Chapter 5:

Inuyasha looked apprehensive as he boarded the jet with Kagome. He stared around, his golden eyes wide. He grasped Kagome's hand tightly and was reluctant to let go.

"This … thing… flies? Can I trust it?"

Kirsten translated his words for the benefit of Jonathan, then smiled. "You can trust me, Inuyasha. I'm the pilot."

"Relax," said Jonathan. "Kirsten's better at flying aircraft than she is driving cars."

"Gee, thanks," Kirsten said. "Too bad there isn't a doghouse back home."

"Because I'd be sharing it with Inuyasha?" Jonathan smirked.

"Now why would I put him in a doghouse? He hasn't insulted me…yet."

Jonathan threw an arm about his wife's shoulders and kissed her soundly. Inuyasha looked away, blushing at the show of affection. He had not understood the exchange between them and would ask Kagome to translate what had been said. She had obviously understood, because she was giggling.

"Okay – we have to get this show on the road," said Kirsten. "Jon, can you get Kagome and Inuyasha settled in?"

"Why don't you take him up front with you? Maybe if he saw what you were doing, he'd be less nervous."

Kirsten raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the half-demon. "Would you like to watch me fly the plane, Inuyasha?" she asked in Japanese.

"Okay." His voice was shaking with nerves.

"Then come on."

Kirsten led him into the cockpit and got him strapped into the co-pilot's chair.

"Now don't touch anything, okay?"

Kirsten got herself strapped in and ready. Inuyasha watched with fascination as she began her checklist and got the aircraft powered up.

"Tower – we're ready to roll," Kirsten said over the radio.

She was given directions on which runway to use and told to proceed. Inuyasha gripped the armrests of his seat as the jet taxied forward.

"Okay – here we go!" Kirsten said as she began the take-off.

Inuyasha watched as the ground rushed away beneath them and then suddenly, they were in the air and climbing. He kept silent as Kirsten communicated with the air traffic controller, receiving further instructions on flight path until she cleared the local airspace.

"We're on our way, Inuyasha. Look out the window and say good-bye to Tokyo!"

Inuyasha gazed out the window and gasped as he saw the city recede. Until now, he had never understood just how big the city was. He turned back to Kirsten with a thousand questions on his lips.

"Easy! Easy!" Kirsten laughed. "It's a long way to Hawaii, and there's plenty of time for your questions."

By the time they landed in Hawaii to refuel, Inuyasha had told Kirsten all about his background. He had told her about Kikyo, and had managed to choke out the story of their betrayal that ended with Kikyo dead and himself bound to the sacred tree. He told her about Kagome freeing him and how she had broken the Shikon jewel. He spoke of their many adventures, their victories, and their defeats.

Kirsten watched him when she did not have to watch the instrumentation. She wondered if he had any idea at all how handsome he was when he wasn't snarling at someone. The modern jeans and t-shirt Jonathan had coaxed him into suited him very well. He had discarded the cap he wore to hide his ears when he had come up to the cockpit with her, and his beautiful hair cascaded down his shoulders and back. Looking at his face, she could see that the childish contours of adolescence were giving way to more chiselled mature lines. Even though she had been told he was at least two hundred years old, he looked no more than perhaps eighteen.

She listened to his stories and marveled that he had survived to maturity with all that he had to deal with. Inuyasha was, when you got him going, a natural storyteller. He had a wonderful timbre to his voice, and she wondered if he ever sang. If he had any vocal talents at all, she knew her colleague Tamisé would find them.

They stopped only to refuel in Hawaii, then began the next leg of their journey. They would stay for a day in Vancouver before travelling on to Toronto. Kirsten did not want to tire herself unduly, for she had no relief pilot with her.

Once they were in the air again, Inuyasha seemed much more relaxed. Then it was Kirsten's turn to tell her story and Jonathan's. She spoke of the experiment that had irrevocably changed her forever, and how difficult it had been to adapt and cope. When she spoke of her family's rejection and how other people treated her sometimes, Inuyasha reached over and laid a clawed hand over hers.

"So you do understand what I've been through," he said quietly.

"Oh yeah. It was easier for Jonathan. He knew when he took the Psicorin that he would be changed forever. It was an informed choice he made. I didn't have that chance."

"But…" Inuyasha struggled to find the words he wanted. "You have succeeded in finding a place for yourself, not so? Like I have."

"We're alike in many ways, you and I," Kirsten agreed. "That's why I think we will deal well together."

OoOoOo

On the final leg of their journey, Inuyasha gave up the co-pilot's chair to Jonathan and sat with Kagome. She was tired, but looking forward to landing in Toronto and getting settled. They played cards for a while until they grew bored with it. Kagome pulled out a book to read.

"Read to me," Inuyasha asked. He enjoyed listening to her, even if it were one of her sappy romances. He was barely literate himself, and Kirsten had promised that she would see him taught more than fighting skills. Perhaps on the way back home, he would be reading to Kagome!

OoOoOo

Once in Toronto, Kirsten shepherded the group through Customs, providing translation for her two guests. Her special United Nations ID got them only slightly quicker service, but a lot more respect.

Inuyasha's fingers itched to have the Tetsusaiga at his side once more, but in order to get the sword through Security, Kirsten had listed it with her own personal weapons. He nearly cried with impatience as the Tetsusaiga was handled by a Customs agent who asked Kirsten what seemed to be a million questions. Paperwork was produced and gone over. More questions asked, which Kirsten patiently answered. Jonathan's weapons got the same treatment.

Again, they were forced to wait as every piece of their luggage was gone through. By this time, Inuyasha was ready to explode, but Kagome was stroking his back with one hand to try to keep him calm while using her other hand to squeeze his fingers comfortingly. She knew how frustrated he was.

Finally, the agents decided that they were free to go. But Inuyasha still could not have his weapon. Kirsten promised that as soon as they reached home, he could have the Tetsusaiga back with her blessing.

As soon as they entered the airport proper, Inuyasha forgot all about the Tetsusaiga as he was overwhelmed by the sights, the noise, and the smells of a very busy international airport. He did not know where to look first.

His ears twitched at the sound of a piercing whistle. He turned to the sound as Jonathan laughed and shouted something.

There was a welcoming committee, consisting of Tamisé Okronnorch and Tayne Newcastle, the two aliens who owned and ran TDN International. It had been Tamisé who had let loose the whistle to get their attention and now he waved vigorously.

OoOoOo

Kagome took in her first look at real aliens…and was disappointed at how human they appeared.

Tamisé was a tall man with flaming copper-red hair worn down to his shoulders. He also sported a braid like Kirsten's over his right ear. He was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, which did absolutely nothing to hide his muscular build. As they approached, Kagome could see that he was also a very handsome man with an infectious, friendly grin.

Tayne Newcastle was hardly taller than Kirsten was, and incredibly beautiful. Her dark hair was held in a complex chignon. She did not wear the Weaponsmaster's braid, although Kagome had been told she was entitled to it. She wore white pants and a striped navy and white tunic. Every inch of her bespoke her aristocratic status. Kagome had been told that Tayne was a member of the Royal family of her world, and she believed it beyond a doubt.

Kirsten ran up and exchanged an embrace with Tayne before Tamisé tried his best to crush her ribs.

"Don't tell me you missed me, big guy!" she laughed.

Tamisé kissed her soundly on the mouth. "Of course I did. I can't keep those female trainees under control without you." He let Kirsten go, so he could embrace Jonathan. The two men thumped each other affectionately on the back. "Back in one piece, eh, Jon?"

"Not if you keep pounding me like that," Jonathan grinned. He released Tamisé and went to kiss Tayne on the cheek. "How you doin', boss lady?"

"Fine, Jonathan. Welcome home."

Tamisé clapped his hands together and surveyed Inuyasha and Kagome, who had hung back, feeling a little out of place.

"Well, and who's this beauty?"

Kagome blushed as the handsome redhead took up her hand and kissed it. Inuyasha began to bristle, but subsided when Kirsten laid her hand on his arm.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi."

"Tamisé Okronnorch. Or Tam O'Connor to humans. And this is Lady Tayne vas-Milan."

Tayne came forward and shook Kagome's hand. "You may call me Mrs. Newcastle, Kagome. Among the star races, vas-Milan refers to my mated status."

By this time, Inuyasha was having his hand pumped by Tamisé.

"So this is the lad you've brought to train, Kirsty, m'love? Inuyasha, is it? Call me Tam, if you please. Our Kirsty will be your main trainer, lad, but make no mistake – I'm her boss. If you need anything or are unhappy about anything, come see me, and we'll see about setting it right."

Kirsten translated all of this for the half-demon, who stared at the tall redhead, completely bewildered.

Then Tayne came forward to shake his hand. "I speak Japanese, Inuyasha. But for efficiency's sake, we will be teaching both you and Kagome English. Welcome. I hope we can help you achieve your goal."

"Thank you." Inuyasha blushed. Kagome could tell that the half-demon felt completely bowled over by Tayne's beauty.

The one feeling that stuck with Kagome was that both aliens accepted Inuyasha for what he was. They looked him over, certainly, just as he looked them over. But there was no hesitancy to their greetings. Kagome liked Tamisé immediately and knew that the tall redhead was sincere in his instructions to Inuyasha come to him for anything at all.

Tayne had her stretch limo waiting for them. Inuyasha gaped at the driver, a young black man named Leo. He had never seen anyone with that skin colour before and stared until Kagome nudged him.

"Don't be rude, Inuyasha," she whispered to him.

"Is he an alien too?"

"No. There are people in the world with different skin colours. You'll see a lot of different people in a city like Toronto. We may look different on the outside, but we're all the same on the inside. "

"Oh."

"He probably thinks you look pretty strange too."

Inuyasha busied himself with looking out the window. This was only the second time he had been in a car, and he enjoyed the sensation. The limo was a lot quieter than the taxi in Tokyo, and a lot bigger as well. He was astounded at the number of other cars around them.

"So many…"

"There are over four million people living in the city and surrounding areas," Tayne told him.

"Four million…" Inuyasha could not conceive of such a large number.

He stared at the buildings he saw. He had seen tall buildings in Tokyo, but some of these were even larger.

"We'll take you to see the CN Tower soon," Kirsten promised. "You can just see it over there – the needle-like structure."

"How does it stay up?"

Everyone laughed. Inuyasha glowered for a bit until other things caught his attention.

OoOoOo

It was a fairly long ride to Jonathan and Kirsten's house. Kagome and Inuyasha were told that Tamisé lived right next door with his family. Tayne lived some distance away, but still close enough for quick visits.

Inuyasha surveyed the two large houses situated on a short private road. The properties backed onto a park in a ravine. Tamisé's home was closer to the main road, and sported a round tower at the side. Kirsten had mentioned that there was a pool at the back of the house. Her own home was slightly smaller, but not by much. Both properties were heavily treed at both front and back.

"You can go right down to the park and the creek from the back yards," Kirsten told him. "Tam, Jon and I often go for runs in the morning. You're welcome to join us, if you want."

Inuyasha nodded his thanks.

The group had hardly gotten out of the car, when the front door to Tamisé's house opened and a small blond boy ran out, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Our son, Ryan," Kirsten said with a grin as she scooped the child up.

Both Kagome and Inuyasha stared at the normal-looking little boy.

"Shouldn't he look more like his parents?" Inuyasha whispered to Kagome.

Kirsten heard him and laughed. "Well, Ryan does take after his father. However, he won't look like us in our natural state unless he takes Psicorin when he's older. But that will be up to him."

"I missed you, Mommy. Did you bring me something back?"

"I sure did. Two new friends, Kagome and Inuyasha. They'll be staying with us for a while."

"Oooh." The little boy gaped at Inuyasha. "He's got funny ears."

"Inuyasha is a dog-demon, Ryan. But he's not a doggy, you understand? He's here so I can teach him to fight better. If you're really nice to him, he might show you his magic sword."

"Magic sword?" The child's blue eyes grew round. "Wow!"

Other people were coming from the house. Inuyasha watched as another little boy the same age came galloping over, clamouring to Jonathan to be picked up. This child had red hair.

"Is this your son too?" Kagome asked.

Jonathan laughed. "No. This is Tam's boy, Colin. How you doin', my man? Did you keep Ryan out of trouble?"

Colin shook his head solemnly. "Mommy says we're driving her and Nanny Frances bananas."

"Kagome, Inuyasha," Tamisé said. "This is my wife, Fawn."

Inuyasha looked away from the children as Kirsten translated for him and gasped. Although Tayne had seemed a perfect beauty, Fawn ran her a close second. Inuyasha had never seen golden hair before, and before he could stop himself, he had reached out to pick up several strands of Fawn's hair.

"So pretty," he said.

Kirsten translated for Fawn.

"Thank you." She smiled at him. "Kirsty told us how beautiful Kagome was, but she didn't tell us what a handsome guy you are. By the way, I like your hair too."

Inuyasha blushed when this was translated for him. He dropped the strand of hair he was holding and put his hands behind his back.

"Sorry."

"That's okay, Inuyasha," Kirsten said. "I'm sure Fawn understands. Let's get settled, shall we?"

They bid Tayne and Leo good-bye, and picked up their luggage to bring into the house. Tamisé and his family waved and told them to come for dinner in an hour, and then disappeared inside their own home.

"We're back and forth all the time," Kirsten explained as she ushered her two guests inside. "We share a nanny for the children and a housekeeper and handyman. Tam has staff quarters in his house, so they stay there. You won't see Nanny Frances much, as we keep the children at Tam's during the day. But you will see Rod and Heather around the property and in the house. They've been made aware of your coming."

"Hey, Ryan," Jonathan said. "Did you pick out a room for Inuyasha?"

"Mommy said he liked trees, so he can have the yellow room. Is that okay? And I thought Kagome would like the mauve room." Ryan stumbled a little over Kagome's name.

"Good choices," Kirsten said, as she led the way up the stairs to the second floor.

"Kagome – this room is yours."

Kagome peeked inside. "Pretty!" She disappeared inside with Jonathan trailing behind her with her luggage.

"And Inuyasha… this is your room down here."

Inuyasha looked over the room he had been given. He would have preferred to stay with Kagome, but it would also be nice to have a private place of his own to retreat to.

Little Ryan took his hand and led him over to the window to show him the bird's nest in the tree just outside.

"Mommy said you like to climb trees, so I made sure you got this room," Ryan babbled. "See? You can climb right out the window and onto the tree branch."

Kirsten translated as she set down his one suitcase beside the bed.

"Just don't you try it," Inuyasha warned, smiling down at the child.

"Oh no. I'm smarter than that. Besides – it's a long way down if you fall."

"So where's your room?"

"Across the hall from you. I'm glad you're staying with us, 'Yasha. I like you."

"I like you too," Inuyasha said and ruffled the child's hair. He smiled at Kirsten over her son's head.

"We'll arrange to have you and Kagome taught English tomorrow," Kirsten said after she had finished translating. "Things will be a lot easier after that."

"You can teach a language that fast?"

Kirsten grinned. "More alien technology. We have a machine that will put the language right into your mind. I used it myself to learn Japanese when I knew I had to make the trip to Tokyo. Jonathan didn't bother since he was coming mostly to bear me company and to help Mavis find the magic node." She took her son's hand.

"Why don't you unpack, Inuyasha, and have a bit of a rest. We'll go over to Tam and Fawn's for dinner in a little while."

"Okay."

He watched as they left the room and continued down the hall. Ryan was chattering a mile a minute. Inuyasha smiled. Shippo would love Ryan. The two of them would get along very well together. Suddenly, there was a pain in his chest. He missed the little fox-demon!

It took only minutes to unpack the few clothes he had brought with him. In the case, he found his fire-rat robes and changed into them from the jeans and t-shirt he had been wearing. He felt immediately more comfortable and at ease. Wearing modern clothes bothered his skin sometimes, since the fabrics could be so different from what he was used to.

Inuyasha sat on the bed and stared around the room, wondering if he had made the right choice. Everything was so strange! The smells were different. Hell, even the trees were different! He sniffed the air. There was Kagome's scent, familiar and beloved. He could even hear her humming as she put away her clothes. Inuyasha fell backwards on the bed, an arm across his golden eyes.

I chose this. I wanted this. No matter what, I will have to see it through. Kagome's world was so strange to me, but I got used to it. I'll get used to this. At least Kagome's with me. And everyone's been friendly so far. I can do this, I know I can.

He smelled Kagome's scent approaching, but he did not move from the bed.

"Oh – here you are! Gee, this is a nice room, too." Kagome lay down on the bed beside him, propping her head up with a hand. "What's the matter, Inuyasha? How come you changed your clothes? You okay?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to be comfortable. And… I miss everyone already. Shippo would be going nuts, you know?"

Kagome giggled. "Yeah. He'd love it here."

"I was just wondering if I made the right choice, Kagome."

"I think you did, Inuyasha. We'll be able to tell more tomorrow when Kirsty takes us into TDN. Jonathan promised to introduce me to Mr. Kelso, who's Kirsty's colleague. Apparently, he's got a totally awesome collection of model robots from every movie you can think of. And he built them all himself. Jon said we'll likely just spend the morning at the office, and they'll take us around to some places in the afternoon. Do you want to see the CN Tower?"

"How exciting can it be to look up at a building?"

"Oh no, Inuyasha. You can go inside and ride an elevator almost all the way to the very top. They have a restaurant at the top, and Jon said we might be able to eat there. Wouldn't that be totally awesome? We can look out over the whole city while we're eating. The Tower's taller than the tallest tree you've ever been in."

Inuyasha snorted. "I guess it would be okay."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it."

Kirsten stuck her head in the door. "Hey, kids! Dinner time."

"Coming!"

Kagome sat up and tugged at Inuyasha's arm, which he still held across his eyes.

"Come on, Inuyasha. You must be hungry."

The half-demon allowed Kagome to tug him into a sitting position. He got up and followed her down the stairs, listening with half an ear to her excited chatter about the things she wanted to do while they were here.

"And before we go to bed tonight, let's take a walk through the park, Inuyasha. Jon says that there can be some not-so-nice people there, but they won't bother us if I'm with you. Maybe being near the creek and trees will make you feel better."

How could she know? How does she always know what I need before I do?

"Kagome…"

"What?" She turned on the stairs to look at him.

"Thanks."