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Kagome ran behind Shippo, keeping pace with the agile kitsune by sheer force of will. She could feel the pressure building in her chest but ignored it. She knew her body was ten times more capable than her lungs and that knowledge drove her crazy.
"Kagome! Enough!" Miroku called behind her.
She paused to catch her breath before turning to him with a sunny smile. "What's the matter Miro-kun? Can't keep up?"
"I'm sorry guys!" Shippo skipped back to them. "Sometimes I forget that humans are slow."
"Hey!" Kagome flipped him the finger. "I'm not slow! You're just stupidly fast!"
"Pssh, you think I'm fast you should see Sesshoumaru-sama move… oh wait I guess you already did." He snorted a laugh. "I think that that was the fastest I've EVER seen him move. Or rather, didn't see."
"Yes… why exactly did he leave the classroom that first day? Kagome has been vague on the details." Miroku asked as they started walking again.
"Er… he has a history with reiki users, I mean, you guys are studying all this and he's mentioned more than once in the required texts."
Kagome stopped and stared. "He's in the history books? That's kinda… creepy."
Shippo stopped too. "Oh? Do older men bother you Kagome-chan?"
"Older men yeah, older taiyoukai are different though."
"Oh really?" He got a sly look in his eye and threaded his arm through hers. "Are you free this weekend?"
"Oh no you don't." Kagome unthreaded herself. "I don't care how old you really are, you make me feel like a pedophile."
"From what we know of taiyoukai, it takes them five years to be able to achieve human form." Miroku said with a smile.
"Then they age at a human rate until they reach a point of maturity where they're able to fend for themselves—usually about fifteen." Kagome continued.
"Then their age rate slows dramatically, usually about one human year for every fifty to a hundred years." Miroku finished. "Considering that you appear to be in your late teens I'd estimate that you're anywhere from one hundred to six hundred years old."
"But still too young for you?" Shippo asked Kagome mournfully.
"Call me in about a thousand years." She laughingly responded.
"The really interesting one is Professor Saiga." Miroku mused as they walked along the sidewalk. "He appears to be anywhere from his mid to late twenties and taiyoukai royalty age at two hundred years per human year so…"
"Sesshoumaru-sama is nine hundred and twenty years old." Shippo announced with great authority.
"Putting him at a human equivalent of… twenty four." Kagome rolled her eyes. "Damn you pretty taiyoukai and your eternal youth. In nine hundred years I'll be nothing but dirt."
"I wouldn't count on it Kagome-chan." Shippo grinned mischievously. "Life's got a funny way of surprising you when least expect it."
Miroku nodded soberly as he expertly avoided a glob of bubble gum on the sidewalk. "That's true Shippo but that sword cuts both ways. And untimely death is a much more frequent guest than eternal youth."
Shippo looked at him with narrowed eyes, he knew the houshi well enough to know that he didn't speak without a reason.
"Hey Miro-kun isn't that where you take bojutsu?" Kagome asked, looking at the one-story red building.
Shippo skipped in front of them, sweeping his arm out to encompass the building behind him. "Here we are!"
"My stalker's in there?" Kagome raised an eyebrow.
"The person whose youki was left on the bouquets you have been receiving is just beyond those doors." Shippo answered evasively.
Kagome didn't notice, she was already slamming open the door and storming inside. She paused only to remove her shoes before marching up the office where she could sense the presence of very familiar youki.
"YOU!" She pointed an accusing finger at the silver-haired individual at the desk.
Dog-like ears swiveled to her in surprise before he raised widened gold eyes to her sparking blue ones. He leapt to his feet as recognition dawned on his face but a wave of her reiki made him stumble back into his chair.
"SIT." She commanded and towered over him with her hands on her hips. "EXPLAIN."
In the background Shippo was in silent fits of laughter at the expression on the stunned hanyou's face.
"I… uh… crap." He tugged absent-mindedly on one fuzzy ear and Kagome's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"Cut that out!" She glared at the offending appendage. "You will NOT distract me with your adorable ears and you WILL explain why the HELL you have been stalking me!"
"You are so dead runt." He growled to the giggling kitsune behind Kagome's back.
Kagome whirled at his words, her laser-like glare landing on Shippo, who immediately quieted guiltily. "You know this guy?"
"Yeah. Kagome Higurashi meet Inuyasha Saiga. Uncle Inuyasha, this is Kagome."
"Uncle?" Kagome looked at Inuyasha, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. "SAIGA?"
"Uh… yeah?" Inuyasha frowned at her. "Somethin wrong with that?"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FAMILY?" Kagome threw her hands in the air. "Is CRAZY hereditary or something?"
"Hey now-" He pushed to stand but another wave of reiki slammed him back into his seat.
"I said SIT." She growled. "STAY."
"Now hold on-"
"EXPLAIN YOURSELF." Kagome demanded, arms crossed.
"Aw man…" He ran a hand through his long hair and huffed a sigh. "Look it wasn't supposed to be creepy or nuthin I just…"
"Decided to take up stalking as a hobby?" She arched an eyebrow at him.
"No!" He held up his hands defensively. "I… I didn't want to say anything." He looked to Shippo helplessly but when the kit shrugged and Kagome growled his attention snapped back to her. "I didn't want to say anything to you until you graduated! I know how much work it is to get a doctorate and I didn't want to get in the way!"
"That's… actually kinda thoughtful." Kagome's anger seemed to bleed from her. "Why didn't you just wait until I graduated to tell me?"
"And risk you gettin snatched up by some other guy?" He smiled hesitantly at her. "I just wanted to let you know that someone was interested without it gettin complicated."
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Epic fail."
"Tell me about it."
"Well… what about the tie? And the handkerchief?" She looked like she was trying to find her anger again and Inuyasha quickly intercepted.
"Do I really look like the kinda guy who wears a tie or carries a handkerchief?" He gestured at his simple instructor's gi.
"I guess not… maybe I just forgot that somebody gave them to me at the bar or something." She bit her thumbnail in thought.
Miroku was looking back and forth between Kagome and Inuyasha as something seemed to dawn on his face and he tugged Shippo out of earshot before whispering in his ear. "Is it by any chance against school policy for a professor to be involved with a student?"