AN: Yay, I finished it! Apologies if it's a bit choppy, and if Kaede just sprang out of the blue. I'm planning to do a major edit on the past chapters, like the Sango/Naraku subplot I'm changing completely, and I'll try to mention Kaede earlier. It's just than I haven't written on this for so long I've forgotten a lot of stuff. Well…so here the plot sort of goes somewhere…Bah. Just read it please ;) And I'll get to work on the next chapter straight away. Oh yes, and [plug] my new Waste of Time, Befuddled, is up! Check it out, next chapter out soon [/plug] And early thanks to those who decided to stick with the story, even after the way. Love ya much! Enjoy this chapter.

A Change in Tides

When Inu-Yasha returned home, Sango and Miroku knew something was different. The blush on Kagome's cheeks seemed permanent, and Inu-Yasha seemed to be staring everywhere else but at Kagome. Sango had a feeling that something had happened between them; immediately her narrowed eyes scanned for swollen lips, or hickeys…hmm, Kagome was hiding it very well. She decided to confront Kagome at night, to prevent embarrassing them.

Miroku, however, was not as thoughtful. "Did you guys, like, make out or something?"

Kagome turned even redder and squeaked, "N-n-no, what makes you think that? Really, Miroku, you're so stupid." She laughed over-loudly, but stopped when she realized that no one was buying it.

"Really, Miroku, that's the dumbest thing you've said yet." Inu-Yasha coughed, still not meeting anyone's else and looking intently at a piece of algae on the sidewalk. When he realized that his words might have sounded too nice to constitute a real conversation between him and Miroku, he added hastily, "I mean, compared with all the stupid stuff you've said, this one takes the cake." Silence. "…You stupid bastard."

"Ah," Miroku said. More silence. "So you did make out then?"

"No, we didn't!" Inu-Yasha and Kagome cried angrily in unison.

"Well then what did you do?" Miroku asked, as if the two could not have possibly done anything else together.

His best friend glared at him. "As a matter of fact, we went down to a deep abyss, saw Olympia, and nearly got eaten by a shark."

Miroku's face turned white. "Say that part again?"

"Got eaten by a shark?"

"No, before it."

"Down a deep abyss?"

"No, dammit, that part about Olympia!" Miroku yelled.

Inu-Yasha finally raised his eyes from the algae. "All that's left is the skeleton of the ship," Inu-Yasha said quietly. "Just old, decaying wood. And…and no bones. Well I didn't see any, but our viewing time was cut short."

The jovial look on Miroku's face was gone. "And you just decided to go and see it without me? Did you forget that it was my father's ship too? Geez, Inu-Yasha!"

"I was going to ask you, but you were busy cleaning up whatever mess you'd made, as usual!" Inu-Yasha growled defensively. "It's your own damn fault you keep getting in trouble!"

"I would have waited for you," Miroku said in a low tone.

"Yeah? Well I would have died of old age waiting for you," Inu-Yasha said scathingly.

They glared at each other, mermaids beside them watching uneasily. Miroku's jaw twitched. "I want to go see her," he said quietly.

"You can't. There's a shark down there. Kagome and I buried it, but we don't know if it's dead or not."

"Screw the shark! Olympia's down there and I want to go see her."

"Are you crazy?" Inu-Yasha snapped. "You just want to get yourself ki—"

"You can take a shark hunter with you when you go," a soft voice interrupted them. They both looked at Kagome. She avoided Inu-Yasha's questioning look and continued. "Just to be sure, take a shark hunter with you. I'll tell Sango where it is."

Miroku smiled tightly at Kagome. "Thanks a lot. You act like my friend even more than my best friend does."

Inu-Yasha threw up his hands. "Fine. Go get yourself killed. I hope he has you for dinner, moron." He turned to Sango. "Not you. I hope you get away. I don't have anything against you."

"Um…thanks?" was all Sango could say.

With a final, angry glare at Miroku, Inu-Yasha turned and swam into the house. Kagome quickly told Sango where the abyss was. "Be really careful," she pleaded when Sango made to go. "I wouldn't want you to go, except I know how much it means to Miroku."

Sango smiled. "I'll be fine. If you can bury a shark, so can I." Her eyes twinkled. "And you're going to tell me everything tonight. I know you and Inu-Yasha did more than swim around an old ship."

Kagome just shook her head. After a final goodbye to the two of them, she swam into her house.

Inu-Yasha was sitting on a coral couch, sulking. When he saw Kagome, he folded his arms over his chest crossly. "Traitor," he muttered.

She sat down beside him. "Look at me," she said.

"You were supposed to be on my side," he continued, still refusing to meet her eyes.

Kagome sighed and grabbed his chin. With a sharp jerk she made him look at her. "There were no sides, dummy," she said softly. "Answer me truthfully: if you had been in Miroku's place, would you have just sat by knowing that Miroku had seen your ship?" The sullen look in his eyes was his answer. "Miroku has every right to see Olympia." She released his chin.

He scowled. "Yeah, whatever, but he didn't have to go and accuse me! He—"

She flicked his forehead—hard. He froze in mid-sentence as the pain exploding through his head silenced him. "Let it be," she said. You can apologize when he gets back."

"If he comes back," Inu-Yasha muttered. "If he already isn't shark fodder."

Kagome giggled. "I think with Sango and a shark hunter Miroku will come back more or less unscathed." She wrapped her arms around his neck and touched her nose to his. "You're not angry, are you?" she whispered.

Inu-Yasha tried to think straight. "At you? No. Aargh, I don't care anymore. It was a stupid argument."

She smiled, then leaned forward and kissed him. It was very soft; her lips barely grazed his. Inu-Yasha shifted on the couch so that he could hold her against him. She kissed him again, this time harder and longer—

"Yoo-hoo, Kagome-chan, I'm home—oh!"

Kagome sprang away from Inu-Yasha. "Ma!" she cried, her face a shade of red Inu-Yasha didn't know existed. "We were just, uhm…" She turned to Inu-Yasha, who shrugged helplessly. "Talking," she finished lamely.

Her mother was at the doorway, holding bags of groceries. Rin stood at her side, innocently munching on a bag of jellyfish beans.

"I see I was interrupting something," Kagome's mother said, her expression serious. "Kagome, will you help me put these groceries away?" Her tone sounded casual, but held an underlying tone that implied Kagome should obey.

Kagome ducked her head. She cast a small glance at Inu-Yasha before getting up and following her mother in to the kitchen. Rin trotted towards Inu-Yasha and offered him some jellyfish beans.

"Thanks," he mumbled, reaching into the bag and pulling out a handful.

"So," Rin said chirpily, "Are you and Kagome gonna get married?"

"What? No!" Inu-Yasha cried, and to prevent himself from saying anything else, stuffed the entire handful of jellyfish beans into his mouth. They were sweet but extremely chewey.

Rin giggled. "But you two were kissing! My daddy used to kiss my mommy and they were married."

Inu-Yasha was still chomping determinedly on the beans and refused to answer.

"Oh, careful, don't swallow them all at once," Rin warned, just as Inu-Yasha gulped the mouthful down. "Mostly they're still alive and swim in your stomach, so it doesn't feel all that good."

Inu-Yasha froze and his eye twitched.

Kagome's mother handed her a bag and proceeded to unpack another one. She worked in brisk silence. Kagome slowly pulled out a jar of salt and set it on the kitchen table. She didn't know what to say.

Thankfully, her mother broke the tense layer of ice. But not with good news. "It won't work, Kagome," she said, swimming rapidly around the kitchen. "It can't ever work."

"Mom, I know," Kagome said. "That's what I told him. I know the rules as well as you do."

"I wonder if you really do," her mother said tersely. "Well, if you know the rules and you told him about them, why were you two still kissing?" And you can explain yourself now, you can say it was merely curiosity or a goodbye kiss, and I'll accept it. I'll put this whole thing to rest."

Kagome's face hardened. "No, it wasn't any of that. I kissed him because I wanted to. I did it before and I'll do it again."

Her mother sighed. "Kagome. I don't mind sheltering Inu-Yasha and Miroku until they can return to land. I think it's great that you can befriend humans. I trusted that you would be well aware of the rules. But please, and I'm serious about this…please don't fall in love with him."

"It might be too late for that," Kagome whispered.

"It will only cause you pain," her mother argued. "You know that you and Inu-Yasha can't be together."

"Well, who says I have to follow Uncle's law?" Kagome said bitterly. "It's not as if he or Kikyo have exactly looked out for us. I doubt he'd care what I did."

"Of course he'll care," her mother said. "Especially when you disregard a rule he himself decreed."

Kagome exhaled an angry stream of bubbles. "Mom. It's not marriage. Let me be with him, even for only a while. We'll think for the present and handle the future when it comes. Okay?" She swam behind her mother and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Pleease?"

"Oh, I don't know, Kagome. I'd forbid it right here and now but I'm not that kind of a person. I can't think for you. I just don't want to see you do…" Her mother's strained voice trailed off, and held a tinge of confusion. "I don't think it's a good idea, and I'm just asking you to back off while you can."

Her daughter moved away, her expression a mixture of hurt and indignation. "I thought out of everyone in this city you'd understand the most. How can you tell me that this is a bad idea when you couldn't hold on to your own man?" She knew the words she spoke were excessively cruel, but it was something that always lingered on her mind. She felt glad to say them, but also deep guilt.

Kagome's mother stopped unpacking. For a minute it looked as if she was going to cry. Kagome wanted to take back what she said, but something else was stirring in her—anger. Her mother dared to say Kagome couldn't be with Inu-Yasha when her own relationship had fallen in tatters, and she couldn't even tell Kagome why. Her mother couldn't hold on to her lover, and Kagome was paying the price for it. The price a fatherless child had to pay in the mercity was heavier than any fine—it was silent condemnation, softened only by the fact that she was royalty. And that just made her angrier.

"I'm tired of Uncle's dumb rules and the stuff I have to go through!" she cried. "Uncle has no right telling merpeople who they can and can't love…no one has the right to say that. I'll find a way to make it work." She swam furiously out of the kitchen, a grim look on her face.

Kagome's mother held forlornly onto her groceries, gazing sadly after her daughter. She knew the relationship was headed for disaster—it was inevitable. But Kagome was too strong-willed; she wouldn't listen to anything her mother said. She knew that she was partly to blame for Kagome's feelings.

Kagome will just have to experience it for herself, she decided with a heavy sigh. She would have to learn the hard way why humans and mermaids couldn't ever be together.

Inu-Yasha followed Kagome as she stormed out into the street. For a long while she just swam down the road, Inu-Yasha trailing after her as fast as he could. Then all of a sudden she stopped, and whirled around. She grabbed Inu-Yasha's hand and continued down the road, her jaw set in a grim line. All the way to the end of the street, Kagome barely said three words to him.

Yet the strange thing was that she was trying to be more affectionate with him at the same time. The sour look on her face, however, quelled any romantic feelings in Inu-Yasha. On the street, she kept holding his hand, or wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him, much to the shock of the merpeople surrounding them,

Finally he just had to confront her when for no apparent reason, she'd grabbed his head fiercely and kissed his lips off.

"Okay, you can't kiss me and scowl at me at the same time," he said when she resumed swimming. "Can you tell me what the heck's going on?"

"Protest," she said shortly.

"And what does that mean?"

She glared accusingly at two old mermaids passing by, who looked like they were whispering about them. "This is my protest against my Uncle's stupid laws. Merpeople should be with whoever they want to be with, whether it's merperson, human, or seahorse."

Inu-Yasha looked doubtful. "But wouldn't that be kinda hard for them to, um, procreate?" When Kagome turned her glare on him, he quickly added, "I don't mind your protest, really, I don't. But why do I have to be your soapbox?"

"Soapbox?" Kagome sidled up to him. "Why, do you mind being my soapbox or whatever that is?" She kissed him again, long enough for the two old ladies to gasp in horror.

He frowned and untangled his lips from hers. "No, but do you think you could do it without the whole 'I love you therefore you must die' face? I don't know if you've noticed, but it kind of kills the mood."

"Aargh!" Kagome pulled away from him. "I'm sorry, I'm just so mad!" She fumed for a few minutes, and Inu-Yasha let her. Kagome was practically boiling the water around her. "Look at the women around us; they're all glaring. I can handle it—I'm the bastard child of the royal family, after all, even if I do get some slack." Her voice cracked, but she determinedly reined it in. "Everything I do is looked down upon, even if I try to help people like being on the patrol. I can't be anything but fatherless, I can't love whoever I want." Inu-Yasha heard her sniff, then angrily wipe her eyes. "Ugh. This is pathetic. I shouldn't be crying." Nevertheless, she sniffed again, and soon her shoulders were shaking.

A part of Inu-Yasha wanted to take her in his arms and say everything was going to be fine, but another part of him felt awkward and unsure of what to do next. Kagome solved the problem by leaning against him, her back pressed against his chest. She turned around so that her face was buried in his neck.

"I want to be human," she murmured softly against his skin. "I want to be human and live on land with you." Slender arms slid up his side; soft hands rested on his back. "That way, there would be no rules, no hesitations."

Inu-Yasha wrapped his arms around her. At this moment, he felt closer to her than any other time, even their first kiss in the abyss. After all, they were both fatherless and looked down upon in their respective societies. Starting from that moment, Inu-Yasha wished Kagome was human, too.

"It's not your fault people can be assholes, Kagome," he told her. "Don't regret who you are. It's not worth it." He ruffled her hair. "Besides, if you keep wallowing in self-pity, I'll throw you into the abyss."

Kagome looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Because I'd fall, right? Being underwater and everything." Though her eyes were red-rimmed, her smile was grateful. She let her ands drop to catch his. "Thanks," she said, squeezing his hands.

"He he. You owe me one bowl of ramen for that."

"What? You cheat! I'll give you ramen, all right…"

Inu-Yasha narrowed his eyes. He didn't like her tone. "What kind of ramen? No octopus, of course."

"No. Ice-Fish Ramen."

"Say what?"

"You might know it as fugu. You know, puffer fish?" Kagome blinked innocently at him. "Then again, if you're not man enough to have some…"

"Excuse me? I fought a shark single-handedly. I can eat whatever shrimp you throw at me." Inu-Yasha forced a laugh. He knew a lot about puffer fish, and what happened when you ate the wrong bits. "Ice-Fish? More like Mice-Fish. Oh, that was a good one."

"Excuse me, but I saved your butt against that shark. And shrimp you can eat, but octopus, no? Should I recall that event from the dregs of my mind?"

"Really? I don't remember either of the things you're talking about." Inu-Yasha smirked at her.

Kagome growled and launched herself at him. Inu-Yasha grabbed her head and held her at bag as she clawed at the water. She whacked him in the face with her tail, sending his head spinning.

Finally, after she beat him up sufficiently to her liking, Inu-Yasha pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. When she lifted her face, he kissed her nose. He heard her sigh softly, and grinned. When their lips finally met, Kagome's face bore no trace of a scowl, and Inu-Yasha couldn't have cared less about who saw them there on the street.

Perhaps if Inu-Yasha had known that it was Kikyo who saw them on the street, he would have cared a bit more.

Kikyo stood motionless only a few blocks away, surrounded by her guards and handmaidens. She had an unreadable expression on her face, but that didn't mean she had no reaction. In truth, she was livid to the tip of her tail. But being the composed princess and everything, she couldn't lose her temper in public. Only in her thoughts could she express how she really felt.

She turned to one of her handmaidens. "It seems that Kagome is brash enough to break one of Father's most important laws in public," she noted calmly. That bitch! How dare she put the moves on him! I ought to hang her upside down over the biggest damn trench I can find!

Her handmaiden gasped. "Isn't that Inu-Yasha, one of the mortals?"

"Yes." Gee, was it the legs that clued you in? The hell is wrong with you?

Kikyo's eyes narrowed as the couple didn't seem to stop. This wasn't going as planned at all. Kagome could not take Inu-Yasha from her. Only Kikyo could take him legally, with the mer-witch Kaede's help, of course.

Kikyo pressed her lips together so tightly the edges turned white. Kagome would regret ever laying her grubby hands on Inu-Yasha. Simply going up to them wouldn't stop them from continuing once her back was turned, and knowing of Kikyo's jealousy would only make Kagome more determined to keep Inu-Yasha. There had to be a better way to keep them apart.

Thankfully, when the action was legal, it was much easier to stop. Kikyo smiled as she imagined the look on her bastard cousin's face when she realized what happened to people who got in Kikyo's way.

Now to alert her father about the interesting events that had occurred during her little jaunt on the street.

It was late afternoon when Inu-Yasha and Kagome finally headed for home.

"Before we go," Kagome said, "Let's get some altea."

"In the grocery? We just passed it, though."

She shook her head. "No, not there. There's a better place I know of. It's on the outskirts of the city. Come on."

Inu-Yasha shrugged and followed her. He suspected that she was only doing this partly because she wanted to delay returning home, but he didn't say anything. She'd just deny it.

As they moved farther away from the center of the city, the huge buildings of coral and stone shrunk down in size, and so did the space between the buildings. "Here we are," Kagome said, stopping in front of a tiny building the equivalent of a shack on land. Beside the house was a garden, probably growing with the spices needed for the tea. "Kaede's. The best place to get fresh altea." She lowered her voice and whispered, "Some people say she's a witch." Her voice dropped even lower. "There are rumors that she has certain powers, but there hasn't been any proof. I think it's true, though."

Inu-Yasha was reminded of a certain story he'd heard about mermaids. "Does she have an octopus bottom and two pet eels?" he asked bluntly.

"I heard that, young man," a gruff voice came from inside the hut.

Kagome's shoulders slumped. "No, but she has excellent hearing." Raising her voice, she called out, "Afternoon, Kaede! Got any altea ready?"

An old mermaid swam laboriously out of the hut. Her hair was long and white and tied behind her back. "Oh, it's you, Kagome, hello." Her tone hinted that they knew each other well. Her eyes flicked to Inu-Yasha. "And who might you be, human?"

"Didn't you just answer your own question?"

Kagome thwapped him with her tail.

Kaede chuckled. "I have heard much about you…Inu-Yasha."

Inu-Yasha's jaw dropped. "How did you know my name?"

"I know about the two mortals named Miroku and Inu-Yasha. One was stupid, and the other insolent. The insolent one was spoken of very highly—I have heard your name many times."

"Oh." Inu-Yasha paused. "Glad I'm the insolent one, and not the stupid one."

"Shut up!" Kagome snapped at him. "Kaede, where'd you hear Inu-Yasha's name? This is the first time I've come to you since he came here."

A shadow crossed Kaede's face. "It's not for your ears, Kaede. Any old mermaid could have told me about the mortals."

Kagome narrowed your eyes. "But since you mentioned that fact, that means it wasn't any old mermaid. Besides, only one other person—besides me—would speak very highly of 'the insolent one,' and she happens to be in my family." At the guilty look on Kaede's face, Kagome laughed in disbelief. "Kikyo told you about them. Why? What does Kikyo have to do with you?"

"Doesn't wisdom normally come when you get old?" The Insolent One asked. "As in, the wisdom to keep your mouth shut?"

"Shut up!" Kagome said again. "How can you be so rude?"

"Hey! I'm merely being insolent, as she so eloquently described me!"

"In case you didn't get it, it's not a title of honor, it's an insult." Kagome turned her back on a growling Inu-Yasha and glared at Kaede. The old woman met her gaze steadily, though there was worry in her eyes. "Tell me why Kikyo spoke to you," Kagome said. "Tell me why the princess would bother visiting an old woman selling altea."

Kaede dropped her eyes. "To speak would go against the wishes of the princess. I'd be breaking a law."

"You're a witch, aren't you?"

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes. "Now who's being insolent?"

"Shut up!"

"Don't tell me to shut up, you just called the old hag a witch!"

"Well you just called her a—Why I oughtta—"

"Silence!" Kaede's loud voice made them follow her command. "Goodness, do you two always bicker like this?"

Kagome lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry. But Kaede, you have to tell me if Kikyo's planning anything. It's important to me."

"Oh? And why would the interests of the princess concern someone like you?"

Kagome took a deep breath. "If it concerns Inu-Yasha it concerns me. And don't view it like she's the princess and I'm common. View it like we are cousins and equal. Are you close friends with Kikyo?"

After a long silence, Kaede replied, "No."

"Does she buy altea from you?"

"No."

"Does she mention Inu-Yasha a lot?"

"Yes."

"Does she have a reason?"

Kaede looked up and saw Kagome's face, hard with determination but also lined with worry. "Yes," she said finally.

"What is it?"

After what looked like much inner-debate (and a huge temptation for the Insolent One to say something in the silence), Kaede opened her mouth to respond. But before she could say anything, a loud cry of, "Kagome!" cut her off.

Kagome looked to her right. A mermaid was swimming fast towards her, her face an image of panic. "Sango, what's wrong?" Kagome asked as Sango stopped in front of them, panting.

"Kagome…we came home and…and guards were searching your house…they were looking for you," Sango said between gasps. The blood drained from Kagome's face. "You have to go hide somewhere."

Her worry-filled eyes met her best friend's. "You're a wanted person now. The king's put you under arrest."