Kikyo groaned after another straight hour of seeing nothing but trees. "Just fucking admit it Tomoe, we're fucking lost and you have no fucking idea where the fuck we are," Kikyo growled. It has been days since they left the terminal midget and clown to go through the storm. Since then, it felt like they had been wandering in circles in the forest they had landed in.

"Okay, A, I'm the one that gets to say fuck every other word, not you. Don't take my thing. And B, we are not lost, we are investigating new territories. I can get us back, but it's kind of the point to wander around looking at things in an attempt to figure out just what—"

"You have no fucking clue where we are." The first thing she did before was find people and steal their information, but this time they've just been wandering around the woods. She rolled her eyes, but halted. There was a person! On the other end of the field near the river! "I'm gonna go ask that guy." Kikyo pointed to a man that was standing near the river's edge several hundred feet away. Maybe he could tell them where to get to a town or some real food! If she had to each one more mushroom, someone was going to die.

"Kikyo wait! We don't just walk up to strangers and— and she's gone. Dammit, Kikyo!"

"Oi, you dumbass with the bedhead!" she shouted at a man in kill-me orange with spiky black hair. "Where the fuck are we?"

"Huh?" He cocked his head like a stupid dog.

"God dammit, Kikyo! You can't just go up to random fucking strangers and ask random questions! What if he's a S Rank rogue?"

"…and you didn't notice him before if he was? And what the fuck kind of ninja wears orange?" She gestured to the confused man.

"You'd be surprised." Tomoe held up her finger. "And I'm not saying he is, I'm just saying he could be."

"Then why is he standing out here in the open?"

"I'm fishing!" He added in a bubbly tone, apparently not minding the two people arguing in his midst.

Both Tomoe and Kikyo turned to look at him, almost seeming as if they'd forgotten the subject of their argument was actually still there. They blinked at him. "So he's definitely not a ninja," Kikyo announced.

"Either that or he's a fucking good one. I'm going with not though."

"D-daddy?" a quiet voice asked from around the man's leg. A little boy with dark eyes and black hair cocked his head at the women. "Wh-what are those words? F—f—"

"No kid," Tomoe interrupted, wagging her finger at the small child that look startled at the interruption. "Those are adult words. Kids can't say them."

His eyes turned to Kikyo and he blinked several times before tilting his head a little like a puppy. "Are you a little grown-up?"

"Fuck yeah," she answered smugly.

"No, she just likes to pretend," Tomoe answered.

"Fuck you Tomoe." She scowled.

"Daddy, what does that word mean?" He tugged on the pants leg and glanced up at the man.

"Kikyo if you fucking say that fucking word one more time I'm going to smack you into next week."

"I'd like to see you fucking try!"

Tomoe's eyebrow twitched and many tick marks appeared on her head. Kikyo took a back stance, ready to wreck her shit when it came. The jonin raised her fist, but the orange man with the terrible hair stopped her, putting her in a Full Nelson.

Instep, nose, and groin. She then swung around and knocked the poor dumbass through several trees. Oh, that stupid dumbass, now his kid is an orphan.

"D—daddy?" The kid sniffled and tears ran down his face. Oh fucking yay, now he was crying.

"Oh shit! Tomoe! Fix it!" She pointed.

"Your dad's fine, kid," she scoffed. "…I think."

"Great, now we have another orphan in our troop."

"The fuck makes you think we're keeping it?"

"Well you did kinda killed its dad."

"So? When you kill a parent, you don't adopt the child. That's suicidal. Besides—"

"And yet you took me."

"Oi! I ain't the one that killed them, you little bitch. And besides, as I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted," Kikyo flipped her off, "his dad's not dead. I may not be sure about fine, but he's definitely alive."

And that was the moment the orange dumbass returned, dusting himself off as he approached. He didn't have so much as a scratch. "Haha, you hit kinda hard! I haven't been hit like that in a while! We should spar sometime!"

Tomoe seemed unable to find words. Finally, "The fuck are you?" came out.

"Maybe you're just not as strong as you thought," Kikyo teased smugly. The jonin backhanded her charge before the dumbass could stop her. "OW! You bitch!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out. Be glad you're still injured or I'd have hit you harder."

"Bitch," Kikyo muttered, a sour look on her face.

"Hehe, you guys are funny. Do you wanna come eat dinner with us?"

"No."

"Sure."

"Tomoe~!"

"We are on a fact-finding mission Kikyo. And we haven't eaten today. Two birds, one stone."

"Tomoe~ can't we just kill the fucking bird and eat it~?"

"It's a metaphor, dumbass."

Kikyo's eyebrow twitched. "I know it's a fucking metaphor asshole! I just don't want to go to this dumbass's stupid fucking backwoods shack to eat god only knows what!" She wanted food, but not that badly!

The odd man blinked several more times, unsure of how to respond to the insults. "But… my wife is cooking and we got the fish."

"You see," Tomoe gestured. "Doesn't that sound nice?"

"… No." She took it back. Mushrooms sounded fine.

"Too fucking bad Kikyo, we're going to have lunch—"

"At the house of some weirdo that you bitch slapped into next week and he is not only unscathed but weirdly okay with it."

"…Okay, so he's a fucking moron. That doesn't mean we can't eat his food." She paused. "And just so you know, that bitch slap into next week… I totally pulled that punch."

"Uh-huh, sure you did." Kikyo rolled her eyes.

"I did you little bitch!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"You fucking little bitch! You totally stole my damn line!"

"Uh…" The man held his hand up and both women spun on him.

"WHAT?!"

"Well… I was just going to say we should hurry so lunch doesn't get cold. My wife would be really mad if that happened. Hehe." He scratched the back of his head.

"Fine, let's go." Tomoe gestured for him to lead.

"No way! I don't want to!"

"Kikyo, you're going even if I have to drag you by the hair on your fucking head."

"You wouldn't dare!"

Several minutes later they were coming upon the guy's house.

"DAMMIT TOMOE! LET GO OF MY FUCKING HAIR!"

"We're home!" the man called to the house.

"Okay, I guess I can let go now." The older woman released Kikyo's messy mane. The girl jerked away and rubbed her head. Stupid fucking Tomoe, she'd better watch her fucking back.

"Mommy!" the little boy called in the house.

"Chichi! We have guests!"

"Coming!" a female voice called from inside the little house. A woman with black hair pulled back and wearing a cheongsam stepped out of the front door. She stared at the duo for a second. "Hello, who are your new friends?"

The man opened his mouth to answer, but froze. He turned his head to Tomoe and Kikyo. "Oh, sorry, I forgot to ask your names." He scratched the back of his head.

"Goku!" the woman screeched. "That's so rude!"

"To be fair we didn't ask their names either, although I really didn't care to begin with," Kikyo muttered.

"Hello, I am Tadashi Tomoe. And this," She bowed politely and forced Kikyo's head down with her hand, "is my niece, Kikyo." Stupid fucking Tomoe. "Say hello Kikyo."

"Hello Kikyo." There was a fist to the smart ass's skull.

The little boy apparently found that funny. Kikyo spun on him. "You want one to match?!" He froze and hid behind his father, tears brimming in his eyes. "I thought so, you little pussy." She smirked.

"Kikyo!" Tomoe shouted, but before her fist could find the girl's head again something very hard found it first. The dark-haired woman was over the child with a… frying pan? Where the fuck did that come from?!

"Oi! I'm the only one that gets to fucking—" Clang. "OW! What the fuck is—" Clang. "You fucking bitch!" Clang!

Judging by the way Tomoe's hands were balling into fists, the lady was about to get it good.

"DON'T YOU DARE USE THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE AROUND MY SON! AND I AM AMAZED KIKYO'S PARENTS ALLOW YOU ANYWHERE NEAR HER WITH THAT MOUTH OF YOURS! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED, TEACHING HER THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE!"

"Yeah, Tomoe, you should be ashamed," Kikyo teased.

"Oi! You and I both know your dad is the one that taught you those words! I did teach you a few, but Ryunashi is the one responsible for the language!"

Clang! "Don't make excuses! And why do you even have this girl? Where are her parents?"

"Last I checked? Their ashes were in an urn somewhere about a thousand miles back," Tomoe snarked.

The woman blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I being too subtle? Her parents, my parents, my cousins, our entire family is dead. Well, except Bakuryuu and his runts, but that's a whole 'nother story." She waved it off. "Oh, and Kikyo's sister, the one that killed them all."

The woman's mouth fell open.

"Wow Tomoe, just wow." The girl was completely stunned. "Should we really count Oji?"

"Well he is technically a Tadashi." She waved it off. "Count him, don't count him, I don't give a shit."

Clang!

"Bitch!"

Clang!

Before either woman could say another word, the orange man interrupted. "Uh, Chichi? Isn't lunch getting cold?" He held his hand up at the snarling woman with the deadly kitchen utensil.

The woman straightened her back. "Goku, honestly, where did you even find these two? They are so ill mannered."

"Oi!" Tomoe pointed at her. "I have manners! … I just prefer not to use them."

"Me too!" Kikyo added.

"Stay out of this."

"Hell no!"

Clang

"Shit!"

Clang

"Now," Chichi twirled her frying pan of doom. "Will you two behave yourselves long enough for a meal?" She asked both kunoichi whose heads were full of bumps from the blows of the blunt object.

"… I hate you right now, Lady." Kikyo glared.

"My name is Chichi."

"Whatever, better be some damn good food."

Clang-clang

"Oi! Why'd you hit me?!" Tomoe whined. "I didn't say anything!"

"It's your fault she knows the words."

"I told you, it's not! Ryunashi is the one that taught her the words! I just taught her to use them appropriately. Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to meet the brat before I did."

"Um…" Kill-Me Orange asked. "Lunch?" His stomach growled loudly.

"Oh honestly Goku, you and your stomach." Chichi shook her head and pushed out the dents in her frying pan with her hand… wait, what? What the fuck was wrong with this family? "Come on in then," she huffed.

"Okay, I've got Chichi and Goku, what's the brat's name?" Tomoe indicated to the kid.

"I'm Son Gohan." The kid bowed.

"Okay see, that clears everything up," Tomoe said as they all entered the quaint little house and sat at the table.

"So," Goku said with his mouth full of food. "What are you two doing wandering around Mount Paozu?"

"Mount Paozu? I've never heard of that before."

"We're a way from West City," Chichi added. "You two must be awfully lost."

"Yes-no." the girls said at once.

"No, we're just out traveling and training." Tomoe gave Kikyo one of her 'you better shut the fuck up right now' looks.

"Training? That sounds like fun! We've got to have a sparring match after lunch!" Goku smiled. "It's been a while and I can't wait to loosen up!"

"Fine, but don't get Gohan involved. You know how I feel about him and martial arts." Chichi waved her fork at her husband.

"Don't worry, we wouldn't dream of involving your son." Tomoe waved at her. Kikyo wasn't paying much attention, she was too busy wondering where Goku was putting all of his food. One second it was there… and the next it was gone! Where the fuck did it go?! She watched as the man shoveled ridiculously large quantities of food into his mouth and never once choked.

"Hey," The little boy had chosen to sit next to Kikyo and was tugging on her sleeve. "Do you want to play after lunch? I have dinosaurs." He smiled an impossibly wide grin at her.

"Why would I do that?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Because the grown-ups are going to be doing grown-up things so I thought we could play."

"I don't play with toys," she stated blandly.

"Oh, that's okay!" The smile never left his face. "We can go outside and play hide and seek!"

Her eyebrow twitched. What was wrong with this kid? Didn't he get that she didn't want him near her?

"No."

"Sorry, kid, but I figure Kikyo will probably want to watch knowing her."

"Damn straight!"

Clang!

"Tsk tsk," Tomoe clicked her tongue and shook her head, face amused. "Such language, Kikyo."

"Fuck you."

Clang!

"Dammit!"

Clang!

Tomoe snickered. She was promptly smacked upside the head for it. "Hey! No fair!"

"Serves you right!"

"Brat," the woman growled. "Just wait until our next training session, we'll see who's laughing then."

"I'm so scared~."

"You should be." Her eyes moved to Goku's rapidly vanishing food and she whistled. "He eats like Hotaru and I didn't think anyone could match that appetite."

Goku let out a loud belch. The kunoichi turned to see what food that was on the table completely gone. "Wow! That was good! Let's go spar now!"

"Okay, A, dude you ate my food. And B, why didn't you h—" Chichi's frying pan of doom came down on his head. "Oh, never mind. We're cool." She gave Chichi a thumbs up.

"Oh Daddy," Gohan shook his head. "Why can't he learn that bad manners at the table is detrimental to his health?"

Kikyo looked to the kid who couldn't even see over the table without a booster seat. "How old are you kid?"

He blinked before holding up three fingers proudly. "I'm this many!" He grinned.

Both kunoichi stared at him as though he were a strange creature they had never encountered before.

Chichi stood behind him. "You use your words, not your fingers Gohan." She scolded.

"Sorry Mommy, I'm three." He still held the fingers up but said the words as well.

"Okay that one's cute." Tomoe smiled.

"I'm going to be an orthopedist!"

Kikyo blinked. What the fuck was he? Apparently an orthopedist, whatever the fuck that was.

"You know kid, from what I've seen so far an orthopedist might be a bit under your skill set." Tomoe had a sweat drop.

"Can we go already?" Kikyo asked.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Goku jumped up. "Come on, I know a great place to spar!"

"Be careful! And be back before dark!" Chichi called from the door.

"Kikyo-san? Can we play when you and Tomoe-san get back?" The boy gave her a pathetic looking puppy dog face. Oh, that little bastard. That's a dirty fucking trick.

"He—"

"Sure she will kid!" Tomoe smiled and drug the younger kunoichi away.

"The hell Tomoe?!" Kikyo snarled as they walked through the woods. "Don't fucking sign me up for stupid shit like that!"

"Hey, I am your guardian and therefore I shall do whatever the fuck I want with you because I am your boss. Besides, you could clearly use a positive influence."

"Like hell I do!"

"I think some interaction with another little person will be good for you."

"I've had social interaction! Remember! We traveled around with that kid Law and Corazon for like two months!"

"… I don't think he counts."

"Why the hell not! We were clos-ish in age, we discussed things!"

"You plotted ways to destroy the world."

"…That's still discussing things! And don't act like you didn't correct us on some of our methods!"

"I'm just saying that playing with the kid won't kill you." No, but it might kill him.

"Sorry," Goku laughed from ahead of them. "Gohan gets a little bored sometimes. There aren't any kids this far out so I guess he's excited to have someone his age to play with."

"I AM NOT HIS FUCKING AGE!"

"Maybe not," Tomoe whistled. "but he's still smarter than you."

"HE IS NOT!"

"Okay, then what's an orthopedist?"

"… A foot doctor."

"Oh, so close, but so far away."

"What is an orth—that thing. Chichi and Gohan told me but I forgot, hehe!"

"… How do you function?" Kikyo asked.

Tomoe sighed and rubbed her temples. "An orthopedist is a doctor specializing in the correction of deformities or functional impairments of the skeletal system, especially the extremities and the spine, as well as associated structures like muscles and ligaments."

"…huh?" Goku asked cluelessly.

"A bone doctor," the jonin sighed. "An orthopedist is a bone doctor."

"Oh! Okay!"

"All right, let's get this spar started before I start banging my head against a tree due to sheer stupidity."

"I didn't think you were that stupid, Tomoe," Goku responded, blinking.

Kikyo burst out laughing so hard she hit the ground. She was promptly kicked in the stomach so hard she flew to the other side of the clearing. Still worth it.

"It wasn't my stupidity I was talking about." Tomoe ground her teeth. She got into her fighting stance. "Get ready, because I'm about to really knock you into next week." She smirked.

Goku's goofy appearance melted away and an aura of confidence radiated off of the man. "Okay, this is going to be fun, I can just tell. But I'm warning you now." He got into his own stance. It seems so open, yet at the same time he didn't look vulnerable at all. "I'm not very good at holding back."

"Good, me neither." She allowed Goku to charge first and dodged his attack. He swung around with his foot, Tomoe blocked but the impact looked very hard and she skidded backwards quite a ways.

The kunoichi shook the pain from her arms and quickly followed with her own attacks. They flew by so quickly that Kikyo couldn't even follow them with her eyes, but somehow Goku seemed to be able to just fine. Was this goofy dumbass really this strong?

Their motions were just a blur for the longest time until they separated. Goku was breathing a little hard at that point. "Man! You're really strong! I'm going to need to take off my weighted gear just to keep up!"

"Your what?" The man removed his sweatbands, shoes, and his undershirt. All of said items hit the ground with a loud crunch causing little cracks in the earth beneath them. "Whoa-ly shit." Kikyo blinked. He was wearing that the entire time?! He was strong!

Tomoe looked from the cracked ground to Goku and back before lifting her hand as if she were going to say something devastating. "I have an important question for you."

The man blinked. "You do? What?"

"Do you know a man named Might Gai?"

Who?

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

"…just asking. Let's get back to the fight." By this point they both sped up expediently and Kikyo could only catch glimpses of them every so often.

"I thought you said you didn't know how to hold back?" Goku grinned as he wiped a little blood off his chin.

"I lied, be glad I can or you'd be dead." Tomoe scoffed.

"You sound awful confident there." Goku smirked.

"I am, in fact I'm still holding back."

"What?!" Goku looked like a kicked puppy. "You're still holding back?" He pouted. "Okay fine then, I have a few tricks up my own sleeve." He grinned mischievously. "Ka-me-ha-me—"

"What the hell kind of jutsu is—"

"HAAA!" A ray of blue and white light shot straight out of his palms.

"Whoa-ly shit!" Kikyo's jaw dropped at the power.

For only a split second Tomoe looked like she was calculating the amount of shit she was in before she remembered 'oh yeah, I can fucking dodge' and was able to move out of the way of the mysterious light as it plowed through the forest and possibly destroyed a mountain off in the distance.

"What the hell kind of jutsu is that?!" Tomoe snarled at the man.

Goku's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "You can't use ki?! I am so sorry! You're so strong that-that I just assumed and-and… I am so sorry!" He bowed.

Kikyo's eyes were wide. How did he do that!? And more importantly… could she do that?! "That was awesome! Me next!" Kikyo waved her arm back and forth. "He's teaching me that whether he wants to or not!"

"Hush child. I need my answers first." Tomoe held her finger up to shush the girl. "Now, what in the fucking hell is ki?" She directed her attention back at Goku who was still muttering apologies.

"Oh…" He paused. "It's life energy that's in everything. I was trained to bring it out as a weapon."

"So… chakra?"

"… What's chakra?"

"Chakra is the mixture of…" She paused. "It's a special kind of life energy that can be used in several different ways."

"What kind of ways?" He cocked his head.

"You know, like gen, nin, and taijutsu." Kikyo put her hands on her hips.

"What's that?"

"Uh… well, genjutsu is—"

"Kikyo, you're going to waste your breath on this." Tomoe placed her hand on her shoulder. "It's best to show him. Go on, show him a henge or something."

Kikyo scowled. "I hate that jutsu."

"I know."

"Ugh, fine whatever." The girl brought the hand sign together. "Henge!" A cloud of smoke appeared and when it cleared a perfect copy of Tomoe stood where Kikyo once was. "Look at me, I'm Tomoe~ I think I'm so smart, but I'm really just a dumbass~" Kikyo stuck her tongue out and pulled down her eyelid. She was rewarded for her henge by a fist to the head, forcing the jutsu to come to an end. "Ow! Take a damn joke why don't you?!" Kikyo rubbed the back of her skull.

"Wow! There were two of you!" Goku clapped. "Ki can't do anything like that though. It's mostly light energy that just causes physical damage to the other person."

"Physical damage? You think it's a type of chakra nature?" Kikyo asked.

Tomoe cocked her head. "I don't think so, it didn't even really look like chakra."

"Let me try it!" Kikyo waved her hand back and forth.

"Kikyo, I don't think this is something that we can just learn." Tomoe scolded.

"How do you know?" the girl asked.

"Because if it's not chakra then it's a different kind of energy. A kind we may not possess."

"But…" She frowned. If it came from inside the body then it had to generate from the same basic kind of energy as chakra, right?

"Okay." Apparently Goku wasn't paying attention to Tomoe at all. "What you got to do. You gotta get into this stance here." He spread his legs into a horse stance. "And then you got to pull the energy from inside to the outside."

"Okay." Kikyo nodded and mimicked him.

"Is anyone listening to me?! Oh, just fuck you both. Just don't come crying to me when you can't do it Kikyo."

"Uh-huh." The kunoichi wasn't paying attention, but instead was watching Goku's instruction.

"Okay, now you need to gather it all up together here in the palm of your hands. Be sure to control it or else it will blow up in your face. Once that's done you push it out with all your might." A glowing orb had formed in his hands and he sent the blast out into the woods. Man, if she didn't get it soon there may not be a forest left afterwards.

"Okay." Kikyo nodded. Tomoe had moved and was leaning against a tree.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this." She sighed.

Kikyo pushed her weight into her back leg to steady herself as she pushed her energy outward. It felt weird doing it with chakra so she separated it into the two different types of energy it was comprised of. That felt much more natural for what the goofball was instructing her to do. She could feel heat gathering in her palms before she pushed her hand out and a white light beam shot straight out and set a line of trees on fire.

"Dammit! It didn't make a shape like yours!" She stomped her foot… Wait… she did it! Kind of, but still! "Tomoe! Tomoe! Did you see it?!"

The older kunoichi's jaw dropped to the ground. "How the-what-h-how the fuck did you do that?!" she shrieked.

"Haha! You're a natural!" Goku laughed. "My best friend couldn't form ki that quickly!"

"You hear that Tomoe? I'm a natural!" She held her head high. "Show me more!" She couldn't remember the last time she felt this excited about something. She could do this thing that Tomoe had never even heard of! It was powerful and even better, it didn't irritate her scar!

"You really wanna learn more?" Goku beamed, but the smile faltered as he spied the setting sun. "But the sun is setting, Chichi will be mad if I'm not home by dark."

Kikyo's mood dropped in an instant. "Well, can't you teach me tomorrow or something?" This would be better than wondering around in the woods at least.

He cocked his head and thought about it. "The thing is though, this kind of training can take a while and it's not exactly easy. It can put a huge strain on the human body."

"I can do it!" This was something new, something powerful. No one else in the Elemental Nations could do something like this! Kikyo had to learn how to use ki! Even just one more lesson could give her the upper hand!

"Eh-hem." The clearing of the throat made Kikyo freeze. Shit, she forgot about Tomoe. "Don't you think someone else should be involved in this decision?" She crossed her arms.

"Oh come on Tomoe, this could be great!" Kikyo tried to appeal to the adult. "Just one more lesson tomorrow? I learn something new and you don't have to deal with me for a while! See? Everyone wins!"

"No, everyone does not win. For one, you are my responsibility and we know next to nothing about this man. For two, you are a Tadashi and should therefore learn from a Tadashi. And for three, that moron there is bound to get tired of your little bitchiness as only a master of bitch can really tolerate it indefinitely. Unless of course he has no brain cells at all. Which is debatable."

"He may not have any brain cells but you did see what he can do right?" She pointed to the destruction. "Think of the opportunities this could hold for me!"

"Opportunities? If I let you learn this, you could destroy the village." She gave her a bland look.

"Or I could protect it," Kikyo argued back seriously.

Tomoe sighed and looked like she was thinking it over.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. "Please Tomoe!" She clapped her hands together.

Tomoe sighed and rubbed her temples. "Tch, we can stay for a few days so I can gather some information. For now, that's all I'm promising."

"Hahaha, this is great! I haven't had a training partner in forever!" Goku cheered as they walked back.

"Not a training partner, Idiot. You'll be teaching me that ki stuff so I'm not a training partner—"

"You're a student," he said with a smile.

"Student?"

"Yeah, isn't that what you call someone who learns under someone else?" His grin widened.

"I guess but—" He didn't look like the 'teacher' type. Granted, neither did Tomoe.

"Does that mean you're gonna be my student? That's so cool, I've never had a student before!"

"Gee, that's a fucking surprise," Tomoe mumbled.

"Careful~" Kikyo waved her finger. "We're close and we don't know how well Chichi's hearing is~"

Tomoe froze and quickly scanned for the other dark haired woman. "Ha! She's not even here!"

"Who's not here?" a female voice asked suddenly, making all three of them jump. Chichi looked at them with a confused expression while Gohan sat on her hip.

"Well sh—oot, you sure you haven't had any ninja training, Chichi?" Tomoe asked.

"Yes I'm sure. What are you two doing back here?" she asked.

"Eh, got caught up in conversation."

"Chichi, guess what?" Goku said like an excited child. "Kikyo's gonna be my student! Isn't that exciting?"

She blinked several times in surprise while Tomoe yelled at him. "I told you we'd stick around for a couple of days! I never said anything about her really being your student!"

"Don't I get a say in this?!" She marched over to her husband.

"I—well—of course Chichi!" he nervously said.

"Goku, I thought you were going to stop fighting after Piccolo. You have a family now and I don't want you gone all hours of the day fighting." She gave him a pleading look.

"He won't Chichi," Tomoe interrupted. "If we decide to stay for a little while, Kikyo has assignments to make sure her school work doesn't fall behind and we have our own daily training sessions to go through."

"Assignments?" Her face brightened up significantly. "I'm so glad you're taking her schooling seriously, Tomoe." She smiled. "So, we'll see the two of you tomorrow?"

"I guess so."

"Where are you two staying at? Do you have some land around here? A house near the mountain?"

"Actually if it's fine with the two of you we'll just camp out near the river over there." Tomoe pointed.

"What?! No! No-no-no! How could I sleep knowing a young woman and a little girl are sleeping outside on the cold, hard ground?" Chichi waved her arms.

Kikyo raised her hand. "To be fair, I prefer trees."

"I actually do too," Tomoe agreed.

"Come on, come on. You two are welcome in our home."

"No, that's fine, Chichi." Tomoe waved. "We're more than fine out here, it's kind of comfortable."

"Don't be silly!" Chichi practically pushed the two into the quaint little house.

"What's so wrong with us sleeping outside? You don't even have enough room here to house us."

"We'll make room."

"But I—"

"You're staying. End of discussion."

"No! There's no way we're staying!"

Twenty minutes and one hell of an argument later, Tomoe scowled at Kikyo, tossing her a scroll. "Get changed, you're sleeping in the armchair, I got the couch." And that was that.