Chapter 10: Tactics

Kagome had InuYasha's hand in hers as they headed to her room.

"You're mom seems pretty nice." InuYasha said, which reminded Kagome of when she had said the same.

"Yes, she really likes you for being in my life." Kagome said.

When they made it to her room, Kagome closed the door.

"Uh, Kagome, do you always close..."

Kagome cut him off with a short and gentle kiss.

"What did you do that for?" He asked mindessly, in a daze.

"I think I owe you an apology." Kagome said, and kissed him again.

InuYasha kissed her back, deeply.

Kagome slid her hands between them, undoing the tie around his Kimono, and slid it over and down his shoulders, only to be stopped by another.

"Why do you wear so much?" Kagome complained.

"Kagome, are you sure about this?" InuYasha asked, and Kagome could feel him trembling, trying to resist his own desire that had built up.

Kagome stopped, "I don't know, what are we going to do about the well? Not only that, but, I want to help you kill Naraku, for trying to break us apart." Kagome said.

"Leave that to me." InuYasha said.

"No, I want to help. I'm not just going to let you take him out on your own. Maybe then, we can be more peaceful." Kagome said.

InuYasha sighed, "I don't want to put your life in danger like that. I have to protect you."

"So do I." Kagome said, "You can't always protect me when you can't protect yourself."

"We'll talk more about this tomorrow, now get some sleep." InuYasha said, leading her to the bed.

Kagome laid down, with InuYasha at her side.

She put an arm around him, enjoying his scent back with her. "Inuyasha."

"Hmm?"

"If we kill Naraku, and if we seal the well, will you stay here with me?" Kagome asked.

"Ok, first... Enough with the if, we will take down Naraku, and second, I will always stay with you, no matter where we go. I don't know about you, but, you're my mate, how could I stay away from you?"

"I love you InuYasha. I always will." Kagome smiled up at him.

InuYasha smiled, "As will I."

Kagome curled into him, and his arm went around her, and she slept.

"Morning Kagome, ready to get started?" InuYasha asked.

"Yeah, let me take a shower first." Kagome said as she sat up from the bed.

"Can I join you?" He asked.

Kagome laughed and hit his shoulder, "No."

"Ok, then. I will wait for you at the shrine." InuYasha said, stopping Kagome from walking, and kissed her.

This kiss left Kagome breathless and her mind fogged.

After about 20 minutes, Kagome was out of the shower, and dressed.

She looked down at her extra sharpened nails, that hadn't been shortened since the day she met InuYasha.

They were a couple inches loner than InuYasha's, which to his opinion, was good.

When Kagome reached the well, finding InuYasha, she sighed, "I want you to teach me to fight."

"What?" He asked bewildered.

"I'm not going to the other era just to kill Naraku. I need to learn." Kagome said.

"I...Don't want to hurt you." He said.

"If you do, I will understand. I can't fight and come back clean, I know that. Will you teach me?" Kagome asked.

InuYasha stared at her for a few minutes, "Ok, come on."

Kagome took InuYasha's hand and they both jumped into the well, the long distant fall, crossing them over.

As they stood in the fields, in broad daylight, it was silent.

Kagome could tell InuYasha was hesitant about fighting her to teach her to fight, considering what they had just been through.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" InuYasha asked again.

Kagome looked at him, "Should I go find Sesshomaru and see if he is willing to challenge?"

"No. Of course not...Ok, first, you know how to use your claws right?" InuYasha asked.

"Kind of. I know it can cut through things. That's why I keep them shortened, because I didn't want to accidentally scratch my family or something." Kagome said.

"Well, here, your claws are about your only defense weapon. Ok...Scratch me." InuYasha said simply.

Kagome stared at him in complete shock, "What? Are you crazy?! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"You said you wanted to learn. Use your tactics that you know on me." He said.

Kagome felt tears form. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You won't." InuYasha said.

Kagome took a deep breath, when a new idea came to her.

She left InuYasha's side, and ran for the trees.

She found a thick oak tree, and stretched her claws, and with all her strength, ran her claws along the tree.

The scratch mark went into the tree about a foot.

Just that, already had her breathing hard.

"There, that's my nail strength." Kagome said to InuYasha who was now at her side.

"Impressive. But we aren't going to be able to just practice on trees, if we are going to fight a demon, you need to learn to fight and defentd yourself." InuYasha said.

Kagome took a deep breath, "Ok, what do I do?"

"Well, I know we both don't want to do this, but we need to practice against each other." InuYasha said.

Kagome was quiet.

"If you are ready. You start." InuYasha said.

Kagome studied InuYasha closely, for a weakness to go for, but, there wasn't any, InuYasha was demon at heart, he probably knew every move.

Well, she had to try. She quickly and blindly slashed out at him.

Her wrist was caught by InuYasha's hand, "Good, but next time, open your eyes."

InuYasha tightened his grip on her wrist, almost making it hurt, but Kagome slashed out with her other hand, which distracted InuYasha and her arm was free.

Kagome inwardly smiled, she could handle this.

Now it was InuYasha's turn, as he slashed out to her, Kagome bent backwards, his claws barely swooshing past her left shoulder.

To regain balance, she leapt back a few feet away from him.

Now wasn't time for romance, right now, InuYasha was her enemy.

InuYasha still felt hesitant, which gave Kagome the upper hand, which she charged at him, and for protection, he leapt at her, his claws sparked a golden color, and prepared to slice her.

Now it was Kagome's turn, she quickly found the right time, and was able to take a tight hold of his wrist, and when he continued to pass her, his wrist was bent back.

THey both landed, and InuYasha turned to her, trying to unbend his wrist, but Kagome still had a tight grip on it.

InuYasha attempted to scratch at her with his other hand, but Kaogme managed to stop that hand as well.

Her opponent was utterly defenseless now.

Kagome lowered her arms, and smirked at InuYasha.

Maybe he wasn't so defenseless.

He still had his chance to take her off her balance.

"Uh-Uh." Kagome warned as he prepared to trip her.

Kagome closed the distance between them, still having a tight grip on his wrist, "You may be my opponent, but I really don't want to do something I might regret."

Now, it was InuYasha's chance to smirk at her, suddenly, his wrists were free, and the position switched, except one of InuYasha's hands were holding both of her wrists while one was at her throat.

"That makes you weak Kagome. Never let your enemy have a chance to outtake you." InuYasha whispered in her ear from behind her.

Kagome stood still, her breaths coming out quick and short, at the new position, that if a real enemy were to do this, she would be killed in an instant.

InuYasha kept her there for a good five minutes, before he let her go.

"I'm sure we'll learn a lot more tactics on the way. Naraku won't be the only demon we run into." InuYasha said.

Kagome nodded.

"Sorry if I hurt you." He said.

"Same here." Kagome siad.

"How did you learn to fight?" Kagome asked.

InuYasha had a pain in his eyes, "It wasn't...Easy.

"How did you learn?" Kagome asked.

"I pretty much learned it all when I was five." InuYasha said.

"When you were five?!" Kagome asked shocked.

"Yeah, it was two years after I lost my mother. I left the village we lived in. Worst mistake of my life. I was a target for everything, demon hunters...But more than anything, other demons." InuYasha said.

"What did they do?" Kagome asked.

"They tried to kill me. It's a demon eat demon world out here. Or at least that's the way it was for young demons. Over time, I learned to accept my demon powers, and used them against my enemies. I've done things in the past that I'm not proud of, but, I was protecting myself. I managed to find Kaede's village one night that I was human. Even today, she's the only one who understands me." InuYasha said.

Kagome walked up to him, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I wish you could have a life in my era."

"I've only known about the demon world. You are very lucky." He said.

"That makes me sound like a selfish and bad person." Kagome said.

"You're not," InuYasha shook his head, "You are the most...Beautiful demon I've ever met. Honest."

Kagome smiled, "Well so are you, considering that..."

"Well look who's back!" A voice cut her off.

Kagome and InuYasha snapped their attention to the voice.

"Kouga." They said together, both in different tones.

"I just saw you beating up on mutt-face here, couldn't help but to stop by." Kouga said.

"I wasn't. We were just practicing." Kagome said.

"Well, you can come practice on me any time." Kouga said and Kagome knew he wasn't talking about the same thing she was.

"What are you really doing here, Kouga." InuYasha asked.

"I came to visit my new girl." Kouga said.

"I'm not your girl!"

"SHe's not your girl!"

Inuyasha and Kagome said together.

"Hmm, well, if he isn't enough for you, look me up." Kouga said, and was gone in a flash.

"Ok, I don't like him." Kagome said.

"Good. He is the last person I want to see you around with." InuYasha said.

"Jealous much?" Kagome smiled up to him.

"Very jealous. It's all a part that comes with the mating package." He said, and kissed her.

"Rule number one, you can't be seen with any other male." He whispered against her lips.

"As long as you don't go off with some other woman." Kagome said, running her hands through his hair.

"Like I'd find someone as pretty, and lovely like you." He said, and stopped her from saying anything else, bye kissing her...Deeply.

Kagome knew nothing would break them apart, she was meant for this, she was meant to meet him.

InuYasha's arms wrapped securely around her, keeping her pressed against him.

"I think we should spend the night at Kaede's village tonight." Kagome said.

"Yeah." He agreed.

InuYasha took her hand, leading the way towards the village.

"This practice took longer than I thought." Kagome said.

"And you did well." Inuyasha complimented.

Kagome smiled.

After about 10 minutes, they made it to the village.

"Look here, Kaede, Kagome decided to come back." InuYasha said.

"My, welcome back Kagome. Did you sort out the misunderstanding with InuYasha?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, and now we're resting up so we can go kill the bastard." Kagome said.

"That is good. Naraku has been an influence on this village since day one. Should I come?" Kaede asked.

"No." Kagome said before InuYasha, "No need pressuring you. Leave it to us."

"Ok then, I wish both of you the best of luck." Kaede said.

"Come on Kagome." InuYasha said, pulling on her hand.

Soon, they were in Inuyasha's hut.

Kagome laid down on the bed, and her muscles relaxed, but ached badly. "Ow, you must have worked me like a dog."

InuYasha chuckled and laid beside her.

"So, how are we going to find Naraku?" Kagome asked.

"We head east tomorrow." InuYasha said.

"That wasn't fast." Kagome mumbled as she was slipping more and more into sleep.

"I've had his scent for a while now. I just wanted to be with you more." InuYasha said.

"Mm-hmm." Kagome wanted to say more, but she was already lost in sleep.

It was ok, because the adventure that lied ahead of them... She was going to need all the sleep she can get...

A/N: Ok, here's the next chapter.

Um, I am not really proud of myself on the beginning and ending of this chapter.

It may take me a while to update again. I have EOC testing going on for the rest of this week for me, and I'll be exhausted.

Well, leave some reviews!

I will update when I can!
~Wolflover235