Valid Concerns

Kagome's mouth dropped at Inu-Yasha's disconcerting news. She thought he was a little uncoordinated or something due to the time traveling, certainly not blind and the last thing she expected was for him to admit such a handicap.

"Since when?" Kagome asked with a new concern in her voice and a little out of breath.

"Since that dumb pup opened that stupid portal back here."

"You mean the light…" She remembered now. It all makes sense. Inu-Yasha had been staring into the well when the light burst forth. Consequently, he fell over backwards shielding his eyes from the light with his sleeve, but it was already too late. She knew the light was bright for his enhanced demon eyesight, but he did follow her into the well and out again. Hell, he followed her to the house and picked up the bowl with no problem. Was he serious about this? Course if he wasn't serious, why was he acting so clumsy lately? Why did he walk into the door? Why couldn't he find the chopsticks? Why didn't he look her in the eyes?

"…Yes" Inu-Yasha reluctantly answered devouring most of his Ramen in just a few swallows.

Kagome had almost forgotten what they were talking about. Her thoughts filled her mind with a million 'what ifs,' none of them with happy endings. Kagome looked down at her fresh bowl of Ramen and decided that she was no longer hungry.

Koinu jumped up onto the table digging into Kagome's food.

"Koinu…?" Kagome asked astonished at his manners. Either he's hungry or Inu-Yasha has better manners.

Koinu loudly chomped making considerable progress into her bowl when Inu-Yasha reached over plucking him from the table.

Inu-Yasha sat frozen with his eyes closed with an annoyed look on his face, the same look he gets when Shippo steals food from her bag without her knowledge.

Kagome giggled.

Inu-Yasha held the creature above the ground so there was no method of escape. Inu-Yasha gulped what was left in his bowl then placed the bowl on the table.

Koinu struggled for his freedom, but Inu-Yasha's constant torment by Shippo provided Koinu's squirming with no headway.

"Inu-Yasha, Let him eat. I'm going to take a bath." Kagome stood up and exited the room. She poked her head back in the doorway to order Inu-Yasha to stay while she was away. "Now don't go anywhere while I'm cleaning up. When I finish we'll figure out how to solve your problem. Okay?" With that comment she was off to her bath. She didn't even wait for him to reply.

Meanwhile Inu-Yasha released his hold on Koinu and Koinu resumed his dinning on her abandon meal.

Time passed while Kagome was upstairs, enough time for Koinu to finish Kagome's food and with Inu-Yasha as bored as he usually was, he captured Koinu in his arms. Inu-Yasha made his way into the room next to the front door with the enormous stairway. Inu-Yasha released Koinu and pointed up the stairs. Koinu flew to the top of the stairs and released a small happy bark. Inu-Yasha leapt up to the second floor where Koinu's yelp echoed. Placing his hand on the railing and gracefully landing at the top of the stairs, Inu-Yasha demonstrated that this handicap meant nothing to him. Then Inu-Yasha pointed towards Kagome's room. Inu-Yasha knew Kagome's home well but never really paid attention to the details. Koinu took off soaring in her open doorway. Inu-Yasha strolled into her room and sat upon her windowsill. He faced out the window allowing the gentle late afternoon breeze to blow across his face. Koinu flew excited circles around her room. He was ever so impressed with all the odds and ends he'd never seen before.

"Ahh…" Kagome screamed as she entered her room to find Inu-Yasha.

"INU-YASHA!" Kagome yelled petrified that he was there and she was in a towel.

"What?" Inu-Yasha calmly asked back without moving his gaze from the outdoors.

Kagome's face softened as Inu-Yasha didn't seem to notice her and Koinu rolled in the pillows on her bed.

"You were taking too long." Inu-Yasha added in.

Kagome's face twitched as she debated over what to do. "Sit." She commanded.

Inu-Yasha yelped at the sound of her word. The immediate pull of the rosary pulled him downward, except 'down' at the moment was a very long fall. Inu-Yasha reached over grasping onto the windowsill as the magical item yanked him downward out the window.

"Oh …Inu-Yasha." Kagome said with concern. "I didn't realize that 'sit' would pull you out the window."

Inu-Yasha grasp on as tight as he could as the rosary lit up again pulling him down against every once of his strength. He'd never fought that hard before to not fall to the pull of the rosary. Somehow before he always knew Kagome would win and he'd go down. His face clenched with the effort he exerted for withholding the inevitable fall.

"Inu-Yasha…" Kagome pleaded as she reached over the edge to help him. "Koinu, Stop flying around and 'sit' somewhere."

At Kagome's order, Koinu lay perfectly still on her bed for fear of what rage she would unleash on him.

Kagome froze as if she'd forgotten something.

"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked noticing his gentle clawing scrapes against the windowsill had dissipated.

"Oh …Inu-Yasha!" Kagome expelled as she realized that he was no longer holding onto the edge of the window. She ran to the window and saw him lying on the ground. "I'm sorry Inu-Yasha." She called down to him with an apologetic plea.

As soon as the effect wore off Inu-Yasha leapt back up to her window landing perfectly in a kneeling position, the kneeling position he almost always landed in when in battle with a demon.

"I'm sorry Inu-Yasha." She repeated softly.

"Sorry?" Inu-Yasha asked ready to unleash his fury on her. His only restraint was the knowledge that any threatening move would send him back out the window.

A door slammed. Kagome's attention shifted to her doorway.

"Mom, when's Kagome coming home?"

"I don't know Souta."

"Oh… NO!" Kagome replied grabbing her clothes from her bed and rushing into the bathroom.

"What's this?" Kagome's mom responded seeing the two empty bowls on the table.

"Souta. Looks like someone's already home."

"Ah." Souta cried. "Kagome! I have so much to tell you."

He raced up the stairs to find her room empty. "She's not here." Souta replied in disbelief running back down the steps. "Mom she's not here."

"That's nonsense. Kagome come down here and say hello to your little brother." No response came from the upstairs. "UM." Kagome's mother sounded with instant annoyance.

"She's changing." A reply finally came.

"Inu-Yasha!" Souta cried from the bottom of the stairs.

Before Souta had time to race up the stairs, Inu-Yasha jumped the railing. He glided to the ground landing softly on his tough demon feet with an unusually loud thud to the floor.

Souta raced over to Inu-Yasha's new position nearly knocking Inu-Yasha over as he grabbed his hand and dragged him into the family room.

"Inu-Yasha…Come play with me." Souta cried dragging Inu-Yasha around.

"Souta, Inu-Yasha's had a hard day…" Kagome responded before Inu-Yasha had a chance to; meanwhile, Kagome flew down the stairs to join him and her family. "…and we both just got back. Can't you wait a bit?"

Souta turned his head to the ground in disappointment.

"Besides wasn't there something you wanted to tell me?"

Souta nodded with a new excitement.

Kagome sat down near Inu-Yasha tugging on his hand like a little child making him sit next to her as Souta began talking about everything from school issues like good grades, girls, and bullies to the drama she missed with her friends whose only concerns were boys, Hojou, in particular, and her so called illnesses that grandpa kept making up to cover for her at school.

Koinu finally flew down the stairs to join Kagome and Inu-Yasha.

"What's that?" Souta cried.

Kagome smiled as Koinu landed in her lap. "This is Koinu. Do you like him?"

Souta nodded as Koinu fluttered his wings and flew into Souta's lap.

"Well then I have a story to tell you. Inu-Yasha and I didn't travel back to the futile era last time we left here. When we left here we went to a place in our future where we ran into our friends from our time in the past and a few new friends we made along the way…."

Souta was absolutely captivated by her story telling ability that she used so often on the little kitsune.

Inu-Yasha was also impressed. He had never actually sat with her long enough to listen to one of her stories. He figured that she was happy with the little tidbits he fed to her every now and then, but she actually sounded happier telling these stories. She was so involved with the story falling from her lips that Inu-Yasha imagined them happening all over again. He and Souta sat quietly for hours until Kagome's mother shoed Souta off to bed.

"Tell you what Souta. You can sleep with Koinu tonight and I'll finish the story tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay!" Souta answered running up the stairs with Koinu circling him.

"Kagome what's bothering you?" Her mother asked.

"Nothing." Inu-Yasha answered for her. Inu-Yasha was surprised by her mother's ability to see that something was wrong. In all the time Inu-Yasha had known Kagome he could never tell when something was bothering her.

"It's not nothing Inu-Yasha." Kagome broke the still vibe of the room with her energetic attitude.

"Keh," He responded.

"Kagome?" Her mother persisted.

"Inu-Yasha can't…can't see right now. He was looking into the well when a burst of light came from it."

"Let me see." Her mother replied tenderly kneeling next to Inu-Yasha. "Tell me everything. Can you see my hand Inu-Yasha?" She asked slowly waving her hand in front of his face.

Inu-Yasha hesitated before answering her questions. He really didn't feel like being examined. "A little. It's all burred together."

As she moved her hand down and back up Inu-Yasha blinked rapidly. He thought he saw something else that he shouldn't have seen.

"Follow it Inu-Yasha." She ordered moving her hand down then up again. The glow became brighter. Her hand's image became clear as she moved her hand up then away from his face. I'm not hallucinating. He concluded sternly with himself. He knew he shouldn't have seen that or this for that matter.

"He'll be fine." Her mother diagnosed dropping her hand to her side and the glowing ring around her hand fading back into the golden rosary. "Just don't go anywhere for a few days."

Why was I able to see that? What the hell just happened? He looked to Kagome for answers, but she was a little blurred and covered in a lavender glow, the kind of glow strong demons emit when erecting a barrier around them selves. What the fuck? Her aurora is strong! What the fuck is going on? With that thought the images faded restoring his vision to normal. Inu-Yasha sat quietly blinking rapidly and staring at Kagome.

"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked as he drilled into her eyes with his own. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." He answered a little confused. He rolled to his feet, walking outside and glancing up at the moon in the early night sky.

Won't be long now. I knew we were there or a long time, but I didn't think that we were there for nearly a month. Although I guess it is a good thing because my body needs time to regenerate.

"…Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked from behind him.

Inu-Yasha jumped then glanced over his shoulder before looking back to the sky. He hadn't realized that her footsteps had become so light. She is leaning a lot from the futile era.

She joined him staring at the stars. She grasp a hold of his right arm and leaned her head lightly upon his shoulder.

He smiled at her affection.

Morning came with a colorful sunrise. Kagome stretched and got dressed for school. Inu-Yasha was asleep in the corner near the window cuddling his precious Tetsusaiga, which made Kagome smile. She didn't want to ruin his peaceful slumber after the stressful time they had had over the last month. Nabbing her book bag, Kagome flew out the front the door racing to her school. She was excited to be going back to school; it'd been a long time since she really got a chance to talk to friends. With Inu-Yasha well again, she only had passing this school year to worry about; after all, her other self and the other Inu-Yasha had done fine in collecting all the Jewel Shards so all Kagome had to worry about was school, yeah…school. For some odd reason she was no longer excited to be going back to school. She had no idea what the last homework assignment was or even what the last test was about. If she didn't get caught up in the next few weeks she would fail finals for sure.

"Kagome? Hey guys, it's Kagome!" Her friends surrounded her with unimaginable greetings. She was glad they were there so she couldn't run away from the school at the last possible moment.

She stopped short of the school debating on whether to run, but her friends dragged her inside and quickly briefed her on what each class was about before she entered it completely lost. Taking notes was harder than she thought since she didn't know any of the material. Through most of her classes she fazed in and out trying to listen to teacher, but spent most of her time thinking about the future she had seen and the past that had yet to be written. She had turned out happy, they all had. She didn't quite know if she'd pass this year or this stupid class; even though, she had promised herself to try.

History class rolled around. Her class was discussing the futile era and the real events and people that were forgotten to history because their efforts had no real purpose except good will.

Kagome's attention was lost thinking about Inu-Yasha, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Shippo, and even Kouga. They all just wanted Naraku dead. They had no other purpose behind their efforts. Demons and humans of all kinds united to take down Naraku and his evil ways and all she could think about was passing these stupid classes, how pathetic had she actually become. There was a point in time when all she cared about was putting the Shikon Jewel back together with Inu-Yasha…

"Kagome…"

She jumped at the sound of her voice being called, but calmly stared back at the speaker who didn't notice her surprise.

"Would you like to explain to the class the reason people such as these are forever forgotten to history?"

"…Because no one wants to believe they ever existed." Kagome answered quietly before realizing she had spoke up. "I mean…" She tried to cover for her error. "I mean no one wants to believe in their existence because great feats without immediate or apparent purpose are forgotten with those who died to make them possible…" "I mean…" She noticed the whole class staring at her as if her neighbor had just dumped goo all over head.

"Kagome." The teacher spoke.

Kagome slouched down in her chair. She thought she was about to die or worse fail for her stupid spontaneous outbursts.

"That's exactly right. Great feats in history…"

Kagome wished Inu-Yasha would swoop in and rescue her from this tragedy she called a life. What made everything worse was the fact that she lived this life for so long without questioning anything about it.

"And why would not questioning the events of the past be bad?"

"Because we would never find out the truth." Kagome mumbled just loud enough for the entire class to hear except for herself who was lost in thought.

"Right again." The teacher continued with his lecture as if it was average to be interrupted so. "The people of that made these events possible are portrayed in many text as having superhuman powers. Now there are many arguments as to why they are recorded this way. What are some obvious ones that come to mind?"

Hojou spoke up first. "Well, stories were passed down from generation to generation so it's only natural for stories to be exaggerated."

"Why is that?"

"Because the unbelievable make the best stories."

Something flared inside Kagome. She felt the absolute need to defend her friends of the time. Kagome slammed her fist against her desk standing in protest. "Are the stories unbelievable or is it the truth that's unbelievable and marked as fiction?"

"Of course it is the stories that have been exaggerated." Hojou answered confidently.

Kagome couldn't stand his narrow-mindedness; he was the smartest guy in the school and apparently the most oblivious. Kagome stared him down. She wanted to jump up and down knocking the truth into his thick skull. He's almost as dense as Inu…Oh, Kagome shocked herself. She hardly had the patience to make an argument, no wonder she and Inu-Yasha always fought.

"Hojou, Go ahead and believe the endless stories. Some of us will seek the truth in whatever means it happened no matter how 'unbelievable' that is."

He was astonished at her quick nature to end the argument she had started in the first place.

"That's a good point Kagome makes." The teacher jumped in. "Some of the stories through history have been altered, but others have not. The truth in its unbelievable nature makes for the ultimate story. Though the people of these stories were not superhuman. In fact, they were average humans. No such 'creatures' existed. Even the demons portrayed in these stories were just ordinary people with bad temperaments whom lived by themselves. In other words, they were outsiders; no such demonic creature ever existed."

"I beg to differ." Kagome thought aloud again. She knew Inu-Yasha and Shippo had lived alone for a while, but Kouga and his wolf pack, Shippo, Inu-Yasha, Kirara and even Koinu were not ordinary creatures. They were definitely demonic. Not to mention, Sango…a demon slayer, Miroku…a cursed monk, Kikyo…her walking reincarnation or was that the other way around, and herself…a traveler from the future, the future… RIGHT! She needed to keep her mouth shut about the events in the past.

"Would you like to repeat that comment for the entire class, Kagome?"

"No." She denied.

"You interrupted me with a valid objection. The floor is yours."

"But…" Kagome tried to weasel out of the spotlight.

"Tell me Kagome. Why do you object to my comment that demonic creatures never existed?" With that question, he had hung her out to dry.

"Because they exist…ed…"

The class burst out in laughter and Kagome knew this was her end. She had pushed the limit and fell over the line by accident.

"Kagome, can I see you after class?"

Kagome nodded slowly.

"Then please wait for me in the hall." Her teacher continued. Knowing she had been defeated, she snatched up her books and her bag and made a slow sprint towards the door trying to escape the horrid mess she had just created.

"Kagome," the teacher announced as the last students exited the room. "Come in." He invited her to her doom.

She had already stuck her foot in her mouth her choices now were to suffocate or to claim she was delusional. Illness sounded like the better option, it was more 'believable' and right now that's probably what he wanted to hear. "Oh…My head…AHHH…demonic creatures! They're everywhere."

"Kagome! Knock it off and come talk to me."

Kagome felt stupid. She had just made a spectacle of herself for no reason. He wasn't dumb. "Coming…" She answered slowing marching toward the guillotine.

"Now Kagome, Would you like to explain to me where all that fire came from today, because I would like to hear it. You started off answering questions I didn't expect anyone to know as if they were nothing. You were very distracted like always and then got fired up over something little and stupid."

"It's not stupid. Demons do exist and the reason they haven't been recorded in text is beyond me, but just maybe your little superhuman creatures weren't humans but instead nonexistent demonic creatures that have been long forgotten."

"You make an interesting debate, but an argument without support is just an opinion. And since you cannot support your argument, I cannot take your opinion seriously."

"I can support it!" Kagome yelled out to be believed.

"Oh…" He inquired.

"Um…no I can't, I'm sorry for interrupting class."

"Kagome express your opinion more often just back it with hard support. If you had referred to the superhuman stories that we discussed today, I would have backed your point of view, but your spooked objection merits no less than detention."

"I understand." She respectfully answered in disappointment.

"You were close Kagome. Keep trying."

Kagome studied his face. She no idea how to respond. She wanted to tell him everything. He was open-minded as long as there was a glimmer of truth behind it.

"Arf." Her bag barked.

Her bag barked! Kagome's face dropped as she realized Koinu was in her bag. Dogs were banned from the school and for her bag to bark…

"Kagome, open your bag please." He had a calm condemning voice. She'd been caught. This situation could go in either direction. The teacher stared hard into her face.

"…no…" She pleaded.

"Kagome…" He insisted.

Kagome shook her head in fear almost in tears as Koinu escaped.

"What the…" He asked in disbelief.

"Koinu, come here." She stated breathlessly; her secret was set free with his playful, innocent nature.

Koinu landed on the desk next to her.

"What is that?" The interrogation began.

"This is Koinu." Kagome admitted.

"Excuse me?"

"A demonic creature that doesn't exist." Kagome commented with the same condescending tone he used on her.

"How did you get him?"

"Would you believe the internet?" Kagome asked. She at the very least had to try.

He shook his head in disappointment. "Where Kagome?" He persisted.

Kagome knew she should just answer his questions. "…the past."

The teacher waited a bit from confusion before continuing. "Is this where you've been going all year?"

"Yes."

"Are there more of these 'demonic creatures' there?"

"Yes."

"Does your family know?"

"A little."

"What about your friends; Do they know?"

"Not Really."

"Can others 'time travel'?"

"One other." She admitted as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh." He responded raising his eyebrows waiting for an explanation.

Kagome shook her head in a pleading expression as the tears rolled from her cheeks and fell upon Koinu's head. "Please don't ask me any more questions."

The door swung open. The silence died with Inu-Yasha's appearance. "Kagome, your friends said I'd find you here. I can't find Koinu. What's… What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She barely etched out.

Inu-Yasha grabbed her arm pulling her behind him with a decisive growl. He placed him hand on Tetsusaiga pulling it from its sheath.

"Inu-Yasha… No!"

He pointed the massive sword at her teacher with vengeance in his face. Her teacher may know the secret, but he didn't seem like the kind to spread rumors.

"Put Tetsusaiga away!" She ordered.

Inu-Yasha did as she requested with a warning growl for her understanding teacher. He stood between the two of them without turning his back to her teacher or removing his eyes. He didn't trust anyone who could make Kagome cry. As a matter a fact, he couldn't even make Kagome cry like that. What did this pathetic human do or say to her?

Kagome spoke first braking Inu-Yasha's constant hum of a growl. "Inu-Yasha, I have to go to another class. Please take Koinu home and make sure he doesn't come back here."

"Kagome, What'd he say to you?" Inu-Yasha demanded in fury.

"Nothing. Now go home."

"Kagome!"

"Sit." Inu-Yasha hit the floor. Kagome ended the argument.

The teacher stood stunned for the sight he just saw. She knelt down and spoke to him as if his was an everyday occurrence. "As I said before, I have class now and I have to go. Okay, fuzzy ears?"

Inu-Yasha lay on the floor annoyed at her last comment. She reached down and rubbed his ears. It made her feel better. Inu-Yasha didn't care how much she tried to change the conversation he would get the truth from her when she finished her classes.

Kagome sat quietly through her next class. She wondered what her teacher would say to others or if he'd ever say anything at all. She was already the freak of the school; if he didn't want to be the laughing stock, then he would keep his mouth shut…no matter how much proof he had for his unbelievable truth.

That day seemed to drag on forever. Inu-Yasha constantly asked her about the incident with her teacher, but she refused to say a word.

Inu-Yasha's questions raised her mother's concern of the topic. Kagome reassured her mother that nothing happened and she wasn't in trouble. Inu-Yasha, on the other hand, wasn't convinced; he had seen the tears on her face.

Kagome worked hard to kill the subject so she could get to studying for her tests. She knew Inu-Yasha would never drop the issue but maybe she could get him to ignore it long enough for it to seem insignificant. Locking herself in her room to study left Inu-Yasha and Koinu to play with Souta all night. Finally she gave up and admitted that the school had won. She fell asleep on her books as the sun set.

When she woke up, the sun was rising.

"Oh no." She cried. She felt her impending doom creeping in on her. She never felt this cornered when she was fighting demons in the futile era.

"Kagome!" Her friends called rushing up the stairs to make sure she would be at the tests today. Kagome forced a smile upon her face and unlocked the door to her room. Storming her room, her friends captured her and drug her to the hanging.

Inu-Yasha pulled her aside before she left the house. The fear on Kagome's face worried Inu-Yasha but he knew she was concerned about her test not whatever had happened yesterday.

"You'll be fine." Inu-Yasha commented. "You know this stuff, Kagome. After all, you live in the futile era, fight demons with strange weapons, and have become a wonderful healer. Just remember what you learned there."

Kagome smiled.

"How hard can this be?" Inu-Yasha concluded.

Somehow he calmed her nerves; even though, she had absolutely no idea what he had just told her. Her friends flew around the corner, roped her in and hauled her away.

Inu-Yasha and Koinu followed Kagome to school. He sat on the rooftop next to the school so that he could see her in her classes while she was taking those awful tests just in case anything happened. Inu-Yasha didn't understand the concept of this thing called a test, but she was never injured upon her return only exhausted.

Koinu flew circles around Inu-Yasha like a fly with no one else to bother. Koinu's incessant fluttering annoyed Inu-Yasha much sooner than he expected it to, maybe because he wasn't use to having company in her world. Nonetheless, His eyebrow began to twitch in rhythm with Koinu's flapping wings. He didn't move trying to ignore his annoyance concentrating on Kagome in her class, but with every flap his twitch grew stronger and became that much harder to suppress. Koinu landed next to Inu-Yasha fluttering his wings elevating him just off the ground.

A hand clasped around him. Koinu struggled to free himself. Inu-Yasha simply lifted him off the ground. "Koinu. Stop!" Inu-Yasha ordered with his eyes closed so that he wouldn't explode.

Koinu was afraid Inu-Yasha would rip in two if he continued so Koinu lowered his wings in cooperation. This motion allowed Inu-Yasha to reinstate his freedom.

Inu-Yasha dropped Koinu in time to see Kagome hand in her test.

"Good she's finished." Inu-Yasha stood up to meet her, but Koinu soared off. "Koinu, get back here! If Kagome finds out about you constantly running off she'll put one of these damn things on you too."

Koinu thought about what Inu-Yasha said and stopped.

Inu-Yasha leapt nabbing Koinu in mid-air; unfortunately, Inu-Yasha hadn't thought about where Koinu was. He had leapt over the street. Consequently, the two fell. Koinu struggled for his freedom, but Inu-Yasha was determined to hang on.

Spectators pointed to the falling pair.

Conveniently, Inu-Yasha bound into an alley behind the school before anyone cared enough to follow.

"Kagome can I see you for a moment?" Her teacher asked. He had been staring at her through the entire test

I was almost there. Why couldn't he have waited a few more seconds when I would have been lost to the masses dwelling within the halls? They should make it illegal to stop students from leaving like this. "Yes Sir." She stated with a cheerful attitude frozen in her tracks. Turning around would mean facing her end. She decided she'd rather run from it; after all, the hall was right there.

"Kagome…" He repeated himself. "Come here and talk to me like a civilized person."

Now kicking herself for acknowledging his voice and stopping in the first place, she spun on her heels and cautiously approached him.

"Yes Sir." She repeated her sign of respect hoping he allow her to leave.

"I found something I think you might be interested in."

"Yes sir?" Kagome questioned a little less afraid of talking to him.

He reached in his desk drawer and pulled it out. "This!" He spoke heartily.

Kagome's eyes widened. How did he get that? Kagome raced to him and snatched it from his hand. It's real and I thought I was sensing my own pieces.

"I know what your thinking. How'd he get that? I found it yesterday. You dropped it when you were leaving. Though I don't know what it is, I know it looks like a piece of something bigger."

Kagome pulled the fragment in her chest as she breathed a sign of relief. He doesn't know.

"Is that what it is Kagome? Is it a fragment, a fragment of the Shikon Jewel?"

Kagome's eyes widened she wanted to die. What? I never mentioned that… How does he know? Is he guessing to see what I say or does he actually know? He never believes anything without proof…but that would mean! Inu-Yasha!

She opened her mouth to deny the whole thing, but only a squeak came out.

"There you are." Inu-Yasha said happily. "What's wrong?" He asked a bit more concerned by her stance and lack of movement.

Her mouth opened several times. She tried to tell him, but couldn't speak nor divert her eyes from her teacher.

Inu-Yasha growled at this. He couldn't have this affect on Kagome on his best day, what the fuck does this human have over her?

Her teacher raised his eyebrows at Kagome.

Kagome's lack of response told Inu-Yasha that one of her lies had been shattered by her teacher. Her inability to speak or make up another excuse on the spot told Inu-Yasha this lie was big, maybe too big to be covered up by another lie.

Until he figured out what was going on, he just had to protect her from him.

"Why don't you tell your friend, Kagome?"

"Tell me what?" Inu-Yasha questioned infuriated by his ignorance. Since Kagome failed to move, her teacher commented for her.

"…That I just handed Kagome a jewel shard." Kagome finally managed to divert her eyes to the ground as she squeezed the shard until it cut into hand.

Inu-Yasha could see from her face that it was true. How did he get one of those?

Inu-Yasha growled louder placing his hand on Tetsusaiga.

"Kagome, remember yesterday we were talking about demons not existing, how they never existed, and how such creatures were forgotten to history…" Her teacher reached around behind his desk and pulled out a huge book. The sheer weight of the book slammed into the desk and emitted a cloud of dormant dust. Wiping the remaining dust off the cover with his hand, he read the title aloud "True Folklore." The book had no author, no one to blame.

Her teacher flipped open the book to around the middle. He had marked the page so he could come back to it. "This book was written long ago and since then has been removed from circulation for fictional content. The book has no author. There is one story in here I believe you'll both be interested in. It is one of several demonic legends from long ago. Your unruly display and passive confession yesterday sparked a memory of a tale I heard when I first began teaching so I looked it up again. In this story, there was a girl from the future who travels to the futile era. There she frees a sleeping demon. After a jewel of great power was shattered, they work endlessly to collect all the fragments befriending many different kinds of humans and demons along the way. Would you like me to continue?"

Kagome shook her head slowly. She knew he knew.

With Kagome frozen staring at the floor, Inu-Yasha spoke up. "That's preposterous. How could Kagome possibly travel back in time? …and you know her social skills, how could she possibly befriend demons? She's such a clouts. How could she possibly survive there?"

"Sit" Kagome muttered.

Her teacher smiled. "As soon as that wears off I'll show you my proof. Besides that fragment that Kagome dropped yesterday, her ability to drop you to the ground without touching you, and this so called legend…"

He took his time to flip the page. Meanwhile, Inu-Yasha recovered his footing at Kagome's side.

He turned the book around to face them. "There's a picture."

Kagome's eyes widened. Before there was just speculation, now there's proof. Kagome jumped to the desk, all life inside her revived for that solid moment to see what he was talking about.

Inu-Yasha peered over her shoulder debating on how to argue this new situation.

Her teacher spoke first. "I know you're smart Kagome. I just failed to realize how cunning you are."

"What?" She asked still petrified by the charcoal sketch photograph. She and Inu-Yasha stood together with Sango and Miroku at their immediate side with Kirara, Shippo, even Koinu playing at their feet. Surrounding them all were other demons and humans, a few of which she recognized.

"At first I was skeptical, you could have read this story as well, but this book was taken from circulation many years ago near when I began teaching. Kagome, you can fool me no longer. I know that the girl in the photo is you."

"How?" Kagome asked studying his face; it was apparent he knew for sure and had the proof to back it up.

"Here." He said pointing to the girl in the photo. He waited for Kagome to notice what he saw. She simply glanced at him with confusion. "…the school uniform. The school uniform wasn't of this design until a few years ago. Besides that, your odd behavior clued me in. I knew you were telling lies on top lies, but I couldn't put my finger on it until yesterday. Don't feel afraid to come to me; after all, I am a teacher." In his final words of wisdom, he shut the book and put it back under his desk on the secret shelf he borrowed it from.

"Good day." He commented on his way out the door without his student and two visitors.

Inu-Yasha stood frozen mimicking Kagome's complete lack of movement. Neither knew of anything to say. Her teacher hadn't threatened to blow their secret wide open for the world; instead, he offered his help to keep it.