Training

Out of no where, Inuyasha lunged at Kagome with his stick/staff ready to strike her as if she were any other demon.

Without realizing it she lifted her staff and blocked his blow. The force and angle at which they hit made the staff fly out of Kagome's hand. It landed five feet away, sticking straight up into the air, then fell over into the stream and floated away.

"What the hell are trying to do; kill me?" Kagome gasped, "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I've never heard you curse before that's all," he mumbled.

"Well, I just got attacked by my friend! How would you feel if I just came out and attacked you?"

He suddenly felt guilty, 'How can she do that so easily?' "Sorry, I was just testing your reflexes, again. They're good, better than that first night, but there is still room for improvement."

"Let's just get on with it." She grumbled. 'Why am I in such a bad mood?' she thought. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that; I guess I'm just tired."

"It's okay," Inuyasha sighed and tossed her a new stick/staff.

He taught her movements and how to hold her staff for defense; then they went through it and slowly sped up until there was no way an onlooker could have caught all of the movements. Then Inuyasha broke the sticks in half so they were the sizes of swords. He then taught her the same thing only with sword-fit movements.

They stopped at dawn when Kagome finally disarmed Inuyasha.

"Stay here for a second will you?" Inuyasha asked as he got up to go back to camp.

"Why?"

"I need to get something, I'll right back though." He then walked off leaving Kagome and Mioga alone.

"So, how tired are you?" Mioga asked making Kagome jump.

"Oh, it's just you, I forgot you were here. Am I dead? That's how I feel." She looked at the trees around her and started to devise a plan.

Back at camp

When Inuyasha entered the wide open plain where they were camped, Sango and Nigimi were at the campfire cooking breakfast, and the others were just sitting there.

"Where's Kagome?" Sango asked.

"Still in the forest. We were training, I came back to get something." He went over to something about two feet long wrapped in a blanket, "And now I guess I'm taking her breakfast to her as well."

Sango filled two bowls with porridge then handed them to Inuyasha. He thanked them and went back to the stream.

When he reached the clearing, he looked around and Kagome wasn't anywhere to be seen.

'Why does this always happen?' he thought and put down the food and bundle.

He heard a twig snap behind him. He turned around, but no one was there. Next thing he knew, He was on the ground and somebody was on his back.

"You fell for it, literally!" Kagome laughed as she got off his back and helped him up.

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny," he grumbled, "Your breakfast is over there, and I got this while you were explaining things to your family."

He picked up the long bundle and tossed it to her. She sat down and undid the blanket concealing the item.

"Wow it's beautiful." She said admiring the sword he just gave her.

The blade had a blue tint to it, and a midnight black stone embedded in the handle.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

"Well, it was the sword I was supposed to have before the tetsusaiga, but I never liked it much and I preferred to use my claws. So, I gave it to Totosai to keep unless I ever needed it." He handed her the porridge, "Eat."

After eating, Kagome sat down under one of the many trees and fell into a deep sleep. Inuyasha sat across from her, and just watched her sleep.

'I've never seen her sleep so peacefully,' he thought.

She woke up around noon. He was still watching her, but by now he had moved beside her and she was leaning against him. Inuyasha helped Kagome harness her new sword to her side. It didn't have a string like the tetsusaiga, but a leather belt. It confused him a little, but they figured it out soon enough. Meanwhile, Kagome noted how funny he looked when he was confused. After that, they headed back to the camp.

"It took you guys a long time to eat," Miroku smirked, "I wonder if you two did anything special."

"Yeah, what of it?" Inuyasha stated.

Everyone's jaw dropped except Shippo, Kagome, and Inuyasha's.

"What?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome figured out what they were gawking at, and turned red in the face, "Oh no, he didn't mean that. I was just so tired after training, so I fell asleep, that's all."

Realizing too what the monk had meant; he hit him on the head, and yelled, "God, Miroku, do you always have to be that perverted? Wait, don't answer that."

There was a long silence until Shippo asked what they were having for lunch.

"It's that time already?" Kagome asked shocked.

"Wow, it is." Sango confirmed.

Arami and Kushimi took off in the direction of the stream to catch some fish.

"Kagome, we have more training to do after lunch," Inuyasha informed.

"Ugh, not again!" she groaned, "Geez, you're acting like a slave driver!"

Kushimi and Arami returned with about a dozen speared fish. As the fish were cooking, Inuyasha looked down and noticed something was missing.

"Finally! Those accursed beads are gone!" he exclaimed with a look of triumph on his face.

They were in fact gone, and Shippo swore that if he hadn't have had so proud of an ego; Inuyasha would have jumped up and danced. Kagome glared at him, he shut up, and the two were silent during the entire meal.

"Come on Inuyasha; you said we had more training to do," Kagome ordered after helping clean up.

"What? I thought that you didn't like training," Inuyasha said dumbfounded.

"I don't, but I want to get training over with," she replied and walked off without another word.

Inuyasha followed her to the stream where they resumed training.

After blocking a blow from Kagome, Inuyasha asked, "Why did you act so cold when I realized the enchanted beads were gone?"

Kagome took her chance when Inuyasha was distracted by what he was saying, and slammed the staff into his side. He was knocked over by the sudden hit; then winced as he touched the bulging bruise.

"Oops, I'm sorry. You told me to strike when they were distracted so I did." She ran over to him and knelt beside him to look at it, "The answer to your question is because I thought that I had accepted being a half-demon, but you losing the beads made me realize that I haven't. The reason I was so 'cold' was because I don't know when I will accept it."

Inuyasha mouthed an 'oh', but she didn't see it. Inuyasha lay back and stared at the sky; pink, orange, blue, red, and yellow could all be spotted somewhere in the sky. Inuyasha wondered how something so beautiful could be so simple.

"Well at least we weren't using the swords,"