Kagome began to work on studying, idly wondering why her family wasn't home yet as she sat upon the bench. One leg was propped up with the book set out before it and her notebook on her calf as she hunched across it. The other cocked up with her toes on the ground, and her knee nearly meeting it as well. Kuwabara sighed and sat down on the other side of her book looking down at it lazily. "General Science?" he asked curiously.

Kagome nodded. She glanced for a moment at the bloody sleeping fox against her sacred tree, then went back to her question and answer stuff.

"Kurama taught me most of this when I was trying to pass entrance exams. He had some great examples I still remember if you want."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one, figure out how you remember things best. Let me read a section to you out loud, and draw something while I'm reading. Then I'll ask you questions about what we read. Next, I'll have you read yourself, and answer questions. Last, you read out loud. Whichever you remember the best is how you should read your stuff.

Kagome nodded and they began to work together on helping her figure out how to study.

Inuyasha just sighed and leaned against the tree staring at them. Kurama began to rouse after about three hours, but he didn't wake up. He just moved a bit and lounged himself against Inuyasha, resting his head against the demon's shoulder and pressing against his form slightly.

"Kurama?" Inuyasha questioned as he tensed up.

"Sesshomaru," he muttered quietly.

"No, I'm not him." Inuyasha replied. He pushed out his energy a little more making Kuwabara glance over.

With that, Kurama woke up and jumped back some. "How long was I out?"

"About four hours?" Kuwabara glanced at his clock and shrugged. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. When I went back to the past things got very fuzzy, and getting back here, things are also fuzzy. I'm not sure how much I actually remember, and what my brain is just plugging in."

"You agreed to help me in the past," Kagome remarked getting up and going over to him. He winced and leaned against the tree for support as she came close. When she felt his head and checked him over, he relaxed again. "Do you still think it's alright to help me? You don't seem to be feeling too well coming back."

"I think I'll just need a long nap after I come back and I should be okay, especially if someone's here to watch out for me and make sure no one takes me to the hospital or any of that nonsense." Kurama remarked. "Going there I should be okay if I change forms before I go."

"Alright, so it's a plan. You'll still help then?"

Kurama nodded. "What I do remember of the past is that I miss the smell of fresh air, and I'll fight in that any time."

"Kurama, we should get going, it's getting late." Kuwabara requested as he glanced at his watch again. "Give her back the shards and we'll get going." He got up and walked over to the fox holding out his hand.

Kurama shook his head and lay back against the tree again. "I'll stay here with the shards. You go ahead and go Kuwabara. I promise I'll give them back."

Kuwabara sighed and glanced at his watch again before leaving. Kurama pulled himself up and went over to Kagome on the bench sitting down where Kuwabara had been. "I take it you still don't get some of it?" he questioned as he noticed her trying to read the book.

Kagome nodded as Inuyasha made himself comfy near them against the tree to keep an eye on Kagome and Kurama. Kurama began to explain things to the girl before finally getting her set up to work through some problems on her own. At that point, he began to watch Inuyasha.

"What?" Inuyasha questioned as Kurama stared at him openly.

"You smell strongly like your brother." Kurama blushed slightly and dropped his chin alone.

Inuyasha shifted and stared back. "What do you know about Sesshomaru?"

"I know a bit. He is on the second ground of Demon World now." Kurama finally looked away from Inuyasha off down the shrine stairs. "We avoid each other, now." Kurama sighed.

"When did you meet him?" Inuyasha questioned.

"Eh, it was a while ago, maybe 200 years or so."

"Why?"

"Do you really need to know? We don't have contact now."

"Yeah, he's my brother. I need to know."

Kurama sighed and looked up at the stars for a moment. "We met because I did something stupid, and he was quick enough to catch me in the act. I really don't know why he didn't just kill me, but he didn't."

"How come you avoid each other now?"

"I sort of," he frowned and paused, his eyes flicking about upwards. "bolted."

"How come you left?"

"I became restless." Kurama watched Inuyasha with his eyes slightly squinted, and his head tipped, but he didn't actually ask anything.

"So you avoid him 'cuz you ran off?" Inuyasha questioned.

"He would understand it, but I just can't face him again, not after just vanishing on him like that." Kurama shut his eyes and shook his head, before looking back at Kagome's work.

"You sound less like you were just friends, and more like you were partners."

"For a time it wasn't like that, but eventually, yes."

"So why were you laying on him all the time?" The dog questioned with a glare.

"I needed contact. I still do sometimes."

"Why?" Kagome now questioned as she looked between the two of them.

"It's hard to explain Kagome," Kurama shook his head again and tapped her book.

Kagome frowned at him and brushed his hand off her book. "Is it as hard as explaining three worlds?"

Kurama watched her and shrugged, "It's more intimate than that."

"You don't seem like a touchy human," Kagome noticed.

"I can't say I am." Kurama waited, his face scrunching up for a moment before he sighed. "I didn't want to go back to my demon form, ever, but things happen and plans change."

"People change," Inuyasha remarked, glancing at Kagome for a moment. "Do you think I'm still alive here?"

"You're half human?" Kurama questioned again.

Inuyasha just nodded.

"It's hard to say. Most half demons don't live past their shorter life span, if that, and even if you do, it is hard to say that you will stay sane. Demon blood at your time was a strange chemical, and when released in a half human body, it shortens the life span by attacking human organs or functions. The body balances this out by becoming a pure human for a while to recover from the natural drain of the demonic blood. If you were an older breed such as a Mazaku, or two halves demon, then that would not be the case, but since you are half human, you will probably live for about one hundred years or so. You may be able to push two hundred if you are good to your body."

"I'm already sixty five. I was pinned to your tree for fifty years."

"How?"

"A miko's arrow which sealed me to it."

"Ah, those years will not count towards your age, so one hundred fifty, or two hundred fifty, and if you're lucky it actually did seal your demon blood during that time which means you could live for a two hundred life span easier," Kurama remarked. "It's all a gamble though, and you would not be alive now, no matter which happens. That is probably why you are accepted here so easily, that you are dead by now."

"Kurama, help me with this," Kagome summoned pointing to a problem in the book and reading it off. Kurama turned his attention to the work again and began to focus on what he was doing with the girl. As the night drew closer, Kurama tensed up and slipped up into the tree.

"Your family's coming Kagome," Inuyasha remarked as he continued to sit by the tree, but he watched the stairs.

"Where did Kurama go?"

"I guess he doesn't want to be seen," Inuyasha shrugged. "I can't feel him." Still, the dog did know where the fox was, he just wasn't going to make him do something he didn't want to, and it was obvious he didn't want to greet the humans.

"Kagome! Welcome home," Her mother nearly dropped her bags when she came up the stairs she was in such a hurry to go hug her daughter, but she made it, and wrapped her arms tight around the girl. "Oh it is so good to see you again. I wish you would have told us when you were coming home. I could have had dinner made for you and we wouldn't have gone out to the movies tonight."

"No, nonsense Mother, you're a grown woman you can go to the movies." Kagome pulled her baby brother and her grandfather into hugs as well before gathering up her books to head inside. Cheer radiating and welcoming Inuyasha in with them.

When dinner rolled past and Kagome explained everything that had gone on, she glanced around for Kurama again, but Inuyasha just said that he wasn't going to come down to greet them, and they left it at that. Kagome's mother eventually let the two 'go to bed', leaving Inuyasha to rest in Kagome's room like normal, but bringing up a sleeping pad for the dog.

She helped Kagome with her laundry and the two had some time to actually talk together as woman on woman. "So what is it about Kurama that has you so on-edge? You seem to be really concerned about where he is right now."

"Well he has the shards. He promised he wouldn't leave with them, but I'm still getting to know him, and the shards are really important to my mission."

Her mother nodded and considered that for a bit. "I think if he said that he wasn't going to do anything, he won't. You said he was an avatar didn't you?"

Kagome nodded.

"Well that means he was raised just like you were, with two perspectives instead of one, so he has your morals and values, as well as his original set. I think he'll do the right thing." She flicked out a pair of pajamas.

"I think so too, but I'm still worried."

"Why don't you go bring him some dinner then? You know he's outside somewhere, right?"

"I don't know where he is though, he's somewhere on the shrine, that's all I know. He had a way to hide the shards even, so I don't know where he is from the location of the shards."

"That's okay, once you bring out something for him to eat, he should come to you and you can ask him to come inside to rest."

Kagome sighed before shaking her head again, "I think I'll just let him take care of himself. Inuyasha would be more upset with him if he didn't know what was going on. Even if I don't trust Kurama, I trust Inuyasha." She kissed her mom gently on the cheek. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight dear."

Kagome went to bed after that.

The next morning Kagome found the shards right where they were supposed to be, around her neck in their little bottle. Inuyasha sat on her desk watching her with a curious stare as she got up and touched the bottle, smiling. "Did you hear him?" she asked Inuyasha curiously.

"No. He snuck in without me noticing."

Kagome sighed and began to gather up her things for the day. "I have to go to school. Are you going back to the past today? I mean, if they didn't attack me before, they aren't going to attack me now."

Inuyasha nodded, "I'll go back today and tell the others what happened." Inuyasha replied. "When are you coming back?"

"I'll come back in a little over a week? So nine, ten days?" she offered.

Inuyasha gave her an irritated look but nodded. "Fine."

As the days passed, Kagome didn't see hide nor hair of Kurama, but she did see Kuwabara. She called him up a few times to help with her studying realizing how much having the two of them help actually aided her, and by the time her final test was over, and she felt confident she did good. She actually felt decently prepared to study in the past too. She was packing her bags to head back to the past, when she finally realized her error.

Kurama didn't know when she was leaving. Hurrying outside in her teddy bear pajama pants and matching top, much to her family's chagrin, she went up to the tree slightly out of breath from her panic. "Will you please tell Kurama I'm heading back to the futile era really soon? I wanted to go tomorrow but I just realized he doesn't even know anything close to a time span!" she stressed. Staring up at the tree she realized it couldn't actually talk back to her and her mind just fretted about the message getting to him. Hopefully she could trust the tree to tell its master something that important.

"I hear it directly." Kurama replied. He sat up in the tree as Kagome turned away.

"What?" she spun around searching for him. He was in a pair of black slacks with a white button up shirt leaning on a branch crouched down and staring down at her with an admonishing half grin.

"I hear what you say directly." The tree shuttered and bowed a little as he hopped down off of the branches. "I'm just not always paying attention. When you say my name I pay attention."

"You seem much calmer than you normally are," Kagome remarked with a soft smile.

"I can't help it. You look too vulnerable in pink teddy bear pajamas to be crass," Kurama replied giving her a stern look. "I won't be ready to leave by tomorrow. How long will we be gone?"

"I tend to be gone for months at a time, so maybe one or two?" Kagome subconsciously tugged at the bottom of her flannel night outfit.

Kurama's firmness broke and he chuckled turning away from her. "I should be able to get away for a couple months in a day or two, but I can't leave tomorrow."

"Inuyasha will be here to pick me up the day after tomorrow."

He fed some energy to the tree. "Alright. I should be able to get my affairs in order by then. It will be tough so don't count on it one hundred percent, but I'm an overachiever." Kurama turned around and brushed a little bit of Kagome's hair back behind her ear. "You're just too cute in that." He frowned at the girl and shook his head. "Please tell me you wear better pajamas in the past."

Kagome blushed and shook her head. "No."

Kurama sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "Well I'm going home. You get to bed young lady." He tapped her nose.

Kagome chuckled and smiled nodding. "I will. Goodnight Kurama."

"Goodnight Kagome."