Is this a dream come true? Well, for some of you, maybe, but yes, I finally managed to update (thank my vacation for that). Can't say when the next update is gonna be after that one, though, but let's just focus on the here and now, why don't we?

And WOW, over 100 reviews already? I love you guys! Really, thank you very very much :3

By the way, sorry if the first half of the chapter is boring, but it was something I had to get through so that Inuyasha's future trips home can be more interesting, so please bear with the rather lame beginning (it was hard for me to write it, too, I admit *sigh*).

To demonic angel23: I am pretty sure that you at least will be able to figure out just who the 'new girl' is (you'll see when you'll read) LOL

Alright, enough of my talking, here we go with chapter eleven XD Happy reading everyone!

Special Thanks to Amber/Kanna37 for doing an awesome editing job :3

ANONYMOUS REVIEWERS:

Miko-sama: I wish I could have responded to you sooner, but with my lack of time and your review being 'unsigned' (so I wasn't quite sure if 'Miko-sama' was a penname you use here on ff, and after past mistakes I decided not to chance it) it was unfortunately impossible. I hope you'll still glance at this fic, though, if only in order to see this response. At any rate, I have to admit that I know what you mean. God only knows how many fics I tried to read and ended up skimming through them, finding them boring. Knowing that, I first and foremost want to thank you for bothering with skimming through all of it, and even more for reviewing (I hardly do that in these cases). I want to thank you even more for despite thinking it boring, still managing to find something good about it that was worth commenting in your eyes. Really, those words meant a lot. Now, about the boring-part. I can say that I'll see what I can do about it, but I can't promise it'll actually improve significantly in your eyes. It really depends on what makes this fic 'boring' and what you mean by 'when it'll build up'. If it's only a question of the pace of the fic and the appearance of Naraku (or other main villain) to make the story more interesting, then maybe it'll get better in the chapter following this one. I planned, on accelerating the plot a bit from now on, but I didn't do it before because I didn't want the fic to seem to rushed, plus the other chapters had all at least a little character development in them that was necessary for future plot advance. However, if the problem is the way I write the fic, then I'm not sure if I can do anything about it. And even if I can, it'll probably take me a while to figure out what exactly I'm doing wrong. That's why I can't promise I can meet your expectations in future chapters and make the story more interesting. But I'm not going to tell you to stop reading it if you don't like it, either. So, if you still want to follow the story, despite it boring you, I'll be more than happy to hear from you again, but if you decide to drop it, I can't blame you for it. It's your decision. And once again thank you for finding something worthwhile about this story, even if you apparently didn't like it too much. Sincerely, Glon Morski.

Hentai Lemon: I'm glad you enjoyed it so far and I hope I will not disappoint in the future. Enjoy the following chapter :]

bb613: Thank you, I'm glad to hear that. I hope the following chapters or other stories won't be a disappointment.

Tracks for this chapter:

Kos Lis: Siab Kab Npis

Tackey&Tsubasa: Samurai

Breakers:

XxX: change of scene

~ξ~: time-skip

実: Beginning/End of Flashback

[T] and [/T]: Beginning/End of soundtrack

Reminder: 'Inuyasha' written normally refers to Inuyasha, while written in cursive (cursive and bold in thoughts) refers to Kagome, the "Gentle Dog Demon". 'Hanyō' written normally means "half-demon", while written in cursive (cursive and bold in thoughts) it means "half-breed".

Chapter 11 – Shadow Of The Past

Inuyasha sighed as he finally climbed out of the well in his time, thankful for his mother's idea to leave a ladder there. Just the thought of climbing up the same way he did the first time he returned from the past made him grimace in discomfort, especially since certain parts of his body were already aching without the additional workout.

Kagome had kept her promise; they had returned to the village in one day exactly, and although Inuyasha should have been happy about it, since his food rations were really almost empty, anger was the dominating emotion. 'So the fucking wench had been leading us in circles before!' he thought angrily for at least the tenth time as he re-adjusted his pack on his back and slowly climbed up the short steps that would lead him outside of the well house. He had been close to sprinting all day in order to keep up with his half-demon companion and his legs were definitely feeling it. He knew however that even with the speed they were moving at, there was no way they could have covered a several-week-distance in a single day, so they had to have been walking in circles before. 'I'll fucking kill her when I go back,' Inuyasha thought for… well, darn – he couldn't even remember how many times he thought it just his evening as he opened the door to his house.

"I'm home!" he called, as he was relatively sure his mother was home. She never left the house open and all the lights on if she went shopping, after all.

"Welcome home, Inuyasha," his mother answered with a smile and he marveled at the normalcy of it all. Here he was, entering his home after a few weeks of absence because of a 'trip to the past', and his mother greeted him like he had left only this morning for school. "How were these last few weeks?"

"Tiring," he replied shortly as he let his backpack fall to the ground and went to the kitchen. His mother chuckled behind him as he sat down at the table, as if smelling the dinner she had just finished.

"I think I can imagine at least somewhat," she said with a smile still present on her face, although it didn't quite reach her serious eyes as they roamed her son's frame without his noticing. He didn't seem to be hurt anywhere, however, and as far as she could see he even looked as if he'd gained some muscles during his trip, so soon enough, the seriousness vanished and her smile widened. Inuyasha hadn't even noticed her small examination. "I also imagine that you are hungry?"

"I wonder how you figured that out," the black haired boy replied with a little sarcasm dripping off his voice, but he was smiling slightly. He hadn't even noticed while he was over there how much he missed his mother. It was good to be home.

Silence reigned for a while as they ate, Izayoi just contenting herself with watching her son and trying not think about when he would be leaving again (she doubted he'd stay long) and Inuyasha wondering whether he should tell her all that happened during the few weeks of his absence. Considering how many times he and Kagome had fought, though, and especially as he remembered their encounter with Sesshōmaru, he decided against it, as to not worry her.

"Didn't your half-demon friend, the Inuyasha come with you?" Izayoi suddenly asked. Inuyasha snorted.

"Nah, she had other things to do apparently. Besides, she ain't my friend so I see no reason to invite her into my home," he said. 'Though something tells me she'll come even without my invitation if she ever feels like it,' he added grimly in his thoughts, but did not voice them. His mother smiled a rather mischievous smile at him.

"Oh?" she said in a curious tone. "If she isn't your friend, than what do you think she is to you, do tell, Inuyasha," she said and her smile only widened when her son froze and started fumbling around for words. "Oh, come now, Inuyasha. You can try to fool a lot of people, but you can't fool your mother. We both know what you think of her."

"She ain't a friend of mine," the violet-eyed boy grunted out stubbornly. Izayoi sighed.

"Whatever you say," she finally agreed and silence fell again before she broke it once more, changing the topic of conversation. "Are you planning to go to school tomorrow?" she asked as Inuyasha gulped down the last of his meal.

"School?" he asked as he glanced at her in surprise. He scratched his head. "Wait… What day is it?"

"Sunday. You just missed the weekend," Izayoi answered with a smile, giggling slightly when Inuyasha cursed.

"Knowing you, I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Well, it would be nice if you showed up there every once in a while." Inuyasha sighed and nodded his head.

"Alright already, I'll go, I'll go. Though I don't see what good it'll bring me considering how much I missed."

"You'll just have to catch up then," Izayoi replied nonchalantly and Inuyasha stared at her with wide eyes.

"Say what? Do you have any idea how long that'd take me with that much catch-up material?" But his mother wasn't impressed.

"Just because you were 'sick' doesn't mean you don't have to catch up on what you missed," she stated seriously, making Inuyasha blink.

"Sick?" he repeated with raised eye-brows. His mother smiled.

"Oh, don't you remember? You were diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis(1), which is why you weren't able to go to school these past few weeks. It's better now, but you're still under medical surveillance since there's a possibility it might get worse. How could you forget that, Inuyasha?" Izayoi asked, and Inuyasha couldn't help but grin back when her smile didn't drop.

"Nice excuse," he said and Izayoi nodded.

"Well, I had to come up with something, right?" she replied with a smile. "Now, off to bed or I won't be able to wake you up when I'll have to," she said and Inuyasha nodded, although he was pretty certain that after all the times Kagome woke him at dawn, he'd wake up early enough on his own.

XxX

Inuyasha sighed as he walked towards his school. He had been right, Kagome's everyday wake-up call at dawn had served its purpose. Now even when he slept in his own bed, he could hardly sleep longer than an hour or two after sunrise. Needless to say, he wasn't pleased by the new setting of his biological clock. 'I'm seriously gonna kill her when I go back,' he thought angrily. The thought that he was going to spend his whole day closed up in a classroom in front of a book he'd understand nothing of didn't lift his mood either. 'Oh well, let's get this over with.'

His school hadn't changed much. Not that he had expected it to, but now that he'd come back after seeing the Feudal Era, it seemed even more boring than before, if that was even possible. This was going to be a very long day, indeed.

The black haired teen suddenly stopped and turned around. He had a feeling he was being watched, as paranoid as that may have sounded. It turned out he was right, too, as he noticed several people he figured were from one of his classes staring at him before quickly looking away when they saw they had been noticed. He didn't recognize any of them, though, so he doubted he'd ever crossed paths with them.

The group wasn't really far from him, and, for some reason or another, the school grounds were rather silent, so Inuyasha easily heard what they were talking about.

"Hey, that's Hinoiri, isn't it? What's he doing here? I figured he wouldn't show up at all anymore," one of them said. He was a rather small guy who gave the impression of blending in with the crowd extremely well.

"Yeah, I was sure of that, too. I mean, sure, apparently he's got some weird disease, but come on, who would believe that? I figured he was just ditching, like he's done so many times before," another boy added. He had black hair tied back in a high ponytail and was relatively tall.

"I even heard he wasn't coming to school because he joined some gang. I wouldn't put it past him, either," a girl with light blond, short hair added. "I mean, he's already a delinquent and…"

"Not so loud, he'll hear you, stupid," the first boy hissed as he covered the girl's mouth. "Do you want him to beat us up?"

Inuyasha only 'keh-ed' as he turned and walked away. So what if he had a not-so-good reputation at school. It wasn't like he cared and besides, he found it way better than all the popular guys who were smothered by their fan-girls twenty-four-seven.

He was just about to enter the school when something in the very perimeter of his vision caught his attention. Turning abruptly, almost too used to being alert so that a yōkai wouldn't catch him off guard, his eyes landed on a group of five or six guys he knew all too well from his fights with them. They were surrounding someone and it didn't take a genius to figure out what they were doing.

Scowling, Inuyasha approached them slowly, not trying to hide but not exactly revealing himself just yet, either. When he was close, his eyes caught a small figure in the center of their little circle and his blood boiled.

"Now you even pick on defenseless girls? You guys are really the lowest, aren't you," he said in a low tone. His words caught the attention of the group as they slowly turned around to face him. The mocking smiles they had on their faces when they saw him didn't help his temper one bit. "Scram before I decide to make punch bags outta you," he added, but his words seemed to have the opposite effect of the one he wanted. His glare hardened.

"And what do you think you can do, Hinoiri? Last I heard, you had some disease tying you to bed for the last three or more weeks. And you think you can tell us what to do? Heh, you better get outta here before we decide to make a punch bag outta you," one of them, the one Inuyasha remembered to be the leader, laughed. Inuyasha gritted his teeth.

"Then why don't you go ahead and try? Or are you scared to end up as a bloody heap on the ground again?" he growled. "Not that it'd be difficult to beat up the likes of you, but maybe it'd be enough of a work out to wake me up," he added in a mocking tone, even managing a smirk despite his boiling anger. The likes of these guys always pissed him off, sooner or later.

This time, his words had the desired effect as the whole group launched themselves at him. Small, insignificant brawls on the school grounds were rather common, so Inuyasha knew he had at least ten minutes before any teacher decided it was a brawl that actually needed interrupting and that just might end up with some injuries to either party, but that would be enough.

He remembered how it was to fight the likes of these guys and he was used to it. Since he went to the Feudal Era, he had even fought things much stronger than these guys, so it didn't take him long to wipe the smirks off their faces. He was, however, a little surprised at his own speed. 'It was almost like they were… slower than usual,' he thought to himself with a frown. It was easy to avoid all their punches and quite frankly, most of the time, he even had the feeling he didn't need to dodge them – they would hardly do much damage. But he remembered Kagome's words, how avoiding even attacks that wouldn't harm him would be helpful in the long run, so he either dodged or blocked. It was much easier than he remembered it, and they were falling to his punches easier, too.

'Wait… It's not them,' the black haired teen suddenly noticed as the last of his 'opponents' fell to the ground, most likely unconscious. Inuyasha stared rather dumbly at his hands, unaware of the girl he had helped out staring at him in awe, or of the frightened stares of all the other people on the school grounds. 'It's… me. I'm quicker than I was before… I'm stronger…' he realized.

"Ano…" a shy voice brought Inuyasha out of his musings and he turned around to face the person, who turned out to be the girl who had been bullied. She had long, black hair tied in two braids and her honey-brown eyes were cast downwards, as if she didn't dare to look at him. He raised a brow at her odd behavior, but didn't comment, so the silence stretched between them for a while before she finally looked up at him with a hesitant smile on her rose-red lips. "Th-thank you… for helping me out… uhm…" she said so quietly it was almost a whisper, stuttering a little at the end.

"Hinoiri Inuyasha," he supplied, guessing the reason for her stuttering. She bowed after a short awkward silence, as if she were expecting him to say something more, but had quickly noticed he wouldn't(2).

"Thank you again, Hinoiri-san," she whispered again and Inuyasha had to wonder if she had hurt her throat or if she was just too shy to speak any louder, but he didn't ask. It wasn't like he knew her, much less like he cared enough to get to know her.

"Whatever. They were always getting on my last nerve anyway," he replied gruffly, then turned to walk away without any further comment. The girl, however, followed after him, her gaze cast downwards once again.

"Ano… I… uhm…" she stuttered as she followed him, but this time he ignored her. Chancing a gaze at him, the girl finally cleared her throat and spoke up louder. "I'm kinda new here, so I was wondering… could you please tell me where I can find the faculty office?" Her voice was rather high, but not annoyingly so. In fact, when she spoke, Inuyasha had to admit that it was a sweet sound; she almost sounded like she was singing rather than talking and once again, he had to wonder why she was whispering before. He didn't let any of these thoughts show on his face however, and he didn't even turn around as he answered her.

"Go up those stairs," he said, pointing to their right. "First door on your left on the second floor." And then he walked off towards his own class, his ears barely catching her voice as she thanked him once again. 'Now let the several hours of Hell begin,' Inuyasha thought grimly as he drew inevitably closer to his destination – his first class.

~ξ~

[T]

"Now, this is a little sudden and unusual, but we have a new transfer student. Give her a warm welcome. Why don't you introduce yourself?" Inuyasha hear his teacher talking, though he didn't bother to look towards the front, opting to glance out the window instead. The sight that greeted him wasn't lifting his mood either; somehow, he largely preferred to be surrounded by the fields and trees of the Feudal Era than the dull city he saw behind the glass.

"Hello. I am Shirugawa Ririko. Please take care of me?(3)" the transfer student said and Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly before he glanced towards the front of the class. Indeed, standing there was the very girl who had been bullied by the entrance of the school and whom he had helped out.

"Wow. She's a cute one, isn't she?"

"Oh come on, with a body like that she's definitely off limits already. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Leave me alone. Can't a guy even dream in peace?"

Pieces of whispered comments about the new girl reached his ears and Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the typical reaction. He glanced at her again, noting that she had all the curves in the right places, but not overly big and her uniform skirt revealed long, slender legs. Yes, she was rather cute, he'd give her that, but she'd need more than just looks to impress him.

"Now, Shirugawa-san, please take a seat and we'll start the class. You can sit next to Hinoiri-san," the teacher said, asking Inuyasha to raise his hand so that the new girl could find her place next to him. He begrudgingly did as asked, though he was sure she should recognize him of all people. Shirugawa smiled at him and whispered an 'I hope we can get along, Hinoiri-san' (to which he muttered an annoyed 'keh') before focusing her attention up front, while Inuyasha resumed his gazing out the window.

~ξ~

Lunch break couldn't come soon enough and Inuyasha was extremely glad when it finally did. He expected the day to be boring as Hell, not that it ever was interesting… but for it to be boring to this extend had to be a new record. The black haired teen sighed as he took out his bento box. He'd just have to live through it, like he always did.

"Did you hear? Hinoiri apparently beat up another gang just this morning. Right before the school entrance too," a whisper reached his ears once again and he glanced at the speaker out of the corner of his eye. It was one of the girls of his class, and she was surrounded by many other girls. Inuyasha shrugged and resumed eating. It wasn't like he cared what they thought of him, and it wasn't the first time he was the topic of what was sure to turn out to be a who's-bad-news conversation.

"Yeah, I know. You would think he'd calm down at least for his first day after such a long absence instead of reminding everyone that he's on their black list," another girl added.

"I swear, this guy is the worst. If there was ever everyone I'd consider bad news, it would be Hinoiri."

"You know, Shirugawa-chan, Hinoiri's the guy you sit next to, with the long black hair… but don't be deceived by his looks. He's nowhere near the great guy his looks make him out to be. You should stay away from him."

There was a pause in the conversation and despite himself, Inuyasha glanced at the girls again. Sure enough, the new girl was among them, but instead of looking scared or disgusted like most girls around her, she seemed rather… angry. Inuyasha raised a brow.

"Shirugawa-chan?" one of the girls asked tentatively and the new girl's head snapped up to glare at the girls around her, completely unaware of the topic of their conversation observing them now with mild curiosity.

"And who are you to judge him? Did anyone of you ever talk to him or anything? What the Hell would you know?" Ririko snapped, surprising not only the girls around her, but also the eavesdropping Inuyasha. "Sure, he may heave beat up someone, but to your information, he did it to protect me! The guys he beat up… they were bullying me and tried to steal my money, OK? If he didn't show up when he did, they probably would have done it, too. So yeah, he beat them up, but with a just reason all of you seem to be missing. And you should learn not to judge anyone if you know nothing about them in the first place."

Silence followed her words and Ririko huffed in an annoyed manner before she turned away to leave the girls behind.

"Shirugawa-chan…" one of the girls tried to stop her, but was rudely interrupted.

"That's Shirugawa-san to the likes of you," she hissed without even stopping to look back at her would-be friends.

Back at his isolated spot, Inuyasha was speechless himself. He wouldn't disagree with her, defending her was one of the reasons he beat those guys up (the other being simply that he liked to do it because they pissed him off more often than not), but he didn't actually expect her to stand up for him like that. She was aware that this was her one-way ticket to not having any friends at school, right?

Then again, it wasn't any of his business what she did. Nodding to himself, Inuyasha resumed eating while getting mentally ready for the second part of the day's Hell.

~ξ~

The violet-eyed teen stretched out his arms and enjoyed the afternoon sun when school finally ended and he was free to head home, which was exactly what he was planning to do. Taking a deep breath (and not failing to notice that it was much more pleasant to breath in deeply in the Feudal Era than in his own time), Inuyasha slung his book bag over his shoulder and started walking in quick, purposeful strides towards the exit of the school grounds and towards home. As it turned out, however, he was not to walk alone for once.

"Hinoiri-san," a by now recognizable voice called behind him and he couldn't stop himself from looking over his shoulder at the source, though it was more because he was surprised than because he actually wanted to wait for the girl calling him.

"What?" he asked gruffly when she caught up to him and leaned on her knees to catch her breath.

"I… I just… well… I just wanted to thank you again for this morning…" she stuttered out when she straightened up again, once again almost whispering instead of speaking normally. Inuyasha raised a brow at her, wondering for the second time why she didn't speak up, but decided to brush it off.

"Whatever," he replied and started walking again, not caring whether the girl followed or not. She did.

"No, really. You saved me back there… and I feel like I didn't do anything to re-pay you… it just doesn't sit well with me…" she rambled in her half-whisper, making Inuyasha scowl.

"Look, think nothing of it, Shirugawa," he finally interrupted her, rather annoyed by her stuttering by now. "I would have ended up fighting and beating those guys sooner or later, anyway. You just happened to be a reason to do it sooner rather than later," he said without looking at her, and barely noticing when the shell shocked girl stopped to stare at his retreating back.

"I just happened to be a reason to do it sooner rather than later, huh," she repeated as she stared after him, with a slight blush on her face. She chuckled to herself and turned around to head home herself. "You haven't changed at all, Inu… Hinoiri-kun," Ririko whispered to herself, hesitating when she tried to say his first name. He didn't hear her words, though.

[/T]

XxX

The rest of the day hadn't been any more exciting than school itself was: come home, greet mom, do his homework (or rather try to do it) and sooner or later ending up going to sleep. He was rather annoyed, however, when the next day he woke up at dawn again.

"I'm seriously going to kill that hanyō-wench once I go back," Inuyasha grumbled to himself as he covered his head with his blanket, trying fruitlessly to get back to sleep. It wasn't so much that he wasn't at least a little tired, but there was a feeling at the back of his head that refused to let him sleep. It was some sort of weird anxiety, as if something bad was going to happen that day. He doubted it would be in Tokyo, though… if anything happened at all.

It didn't change the fact that he couldn't sleep, since the weird feeling not only didn't leave, but got only stronger the later it got. The young, untrained priest frowned at his ceiling. He was starting to get the feeling that he should go back through the well today and see what was wrong. How he knew, however, that this feeling of anxiety had something to do with the Feudal Era was beyond him.

'I just got back home, dammit! No way am I jumping through that well already!' he thought angrily. Then again, it was either that or going to school again, since his mother definitely wouldn't allow him to skip any more than he already did because of the well. And he really didn't feel like sitting on his butt through class like yesterday. He sighed. If he stayed, he'd be bored out of his mind. If he left... actually, there was hardly anything holding him back now that he thought about it.

Shaking his head, Inuyasha turned under the covers, intent on getting at least a few more hours of sleep. As he should have expected, however, it proved to be futile because of the building feeling of foreboding. Giving up, Inuyasha got out of bed and decided to take a quick shower before dressing and reaching for the backpack he had already designated as his time-travel companion. In that precise moment, Izayoi entered the room.

"Inuyasha… oh, you're up already?" she seemed surprised, and honestly, Inuyasha couldn't blame her. Before he met Kagome, he was the type of guy who was extremely hard to wake up. He nodded as an answer to his mother's question. "Getting ready for school so early?" she questioned, though her voice was doubtful (with good reason).

"Actually, I was thinking of going back today," the black haired teen replied, scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. It wasn't really that he was planning to leave without telling his mother, but her walking in on him like that made him feel like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I had a feeling you were going to say that," Izayoi said quietly before smiling at him. "Well, then again, I did say that we weren't sure if your sickness wouldn't come back, didn't I? And I also said that if it does, it could be at anytime."

She was going to cover for him again, he knew, and he couldn't be more grateful. But the smile she was giving him ultimately made him feel guilty as only his mother could make him feel.

"It's just that I have this feeling that something is going to happen today… and that I should be there when it does," Inuyasha tried to explain. Izayoi chuckled at him.

"Inuyasha, I know you better than anyone else on this planet does, I'm sure. I'm your mother, after all. You don't need to explain yourself to me. If you think it's time to go back already, then I will not stop you. But please at least eat something before leaving," the black haired woman said, smile still in place before she left the room. Once the door fell into the lock behind her, Inuyasha sighed, now thinking again if he really should go back in time today, or wait a few more days. Kagome didn't explicitly tell him when he should come back, after all, and even if she had, he doubted he would have listened to her.

In the end, he decided to trust his gut like he always did and to go to the Feudal Era.

XxX

It took him about a minute or two to climb out of the well with the help of the natural ladder that was there: the vines. The first thing he noticed once he did, was that the place was unusually quiet. Not even the rustling of leaves due to the wind could be heard. The second unusual thing was the old, rusty sword that was stuck in the ground right next to the well, obviously placed there on purpose. Inuyasha raised a brow at the sight, before reaching for its old hilt. 'Why in the world would she leave Tessaiga here?' Inuyasha wondered to himself as he grasped the sword in his hand and easily pulled it out of ground. This was the first time he had seen it from this close up, and he had to admit that it looked really old and useless, which made it even more unbelievable that it could transform into an enormous (and extremely sharp) fang-shaped blade.

The sword suddenly glowed lightly and a few sparks shot in every direction (though it didn't hurt the priest), just as Inuyasha felt something tugging at his conscious. A feeling he recognized, somehow. If he remembered correctly, Kagome said he was feeling the youki of nearby demons. Looking up from the sword, Inuyasha noticed a small bird-yōkai trying to fly towards him, only to be stopped by an invisible wall each time.

'Oh yeah, that yōkai barrier or something,' Inuyasha remembered. It had been because of that same barrier that Sesshōmaru couldn't even touch the sword, as far as he could tell.

Did Kagome leave Tessaiga by the well because of its barrier? It made sense now that he thought about it. He still remembered the first demon which came through the well to his time. It had come for the Jewel, and it would only make sense that the piece of jewelry would keep calling for demons each time he went back home if it did the first time around.

Shaking his head, Inuyasha stuck the demonic sword back into the ground before reaching for the blade he had tied at his side right before leaving home and disposing of the annoying bird in one clear swing. Seiryuu, he noticed, was slowly starting to feel like an extension of his arm, and Inuyasha briefly wondered if that was what Kagome meant when she said he needed to get to know his weapon.

The offending yōkai being taken care of, Inuyasha sheathed his sword and picked up Tessaiga again, before walking back towards the village. Kagome would probably want her sword back now that the well didn't need to be closed off to yōkai.

His carefree walk soon changed into a run, though, when upon nearing the village he heard the unmistakable sounds of battle. Something was attacking, that much was certain, and it was confirmed when he got close enough to see Kaede's village. He didn't expect what he saw; it wasn't a 'something' that attacked, but rather a horde of 'somethings' – namely yōkai.

[T]

Shaking himself out of his surprise, Inuyasha quickly resumed his run, intent on helping out the best he could. When he arrived in the middle of the small hell (or at least what he considered Hell), he was quick to notice a small circle of villagers, armed with swords and spears. They were shielding their old priestess, although it wasn't like Kaede wasn't protecting them in return. Standing in the middle of their protective circle, the old priestess shot arrow after arrow, all of them shining pink and never missing their target.

When she noticed him, Kaede reached out her hand and pointed towards her right, looking straight at him.

"Inuyasha, the children! Help her protect the children!" the old priestess yelled before snapping her head back towards the heavens and firing another arrow. Figuring she'd be fine for now, Inuyasha turned his head in the direction she pointed. Another priestess was there (at least he assumed she was a priestess), with a glowing bow in her hand, gracefully swirling around and turning the bow in her hand to instantly form a barrier around her that repelled the yōkai that got too close. Once they were fried, she had turned around and fired an arrow towards the sky, although hers shone a bright blue instead of pink. Behind her, Inuyasha noticed a small group of children hugging together, Souta among them. No longer paying attention to the 'priestess' who seemed a little surprised after firing her last arrow (though the black haired priest didn't notice), Inuyasha quickly ran over to the children.

"Oi, are you alright?" he asked when he arrived next to them. They were all scared, maybe except Souta, who seemed to be too busy staring at the 'priestess' protecting them in awe to be afraid, but they answered in an affirmative nonetheless.

"Keep an eye on them, would you? In case I let a demon slip through," he heard the 'priestess' say and nodded.

Kagome cursed under her breath as she danced out of the way of another yōkai coming her way. She could have let it fry on Kikyo's barrier, which was sure to form, but she knew better than to remain in one place just because she now had a barrier protecting her. She notched another arrow and fired after the demon who dared to try and hit her, purifying it in instant as the arrow glowed a bright blue. She frowned. 'Again? What the heck's going on? I thought Kikyo only put a barrier spell on this bow. Not to mention that it only started firing purifying arrows just a second ago… and I sure as Hell am not a priestess capable of doing that,' the young hanyō thought to herself as she danced around and fired another arrow before blocking an attack from behind with her bow, enforced with the instantly-formed barrier. 'Unless…' she thought as she glanced quickly towards the children and Inuyasha.

He had stuck her Tessaiga into the ground, no doubt with the intention of having its barrier help him protect the children, while he stood in front of them protectively with his own sword drawn. The sacred-arrows-thing started not too long ago and Kagome was rather certain it was about the same time that Inuyasha arrived at the village. Not that she really noticed when he arrived in the chaos surrounding her and with her senses much more dulled than she was used to.

Inuyasha had subconsciously cast a spell of his own on her bow, or at least that's what Kaede had suspected. Could that be it?

Kagome shook her head as she twirled around once again, her now black hair following her gracefully and somehow not falling in her face. Then she fired another arrow. This was not the time to be thinking about that.

"She's amazing, isn't she?" Souta whispered as she watched the black haired girl dance around, dodging or blocking the yōkai going at her with her bow before counter attacking. Inuyasha didn't listen to him, as he was preoccupied with a couple of demons that, noticing him and no doubt feeling the Jewel, charged right at him. 'They're protected by Tessaiga's barrier now, and it'll be safer for them if I, of all people, get further away,' the young priest thought as he cut through the demons attacking him, progressively putting more distance between himself and the children. He had been right, too, for a great number of demons turned now to him, attracted by the Jewel he was hiding beneath his clothes. Right now, he was the perfect demon bait, though none of the demons who tried to get close to him actually made it that far; half of them were purified by an arrow that suddenly flew right past him, the other was cut down by his own, glowing blade.

The battle raged on for a long while… until suddenly the demons screeched and flew high into the sky, forming a dense cloud and simply flying away. Inuyasha blinked, staring after them.

[/T]

"What the Hell?" he asked no one in particular as he slowly sheathed his sword, looking around carefully for any left-over yōkai. "That was weird," he muttered under his breath.

"I agree," he heard someone speak up next to him. It turned out to be the black haired girl he supposed was a priestess. "For them to attack and then to suddenly leave like that… It's as if they were just distracting us," she continued with a frown.

"Distracting us?" Inuyasha repeated. "From what?"

"That's a good question," the 'priestess' sighed. "But you handled yourself well today. With the sword, I mean," she then said suddenly, making Inuyasha blink. It took him a moment to realize that she probably didn't expect him to be able to wield a sword, since he hardly looked like a warrior or a priest. He scratched his head.

"Well… I had a good teacher, I guess," he said. 'Not that I'd ever say so to her face,' he added in his thoughts. "What?" he asked when the girl didn't say anything and just stared at him for a while before she burst out laughing.

"I just never expected you to think I was a good teacher, is all. You always seem to think the exact opposite," she said between fits of laughter and he took a few steps back in surprise.

"What the… KAGOME?"

"What, you didn't recognize me?" she seemed surprised, now that she calmed down a bit. Inuyasha gave her a 'well duh!' look as he glanced her up and down. Long, black hair instead of silver-white, no dog ears at the top of her head, grey-blue eyes instead of golden ones, no claws and her jacket was missing, making her white kosode and red pants look like a miko-garment to him. And she expected him to recognize her?

"Is it that surprising? And what the Hell? You look human," he said, pointing a somewhat accusing finger at her. Sudden understanding shone in her eyes.

"Oh right, you don't know," Kagome said before sighing. "I'm half-demon, Inuyasha, and half-demons have their… moments, be it a day or a night, once a month when they turn human. You just happened to stumble on my 'moment' is all," she explained indifferently.

"So you turn human once a month?" Inuyasha asked, and she nodded. He frowned. "And how do you know when that 'moment' is? Is there a pattern to it or something?"

"It's always the same day or night, though it varies from hanyō to hanyō. It can be the night of the new moon, or the one when the moon is full. It's more difficult to figure out the pattern when it's a day, though, so I'm rather lucky," she said gazing up at the sky.

"So, what's different about this day that you knew you were going to turn human?" Inuyasha asked curiously. Kagome turned her head to glare at him.

"Like I'd tell you," she snapped. "Figure it out yourself if you want to know that badly," she added before walking towards Kaede, who was approaching them, the two quickly starting a conversation he didn't pay much attention to. He 'keh-ed' to himself.

"You can't blame her," another voice spoke up next to him and he turned to see Souta standing next to him. The young boy wasn't looking at him, he was staring at the hanyō-turned-human instead. "For a hanyō to tell someone the exact day or night they turn human means basically to give their lives into the person's hands. If you knew, you could do anything with the information, including accidentally, or on purpose, telling it to someone who wants her dead. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of people like that, too," the young boy said.

"I know how to keep a fucking secret. Besides, whom would I tell?" Inuyasha snapped at the kid, though Souta hardly seemed affected by it. Almost as if he was used to it.

"Anyone," he shrugged. "And anyway, considering the kind of life she must have led, can you blame her for not trusting a soul?"

"What do you mean, kid?" Inuyasha asked, surprised. 'Considering the kind of life she must have led'? The black haired priest didn't understand what the younger boy meant by that. Souta gave him a 'you really don't know anything, do you?' look, but then just sighed and shook his head.

"Nothing, forget it," he said, and before Inuyasha could utter a word, he ran off. The black haired priest stared after him for a while before shaking his head and turning towards where Kagome and Kaede were talking. Or had been, since now silence reigned between the two, he noted as he approached them. Finally, Kagome sighed.

"That's one of the things I don't like when I'm human," she muttered bitterly under her breath. "If I had my hanyō-senses, I could have tried to check if something was wrong elsewhere by scenting the air. That way we would at least know if this was truly a distraction or if our senses were being tricked," she added angrily.

"You really hate being human, don't you?" Inuyasha asked. Surprisingly, Kagome shook her head.

"Not really. It's just that more often than not, it's very inconvenient. Like now," she answered. Her eyes then wandered to look over his shoulder and she smiled slightly. "By the way, thanks for bringing Tessaiga over from the well," she said as she walked over to the blade and re-sheathed it. Inuyasha nodded.

"Is that why you left it by the well? Because you turned human?"

"It's one of the reasons", the young hanyō replied, frowning. 'The other being that for some reason, when I'm hanyō, the Jewel affects me, too… and lately it started to do in a way I really do not appreciate,' Kagome added in her thoughts, staring absentmindedly at her hand. What she couldn't, for the life of her, understand, was why the freaking Jewel had such an effect on her only when Inuyasha was in his time, and never when he was with her. It was weird.

Shaking her head, Kagome dismissed those thoughts and looked at Inuyasha over her shoulder.

"Go to Kaede's hut. You look like some rest would do you good and I wouldn't mind some either. I'll join you in a bit," she said before walking off. Inuyasha blinked, hardly registering when his feet decided to listen to her and started carrying him to the old miko's hut. 'Did she just admit to being tired?' Inuyasha wondered. Then again, she was human.

As promised, Kagome rejoined him in the hut shortly after, though the way she entered implied she did not come to rest. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were drawn into a thin line, making the black haired priest certain that, had she been in her true form, she'd be snarling in anger. Her grey-blue eyes landed on Kaede.

"We were right," she said in a surprisingly calm tone, causing Kaede to raise a questioning eyebrow. "The yōkai were a distraction. A distraction so that we wouldn't notice when Kikyo's grave was robbed."

Heavy silence followed the young hanyō's words.

(1) Myasthenia Gravis – to put it simply, it's a disease caused by one's own immune system. The anti-bodies act at the synapses in a way that causes a miss function, which leads to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatigability even during the simplest of tasks. For more detailed information (that I refuse to give because this note would become way too long), check it on Wikipedia, the info there is pretty much accurate.

(2) In Japanese culture, when introducing yourself, you can also say which kanji to use to write your name correctly, as many names can be written with different kanji (thus meaning different things), but be pronounced exactly the same. This is, however, a polite thing to do and something people do out of respect, so Ririko was pretty much expecting Inuyasha to do it, but since we all know what he's like, he didn't.

(3) 'Please, take care of me?' – As weird as it may sound, this is actually a typical end of an introduction of a new student to a class. They speak a little about themselves and end with asking to 'be taken care of'. I think it's a bit like an equivalent to what I know we sometimes say in European schools 'I hope we can get along', though it is also partially meant literally, since at the beginning, a new student needs to be 'taken care of' to find his way etc. Just thought I'd explain it, in case you thought the line was weird.

DUN DUN DUN DUUUUN

I guess you can more or less guess what Arc's going to follow, ne. I hope I can make it interesting enough for you guys to stick around… now we'll finally see what happened on that faithful day when Kagome was sealed to the Sacred Tree… whenever I get the time to actually type out chapter 12 LOL

See you then and don't forget to review :]