admitted, "Not at school, really. I suck at math and science and I'm mediocre at everything else. I guess all I could really say was I like animals."

She shrugged and looked out the window, though she smiled a little to herself.

"What about you guys?"

She turned her gaze on Inu-Yasha and Koga leaned forwards, and the hanyou looked just a little embarrassed.

"I never really thought about it," he admitted, "I always was sort of under the impression that I should lay low and not bother."

"Oh..." Kagome said, looking disappointed.

She understood immediately, but still, she felt bad that he had never considered much of a future for himself.

"You could... be an author?"

"I can't write for shit," Inu-Yasha laughed.

"So? Neither can a lot of authors," the girl replied, giggling a bit despite herself.

Koga smiled widely and though Inu-Yasha said nothing, he grinned just a little. He appreciated the sentiment.

"I wanted to be a teacher," Koga voiced brightly, "Like my mom. I... never really got a chance to look into it. I don't even know if I'd be any good."

"That's nice," Kagome said, smiling, "I bet your mom would be proud."

Koga's face flushed and he smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Thanks," he replied.

"What does Sessho-Maru do?" Kagome asked.

"He's the head of a lot of corporations," Inu-Yasha said, "I can't really say specifically but he does management stuff. And he works with a lot of other demons, in security and technological stuff. It's all pretty secretive shit, though. Because of, you know... being a demon, and all."

Kagome began to grin after a moment. Inu-Yasha raised his eyebrows as if to ask "What?"

"I find that very funny, for some reason," she said.

"Why?" Koga asked.

"Think about it. There is literally a demon at the head of several large Japanese corporations. Just... think about it for a second."

There was silence for just a moment, and then the car erupted into laughter. Kagome was glad; it felt good to laugh like that again.

oOoOoOoO

Arriving at the large house in the middle of nowhere struck Kagome with just as much awe as it had the very first time she had seen it. Looking at Koga, she could tell he felt the same. Inu-Yasha seemed a bit blasé on the outside, but the girl knew that he was pleased by the familiarity of this place. When they got out of the car, Koga with camera in hand, Inu-Yasha took off his hat and looked around, his ears perked up high.

"Watch out," he warned, but before either of the others could asked what he meant, the huge, two headed beast that was Ah-Un rushed from behind the house and charged towards them.

Koga stood, mouth agape, but Inu-Yasha approached her and grinned widely when she pushed against him, putting one of her heads on his shoulder and nuzzling his forehead with the other. He laughed and hugged her around her right neck, saying, "Good to see you again!" Kagome grinned widely and rushed to pet Ah-Un's left head as the dragon said, "Welcome back, both of you!" Her other head turned to Koga and grinned.

"And welcome to you!"

Koga was simply aghast, stricken dumb by the sight before him.

"A dragon?" he breathed, his eyes like saucers in his head.

Inu-Yasha grinned and patted the dragon before pulling away.

"This is Ah-Un, she lives with my brother," he explained.

She nuzzled up against him contentedly. Shyly Koga extended his hand to Ah-Un's closest head, and she rewarded him with a lick on the tip of his fingers and she pressed her nose to his palm. The youkai let out a quiet and disbelieving laugh as Kagome grinned.

"I can't believe it," he whispered.

He rubbed her snout and she opened her mouths, grinning. Kagome smiled and looked to Inu-Yasha with a curious expression on her face.

"So what now?"

"We should get Sessho-Maru, I guess. He's inside," the hanyou suggested.

"Oh, okay, cool," she said brightly, "Let's get him."

She looked to Koga, who was, despite his stunned expression, petting Ah-Un slowly as if hypnotized. Kagome giggled and the hanyou rolled his eyes.

"We'll start filming," Inu-Yasha announced, "If I can pry him away from Ah-Un. Here."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and passed it into Kagome's hand.

"Get him to read this. And you'll have to ask him about your powers and stuff. I can't guaranty he'll say yes, though."

"Fair enough," Kagome said, and she smiled and gave him a quick hug, "Thanks!"

As she turned to hurry to the house, Inu-Yasha couldn't keep a smile off his face. He then turned to Koga and lifted the camera away from him.

"So, let's start this shit."

x

Behind the boys and their dragon, Kagome hurried over to the house and tried the front door; it was unlocked, so she stepped inside cautiously. Unlike her last visit, however, the lights in the main hallway were on and the house seemed more alive than the sleepy lair it appeared to be before. Looking around cautiously, Kagome closed the door slowly behind her and stepped in, treading lightly along the expensive carpet. She peered into the room to her right where Ah-Un had burst from on her first visit and, seeing nothing but some large, well crafted cabinets she turned to check the living room. When she turned, however, she bumped straight into something she couldn't identify. She yelped and hopped back to see Sessho-Maru, garbed in what seemed close to casual business attire, standing before her with a painfully neutral expression on his face.

"My brother said you wanted to talk," he said.

Kagome felt her face flush with embarrassment. Fumbling, she unfolded the paper Inu-Yasha had given her and held it out to the youkai, her hand trembling unwittingly.

"Inu-Yasha said to give this to you," she said.

x

Sessho-Maru's expression didn't falter and he lifted the paper away from her with two fingers. His eyes skimmed the message and Kagome watched with shy curiosity. The man's eyes conveyed a certain disturbed wideness for just a moment as he finished reading, but the expression was swiftly erased as if it had never existed and he looked to Kagome with his cold golden gaze. He said nothing, though he turned and headed back through the house towards the kitchen, gesturing for her to follow. She stalled, startled, for just a moment before trotting after him. He turned on the kettle as he entered the kitchen and then turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised. She looked back at him a bit nervously, until he said, "Well?"

"Well?" Kagome repeated dumbly.

"You had something to say?"

One eyebrow arched a bit and Kagome blushed again, feeling a bit awkward, but she really did want his help. After taking a deep breath, she said, "So, I'm having some trouble with my, um... spiritual powers." Sessho-Maru stared at her in a very disinterested way and she tented her fingers and looked back at him, wide eyed and pleading.

"I was wondering if you could... help?" she asked.

"No."

Kagome's face fell.

"I'm a demon," he said in a very tired sort of way and when Kagome continued to stare at him, he elaborated, "I don't have spiritual powers, obviously."

"Yeah, but you made me fire a-"

"No."

"-laser last time and I thought-"

"No."

"-maybe you could-?"

"No."

"Oh, come on!"

Kagome, to his unexpressed surprise, grabbed his hand and gazed into his eyes.

"Help me, Sessho-Maru, you're my only hope!" she insisted.

The youkai stared back at her and slipped his hand away.

"Quoting Star Wars won't help you," he said, turning away.

Kagome, a bit stunned that Sessho-Maru had seen any movie at all, let alone Star Wars, scuttled around in front of him.
"There isn't anyone else!" she insisted, "I don't know a single person who can get my powers to come out like that, and this whole thing with the agency of bad guys is getting dangerous and I really want to help Inu-Yasha and I don't want to be a burden and I-"

"Fine," Sessho-Maru said suddenly.

"Wait, what?" Kagome asked.

"Your use of the run-on sentence is astounding. Give me fifteen minutes, then meet me by the stable," he said, and before Kagome knew it, he had disappeared.

Still shocked and trying to quell her excitement, Kagome rushed from the kitchen and out the back door.

x

Outside, she spotted Koga, still holding the camera and looking considerably less shocked, and Inu-Yasha sitting in the grass with Ah-Un's left head in his lap as he pet her mane.

"Hey Kags."

Inu-Yasha greeted her with a smile and she grinned in return.

"Guess who said yes," she said in a sing-song voice.

Inu-Yasha looked a bit surprised and Koga whipped around, the camera still held to his eye as he said, "That's awesome!" Kagome nodded readily and then plopped down onto the grass beside Inu-Yasha, reaching out to pat Ah-Un.

"How did you manage that?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"I dunno, I probably just annoyed him or something," she admitted, "But I doubt I really did anything, Sessho-Maru wouldn't do anything if he didn't want to."

"Very true," the hanyou agreed.

Kagome grinned and then looked to Koga.

"So, whatchu filming?" she asked curiously.

"Just stuff," he said absently, turning the camera on her.

She laughed and reached up to push the camera away. The youkai lowered the camera and stuck his tongue out at her while Ah-Un raised one of her heads and stuck her snout up into the lens, inclining her head from side to side.

"How interesssting," she commented, ears perking.

Koga merely grinned and pet her nose again, and while he was distracted, Kagome jumped up and whisked the camera away from him and began pressing buttons on the side.

"What do these do?" she asked curiously.

"I dunno but the red one records," Koga volunteered.

x

Kagome saw no red button so she turned the camera around with the lens facing her and inspected the object. Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes and grabbed the back of Kagome's shirt, yanking her down to sit beside him. She let out a disgruntled, "hey!" and the boy took the camera from her, spun it around, and pressed his thumb to a large button above a small red light.

"The button wasn't red," the hanyou scolded.

"Sorry, I meant there was a light," Koga tried to say, but he was buffeted by a nuzzling Ah-Un and was quickly distracted as he ruffled her mane and said, "A dragon, I can't believe it."

Kagome grinned and took the camera back from Inu-Yasha, asking, "So, what are we filming, exactly?"

"Anything, we're just gonna bullshit this thing. It's not like it matters."

Kagome looked at the hanyou, a little surprised, but she supposed he was right. She sat back a bit and folded her hands in her lap as she watched Koga frolic away, playing with Ah-Un.

"You don't think school's worth it, huh?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"Not right now," he said, but then his ears drooped and he said, "I mean... Kagome?"

He looked suddenly serious and Kagome felt a jolt of panic hit her for just a moment before he said, "Do the marks... matter to you? We can actually try, if you want..."

"Oh! No, no, don't worry," she replied hurriedly.

She took his hand in hers and smiled widely at him. The boy's face fell into a soft frown and his cheeks went red with embarrassment. He wanted to tell her, "don't give up your future for my sake", but he clenched his teeth, winced a little and then lifted the camera up again.

x

As he fiddled with the buttons, looking at gain settings and other technical terms he couldn't understand, he tried to ignore the fact that he could see Kagome smiling in a sort of consoling way from the corner of his eye. She knew he felt bad without either of them saying a word. After while of quiet, Kagome took in a deep breath and said,"I'd rather be saving the demons of Japan any day." The boy smiled just a little and gave the camera back to her as Koga flailed back towards him with Ah-Un at his heels.

"Why so serious?" he asked, plopping down beside Inu-Yasha.

"Who's serious?" the hanyou retorted, elbowing Koga just hard enough to send him flopping sideways into the grass.
Kagome laughed as Koga huffed and Ah-Un trotted up to him and lifted him by the collar of his shirt.

"Well, shit," the wolf laughed.

Kagome hopped to her feet and, a little puzzled, Inu-Yasha rose with her. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, saying, "We're supposed to meet your brother near the stables." After Koga freed himself from Ah-Un, all four of them headed towards the long, rectangular building on the other side of the property that served as a stable. As they approached it, Ah-Un's tail began to wag happily and she took off at a gallop towards the building's large, open door.

"What's in there?" Kagome wondered, looking to Inu-Yasha.

"Lots of bedding and water troughs and stuff," he said, "She sleeps in there, usually, so... I guess it's all her stuff."

"Oh," the girl said.

x

As they got closer, she jogged over to the door and peeked inside. Amber lights hung from a well-crafted wooden ceiling. The walls were also wood paneling with shiny objects imbedded in various spots, the floor was made of some copper-coloured stone tile that looked very expensive. There were troughs, like Inu-Yasha had mentioned, of water and one filled with what seemed to be raw meat against one side of the building and a sort of open stall against the back, where Kagome could see Ah-Un sprawled comfortably on a bed of what looked like grass and hay.

"Wow," she breathed.

Koga poked his head in behind her and his jaw dropped. His eyes automatically darted to the amber sparkled off the things in the walls, and he pointed to them as Inu-Yasha joined them.

"What are those?" he wondered.

"Jewels, mostly," the hanyou explained.

Kagome and Koga looked at him with surprise, to which he answered, "She's a dragon."

The two continued to look at him with an awed but questioning look and he rolled his eyes.

"Don't you people read? Dragons love treasure and that sort of shit."

The girl and the wolf let out a collective "oooh," of understanding. Again, Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes.

"Entertained by the shiny objects, are we?"

x

The three teens turned to see Sessho-Maru, now wearing a casual blazer and jeans, observing them with an expression akin to watching grass grow. Despite this, Kagome grinned and hurried over to him.

"Thanks again for this," she said quickly.

"Yes, yes, fine," he said, "What is it exactly that you need to know?"

"Um... everything," she said.

Sessho-Maru looked at her with a slight hint of irritation. Before he could answer, Inu-Yasha called, "Is Rin here?"

"She's at a friend's. I have to pick her up in two hours, so may we proceed?" the man replied, looking irritatedly at his brother.

Inu-Yasha stuck his tongue out but Kagome nodded readily.

"Well, I suppose I'll start with the basics," he began, and as Kagome listened intently, Inu-Yasha sat down in the grass and rested his chin in his hand and Koga quickly dropped to the grass beside him, "You are a miko. Obviously. Most likely hereditary. Do you know anything about that?"

"My grandpa taught me about traditional herbal things and sutras and stuff, when I lived at Higurashi Shrine," she replied.

Sessho-Maru's eyebrows raised just a little. He seemed to approve.

"Higuarshi Shrine..." he repeated.

He paused for just a moment, seeming to reflect on something while the three teens watched him inquisitively, but he merely continued to say, "So you're not helplessly clueless. Good. Then you should know that anything mystical he'll have told you about was not bullshit. You can talk to animals, as is indicated by your relationship with my brother-" to which Inu-Yasha replied, "Hey!" indignantly. Sessho-Maru smirked just a little.

"Also, you should be aware of powers of purification and of barrier creation."

"I think I did that once," Kagome said, nodding, "It was by accident."

The youkai before her frowned.

"You're projecting a barrier right now."

"What? Right now?"

Kagome looked around as if she expected to see something and then looked back at the youkai with a startled expression.

"Where? What?"

Sessho-Maru inclined his head and then pointed to Inu-Yasha.

"Over him. There's an aura-masking shield," he explained.

"What?" Kagome and Inu-Yasha voiced in tandem, though Kagome seemed much more shocked than her boyfriend did; his brow furrowed in confusion and he looked between her and his brother.

"You also project it within a few feet of your body. You really haven't realized this at all?" Sessho-Maru inquired, staring at Kagome with a mixture of cynicism and a little surprise.

"No!" Kagome blurted.

Koga, his hand to his chin, seemed lost in thought and only then said, "You know... that sort of makes sense, actually."
"Really?" the girl asked, looking to him with eyes wide with surprise.

"Yeah. I remember... that day those guys kidnapped your neighbour. I could feel my aura being tampered with until I got within a few feet of you; after that, I felt like I was safe," he explained.

He shrugged as Kagome stared at him with shock. Inu-Yasha was a little startled as well, but then something in his mind clicked and he said,

"Oooh, so that must be why they couldn't detect me."

"Look at you, putting things together," Sessho-Maru said, looking at the teenagers with a small smile on his face.

"So... So wait, I can do the talking to animal thing, this barrier thing, and that laser thing," she listed, counting on her fingers, "And-"

"Purification of evil," Sessho-Maru explained, "Meaning youkai."

Inu-Yasha and Koga looked at Kagome with surprise, and she in turn gave the same shocked expression to Sessho-Maru.
"But...!" she began, and Sessho-Maru shook his head.

"Rest assured it is not something you can do by mistake, so relax," he said, causing all three teenagers to look relieved, "It also works against "tainted things", like dirty water and disease."

"So it's almost like healing in some cases?" Kagome asked, her eyes brightening.

"It takes a lot of practice to heal," the youkai told her, "Purifying tainted water or earth is something you should be able to do without much effort, however."

Kagome nodded readily.

"Okay, I can practice those things, except... the purifying demons thing," she said.

"You can practice on Inu-Yasha," Sessho-Maru suggested, "He's a hanyou, it can't possibly kill him."

"No, I won't," Kagome said quickly, causing the boy behind her to look very relieved, "What about the laser thing?"

Sessho-Maru sighed, looking a bit tired with her complete lack of knowledge, but he continued anyway.

"Physical spurts of power can be accessed two ways. The one you will have to use until you become more powerful will be demonically triggered. As I said, you constantly draw power from the environment without effort, but you are not strong enough to release it at non-demon targets without help. In this instance, you'll need to trigger a release by using the auras of one of those two," the youkai explained, gesturing to Koga and Inu-Yasha, "Once you become more powerful, and with a lot of practice, you can use the memory of the feeling of a demonic assault to release energy without help."

"Okay," Kagome said, nodding readily.

"Try it now," Sessho-Maru said.

The girl looked surprised and then looked back at her friends, who both wore similar expressions of confusion. Inu-Yasha looked at his brother, his ears drooping.

"Maybe you should do it this first time, so we can watch and see what you do," he suggested.

The older youkai rolled his eyes.

"Figures," he grumbled.

x

He approached Kagome and she felt his relatively passive aura begin to build around him. Before she could ask, he said, "Hang on, I need to synch up my aura to yours."

Behind them, Inu-Yasha leaned forward, paying close attention.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"You don't need to, whelp, you're all ready synched with her," his brother replied.

"Oh," Inu-Yasha said a bit dumbly.

Within seconds, Kagome felt the odd sting of energy enter her body and she drew in a breath sharply. The youkai beside her took her by the wrist and she cringed as she felt his energy billow around her.

"This will hurt less when it's Inu-Yasha you're using as a trigger," Sessho-Maru said, his voice almost sounding reassuring, "Now, relax. Let me guide you through this."

Kagome bit her lip and nodded readily. She felt, rather suddenly, Sessho-Maru's aura assault her senses and a weight came over her. She cringed, but within seconds, she could feel her own energy building and her hands burned with a strange cold-heat that made her skin tingle.

"Good," Sessho-Maru said.

He took a step away from her as her body began to shake.

"And release," he said, though as soon as the words left his mouth, Kagome let loose two pink spheres of energy that struck into the ground a few feet in front of her with a dull, but crackling thud.

x

She jumped back, shocked as dirt and turf scattered into the air, and when she looked back at Sessho-Maru she was surprised to see a faint smile on his face while her two friends gawked at her in shock. She looked back at where her energy had impacted the earth. She hopped up and down and pointed to the holes.

"Oh shit! I did it!" she squealed.

She laughed excitedly and, to the shock of the three demons around her, she rushed to Sessho-Maru and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed.

Inu-Yasha gawked and Sessho-Maru's eyes went wide until Kagome darted away to the hanyou and she grabbed his hands.

"Did you see?" she exclaimed as she pulled him to his feet, "Holy crap!"

Inu-Yasha bobbed his head in a nod and she hugged him tightly as well.

"So cool!" she squeaked happily.

The hanyou smiled fondly and put his arms around her shoulders. She laughed and then darted away again, saying, "Thank you, Sessho-Maru! I think with some practice I could really get a hang of this." Sessho-Maru, still looking uncharacteristically startled, finally relaxed his face and he looked to Koga, who perked up curiously.

"One more thing I should explain," he said, "It's impossible for anyone but Inu-Yasha to completely synch their aura with Kagome. Therefore, the physical contact is needed."

Koga looked a bit surprised, but then nodded eagerly and looked to Kagome, wagging his tail.

"Glad to hear I can help you too," he said brightly.

"Thanks, Koga," the girl replied with a grin.

"So, wait," Inu-Yasha voiced, frowning a bit, "So, I don't have to touch her to help her do that?"

"No," Sessho-Maru said simply.

The three teens looked at Sessho-Maru, each seeming rather confused when he didn't elaborate. They all stood in silence for a moment until Inu-Yasha finally asked, "Why?"

"Your auras all ready match," the youkai said, and when Inu-Yasha merely stared at him blankly, he sighed, "You really are dense. You are what humans call "soul mates". In demon terms, this is taken much more literally. Therefore, your auras are permanently compatible. You don't need to make contact with her to synch your aura with her."

"Oh!" Inu-Yasha said, surprised, and then looked to Kagome, who smiled back at him, "That's pretty cool."

She nodded readily and beamed at him.

"I knew you were special!" she said.

Inu-Yasha stuck her tongue out at her and she poked him playfully. Sessho-Maru rolled his eyes.

oOoOoOoO

Inu-Yasha, Kagome and Koga didn't stay much longer, though they ran around the property with their camera for a little while. None of them really knew what they were doing, however. Nonetheless, Kagome was completely elated about what she had been taught, and made her friends promise to practice with her later.

x

When the teens finally decided to head home, speeding away in Inu-Yasha's car, Sessho-Maru watched with an unspoken curiosity from inside the house. His attention then turned to the note Kagome had given him. He had held it in his pocket, feeling a strange sense of anticipation and foreboding at the thought of looking at it once more. He reread it nonetheless. It chilled him to realize that he recognized the handwriting. He felt like he hadn't seen it in centuries.

This doesn't seem possible, he mused, And yet... here it is.

He sighed and folded the note in his fingers. He held it for just a moment and then placed it in his pocket gingerly. He would find out more. He couldn't lose something so important.