-Chapter 5-

"Small Problems "

-Me Against the World-

"No! No! No!" Yusuke yells, extremely frustrated.

Kagome glares at Yusuke as she sits up after falling on her butt for the tenth time. "Why don't you do it Mr. High-and-Mighty!" She snaps.

Yusuke jumps down from the tree branch and lands in front of Kagome. "Get up. We're going to do this until you get it right. You're the one who wanted to learn, you're the one who wanted to train, and train you will." He says before Kagome can say anything in her defense. Then he pulls her up off the ground, ignoring the glare he receives from her.

On the outer edge of the clearing are Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha who are all watching the two raven-haired teens train. Sango is sitting on Miroku's lap, and the monk has his arms wrapped around her waist and is gently stroking her stomach. Inuyasha is determinedly ignoring all of them.

"He's a little rough on her, isn't he." Sango comments, watching as Yusuke nearly pushes Kagome to her limit and then backs off.

"Not really." Miroku says. "He's trying to teach her the best way he can. This is most likely the way he learned."

Sango frowns. "I wish he'd be a little more gentle on her. Kagome's not used to fighting very much, especially not hand-to-hand combat. She has learned a lot since we first met her, but she's not used to being under this much fighting stress."

Miroku kisses Sango's cheek. "She'll be fine. Yusuke knows what he's doing."

At this comment, Inuyasha snorts, but otherwise says nothing.

Yusuke sighs. "Alright, we're taking a break."

Kagome sighs in relief and sinks to the ground. "Thanks…"

"Just ten minutes." Yusuke says, grinning. "Then we're getting right back to work"
Kagome groans. 'Why did I ask him to do this again? Oh yeah, the whole "kindred spirits" thing.' She carefully picks herself up off the ground, wincing from some of her older bruises, and then glares at Yusuke, who just continues grinning.

"Kagome, over here!" Sango yells, waving her arm to catch Kagome's attention.

Kagome walks over to her two old companions and collapses on the log beside Inuyasha. "Oh Kami…" She groans. "what have I gotten myself into?"

Inuyasha, again, snorts but this time decides to say something. "Don't complain wench. You're the one who wanted to train because you feel like a weak little girl."

"Gee, thanks. I really needed that…" Kagome grumbles, weakly glaring at Inuyasha. "Just shut up or I'll S-I-T you."

"Feh."

"Kagome, no threatening people on breaks!" Yusuke cheerfully reminds. "It'll cost you the next time!"

Kagome's eye twitches and Inuyasha looks annoyed.

"What the hell is the brat talking about?" The half dog demon asks.

Kagome glares at the ground as if it's the source of all her problems. "We came up with a weird rule system back home. He made up rules for days when it's him training me and I made up rules for when I'm training him." She lifts her head up to glare at Yusuke instead of the ground. "I'm going to hurt you for making up that stupid rule."

Yusuke grins and snaps his fingers. "Alright, break's up! Back to training for you. Oh, and you owe me five laps around the village later."

Kagome groans again and slowly gets to her feet. 'Kami I hate his stupid rules!'

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 (Please read note at end of chapter!)

Later that night Yusuke finds Kagome sitting outside dressed in a white yukata just looking up at the stars.

"Hey."

Kagome's eyes flicker over to Yusuke for a moment and she smiles. "Hey."

Yusuke comes over and tries to sit down beside the miko, but is stopped by a growl from Shikuro.

"Shikuro, go inside." Kagome instructs. "I'll be fine. Yusuke's not a bad guy you know"
Shikuro lets out a pitiful whining noise that makes him sound like a small dog of some sort but gets up and goes inside, leaving Kagome alone with Yusuke.

"Have a seat." Kagome says, patting the now empty space beside her.

Yusuke sits down and the two are immersed in silence for a few minutes before Kagome sighs.

"Ever notice how much cleaner it is here?"

Yusuke looks at the young priestess questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Kagome's gaze drops from the sky to Yusuke. "Just think about it. There's no pollution here in this time and many of the forests still stand tall and strong. In our time there's a lot of cities and pollution."

"But here there's more diseases and war." Yusuke argues. "Hardly cleaner than our own time."

Kagome nods in understanding. "I know where you're coming from. I guess I just mean it's more… pure. Not clean exactly. Because you're right, there is more fighting here than in our own time especially since the barrier hasn't been fully erected here. And when you add in the Shikon shards…" She bites her lip and looks away. "Yusuke, I still have to find the shards. The Shikon jewel is my responsibility and I've once again been irresponsible and shattered it. I should be glad that we won't have to deal with Naraku again, but what if another demon like him finds a shard? I-"

"You'll be fine." Yusuke interrupts. "You shouldn't worry so much about things you can't control. It's not your fault that the jewel shattered again."

Kagome gives Yusuke a look. "Yusuke, it was my arrow that shattered the jewel again."

Yusuke sweat drops. "Okay, then maybe it is your fault. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself though. It's not like you meant to shatter it again. Right?"

"Well actually…"

"Kagome!" Yusuke shouts, exasperated.

Kagome laughs at the look on the Spirit Detective's face. "I'm joking! Of course I didn't mean to shatter it."

Yusuke relaxes. "Oh. Well good."

Silence once again surrounds the two teens from the future.

"So," Yusuke says, not quite knowing where to begin. "you have to go find these jewel shard things, right?"

Kagome nods.

"Then let me help you." Yusuke says, laying down so he can look more easily up at the stars.

Kagome looks down at him in surprise. "You'd help?"

"Yeah, why not. I've got nothing better to do and besides," He grins at her. "you still need a lot of help with your fighting. I haven't even covered hand-to-hand combat yet!"

Kagome groans. "Oh Kami, I never should have arranged this agreement between us."

"You're the one who wanted to show the world that we can be something." Yusuke reminds. "You just somehow got me to go along with it. I still don't know exactly how…"

Kagome rolls her eyes at this. "Yeah, because I was just so sneaky and tricked you into it, is that right?"

Yusuke closes his eyes and nods. "That sounds about right."

There's a rustle of movement from Kagome, but Yusuke keeps his eyes closed. He regrets this when a bucket of water is dumped onto him.

"KAGOME!" He yells, mopping water out of his face with his hands. Yusuke glares at the laughing priestess. "You'd better run." He warns.

Kagome stops laughing at the look on his face and 'eeps' before she takes off running toward the forest. Yusuke smirks and waits five seconds before running after her.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The next morning brings peaceful sunny skies, perfect weather to start a trip on, right? Well, maybe not.

"You're not going home!" Inuyasha shouts. "You just got here a few days ago and we haven't looked for any of the shards! Because of you we've been sitting around here doing nothing!"

"Sit." Kagome says, almost boredly. "We'll be back later tonight, Inuyasha and we can take off tomorrow. Yusuke and I got have to get supplies from our time since neither of us brought enough. That and today is Souta's birthday and I promised him I'd be there"
Much to Yusuke's amusement, Inuyasha struggles to peal himself up off the ground.

"Feh. Wench, I don't care what your excuses are y-"

"Sit!"

-SLAM- Inuyasha once again meets the ground and this time decides to teach it his colorful vocabulary.

"Ahh the wonderful sound of Inuyasha getting slammed into the ground early in the morning." Miroku comments, stepping out of Kaede's hut. "Do I dare ask what you're arguing about now, or is it the usual?"

Kagome sighs. "It's the usual, Miroku. Sit!"

-SLAM- Ground, meet Inuyasha.

Yusuke snickers, since Inuyasha's crater is now about two feet deep.

"Come on, Yusuke. SIT! We'd better go before he manages to recover." Kagome says, dusting off her hands before picking up her small black bag that holds all her weapons and has a space enlargement and weight lightening charm on it.

Yusuke nods. "Alright. Lets go then." 'I just hope Koenma's not looking for me.'

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Back in the modern time…

Koenma nervously paces his office in his toddler form, waiting for Botan to show up with Yusuke. He looks up expectantly when he hears the door open and is surprised to not hear any of his Spirit Detective's usual complaints. He frowns when he sees that it's just Botan. "Botan, where's Yusuke at? I asked you to get him an hour ago."

Botan nervously bites her lip, her gaze worried. "Well you see, Koenma, I- I couldn't find him."

"What do you mean you couldn't find him? There's not many places he could be, Botan!" Koenma shouts, his panic rising.

"Genkai was the last one to see him." Botan says hopefully. "But I couldn't get anything out of her or Yukina… which is rather odd in itself."

Koenma frowns. 'This needs looking into.'

-POOF!-

Botan jumps when Koenma changes to his adult form. "This won't take long. Botan, cover for me if my father asks where I'm at."

Botan nods. "Yes sir!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Genkai's compound.

Genkai raises an eyebrow. "You expect me to know where the dimwit has run off to? Give me a break Koenma, I'm not his keeper."

Koenma sighs in frustration. "Genkai, you've got to know something. Yukina mentioned a girl came to visit. Did he leave with her?"

"He did." Genkai responds carefully. "Don't even think for a second that you're getting anything else out of me. Yusuke's helping a member of my family with something and she's helping him. I wouldn't tell you where he is anyway."

"Yusuke has obligations as Spirit Detective, Genkai. He can't go gallivanting around with some human girl!"

Genkai turns away from Koenma. "As far as I'm concerned Yusuke has paid his dept to you seeing as how he's saved all of our asses numerous times. If he wants to go and have fun doing something then let him. You still have Kurama and Hiei on probation, so make them do it."

Koenma's jaw drops. "But-"

"I'm done talking. I trust you can show yourself out without making a mess of things"
Koenma snaps his mouth shut. "Yes, I can." He turns to go but hesitates for a moment. "Genkai, if you see him tell him I want to speak with him."

"I'll do that."

Koenma sighs in relief. "Thanks Genkai."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Kagome and Yusuke enter the Higurashi household laughing over the look on Inuyasha's face when Kagome 'sat' him when he was jumping from tree to tree.

"That was priceless!" Yusuke says, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "I haven't seen anything that funny since Kuwabara decided to hit on my other teammates sister.

"I'm sure that went over well." Kagome comments, trying to calm down.

"Kagome, you're home!" Souta shouts happily, running up and hugging Kagome.

Kagome smiles. "Hey squirt." She says, affectionately rubbing his head.

Souta knocks his sister's hand away. "Oh, come on, sis. I'm not a little kid anymore! I'm thirteen now!"

"Oops, how could I have forgotten?" Kagome asks teasingly. "Go tell momma I'm home and that I have a guest."

Now that Kagome has said 'guest' Souta turns his attention to the raven-haired teen standing beside his sister. "Who are you?"

"Yusuke Urameshi." He replies, smirking when he remembers what Kagome said about her little brother.

Souta's eyes get really big and he gasps. "Are you really? Are you really THE Yusuke Urameshi?" At Yusuke's nod the boy grins and turns to Kagome. "COOL! Where'd you meet him sis? Why's he here? Is he really the one who beat up Hojo? D-"

Kagome cuts off her little brother's line of questions by answering the first few. "I met him at grandma's. It turns out that he's her 'dimwitted student'. He's here because I asked him to come and he really is the one who beat up Hojo."

"Cool…"

"Can you go tell momma that I'm here with a guest?" Kagome asks.

Souta nods, albeit distractedly, and then goes off to find Mrs. Higurashi.

"I told you he idol worships you." Kagome grumbles, not surprised to see Yusuke smirking.

"You weren't lying when you said that, were you? What is that kid on anyway? He's worse than the little Kitsune friend of yours." Yusuke says, staring in the direction Souta went. "So why are we here again?"

Kagome smacks his arm lightly. "I told you! It's Souta's birthday and we need to stock up on supplies before we go off. With the rate we've been going lately Inuyasha's going to want to keep us over there for a month if he possibly can."

"Right, supplies." Yusuke says. "I forgot about that."

Kagome rolls her eyes. "Sure you did. But for now we're going to relax and eat my brother's birthday cake." 'I hope he likes the gift I got for him too. I had a hard time finding something…'

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Here you go, Souta." Kagome says, handing Souta her gift after he's unwrapped all the others.

Souta eagerly unwraps the think present and looks in surprise at the palm-sized pure red dragon scale. "Kagome, what is this?" Souta asks, examining it carefully, lifting up the silver necklace it's attached to.

"It's a dragon scale." Kagome replies, taking the necklace from his hands and undoing the clasp. "I got it from the Lady of the Northern Lands from one of my adventures in the past. She's a red dragon and she gave this to me." She puts it around her brother's neck and redoes the clasp.

"What's so special about it?" Souta asks, curiously examining the scale.

Kagome smiles, relieved that he's even a little interested in it. "Lady Flameria told me that when she freely gives one of her scales it takes with it a little of her energy which creates a dragon spirit of sorts. If you're ever in danger or are scared the spirit will come out and help you."

Souta looks at the scale in amazement. "Really?"

Kagome nods. "Yeah. Really."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"You never told me about Lady Flameria." Yusuke comments later as he and Kagome are walking down to the store to buy food. "Who is she?"

"We met Lady Flameria when we were in the Northern Lands. We were chasing down a rumor about a Shikon shard being in the area when we came across a wounded red dragon. Inuyasha wanted to kill it but I wouldn't let him. We camped there for a few days and I nursed the dragon back to health. It turned out to be the younger brother of Lady Flameria, Aidan. So he took us to the castle he lives in with her and introduced us to her and told her how I had saved him and everything." Kagome explains. "Then Lady Flameria overheard me talking to Sango about Souta and she suggested one of her scales. I actually have one too, but it's not from her?"

"Then who's it from?" Yusuke asks suspiciously.

"Me." A deep masculine voice says from behind them.

Yusuke and Kagome both jump and turn around. Yusuke summons spirit energy to his fingertips while Kagome squeals in surprise. "Aidan!" And then she hugs the boy tightly.
When she steps away it can be seen that she was hugging a young man around 22 with fiery wild red hair and deep golden-orange eyes. Looking carefully past the disguise charm he has on, it can be seen that he has two ivory horns on his head and his ears are pointed.

"I can't believe you're here!" Kagome exclaims. Then she smacks him in the arm. "Don't scare me like that next time, you prick!"

Aidan just smirks. "Yeah, yeah. Nice to see you too, little miss time traveler. Who's your friend?"

Kagome smiles. "Aidan, this is Yusuke Urameshi. Yusuke, this is Aidan"
Aidan mock gasps. "You mean I'm meeting THE Yusuke Urameshi! Oh gasp"
Yusuke glares at the older boy and Kagome snickers.

'Things just keep getting better, don't they.' Yusuke grumbles in his mind when he notices a familiar pink dot flying down from the sky. "Would you look at the time!" He says, grabbing Kagome's arm. "Wish we could stay and chat, but we've really got to go now!"

"Yusuke!" Kagome hisses, trying to pry his hand off her arm. "What on earth-"

"It's Botan!" Yusuke hisses back. "I can't let her see me! I'm sure Koenma's looking for me and I really don't feel like dealing with it now."

Kagome blinks. "Oh, okay." As she's being dragged off into the door by Yusuke she yells over her shoulder, "Drop by the Higurashi shrine anytime you'd like, Aidan! I may not be there, but you'll get a warm welcome anyway!"

Aidan sweat drops. "Erm… Okay! I'll remember that." He snickers once the two are inside the store. 'I told Flame that they're good for one another! She owes me twenty gold nuggets and five rubies now! Ha!'

-End of Five-