CHAPTER THREE: A NOT SO NORMAL IAIDO CLASS

            Inu-Yasha glanced around the training floor nervously. Usually, when he practiced his swordfighting – which had been quite often, lately, ever since that girl had come to visit them – he was alone. He felt uncomfortable with so many people in the room, although he knew he could probably defeat them all with the Tetsusaiga.

            The instructor – what had Sung called him again? Right, Dave Otagura – beckoned them on the floor. The hanyou had lost his coat. Since he was wearing his red yukata and hakama beneath it, it wasn't a problem. Kagome, Miroku, and Sango had changed into the black-and-white garb the ARC had rented them.

            He saw someone wave at him and glanced over the boy. He was shorter than most people on the training floor, and looked asian. Rimless glasses perched on his nose, and he had his right hand on the hilt of his iaito while waving with his left. Inu-Yasha's gaze wandered further, until...What in the seven hells...???

            Ari frowned. It couldn't be...it had all been a dream, hadn't it? She glanced down at her katana, the one that she had found on her nightstand. Patrick leaned over and grinned. "Nice sword," he commented, indicating the sky blue saya and intricately decorated hilt. She glanced down at her sword, then looked back in the direction of the guy in the red kimono. She smiled. That would be one heck of a class.

            The class went as usual – halfways, anyway. By the time Dave had announced he would take the new students to the next room over, Inu-Yasha had gotten into a heated dispute with Sung about whether or not he could be counted as an intermediate student or not. Finally, with an annoyed "Feh," Inu-Yasha relented and walked over to the group of newbies who stared at his sword in amazement.

            Ari grinned as she recalled the capabilities of the rusted blade. And the hanyou's...lack in proper technique. Well, he said he'd be working on it. She grinned wider as she recalled their fights. Yup, that was a fun time.

            Suddenly, yelling could be heard from the next room over, and there was a crash. When the commotion in the other room was over, Inu-Yasha came striding onto the floor of the forum victoriously. Ari arched an eyebrow. What had the hanyou done now? Dave walked in behind him. "Sung, he'd like to join the advanced students," he told him, then left.

           Patrick grinned. "Hm...that sounded like some interesting...convincing methods." Inu-Yasha grinned and walked over. "Feh. Easy one." Patrick chuckled and bowed. "Hi, I'm Patrick Huu. You must be Inu-Yasha." The hanyou arched an eyebrow. "Ari talks a lot about you," the short guy said and laughed. The hanyou glanced over the crowd quickly and spotted a speck of auburn hair in the middle of the other group in the room. "So she did, did she?"

            Sung grinned. "All right, let's see some katas." Everyone groaned, because they knew it meant either one of two katas so far – as everyone announced one of the two, Inu-Yasha called out a different one from Ichi-Monji or Segetsu. Sung frowned as the hanyou knelt down and launched into a full combat kata, slashing the rusted Tetsusaiga through the air with deadly accuracy and speed.

            Ari glanced over and saw Inu-Yasha performing his kata, and gaped. The first thing that came to her mind was, How did he get that sword through customs? The second thing was, That looks great! The hanyou had been practicing, indeed. She saw Sung stand there, gaping, and chuckled. That must have been quite a shock for the instructor.

            Sung arched an eyebrow as Inu-Yasha finished up his kata and rose again. The entire room was deathly quiet as the hanyou glanced around and barked, "What are you staring  at?" It was Ari's turn to gape. Since when did Inu-Yasha learn to speak English??

            By the end of the class, everyone piled up on the benches to find their stuff, and Ari took the opportunity to walk over to the supposed half-demon, who was laughing at a joke Dinh had just told him. He turned around and nearly ran into her. "What do you wa--..." He trailed off. Ari stared. Dinh looked confused, as did John. The two Patricks laughed.

            Sung chose that moment to walk in. "How long have you been practicing Iai?" He asked the hanyou. Inu-Yasha closed his mouth, then re-opened it to answer. "Some time," he said. More than sixty years, Ari thought. There was a crash, and everyone turned around to see Sango and Kagome trying to pry a beet red and angry Karen off Miroku. Ari sighed. "I'll never understand that houshi. You would think he would have learned his lesson after the first few hundred times..."

            Patrick chuckled. "Yah. So, Inu-Yasha, why don't you and Kagome and Sango and Miroku – and presumably Shippou – come and visit us this weekend? We can give you a tour of the campus." Kagome glanced over and nodded. "That sounds good. Hey, wait. Didn't you run into me earlier today?"

            The asian guy nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. I was in something of a hurry, was late for my Chem discussion. Sorry about that."