A/N: YES! I AM ALIVE! (please don't kill me!) Fear not my appreciative readers, I would never give up on any of my stories! (tries to strike a heroic pose but fails) ahaha!

Anyways sorry for the LONG wait! It won't happen again! I'm trying to be more diligently this year when I go off to university.

If you wanna blame my lack of updates blame it on my beta, she got me into lots of anime! The lists just keeps growing!

You might also be surprised at the lack of update for the summer, got three words for you: full time job! Yes, I have a job! MONEY! We all know where that goes to! ANIME!

Back to the subject! I'll try to update more regularly and not make you wait months!

REVIEW REPONSES!

Jammies2000: I know what you mean! Girl has no back bone when it come to her friends. About the training part and her going back, well you'll see! Review again!

Nicnivin: THANK-YOU! Best fic you ever read! I don't know about that! I appreciate it though! Here's the next chapter!

Imperial Angel: LOL It's like Kenshin! Right? Or am I getting my anime mixed up! Brain overload! Lol, review again!

TaKeMyPaInAwAy: HEHEHEHE! Ya, the whole engage scenario is funny! About Inuyasha's reaction (rubs hands evilly) you'll see! Thanks for the review.

Evilblackcat: Thanks, it's good that people liked the filler chapter! YA, Kag's is off limits now! No problem about the episode thing! About the time thing, I am trying to be different. In this fic, I don't want it to be Inuyasha getting her (cause that's what happens in all other fic) this time it's Kag taking charge! Review again!

Secret-punk-rocker: ahahahaha (rubs back of my head) Well, lack of updating….um….you see….you read the above right? SORRY! Thanks for liking the story though and review again!

Membar: Thanks for liking the story, here's the next chapter!

Calyne: WOW! (blushes from praises) thanks for liking the fic! I hope you like this chapter, and a hint since your review made me feel so good, next chapter is gonna be long and lets just say someone is going back! About the whole 100 word chapter, totally agree with you! So Cheap! They should just wait until they have more! Anyways review again!

Gohan/videlgoten/trunkslover: WOW! Long name! Ummm….here's the update!

Stephmote: Thanks! Here's the next chapter and I hope you review again!

Mad-4-Manga: WOW! Thanks! I'll check out you're stories when I have time (I'm currently immersing myself in naruto fanfics) Review again!

ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

Last time...

"She can't go out with you," Yuki said in a cold and chilly voice. They all turned to Yuki who was glaring at Houjo like he wanted to gut him.

"Why not?" Houjo asked, not noticing the dangerous gleam in Yuki's eyes.

"Because you don't ask an engaged woman out, do you?"

"ENGAGED!" The trio of girls and Houjo yelled before turning to a flustered Kagome.

'Engaged? What is Yuki talking about? I'm not engaged………wait a minute!' Kagome thought before looking at the necklace she was wearing around her neck; the one that Inuyasha had given to her. 'Yesterday………yesterday Sesshoumaru told me that this necklace was an engagement necklace. So, I guess that would mean that I'm engaged to INUYASHA!' Kagome realized with a start. Her eyes widened and her face slowly began to turn red right to the tips of her ears. While Kagome's friends and Houjo looked upon Kagome for an answer, Yuki was having an amusing time seeing how red Kagome could get.

'Ha! She didn't even realize that she was engaged to Uncle Inuyasha when dad told her about the necklace. Now the question is does Uncle Inuyasha even know that the necklace is an engagement necklace?' He mused before a hand clutching his wrist broke him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a very red Kagome tugging him in the direction of the nearest exit.

"Well, I gotta go now! Busy, busy, busy! Maybe I'll see you guys later, bye!" Kagome shouted as she pulled Yuki to the exit leaving her three friends and Houjo standing in the middle of the food court.

"Umm………I think that means she is engaged." Ayumi slowly said.

"But I thought she said that they were friends." Yuka responded.

"So, you mean she was lying to us and has been going out with him?" Eri shrieked out.

"I don't know guys. Maybe Kagome had a very good reason not to tell us. Maybe they hadn't made it official so they were keeping it a secret." Ayumi explained.

"Ohhhhhhh," Eri and Yuka drew out, all the while forgetting about Houjo who was staring at the spot that Kagome had resided in with a confused look.

"I can't believe you said that!" Kagome yelled at Yuki who was grinning like a madman while they walked towards the mall's parking lot.

"It's true. Besides I know for a fact that if Uncle Inuyasha were here that he would have stopped that guy too. I learned from my dad that Uncle Inuyasha is very protective of you." Yuki responded. Kagome stopped her rant and smiled wistfully remembering memories of her and Inuyasha.

"I know, I know. Let's not worry about engagements or anything else. I need to train and become stronger." Kagome said with determination. Yuki gave a chuckle and started walking down the parking lot to where his car was.

"Well then, let's go home and we'll see what you've got Aunt Kagome!" Yuki responded before walking to his car, Kagome following with a very Inuyasha-ish smirk on her face.

Chapter 13: Training to Protect

As the duo walked through the hallways, Kagome couldn't help but notice the things around her. There were many pictures and portraits lining the walls, some of them were from places in the Feudal era.

As Kagome was busy looking at the décor, Yuki led her to the dojo in his home. As he slid the old Japanese doors open, he pulled Kagome in as well since she was about to walk past the door.

"Amazing!" Kagome exclaimed as she saw the interior of the dojo. To say the least, the place was huge! It was at least the size of a football field and it was floored with a soft mat. Many different types of weapons lined one of the walls. Yuki padded his way barefoot to the side of the wall where the weapons were and picked up what appeared to Kagome, two wooden sticks, before moving to the middle of the room.

Kagome followed suit and stopped across from him. Yuki then gave her one of the wooden sticks.

"This is called a kendo sword. We'll practise with these before you can move onto real swords. Right now we'll do some light katas with the kendo sword and then I'm going to show you some defensive and offensive moves. Then, we'll take a small break before starting some hand to hand combat. This is your routine everyday until otherwise." Yuki explained. Kagome held the sword in her hands lightly, blinking at Yuki.

"Okay!" She squeaked out. 'I'm gonna be sore!' She noted bitterly in her head.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it!" Yuki told her as if reading her thoughts. He laughed at her expression, noting to himself that she wasn't going to believe him. He sighed at her and shook his head. "You'll see," he finished off before going into a standard stance with his sword clasped in front of him.

(A/N: I know nothing about sword fighting, so please excuse the crappiness! XP)

"Am I suppose to do the same thing as you?" Kagome asked while looking at Yuki.

"Yes. This is the standard stance you should fall into, if you ever get the chance to take out your sword. It doesn't leave any opening points in your stance for your opponent to exploit." Yuki explained. "Now then, let's begin!"

And that was how it began. For the next couple of months, everyday, Kagome would train with Yuki, toning her body and her usefulness in sword abilities as well as other weapons.

After the first month had finished, Sesshoumaru had given a book to Kagome concerning miko spells and how to use her miko powers. No one knew what was in the book, since only mikos could open it. Kagome studied that book in the privacy of her shrine home and it helped to increase her already growing power as well as tame it better.

She worked, fueled by her friends' words. She wanted to prove to them that she wasn't weak and she could protect herself.

As the stars littered the sky near the end of the third month of training, a voice filtered across a shrine.

'This time it will be me protecting you Inuyasha.'

Kagome silently walked down the familiar hall of the Yoshida's residence following the path to the dojo. She was in her training gear of a grey jumpsuit. She had placed Inuyasha's necklace by the picture of her and Inuyasha in her room, since she didn't want it to get broken. She walked gracefully with an air of confidence lingering in every step she took. A serene look was upon her face, since she knew she would be retuning to the Feudal Era soon.

As she made it to the dojo she looked in to find not only Yuki, but another person as well. The person was a young man about the same age as Yuki, meaning he was a couple of years older than herself. He was wearing black track pants and a fitting t-shirt, while Yuki was wearing basically the same thing.

Since Kagome's miko powers had grown, she could tell that he was wearing an enchantment charm - which was his earring - to cover his youkai looks. His disguise was shoulder-length black hair and blue-grey eyes. Her heart gave a lurch, when she was reminded of Inuyasha. She noted that he did look like him.

"Ah! Aunt Kagome, this is my friend Ryoma. He's a part of my band. Remember I told you about them." Yuki said proudly. Kagome gave a friendly wave to Ryoma and a playful grin at Yuki.

"Hai, Hai! Of course you did! You even made me listen to some of your songs that you recorded on your own. I already told you Yuki, that your band was good." Kagome told Yuki. She noticed that Ryoma was looking at her in awe and in curiosity.

"Ah, Ryoma had never seen a miko before, so ya!" Yuki chuckled out nervously and turning Kagome's attention off of Ryoma and onto him.

"Okay. So what are we going to do today?" Kagome asked.

"Well, tousan told me you'll be facing off him in a week and depending on how you fight, you can either go back or stay and train more." Yuki explained.

"Right!" Kagome said determinely. "But that doesn't explain why Ryoma is here."

"Well, every time we fought, it was one on one, so now you'll be facing two opponents."

"Oh! Well, now Yuki-chan, guess you've lost plenty of times against me, and now called for reinforcement." Kagome teased him.

"WHAT!" Yuki spluttered, his face turning red as he waved him arms around denying the accusation. In the corner, Ryoma was trying to cover up his laughter.

"Ha, see, even Ryoma-san agrees with me." Kagome replied while Yuki kept mumbling about mean aunts.

"Ano, Kagome-sama, you don't have to call me that. Ryoma is just fine," Ryoma said.

"Fine, but then you have to call me Kagome."

"Okay."

"All right! Enough chitchat! Let's fight!"

"AH! INUUUYYYAAAAASHHHHHAAAA!"

"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" A voice rang out as a pair of claws ripped apart the youkai that was about to pounce on Shippo. Pieces of the now decapitated youkai fell around the crouched kitsune as he shivered with his tiny paws over his head.

The little foxboy peeked through his fingers and looked around him. Seeing the now dead youkai, he gave a cry of relief before jumping onto the hanyou's shoulder who crouched near him.

"Inuyasha!"

"Keh! You alright Shippo?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes sweeping over the crying kitsune looking for any injuries.

"I'm fine."

"Well. That was too close for comfort. Don't you agree Sango?" Miroku asked as he and Sango arrived where the two youkai were.

"Hai. Shippo you really should have stayed behind that rock and hid." Sango lightly scolded the shaking kitsune.

"Gomen………" He apologized, his head downcast.

"Who cares, we got another Shikon shard, see!" Inuyasha's voice rang out. They looked to where he was pointing and saw a sliver of shard sticking out of the head of the youkai.

"Well, that's a relief. It's been a couple of weeks since we found the last shard." Sango said as she picked up the shard. She handed it to Miroku who placed it into a pouch.

"We'll have to give this shard to Kaede-sama to purify when we go back to the village. Then we can add it to the other purified shards." Miroku explained.

"Well, I guess we can finish checking this area before we head back. It that okay Inuyasha? Inuyasha?" Sango called. The two humans turned to the hanyou who was looking up at the sky.

"Inuyasha?" Shippo called from the hanyou's shoulder. It seemed to break him from his trance.

"Keh, let go check out the rest of the area before we head back to see the old hag." He responded before walking off in the direction that they were originally heading.

"He seems to be doing that a lot lately." Miroku commented.

"He must miss Kagome-chan." Sango said before following the hanyou.

Pants could be heard throughout the room. The three beings that were currently occupying the room were lying on the floor.

"How was that?" Kagome panted out.

"Good! I can't believe you beat both of us!" Yuki answered back. Kagome just gave a chuckle before getting up.

"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Kagome said before proudly walking out of the dojo.

"That was awesome!" Ryoma told Yuki who agreed and continued to lay there.

'Okay Kagome! This is it! All your hard work pays off now. If you wanna go back to the Feudal Era, you have to impress Sesshoumaru. The best you can do is defeat him, though he is a Demon Lord! The worst is that you can't even land a finger on him. That would be a disgrace, after all the hard work that I've done and all the time Yuki spent to train me. I can't disappoint him. I have to do well. I need to go back. I know they need me.'

These thoughts raced through Kagome's mind as she made her way to the Yoshida's dojo. Her match against Sesshoumaru was today and she was prepared, or so she hoped.

As she got in front of the closed dojo doors she stopped. The breath she was holding rushed out of her as she stared. She placed her right hand on the door to slide it open, though she noticed her hand was shaking. She clutched it to her chest before doing some breathing techniques to calm herself down.

"You can do it Kagome. All you have to do is try your best. Your opponent is on the other side; show no fear, no nervousness, and no emotion. It'll only give him an advantage. Steel yourself. You're Higurashi Kagome, a miko! The protector of the Shikon Jewel. You can do this."

With that, Kagome slid the door open and walked in with a siren grace.

A/N: Well, I figured I'd leave it like that! I was gonna include the fight scene and other stuff, but I thought you guys would want an update soon!

Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon! I know where the story is heading, it's just the filler stuff that gets me!

Next chapter, you'll see what Kag has been learning when she faces off with Sess! Thats' why i din't add the fight scenes here, more suspense!

READ & REVIEW PLEASE!

Ja ne!