Authors Note: Please forgive me for not updating sooner! I had a lot going on and when I did have the time, I couldn't think of what to write. I was suffering a major writers block. But I'm back now so please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Same thing, I don't own Inuyasha, blah blah blah...

Chapter Six: Training and Decisions

They'd been traveling for almost a week. No one really spoke except Kagome to check on Sakura and Inuyasha and Raye when they argued. Kekeru stayed at the back of the group with his head hung, and Sakura walked beside him to keep him company, but he still didn't speak. Asano spent his time glancing at Raye and smiling, sometimes he would open his mouth to say something but closed it when the words eluded him. The group was happy, sort of. They'd found Sakura, and Raye after all these years but Kekeru's situation and silence seemed to affect them all. Inuyasha did his best to ignore it, Raye was staring to get twitchy, if he didn't talk soon, she'd lose it! Kagome kept glancing at the boy with pity and Asano did the same. Sakura tried many times to start a conversation but he never answered her.

One night, the group was sitting around a fire. Kekeru sat in silence with his head hung as usual. Raye was staring at him with a scowl on her face, "That's it! I can't take it! Look kid, If you're not gonna talk then I'll have to make you!" With that, she crossed over to where he was sitting, picked him up, and dragged him into the forest. Kagome stood up to try and stop her but Inuyasha held her back. Sakura and Asano stared into the trees hoping their sister wasn't being too harsh on the boy.

Raye deposited Kekeru at the base of the tree and held his chin so he was forced to meet her eyes. There was a bit of fear in his eyes but the sorrow almost masked this completely. "Look, I know you miss your mom but you can't not talk for the rest of your life, you hear me? So you better get over it and wise up to what's around you! If you don't pay attention some demon might come and try to eat you!" Kekeru's eyes started to brim with tears but he prevented them from falling and managed to glare angrily at Raye. Raye returned his gaze with one twice as strong, "You're gonna have to get a lot tougher! Life's not fair and you just gotta deal with it! Just because something bad happens doesn't mean you're allowed to give up! Now stand up!" Raye walked about ten feet away and took up a fighting stance, "Let's see what you got, defend yourself!" At first, Kekeru did nothing and took the blows that were dealt to him. Raye could see he'd needed a little time so until then, she made sure she didn't hit him too hard. Finally, Kekeru got angry, he couldn't take it anymore. Raye came running at him and when she was about two feet away, Kekeru held up his hands and pushed her back with his mind. Raye grinned, "Now that's more like it. We're done. You can defend yourself just fine but you need to learn some offence too. We'll continue tomorrow. Come on, let's get back." Raye turned to walk back to the camp. Kekeru stared at her in confusion, finally realizing that all she said was true. Although, she could've said it a bit nicer but nice wasn't really in her nature. Feeling much better, Kekeru smiled and followed Raye.

Their daily training sessions continued for another week. Kekeru wasn't very strong so most of the time, he would levitate a branch or rock to fly at Raye. Eventually, he started to attack her with punches and kicks as well. Sometimes Sakura would come and watch. She smiled when Kekeru managed to get a hit and cheered him on. One night, Kekeru sent a rock flying at Raye. She dodged it as usual but Kekeru used this opportunity to attack. He ran forward and managed to kick her in the stomach. Raye was caught by surprise and fell backwards. She looked up to find Kekeru standing over her with a smirk on his face. "Not bad kid, not bad at all."

They were almost at the village, it was morning and they would be able to reach it by the afternoon. Everyone felt the impending problem, what to do with Kekeru. They could take him back with them, but helping Raye make her way around in the future would be hard enough. On the other hand, they could leave him with Saru, but they didn't know how he would feel about spending his life with people he'd never met before. Kekeru looked at them all in confusion, he hadn't been told about where Sakura and the others lived, but he probably wasn't expecting to go five hundred years in the future. Reaching the village, the went to Saru's house and knocked. Saru opened the door to find her family smiling at her, except for Raye who still wasn't too happy about her little trip she'd taken with her, and a young boy around eight of nine looking at her with piercing violet eyes. Sakura ran forward and hugged her sister who returned it deeply. "I was so worried about you, are you okay?" Sakura smiled, "Jeez, you sound like mom." Sakura turned to Kekeru, "This is Kekeru. Kekeru, this is my sister Saru." Kekeru bowed, "Nice to meet you." "Well, he's certainly very polite. I guess you haven't spent much time around my father." Inuyasha yelled, "What's that supposed to mean?!" Kagome laughed, "Some things never change..."

That night, after the kids had gone to sleep, Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Asano, Saru and Koroshi sat around a fire which had been reduced to smoldering embers. The dim light cast a dark shadow on everyone's face. They had to decide where Kekeru was going to live. Kagome spoke first, "I don't know if he'll be comfortable in the future, we'll have a hard enough time getting Raye adjusted." Miroku nodded, "That's true. He seems a nice enough boy, we could always look after him." Koroshi shook his head, "That's up to Kekeru, after all, he really doesn't know us that well. He also seems very attached to Sakura and Raye." Asano looked over to him, "Yes. He spends almost all his time with them. I'm not sure he'd want to leave them so soon." "It seems to me," said Sango, "that this really depends on what he wants. We should ask him to choose." Saru spoke, "But if he chooses to go to the future, we have to make sure he's fully aware of what he faces there. Plus, he'll have to be registered, and once that happens, he'll be an outcast. It won't be easy." Inuyasha stood up, "Easy or not, if that's what he chooses then we'll have to respect that choice. We'll ask him tomorrow and then head home."

Authors Note: Hoped you liked it! Here's where you get to vote, I need to know if you think I should have Kekeru go to the future or stay with Saru so I can focus more on Sakura and Raye. I'm really undecided on this so please let me know. I'll wait for a least three reviews before updating but it probably won't be until after the holidays.