Chapter 19:

Kagome was not sure how she had found herself in her current predicament. She had started dating David because he was mature (unlike someone she could mention), he paid a great deal of attention to her (again, unlike someone she knew), and he was so very different.

At first, he was attentive and polite, and Kagome had a wonderful time on their dates. She had been completely charmed on their first date when he had asked if he could kiss her cheek. She knew Inuyasha was watching, she could sense him up in the tree above the car, but she had let David give her a very chaste kiss on the cheek. She even remembered thinking "And that's how it's done, you stupid half-demon!"

Kagome knew that Inuyasha watched from the towering maple in the front of the Windrows' home when she left with David, and he was quite often there as well when they returned. And he probably watched as David kissed her goodnight.

But now, David was starting to want more from their relationship and it was heading in a direction Kagome was not sure she was comfortable with. At first, he had indulged her when she said that she wasn't comfortable, but now he was beginning to get more demanding. Kagome had made the mistake of letting David know that Inuyasha was likely watching them, and this seemed to turn him on more than discomfit him. Lately, when they were alone, David seemed to somehow sprout more arms and hands than belonged on a mere human. And to make matters worse, he was beginning to ignore her protests.

Kagome was starting to believe that she had made a major mistake in going out with an older guy.

Even worse, it seemed that Inuyasha had forgotten all about her. Well, not completely, of course, but he had his own friends now. At first, Kagome had thought it was very nice that Tamisé's male and female fighters were going out of their way to make the half-demon feel welcome. But now, it irked her no end.

And that Sharon! Despite Inuyasha's initial protests that she had flung herself at him, it seemed that now he was flinging himself right back. What else had they been doing besides having dinner?

What had happened to her shy, prudish and altogether adorable half-demon? What had happened to the guy who freaked out if she was away from him for more than a few hours and who was so possessive, he didn't like other men even looking at her?

Why, Inuyasha had hardly even blinked when Kagome had introduced him to Lintet, Tayne's son, who was driving her back and forth to school each day. Lintet was drop-dead gorgeous, and Kagome knew her girlfriends back home would positively drool over him. He possessed the dark hair and eyes of his mother, but his handsome heart-shaped face and muscular build were his heritage from his father. Tamisé had told Kagome that Lintet was the spitting image of his sire, although his temperament was quite different.

I guess it's a good thing Lintet already has a girlfriend, 'cause I'd be tempted to go for him myself!

Alright – where had that thought come from?

And where had her feelings for Inuyasha gone? She loved him, didn't she? Wasn't this whole thing with David an attempt to make Inuyasha declare himself?

Kagome flung herself across her bed and began to cry. This whole trip was not turning out the way she thought it might. She was homesick, tired of her relationship with David which was rapidly becoming out of her ability to control, and she missed her friends and family. But most of all, she missed Inuyasha. He never slept by her bed any more. They never seemed to spend any time together any more. They didn't even argue any more!

OoOoOo

Inuyasha could smell Kagome's tears and hear her muffled sobbing as he came up the stairs. Part of him wanted to charge into her room and pull her into his arms, but he had to let her cry, no matter how it hurt him.

Sharon had dated David a year or so ago, so she had been able to fill him in on details that Tamisé and Kirsten would not. It seemed that Sharon was right – David was becoming more demanding. Inuyasha had witnessed once such attempt on Kagome's virtue not too long ago. At least David had desisted when Kagome had snapped at him. Inuyasha had been on the verge of interceding, but when he saw that Kagome had it under control, at least this time, he had settled back on his perch until she had gotten safely into the house.

The hardest part was continuing to wait and pretending as if he didn't care. What he really wanted to do was shred David into little itty-bitty pieces, so tiny even the forensics guys would have trouble reconstructing him.

Inuyasha sighed. Yep! This growing up thing really did suck!

He continued down the hall and tapped at the door to the master bedroom, and waited until Kirsten bid him enter. She was in bed, propped up by pillows, and reading through sheaves of papers.

"Hi there," she said. "Have a nice dinner with Sharon?"

"Yeah. Thank you. It was a good suggestion. We went up Yonge Street and into the Eaton Centre. I did some shopping. We met some friends of hers and had a drink with them and then went to dinner."

"Did you have fun?"

"Oh yeah! There was a man playing an instrument in the street, so we stopped to listen. And… there was a subway train that I thought was a demon. And the lady in the jewellery store snubbed us until Sharon waved the money Tam gave me under her nose." Inuyasha sat down on the edge of the bed. "And I had a hot dog!"

Kirsten grinned. "I hope you didn't attack the subway train."

"Naw. I did want to attack that stupid woman in the store, though. But Sharon said it wouldn't get us served any faster."

Kirsten laughed, then put a hand to her side. "Ouch! Puts a new spin on the phrase 'laugh 'til it hurts'."

Inuyasha's ears flattened. "Oh, sensei! Does it hurt too much?"

Kirsten leaned forward and rubbed his ears. "I'll be okay, dear. Like I said, a couple of days. I wish I had your healing factor, though, then I'd be better by tomorrow."

Inuyasha tilted his head so Kirsten could reach his ears better, and closed his eyes. "Mmmm. That feels nice."

"Maybe you should get Kagome to do this." Kirsten grinned at him again.

He gave a short bark of laughter. "She's more likely to bite me right now. Sharon and I saw her and David coming up from the park when we drove up, so we decided to put on a little show for them. Kagome's probably convinced there was a lot more going on than just dinner."

"Oh, Yasha…" Kirsten shook her head at him.

"I know. Kagome's in her room right now, crying. But not over me, I think. David…"

"Ah yes. David."

Inuyasha bared a fang. "I hate him, sensei! I hate what he's doing to Kagome. When's she gonna wake up and see him for what he is?"

"Not too long now, I think."

"I hope you're right. I can't take much more of this."

Inuyasha leaned over and kissed Kirsten on the mouth. "Good night, sensei. Is there anything I can get for you before I go?"

"That's the second time you've done that, Yasha."

"I'm sorry!" His ears went flat again. "It's not me…"

"Yeah, sure."

"I didn't mean to – it just happened." He picked up a strand of blue hair. "You're so pretty, chay'akia. And you've been so kind to me."

Kirsten gasped. "What did you just call me?"

"Chay'akia." Inuyasha looked perplexed and his ears twitched. "I don't know what that means – it just came out. But it feels… right. Was it something Shane called you?"

"Yes."

"What does it mean?"

"It was – his nickname for me. Translated into English, it means 'thistle'."

"Oh sensei! You aren't going to cry on me, are you?"

"Inuyasha, I think we'd better say good night. And thank you, but I don't need anything more."

Inuyasha lowered his eyes and nodded. He knew a dismissal when he heard it. He got up and went across to the door. "Good night, sensei." He shut the door softly behind him.

OoOoOo

The next day, Tayne began to train Inuyasha in kickboxing. He was handy enough with his fists, but had little of the sweet science, as boxing was often called.

For a change, he did not have to be in the sensor suit, but borrowed a sweatsuit from Tamisé. Tayne did not like observers, so neither Kirsten nor Spider were in attendance.

Tayne made the half-demon feel a little uncomfortable, for she was wearing a tight-fitting t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Her long, dark hair was in a braid coiled about her head so tightly, that it offered very little in the way of purchase if Inuyasha were to try to dig his fingers into it. She was just too beautiful for him to take seriously as a fighter.

Although he had hit women before in the throes of battle, it went very much against the grain to raise his fists to Tayne. Unlike some men, he did not get any satisfaction from hurting a woman, no matter what the circumstances.

As Tayne began the lesson, he found that his heart was not in it at all. Inuyasha cringed inwardly at the thought of marring that perfect beauty with his fists, so their first small bout came as a bit of a shock. Inuyasha found himself on his back, rubbing a sore jaw and wondering how he got there.

Tayne offered a hand and helped him to his feet.

"You weren't paying attention, Inuyasha," she said kindly. "You didn't even try to defend yourself. Did you think that I didn't know what I was doing?"

"I've never seen a woman do this type of fighting before."

"Some of us are very good at it. Where I come from, it's the national sport. Now, let's try that again, shall we?"

Without further ado, Tayne hit Inuyasha hard enough to make him stagger back a couple of feet.

"Hey!"

She was still at the ready, her fists raised. "Your problem, Yasha, is that you don't want to hit a woman. If you continue on this course, I will take you apart."

"I don't want to hurt you."

His fists came back up and they began to circle each other.

Tayne gave an unladylike snort. "Don't worry about hurting me, boy. Do yourself a favour – forget I'm a woman. I am a warrior – a Weaponsmaster just like Tam and Kirsty, and you would be wise to treat me as such."

Inuyasha took a swing at her and missed. She stepped in close and hit him in the ribs, getting in several blows before he recovered and she had to retreat. She grinned wickedly at him.

"And that's your other problem: no strategy. You just go flailing in, trusting to luck and your own brute strength to see you through. You must think things through, Yasha, or you will never defeat Naraku."

Tayne aimed a vicious kick at him that he was able to block with one hand. He grabbed her leg with his other hand and twisted, dashing her to the floor. Tayne was up again before he could take advantage of her downed position.

"Very good," she said, giving him a lopsided grin. "Very good indeed. Take advantage of opportunities when they come your way. Do not hesitate."

"You're fast."

"I have had reason to be. A woman on Centauri – especially a woman alone – is fair game to any and every man, regardless of her rank or status." She lowered her fists and waved towards the bench. "Let's stop a minute and sit."

"What do you mean? Is the mating bond not respected where you come from?"

Tayne snorted. "Sometimes not. The Centauris are a male-dominated race and women had very little say in anything when I first came there. My own race is female-dominated, but it is a fact of biology, not a social choice as it was on Centauri.

"Centauri was my second husband's home and it was Khorun's father's wish that we should live there instead of remaining here on Earth. Khorun was Crown Prince and heir to the Imperatur. When he married me, he was ready to be more serious about his responsibilities to his father and his people.

"What he wanted was to make changes to give women more of a say. Khorun had spent a lot of time here on Earth and thought that, despite its flaws, the Western social system worked pretty well. Women who were educated and had the vote did not bring an end to the world as some men liked to think, and were a lot more interesting than any of the women of his own race. He even learned to respect my Kelarni ways and was instrumental in persuading the Empress, my aunt, to accept a trade delegation from Centauri.

"But there were those on his world that did not want change. A civil war erupted, with religious fanatics performing acts of terrorism to get those more enlightened men to see things their way, so to speak."

Tayne put a hand to her face. "Khorun and all my children, save Lintet, were killed in a bombing that destroyed the house we were staying in. Lintet and I survived only because he'd forgotten a toy in the car, and he and I had gone back for it. For a long time, I did not remember how I got him offworld. I had repressed those horrible memories."

"But you remember now?"

"Oh yes. Every bit of it. I had started to have terrible nightmares, and I was attacking people in my sleep. I nearly killed Tam on one such occasion. When I was regressed, we found out that I was re-enacting events from when I was trying to save Lintet. In one such incident, I killed several men who were going to rape me, then kill Lintet in front of me before they let me die."

Inuyasha put a hand over hers. "That's terrible."

Tayne smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat. No matter how dangerous she was, Tayne was still an incredibly beautiful woman.

"I was forced to perform an act which was absolutely repugnant to me. But all the time I was doing that disgusting thing, I was planning, moving into position. I had weapons that they didn't know about: my knife in a wrist-sheath and my eltwhip about my waist, both concealed under my clothes. You see, weapons are forbidden to women on Centauri. I disembowelled the man who insisted that I pleasure him; threw the same knife into the throat of one of the bastards holding my son; and broke the neck of the other with the eltwhip. Another of them got away, but Lintet and I were free. If I had refused to pleasure that bastard, and if I had hesitated when the opportunity presented itself, both Lintet and I would have been killed."

Inuyasha looked down at the floor. "I'm so sorry that you had to live through something like that. It shouldn't happen to anyone. The shame is, is that in my time, things like that happen – and probably for less reason. Until I met Kagome, I never paid much attention – I felt that it wasn't my concern, you know? But now, things are different. When and where I can, I try to protect the weak. I'm not always successful – but Kagome says that it would be worse to do nothing at all."

"She's right." Tayne patted Inuyasha's cheek. "If we let the villains get away with it, they will just go farther and farther until they are all but unstoppable."

"Naraku," Inuyasha breathed.

"Just so." Tayne got to her feet. "Ready for another round?"

OoOoOo

Inuyasha settled himself in the chair that Mykan offered him and eyed the blond-haired alien warily.

Mykan himself sat behind his desk, dressed in casual pants and a golf shirt. He toyed with a pen, tapping it against a blank pad of paper while he watched Inuyasha fidget.

"I don't understand why I'm here," Inuyasha complained.

"Kirsten has asked me, with your permission, of course, to go through your memories and pull up some of your opponents. I will then help her and Jonathan construct solidograms of these creatures for you to practice your new skills against. As well, seeing what you've been up against in the past and how you dealt with it will help them build strategies for you." Mykan smiled. "And after I've done all this, we can sit and talk about anything that might be bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me!"

"Now, you know that's not true, Inuyasha. Since you know my true nature, I will be blunt. It's very hard to hide things from a telepath such as myself. Be assured, though, that I adhere to a strict code of ethics and I will never go deeper than surface thoughts without your express permission."

"This is to help me fight Naraku?"

Mykan nodded. "That is, after all, why you came here, no? Kirsten understands that you consider Naraku a formidable and almost unbeatable opponent. But everyone has a weakness, and sifting through your memories of encounters with him may help us find a weakness that we can teach you to exploit."

"Will it hurt?"

"Going through your memories? No. You may want to lie down while I do it, though. You'll be having flashes of memory that you may find a little overwhelming."

Inuyasha curled himself into the chair while he thought over what was being asked of him. He chewed at a nail nervously. He had liked Mykan a great deal when they had first been introduced, but he was not sure he wanted a virtual stranger rooting around in his memories. There were many memories he wished he could get rid of and others he did not care to be reminded of. And there had been things he had done or, through inaction, had caused to happen that he was not very proud of. What would Mykan think of him then?

"Inuyasha…"

The half-demon looked up, startled.

"Inuyasha, I can tell that you aren't comfortable with this. What can I say to reassure you?"

Inuyasha turned his head to look out the small window. "There have been times…" He took a deep breath. "There have been times that I have had to do unpleasant and sometimes downright nasty things to survive. There are stains on my soul – you understand?"

Mykan nodded. "To quote the Christians – no one is without sin. We've all done things we're not proud of, Inuyasha. What matters is what we do the next time we're faced with a choice."

"Since Kikyo and … and Kagome came into my life, I've been trying to do better. I want to be a man that Kagome can be proud of, you know? But if she knew of some of the things I've had to do…"

"As a professional psychologist, there is, as I've said, a code of ethics that I must follow. I also have my own personal code. Rest assured that anything you tell me in confidence within this room stays here. It is up to you to decide what you wish Kagome to know. The only thing that will go outside this room is the information that Kirsten asked for. And that is ONLY with your permission, of course."

"You may not like me…after."

Mykan laughed at this. "Inuyasha – I am not in the habit of judging people on what they had to do in the past. I can't – not in my line of work. What matters is what you do with your present and your future. Understand? And believe me, you'll have to go some distance to be able to shock me."

"Oh. I… I killed a rabbit the other day. Did Kirsten tell you that?"

Mykan laughed. "I heard the whole story from Tam. Poor Fawn! Has she recovered yet?"

Inuyasha's ears lowered. "She won't speak to me yet." His face grew red at the memory.

Rod had been complaining that a rabbit or other animal had been getting into the vegetable gardens and he couldn't seem to find a way to keep the pest out. So Inuyasha had lain in wait for the vermin to show. He had caught the culprit and wrung its neck quickly, then had gone into Tamisé's house to present them with his contribution to dinner.

Well! You would have thought he had killed a … a baby or something, the way everyone ran around, shouting. Fawn had taken one look at the limp furry body in Inuyasha's claws and had promptly fainted. Nanny Frances had left the room, looking as if she was going to be ill. Heather had screamed. Rod had stared. Colin had hit Inuyasha's thigh repeatedly, crying that he had killed Peter Cottontail. And Tamisé – well, all Tamisé had to say was 'Good job, lad!' as he held his wife's limp body in his arms and tried to bring her around.

"Never mind, Inuyasha. Fawn won't stay angry long."

"Well – geez! Where I come from, we just… we just… Well, we don't have something called 'pest control'… oh wait – " He smacked himself in the forehead wryly. "We call them demon slayers. And they deal with pests a lot bigger than rabbits."

Mykan laughed. "Do you miss your friends? I understand that Sango is a demon-slayer."

"Yeah – you know, I do. I even miss Shippo, the little brat. I know Kagome misses them too. Kirsten said that they might be brought through the well and come for a visit."

"That would be nice. I think I would like to meet your friends. They sound like very interesting people."

"I guess if you're in my memories, you'd see them, huh? That would be a way of meeting them."

Mykan shrugged. "After a fashion. Have you decided to let me do this?"

Inuyasha shrugged and chewed his nail again. "Do you really believe that it will help?"

"It has its merits."

"I don't want you to think worse of me for things that I've had to do."

"Don't have worries on that score, lad."

"Will it take long?"

Mykan shrugged. "Perhaps ten to fifteen minutes."

"Really? That's all?"

"Like Kirsten, I have an eidetic memory. That's all it will take."

"Then let's get started." Inuyasha uncurled himself and squared his shoulders. "The sooner it's done, the better."

"Alright then. Why don't you lie down on the couch over by the window."

Inuyasha settled himself on the couch and closed his eyes. He jumped a little as he felt Mykan's gentle hands settle on either side of his head.

"Just relax, Inuyasha. As I go through your memories, you will have the sensation of remembering a great deal in quick succession and you may feel a little dizzy. Ready? Let's begin."

And Inuyasha remembered the first time he ever laid eyes on Kikyo.

OoOoOo

Hello, everyone! Thank you for reading! I hope you are enjoying the story so far.

I would just like to let you know that I will be away for a week and therefore out of touch. I will respond to your messages when I'm back.

Atelaar