Shards, Miko, Hanyou, and Daiyokai

(Kagome's lessons are early in the morning before they start their day and the children's lessons will be in the evening when they eat and get ready to finish the day.)

Chapter 7:

-The Next Morning-

"You can't effectively use a bow and arrows in a close range fight. You'll have to learn how to use your reiki in order to fight close range. It may benefit you to get some sort of sword or smaller weapon that allows you to get close. Being a miko has advantages because you will have the element of surprise if you use anything other than a bow. Most will think you defenseless if you don't use a bow and it could give you an advantage in battle," Sesshomaru stood a short ways in front of Kagome as he explained.
"If I practice hand to hand with reiki wouldn't that hurt you?" Kagome asked worriedly.
"If you learn to control it, it won't be a problem. You will have to expend quite a lot of reiki to truly injure this one."
"What do you want me to start doing, then?" Kagome asked.
"Practice channeling reiki into your hands," Sesshomaru demonstrated by allowing acid to drip from his claws.
"How?" Kagome looked pointedly from her hands to Sesshomaru.
"Imagine your power... let it take whatever shape you feel is right and push it to travel to your hands," Sesshomaru answered calmly.
Kagome concentrated on her reiki. She imagined it as a flame in the center of her body. She urged the reiki to travel from the center of her body down her arms and nearly to her hands before it pulled back like a rubber band. She groaned aloud.
"Try again," Sesshomaru ordered.
She tried again to push it from her body into her hands and succeeded before it snapped back abruptly. She immediately tried again without prompting. It reached her hands and lasted a few seconds before it snapped back.
"You have to train your reiki to do as you want it to do. Control it," Sesshomaru walked around her.
She tried to concentrate a ball of reiki in her hand. Her hand glowed pink and she thrust her hand out toward Sesshomaru to show him. He lifted an eyebrow at her and she grinned ear to ear. It died out shortly after.
"You will start out learning how to control your reiki and then when you have learned to control it, this one will teach you how to fight hand to hand," Sesshomaru came to stand directly in front of her.
"I will keep practicing," Kagome said brightly.
They walked back to the group a little ways away.
"Are you ready to go already? We're wasting daylight," Inuyasha said, irate.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome admonished.
Inuyasha's ears flattened at the shrillness of her voice but didn't say anything.
The group gathered their things and began walking to the next village further east. Kagome practiced using her reiki as she walked. The more she practiced the longer the ball stayed formed in her hand. They reached the next village around dinner time and chose to wait until the next morning to go into the village.
Kagome gathered the books from her bag that hung from Ah-Un's saddle. She called the children to come sit with her a little ways away from the fire they had built.
"This book is about numbers, she held up the children's book about numbers.
Rin carefully took the book from her and started flipping through the pages.
"This book is about letters. You need to learn letters so that you can read and write words," Kagome held up another book.
Shippo took the book from her and opened it up the first page.
The first page had the letter "a" written in hiragana. They slowly worked through sounding out several letters in hiragana before she grabbed two pencils and two notebooks. She handed each child a pencil and a notebook and instructed them to write out the first letter five times. After that they continued through 4 more letters writing them out five times each.
"Tell me what each letter sounds like," Kagome instructed.
They recited each of the letters they had written in their notebooks.
"I know that you both know how to talk, stop this is a lesson how to read and write letters. It helps to connect the letters to their sounds that way you eventually learn how to write what you're saying. We will keep practicing writing each of the letters until you learn them enough to write sentences," Kagome told the children.
"Okay, Kagame-sama," Rin chirped cheerfully.
"Yes, Kagome," Shippo answered a little dolefully.
"Cheer up, Shippo. You're going to be a powerful yokai someday. Fighting is just as important as learning how to read and write. It will help you later in life," Kagome pat his head.
"This Sesshomaru knows how to read and write. He learned at a young age just like you. It helps this one to rule his lands. What the miko says is correct," Sesshomaru spoke up from the tree he was leaning against near them.
"See? It may seem unimportant now, but you will eventually need to know these things," Kagome picked Shippo up and cradled him to her chest.
Rin flipped through the letter book a little while longer before setting it down.
"Thank you for the lesson, Kagome-sama," Rin said with a smile.
"You are welcome, Rin-chan," Kagome moved Shippo to one side so that she could give the young girl a hug.
Sesshomaru nodded his head approvingly at Rin over Kagome's shoulder. Shippo and Rin leapt off of Kagome's lap and started playing nearby. Kagome gathered their materials and returned them to her backpack before settling down to make ramen for their supper. They ate in silence before Kagome spoke up.
"It's there a stream nearby? I would like to bathe," Kagome asked the two yokai.
"I would like to join you, Kagome-chan," Sango said.
"There's a stream a short ways that way," Inuyasha answered, pointing in the direction of the stream.
"Sesshomaru, would you mind if Rin came with us?" Kagome asked looking at the daiyokai.
"She can go with you. This one will be nearby if you need anything," Sesshomaru answered.
The girls grabbed their things and headed to the stream.
"How was your first lesson, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked when they were far enough away.
"Sesshomaru started me off on learning how to control my reiki so that I can use it to fight close range. He said he plans to teach me hand to hand once I learn," Kagome answered cheerfully.
"Wouldn't your reiki hurt him?"
"He said it wouldn't unless I use a lot of it at once, " Kagome frowned.
"I can understand why he would think to teach you hand to hand. We don't always have the advantage to use a bow. You do have a tendency of getting kidnapped," Sango pointed out with a wry smile on her face.
"I have wanted to learn how to defend myself in those situations. I don't have time to use my bow," Kagome said thoughtfully.

The girls made it to the stream and washed up before heading back to camp.

Sesshomaru considered them as they got ready for bed. Inuyasha was up in the tree above them watching out for them. Everyone else got comfortable and went to sleep.

"Have you been able to figure anything out about the shadow yokai that's been following us around?" Inuyasha asked quietly from his perch.

"Only that this one doesn't recall ever meeting this particular yokai. It seems to want to stay hidden for now. We will have to be careful on our journey," Sesshomaru answered just as quietly.

"Have you made plans for Kagome's training?" Inuyasha asked curiously.

"This one wants her to learn how to use her reiki first. Her powers are strong and would become stronger should she learn how to use them correctly. This one has no doubt that she will surpass most miko,"

"How long will it take for her to master her reiki?"

"With her determination, it shouldn't be too long."

"What happens after she learns how to properly use her reiki?"

Sesshomaru sighed quietly. Inuyasha normally didn't have conversations with Sesshomaru. His interest in having one now was odd in of itself.

"This one will teach her how to fight hand-to-hand. She needs to know how to fight in close quarters. I suggested she get some kind of small weapon she can carry that would help her be able to throw off her enemies," Sesshomaru glanced up at Inuyasha still perched in the tree.

"Maybe we can find something in one of the human villages. She may need something stronger than a human weapon though with her powers," Inuyasha grasped his chin in thought.

"Totosai might be able to make a strong enough weapon for her, but I don't know whose fang I should use to make it," Sesshomaru answered calmly.

"I could use one of mine. She is part of my pack. She needs to learn how to defend herself, so she doesn't get kidnapped all the time. I just never imagined you would be the one to teach her."

"Perhaps we could ask her tomorrow who she would be most comfortable with," Sesshomaru answered with an air of indifference.

"I wanted to teach her how to fight, but I barely know the basics myself. I don't want to get her hurt by trying to teach her. I don't really use my yoki to fight, so I never mastered it. It seemed wrong to try and teach her myself," Inuyasha said wistfully.

"You were wise in that decision," Sesshomaru looked up at Inuyasha briefly, "you have protected her for the most part since she has started traveled with you."

Inuyasha nearly fell out of the tree in surprise at Sesshomaru's complement.

"Yeah, well, I do my best," Inuyasha answered in a huff when he regained his balance.

Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest as he looked up at the tree branches overhead.

"I never thought I would be traveling with anyone much less humans. The humans from my mom's village never wanted to have anything to do with me and neither did the yokai. I always felt alone and unwanted. Then Kagome showed up and took the arrow out of my chest. It was like the kami were giving me a second chance to make everything right," Inuyasha spoke quietly.

"Your intentions when you first met her were to use the shikon jewel to make yourself full-yokai," Sesshomaru reminded him.

"That was when we first started out. I was still mad at Kikyo for pinning me to the tree. I wasn't the one trying to steal the jewel that day. Naraku made himself look like me and tried to steal the jewel. If it weren't for him, I might not ever have met Kagome."

"If you had to choose between her and the clay golem, who would you choose?" Sesshomaru asked curiously.

"Keh! I don't know. They have both been important people in my life. I know that Kikyo being here is unnatural, but I can't help my feelings for her even after all this time. I almost chose to use the jewel to become human, so that I could live with her until the end of our days. It was hard because I knew I would never be accepted anywhere I went. She claimed to accept me, but I don't know with everything that happened. The Kikyo I knew before and the Kikyo that walks the earth now are two different people but when I see her, I think of all we had before Naraku."

"You would let her drag you to hell?"

"Who told you that? Kagome?" at Sesshomaru's nod, Inuyasha answered, "No, I have to be here to protect Kagome."

"Are you hoping that when Kagome makes the wish on the completed jewel that Kikyo might truly come back from the dead?"

"Part of me does but the other part of me just wants Kikyo to be at peace. It's selfish to wish she was alive, but I can't help it. I care about Kagome, but I don't think I could truly care for her like I do with Kikyo."

"So you wouldn't be opposed to her finding someone else then?"

"Of course not! She can be with whoever she wants," Inuyasha huffed in indignation.

"You do realize that she is human and may not understand how a pack works? If she does know what a pack is and how it works, she may not consider herself part of your pack. When we started this journey to find the missing jewel shards, she started acting more like an alpha. I would suggest you talk to her and see how she feels about it."

"I'm not too sure how pack works either, honestly. I just consider them my own and protect them the best way I know how. I wasn't exactly raised in or around packs, ya know," Inuyasha looked down at Sesshomaru.

"This one is aware," Sesshomaru answered quietly.

Inuyasha grew contemplative after Sesshomaru's admission.

"I don't blame you for what happened back then. You had responsibilities, and I understand you were angry about the old man. I don't blame you for anything," Inuyasha spoke so quietly, Sesshomaru almost didn't hear him.

"This one... I wanted to be there for you but didn't know how. I was raised to be calculating and cold. I never had much use for things such as compassion and never understood Father's depth of feeling towards your mother and it drove a wedge between us," Sesshomaru responded.

"All we can do now is move on and try our best to overcome our differences."

"Hnn."

**Okay guys! Here's another chapter. It's slightly OOC, but I feel like they needed to learn how to move on if they were going to keep traveling for awhile. Plus, I feel like after so long, Inuyasha should learn how to be more mature about things. I hope you guys like it!**