FREEDOM! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My sister doesn't have to read my chapters-on-paper because she did my outlines only to chapter five. evil laugh MWAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!

Ahem.

Hopefully you noticed that I have started titling my chapters. I urged myself to do it, but I don't know why...

Well, on with the story already!

Chapter 5: ...Help?

"So this is modern?" Inuyasha asked.

"Well, just look." Kouga said, and motioned to the microscope. The lens under the microscope was lightly spotted with white circles. Like bacteria.

"Left edge."

"It's rock varnish?"

Rock varnish, the term for the patina of bacteria and mold that grew on the undersides of pebbles and rocks, was organic because it could easily be dated, but it didn't grow quickly.

"You can't get a decent date from this amount, though. Look at it. It's tiny."

"That was the exposed edge, though, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So it's old. That's good. It's not site contamination."

"But it looks sharply done."

"Doesn't mean it's new." Inuyasha took his radio out of its holder on his jeans. "Miroku, I'll meet you at katana grounds."

With a wave to Kouga, he was off.

Inuyasha was intent to win today. He looked at the rack of the three katanas they had:

A black-sheathed one, scrappy handle, gold-hilt lining, and slightly curved.

A mahogany-sheathed sword, criss-cross patterned handle, and a decorative string at the end of its leather grip.

And finally, a white-sheathed one, with a red handle. Inuyasha called it defective because its blade was unusually heavy.

He chose the black-sheathed one. It was his favorite and the handle was frayed because of his frequent use of it.

He watched as Miroku chose: how he picked up the sword, held the grip firmly, and swung it a bit, then measured its length with his eyes slowly. To Inuyasha, this was stupid, and completely useless. Every time, Miroku picked a different one of the two left.

Miroku picked up the mahogany one and pulled it by half a foot out of its sheath.

The sunlight bounced off its surface and hit his eyes. He unsheathed it all the way. He liked his swords clean.

Inuyasha stared at him and said, "Hey, Miroku! Hurry up! We don't have all day! We still have to go to that dinner arrangement again!"

Miroku nodded and stood at the ready, his katana out in front of him.

Now they were all ready to go. Inuyasha unsheathed his blade as well, and stood upright, his katana's edge slanted upwards.

"You go, guys!" Kagome shouted. She had just arrived.

Inuyasha stared at her and made a weird sort of despising sort of pout that expressed some kind of weird language that said she wasn't rooting for him.

But she was! Sort of. Halfway. Okay, maybe a third.

Miroku smiled and took a step forward as if reminding Inuyasha of their business. Inuyasha nodded and lunged at Miroku, swinging his katana in a horizontal hit towards his lower right abdomen.

Miroku took a step back and blocked it with what seemed like an uncomfortable position: left elbow up near his mouth, wrist turned outwards, katanas slanted downwards, and knees bent in a form of support. He pushed Inuyasha off backwards and their katanas made sharp ringing sounds. Though they were rough with each other when using their katanas, Inuyasha and Miroku both knew that they were dull and could not give as much as a small cut or bruise.

Miroku made a professional-looking sidestep and brandished his katana like a whip at Inuyasha's stomach, hitting him at full force on one of the two flat sides.

Inuyasha clutched his stomach, stepped back, and straightened up, only to see Miroku lunging towards him again, and aiming for his left arm. He made a diagonal move backwards, to the right, and blocked it, holding his hand against the flat edge of the katana.

They stood there resisting each other, pushing their katanas against the other's katana, until Inuyasha gathered up all his strength, pushed Miroku off backwards, and hit him in the way Miroku had done to him: a horizontal hit on the flat side of his katana to his stomach, then another to his right side, on what would be the usually sharp part of his sword.

"Okay, okay... I surrender." Miroku held his side, down on the ground, head hanging. It didn't really seem like he was hurt, though.

Inuyasha stepped backwards and relaxed, letting his katana fall to his side. He looked at Miroku's hand which, when he had fallen to the ground, had let go of the "defective" blade and now supported his weight. The other clutched and massaged his side.

But it didn't seem like he was...

At that moment, Inuyasha looked just in time to see Miroku's hand grasping his katana, and tried to swipe behind his leg, at the back of his knee joint, but Inuyasha had already moved. Miroku's katana barely grazed his leg, leaving an open slit in his baggy jeans but nothing more.

"Heh. Idiot." Inuyasha brought his sword back up, at the ready.

A trick. Miroku wasn't good enough to pull it off entirely.

Miroku laughed and got up. "You're getting better, Inuyasha. More aware. That's good."

"Feh." was all he said, and started running towards Miroku, sword pointed backwards on his right side. He aimed his sword high, hear his head, which Miroku blocked, and then brought his leg up and kicked Miroku's back knee joint. (The one I talked about earlier).

Miroku's knees buckled, sending him into a position where for and instant his back was tilted and his knees were bent. In that moment, Inuyasha stepped forward, hit Miroku with a vertical swipe to the stomach, which caused him to fall, and then turned and stepped back; ending up on Miroku's other side. He then stepped forward again, touching the pointed tip of his sword to the back of Miroku's neck.

As soon as it touched him, Miroku flinched. Inuyasha was silently panting, and Miroku was quiet, too, until Miroku looked up at Inuyasha and said," Okay. You win."

"This village was like the-..."

Kagome stopped when her radio crackled and Kouga came on. "Kagome? Get your asses over here. Now." He then mumbled something that sounded like'...you'll be sorry if...'

But Kouga never swore.

Kagome decided that it was urgent.

"Guys, I'm really sorry, so maybe some other time, we can get together again..."

Inuyasha scoffed. It was obviously no matter to them; they looked relieved.

Kagome shot a fierce look at him and got up.

"If this is a trick, it's not funny." Kouga said in somewhat of a snarl. He picked up a paper from his desk and threw it at Inuyasha.

He unfolded it. His eyes grew wide. He stared at Kouga quizzically. "Where...did you...?"

"Find it?" Kouga filled in the rest of his sentence.

Kagome went over and grabbed it from Inuyasha, and inspected it for a while.

"Kouga...This is my grandpa's writing."

Kouga had been yelling at Inuyasha for accusing him of carelessness and he was also blaming Inuyasha for playing a trick on him. But he stopped short when he heard Kagome.

"What?" He came over to Kagome's side just as Miroku did, and soon Inuyasha was there too, looking over Kagome's shoulder at the paper that said 'HELP ME. 4/7/1557.'

"It's my grandpa's writing," she said softly again, in a miniscule and scared voice.

"Kagome, there's no possible way-..." Miroku started.

"We'll run tests, Kagome." Inuyasha said, cutting Miroku off. "We'll see if it's the Professor's. If it is, we'll call ITC."

Kagome turned and thanked Inuyasha with a look of gratitude.

In the meantime, while Inuyasha and Miroku checked the paper, Kouga explained to Kagome that he had found the sheet in his new bundle of documents designatedG4-3, standing for grid four bundle three. In the pile, he said he had come across this one paper in completely present-day kanji, the only form of Japanese writing they used at Fukui. For example, the team at their neighboring site, Hamamatsu, used romaji as well as kanji, because most supervisors that came to inspect their sites were from ITC's American business, though Kikyou visited sometimes. But the Fukui team also knew English.

Kouga had just finished explaining this to Kagome when the phone rang. Kagome jumped for it, out of her seat. You could tell she was nervous; she bit all her nails down to stumps.

"Yes?" she was almost sweating.

"This is ITC's vice president. May I speak to your supervisor?"

"Um..." She looked over to Miroku and pointed at him. "Yes... hold on."

She tilted her head to the side and handed Miroku the phone, mouthing 'ITC'. He was the most experienced, and if her grandfather was ever gone, he was the boss.

"Yes?"

"Moshi moshi... Miroku-sama, ne?"

"Hai. Nandesuka?"

"Gomen," he heard into the background, somewhat naggingly and annoyed. Two people were quarreling, and that person had just given in.

"Nigiru, douzo. Baka! Shizukana heya ni shitehoshii!" she turned back to the phone. "Gomen ne, Miroku-sama,"

Then in plain English:

"We've already sent ahead the plane. Don't ask any questions. It's urgent. We know where the professor is."

And she hung up.

So did Miroku.

"Get your passports." Miroku said, picking through his pocket for his car keys.

"We going somewhere?" Inuyasha asked.

"It's about the professor." he went outside, got in his car, and started driving home to get his passport.

What about the professor?

Inuyasha's sleek black hair flowed in the ripples of air the plane sent down as it lowered expertly.

As soon as it landed, Sesshoumaru stepped out. He and Inuyasha exchanged a hateful stare that lasted for at least ten seconds, during which Sesshoumaru spoke.

"There's no time for questions." he said in his calm voice (mevein pop). We will all be making you take sedatives, and have you get used to their language, so put these on once you get inside." He handed each one of the team a pair of headphones and eye masks as they got on the plane, and there were little blue couches-one per person.

Everyone sat down and took their sedatives.

Everyone except Kouga.

He looked at Sesshoumaru queerly, as if wondering whether or not to trust him.

Sesshoumaru moved his rolling swivel chair over to Kagome's side, where the sedative had put her, and well as Inuyasha and Miroku into unconsciousness, with their eye masks on.

"Choice of weapon? Katana, longbow, or zanbatou." Sesshoumaru asked.

"Longbow," Kagome said, and the built in mike in the headphones registered, started clicking, and simulated a picture in Kagome's mind even though she was sleeping. It was a training process.

Sesshoumaru repeated this process to both Inuyasha and Miroku. Miroku picked a zanbatou, and Inuyasha picked a katana.

The plane lifted off the ground and the three slept soundly.

Kouga asked, "What is it doing? Why do they have to get accustomed to a language? Why do the have to pick a weapon?" Then, "...does Mr. Ishizaki have speech impairment?"

Sesshoumaru answered, "It's a simulation. The quality of the sound in the headphones makes it seem like a background. So it works like an alarm clock. You're sleeping, but you can hear it nevertheless."

"Hm."

"Except you pick up whatever skill we're aiming for, almost immediately- in your sleep. It's not complicated. You'll see what's complicated later."

Wow. I have a LOT for this footnote. At least compared to the usual sentence.

1. The bifocal lens was Professor Higurashi's. You'll understand this more when I get into chapters 6 & 7.

2. Conversation between Miroku and Kikyou...

Kikyou: Moshi moshi... Miroku-sama, ne?

Hello...this is Miroku, yes?"

Miroku: Hai. Nandesuka?

Yes. What (is it)?

Worker-in-background: Gomen.

Sorry. (I supposed that the worker and Naraku were quarreling about what they are going to do to Inu-tachi...)

Kikyou: Nigiru, douzo. Baka! Shizukana heya ni shitehoshii! Gomen ne, Miroku-sama.

Hold, please (though not correct grammar). Idiot! (Literally, this next part means...) I want a quiet room. (Also "I want it quiet in here.") Sorry, Miroku.

3. Some more Japanese used above...

Inu-tachi Inuyasha & gang. I will probably be using this frequently.

...-sama a respectful suffix you can add to the end of any name.

4. Weapons...

a. katana. I was asked what this meant before. A katana is a sword.

b. zanbatou. A long, sticklike think. Kind of like what would be kendo in Korea/Japan (You might know if you're Korean like me, and watch all these weird Korean dramas. twitch). It's what Miroku's staff looks like in the anime, usually with no fancy stuff at the end.

c. longbow. Please don't tell me you don't know what this is... A bow and arrow, duh.

I know this chapter might have been confusing, but live with it. This is one of the most important chapters, and if you must, reread the parts you didn't understand.

P.S. Kouga didn't take the sedatives because he didn't trust Sesshoumaru. He thought that the sedatives were cyanide. Just kidding.

P.S.S. I am NOT Japanese.

DISclaimer: DIS Dumb Inchworm Snot. This is my original stupidity, but you can use it if you must, in whatever. Just relate back to me. I don't own Inuyasha, because if I did he would have a collar ands if he had a collar he would have a leash and if he had a leash he would be walked every day and if he were walked every day he'd go crazy, and...

Wait. What were we talking about?

Well, as I said before, you'll understand this more when I write the other chapters, so be patient! My chapter titles are currently pending and I'm on chapter 6. Sorry THIS chapter took so long. It's because I had so many tests and crap at school. Guess what? My teacher is a child abuser! She hit one of my classmates! GASP Haha... Wow. I'm getting off track Well, review this chapter please; all reviews-even flames- make me feel good.

xkumaxchanx