Chapter 39

After leaving the battlefield, Moroha falls asleep on her father's back as he carries her home in a leisurely pace. Kagome smiles, "Looks like that fight took a toll on her." She comments as she pets her daughter's head. Inuyasha chuckles. "No doubt about it. I have to admit that really was difficult for me to get her to transform back than I thought." He agrees with her.

It doesn't take them that long to get home. Knowing that Moroha needs to get a lot of rest, they head upstairs to Moroha's bedroom. Kagome pulls the comforter out of the way as Inuyasha maneuvers his hold on Moroha into his arms and places her into her bed. Kagome smiles as she decides to leave her in her current clothes and her hair up. She places the comforter up to Moroha's neck.

Kagome leans down and kisses her daughter on her forehead. Inuyasha follows the example. "Good night. Moroha." Kagome said first. "We love you. We're so proud of you." Inuyasha adds his own. Kagome walks out of the bedroom with Inuyasha turning the light out and closes the bedroom door quietly, not to wake her up.

The following day, Moroha moans. She flutters her eyes to find herself in her bedroom. 'They must've taken me home.' She thought to herself as she gets out of her bed but feels very tired still. Realizing she's still in her clothes the day before, she decides to change into a pair of grey sweatpants and a peach-colored short sleeved t-shirt. She pulls the ribbon out of her hair to come it out and put it into a low ponytail with a hair tie.

Moroha comes out of the bedroom. Even though that battle at the school was intense, she believes that going to the basement to recovery her fatigue body. She thought that the best way to get that worn out was by doing a more intense workout than she's used too.

"Moroha, can you come in here?" Kagome asks her after seeing her coming from the stairs. "In a second, mom. I feel I need to workout." Moroha is about to get downstairs to the basement, but Inuyasha was already at the top of the stairs to prevent her from doing just that.

"When your mother wants to see you, you do as she says." He tells her serious. Moorha can tell right off the bat that is a more important time than just her workout clothes. She nods and goes back into the living room where Kagome is waiting for her and Inuyasha patiently.

Kagome smiles warmly as she pats the empty couch spot for Moroha to sit next to her. "Is something wrong?" Moroha asks her as she takes her seat with Inuyasha on the other side of the couch.

"No. not at all. Your father and I are proud of you and the twins for completing the mission." Kagome begins. Moroha somehow doesn't really feel that optimistic. "But something's wrong for sure ever since we defeat the tree that plagued the school."

Inuyasha grabs hold of her shoulder. "I know you're concerned for the school and the students. But they're just fine. Even though the threat is gone, they won't know a thing about it."

Moroha doesn't seem convinced. "Back then the tree's pedals were the root to erase the memories of those events. And since the tree is gone, that won't work anymore." She counters.

"Yes we know for sure you want to be certain about the aftermath. But don't let that bother you. We just got the word from the headmistress about it. She told us that if you and the twins want to remain in the Sakura Hills, you can. It's up to you if you want to stay or go back to your old school." Kagome smiles throughout the conversation.

Moroha looks down a little. "So I get to pick which school I want to attend?" She looks at both of them. They just nod. Moroha stands up. "I'll let you know by tomorrow." She excuses herself and goes downstairs. Her parents can tell that she has a lot on her mind at the moment.

With the basement door closed, Kagome slightly frowns. "Do you think we were too hasty to let her know about that?" Inuyasha scoots over and wraps his arm around Kagome's shoulder. "Hard to say to be honest. I think that battle made her rethink about her abilities and doubts. She's just trying to get some steam out of her in the gym."

"What do you mean by that?" Kagome turns her sight to him. Inuyasha narrows his golden eyes. "I know for sure that battle was going to be difficult on her because of the tree's influence on the school. You saw how Moroha was getting a bit out of her character as the mission resumed. She wanted to focus so much that it may have backfired on her doubts to see rather or not she'd be able to complete it."

"So, it might have a been a psychological test. We know how Moroha gets when she's upset about that. She let her ego get the better of her. As such the tree was transforming her to test that on you who is more mature and calmer to handle it." Kagome points out.

Inuyasha nods. "Yeah. Anyone with demon blood don't like to be provoked. Any shape or form, even I had to remain calm unless it was going to be a whole different scenario. Dad knew for sure that my personality wasn't going to do that, so he made sure he had Totosai to create Tetsusaiga to keep my demonic half in check."

"And since Moroha was in that scene, Totosai had to do the same for Moroha's sake." Kagome leans onto his side. Inuyasha kisses her head. "And now, we need to let her know that she cannot go on a rampage like that again. For now, let her sort out her feeling about the choice."

Moroha does her stretches before going to the dumbbells rack. Instead of the usual weight she's used to so much, she decides to do the weights that Inuyasha uses. She takes the pair out of the rack and begins her intense training.

"What are you doing, Moroha?" Inuyasha asks her curiously. He spots that she's using instead of the regular weights.

"I'm building up my strength." Moroha responds back without looking at him.

Inuyasha is in his gym attire. Before Moroha lifts her left arm to pull up the dumbbell, Inuyasha snatches it away.

"Hey, I'm using that." Moroha cries out she tries to get it back from him.

"Moroha, you're still worn out from that battle yesterday. It's important to rest to restore your strength." He wisely tells her as he grabs the other dumbbell and puts them back onto the rack.

"Oh please, I'm fully capable to get back into shape." Moroha whines as she crosses her arms with a pouted look.

"Physically, yes. Mentally, no. Moroha for what you went through was meant to make you think you had the mission under control, but the truth is that the tree was the one that made you think differently. The twins informed me about your confrontation with a girl at a club and that is unacceptable. Do you have any idea that made them feel?"

Moroha growls in her own shame. "I had to do it in order to get the information. It was never my intention to do so willingly."

Inuyasha groans as he gets onto the mat. Moroha follows him. "Let's see if you can focus on your combat." He said to her in a stern voice. Moroha gets into a fighting stance. After a few failed attempts, Inuyasha was easily dodging every single move she threw at him.

"Moroha, you're not focusing straight. You're holding back." Inuyasha said as he does his own moves to get her. But he never really hurts her. Even sparring with his daughter, he doesn't do that. He uses his defensive moves to pin her down.

"Really, Moroha. Is this what you usually do? You're way more aggressive than this." He tells her. That alone was enough to get Moroha fired up and get herself out of Inuyasha's grasp. She flips onto her hands and onto her feet.

"You should know that while you were transformed, you became a more difficult opponent for me to get you back to normal. So tell me this Moroha, who was it that snapped you out of it? And you better tell me that it wasn't really me who did it." Inuyasha keeps his moves to pin her down again, but she is able to make sure that he doesn't get her.

"It was your father. He was the one who did it. Not you." Moroha shouts at him. Inuyasha doesn't looked surprised at the least. But that made Moroha curious, even though she's keeping her guard in case of a sneak attack.

"I had a feeling that someone stronger than me would be able to pull it off. Sesshomaru was there but he felt that he wasn't needed. As such your grandfather was able to enter your mind and do the job." Inuyasha said to her.

Just hearing that made Moroha drop to her knees. She just bangs her fist onto the mat as hard as she could. Inuyasha can tell that she's very angry and upset. He kneels down to one knee close to her.

"So I'm just a failure after all." She mumbles. Inuyasha sighs. "No. not at all Moroha. We know for sure that if it was a mistake, we need to fix it. Even if we don't realize it in time. I sure had my own mistakes when I joined the force. But I made sure I get them sorted out." He takes hold of her shoulder.

Little does he know that Moroha grins and takes his hand that was holding her shoulder and flips him sideway and holds onto his wrists. "Now who's the failure now? You should've seen that coming." She smirks at him.

"Ok, you made your point. That's why I had to get you to feel vulnerable until you had an opening to counter. From now on Moroha, never. I repeat never feel that way. Failure. Nor doubtful about yourself. We're done for today. Let's go upstairs. Your mother is worried about you anyway." Inuyasha said to her with a smile of his own.