Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Beta: Tokahlia

A White Rose _ A Kiss of Desire

Chapter 2

"Keep up, gaki. You won't let this old man beat you in endurance will you?"

"No," A pant, "way, ha!" and another. "Like I'd let you, Grandpa!"

Kagome rushed past him only to find out shortly after that her grandpa was only playing with her; a gush of wind blew by her and he was once again running ahead of her.

"Better catch up, girly!"

A routine had been established for the last few days since Kagome requested training from her grandfather. The two would participate in a morning and night run around the shrine. Then they had to go down the stairs then back up them. After the morning run her grandfather would lead an exercise of Tai-Chi. He wasn't the best practitioner but he knew enough about the style to know that it would help Kagome tremendously with control; after the first practice he could feel that some of her ki had been unblocked, hopefully this would improve her reception to reiki training. It was also a good way to stretch after the run to avoid muscle cramps and to increase flexibility. The style would also help her balance, although the old man liked to think that he had superior genes, his granddaughter was clumsy enough to trip on air. He would blame it on her awkward teenage growth but she had always been that way. It had always baffled him when she had been younger. Though quite good at her Gymnastics classes she had always been the clumsy one, falling off the beam, fudging her brownies, things that Gymnasts with more grace usually did not experience. He hoped that once she had finished growing she would find her center of gravity, but the jury was still out.

Old man Higurashi looked up to see his granddaughter finishing the last of her breakfast. He waited for her to chug down her second glass of orange juice before standing up and stacking his plate onto Kagome's.

"Let's move on to archery, child." His daughter picked up the stacked plates and hurried away into the kitchen, after giving Kagome a tender kiss on her head.

"Hai, Grandpa; thank you, Mama"

Archery lesson was one of the more difficult things for Kagome to learn mainly because it kept reminding her of Kikyou and the harsh words InuYasha constantly shot her with. When she reached for an arrow from her quiver, only to fumble around for a few seconds she could see his exasperated look. Every time she missed the bulls-eye she found herself mentally cringing, preparing for a harsh rebuke. Even with this psychological dilemma, she was glad that her grandpa took time to explain the techniques of archery. It made her notice the fact that no one in the Feudal Era had every offer her help with the bow or any other form of weaponry and self-defense. Well, Sango had offered, but that had been a long time ago. Kagome had been trying to gain the courage to ask her but Sango had seemed caught up in her own problems, Kagome didn't want to intrude.

"Aim, Kagome. Do not let your arms move. The arrow should be level to your eye and your arms should not move until you see the arrow fly off ahead. Do not move your arms as soon as you let the arrow go."

"Hai, Grandpa."

She steadied her left arm, now clad in an arm guard (no one had told her that they had guards to stop welts from occasional string slap) and pulled back on the string with her right. She used not only her arm's muscles, but the apparently underused muscles of her back to draw the bow to shy of its full potential. She sighted her mark. A breath in, a breath out; then the fingers in her right hand relaxed, she held the position until she physically took in the arrow, embedded far to the right of the target.

"I'm sorry Grandpa-"

"Do not be Kagome. Continue to aim where you shot that arrow until the quiver is empty. The first step is to become consistent. Then we can move onto the 'hitting-the-bulls-eye' part."

The training continued until lunch time. She learned that if she 'aimed' the arrow down and to the left that it managed to hit closer to the target. Lunch was a quiet affair because everyone was lost in their thoughts. Kagome's mother was happy that her daughter was becoming independent. Grandpa Higurashi was busy recalling memories of his training so he could plan the next lesson. Kagome spent lunch chewing slowly and absorbing all she had learned.

The aged Higurashi was leisurely sipping his tea when he noticed something; his granddaughter looked too skinny. It might have been a bias opinion because he grew up in a time where the women plumpness was valued as beauty but, even without this opinion it was easy to see that his granddaughter had lost some weight.

"Kagome, I want you to find alternatives to eating ramen on your journey. One does not grow into adults by ramen alone. Later on we will head to the bookstore to get you some books on edible, native plants and a few cookbooks. While we're at it, we should get you a few books on archery and sword play. I'm not sure why you have not been getting any training from your friends in the Feudal Era. Don't they realize that you have no survival skills training while you are all in constant danger?"

"I don't know." she murmured. She looked up from her math book when she heard her grandpa sigh.

"I'm glad you came to me for help, Kagome. Now, I want you to learn to look for edible plants and fruit while you travel. You will also need to learn to hunt. I'm sure that you would not want to rely on InuYasha for everything and I highly doubt that the boy will not complain and whine like a child."

Kagome chuckled then a thought struck her. "Grandpa, I don't know if I will be able to add anything else to my backpack."

The old man was silent for a while as he searched his mind for a solution; he caught a glimpse orange from the corner of her eye and turned to see what it might be. It was one of Souta's many manga novels. The title of this specific one that he picked up was Naruto. He vaguely remembered Souta telling him about it; how awesome it was etc. Souta had once asked if his sister could do the same things that the characters in the manga did, since she had powers of her own. Nonchalantly he flipped through the pages and a widening smile appeared on his face.

"I got it! Wait here, I'll be right back."

Kagome and her mother watched as her grandpa rushed out and disappeared around the corner of the hallway. They shared a look and shrugged. Kagome was tempted to pick up the manga and find out what her grandpa was on about but decided to it keep it a surprise and let her grandpa have his fun. It was not until ten minutes later that the old man returned with a stack of old scrolls that were surprisingly well kept.

"Okay." he sat down and put the scrolls on the table in front of him. "I am not sure if it will work or not since I don't have the reiki to try it out for myself."

Kagome listened and nodded for him to continue.

"This is a scroll on sealing. I've studied from journals of our ancestors about these sealing arts."

Kagome looked at him skeptically, not sure if he was serious or not. He did have a history of being eccentric, especially when it came to history.

"Well go on, try it out. No wait, open it and read through it first then tell me if it works later. I'm going to take a nap." He left soon after.

"Okay…?" 'I knew he can't be normal for too long.
'

A White Rose _ A Kiss of Desire

InuYasha could not figure out what had changed. Sure he noticed the obvious change in her wardrobe, her new hairstyle and even a new carrier bag but there were more changes that he had yet to figure out.

Kagome no longer wore her school uniform but instead replaced it with something he could not describe. He did notice the element of Feudal fashion but the other mix was lost to him. He guessed that it was a style of clothing from her time. He would never vocally admit it but she looked good in those clothes. The tan leather satchel that she carried was much smaller than the monstrous yellow bag that she once took with her. She apparently had only a few books with her. That was still one too many for his tastes. It was not until much later that he found out that she had learned a new skill, sealing arts. He had asked her (more like demanded) about it and all she told him was that it was a family secret.

Another thing that pissed him off was that she refused to ride on his back; he couldn't figure out why. The only explanation he got was that she wanted to train her endurance and stamina. It was not that he hated the idea of her becoming more useful; he just did not understand what her motivation was and why now. He just hated that she acted more guarded around him than she had previously.

"Wench! Go to sleep already. What are you doing still reading in the middle of the night?" He shouted down from his tree above the Inutachi.

Silence was her answer. She did not look up from the scroll in her hand. The only indication that she heard him was the small twitch of her left eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!"
She looked up and glared. "Well, Yasha; Wake up the whole forest why don't you." she spoke softly but she was certain that he heard her loud and clear; dog-ears and all. His next action confirmed her belief. InuYasha jumped down from his perch on the tree and crouched in front of her. She sent her aura out just enough for him to not invade her personal space; he did not seem to notice. 'That's interesting, that's something to think about later.'

"Wench, quit bitching and go to sleep already; I don't want you to slow me down tomorrow because you're too tired from slack of sleep!"

"Well maybe you should make your own breakfast tomorrow and from now on! I am not your keeper and neither are you mine!"

"The hell, bitch; you will listen to what I say! Mind your place!" InuYasha was starting to lose to his beast, his hand post in a threatening manner ready to strike.

Kagome eyes were veiled by her bangs but she did not take her eyes off him. Her reiki bubbled inside her, brought out by the impending danger before her and positioned to fight with and to defend her at any moment. The aura she ebbed out around her, at the beginning of his arrival, began to solidify into a barrier.

"Know my place?" she spoke slowly, it was spoken more as a statement than a question. "I know exactly where my place is!"

Her eyes emerged, from behind her fringes, glow an eerie blue.

"It is obvious that my place is somewhere far away from you because you are a danger to my being!"

As soon as those words left her lips she was on defense as InuYasha attack. Her barrier formed just in time and she was momentarily safe from the hanyou assault. The youkai markings emerged on is cheeks, his fangs elongated and his eyes bloodshot and the ember of his irises was replaced by an abyss-black that glowed with silver light. The moment he made contact with her barrier, shots of electricity rushed through him. The great pain caused him to scream and only served to enrage his beast more. Luckily, before he could retaliate, Kagome said the one word that would keep him from doing anything.

"Osuwari!"

He hit the hard dirt ground with a bang. By this time, the rest of the small group had awoken. They watched on, confused as to what had happened that caused this turn of events.

"Kagome-sama, what happened?" Miroku rubbed his eyes as he looked at her.

'What do you think?' was what she wanted to say; instead she said, "He was being his usual self and I will not take it anymore" she let her gaze turned to the unconscious form of the red clad hanyou for a moment then turned and walked away.

"I'm going for a walk."

She disappeared into the darkness before anyone could stop her.

A White Rose _ A Kiss of Desire