Kagome stepped out on a balcony and looked up to the sky, pondering her future. She slowly began to move her ears, learning different ways to twist and turn them in order to hear better, how to flatten them against her skull when she was displeased, etc. She held her claws up and looked at them for the second or third time, wondering whether or not she would have the same strengths as Inu Yasha and if it would be worth her while to learn to fight with her new claws. She knew that when the day came to fight Naraku, she would remove the Shikon shard from her chest and become human once more. So, if she was going to be human when it really mattered, did she need to learn to fight as she was? Wouldn’t she always be near Sesshoumaru enough that he would be able to defend her?

He didn’t when she last needed him to… but he could not have helped that. She was fortunate that Kikyo happened to be there in her time of need. Kagome’s thoughts were interrupted as she heard a light knock on her door. Her ears twirled around instinctively as she listened for a voice.

"Woman, are you awake?"

Kagome nodded, even though she knew it would do her no good as she ran to open the door. She looked up at Sesshoumaru, her eyes wide with surprise as he held a bow and a quiver of arrows in his hand. Her ears flattened against her skull in instinctive passiveness as he thrust the weapon into her hands and gestured for her to follow him. "We’re going to do this… in the dark?"

Sesshoumaru lowered his eyelids in annoyance. "No, I just decided we were going to have tea at this late hour and discuss the elegance of this bow."

Kagome chuckled as she caught the hint of sarcasm in his voice, though she had never dreamed that he would have had a sense of humor. Her hanyou eyes were quick to adjust when she stepped out into the dark hall and followed Sesshoumaru to the stairs. Rather than to walk down the steps, he merely jumped over the rail and seemed to float down the floor. He looked back to Kagome, whom was staring over the rail, confused. "Woman, jump. You, even though a hanyou now, should be able to land just fine."

Kagome swallowed as she threw the bow over her shoulder, securing it next to the quiver of arrows that she had already strapped to her shoulder. "What I if don’t land right?"

Sesshoumaru glared at Kagome impatiently as he stepped out of the way. "Then it’ll take another three days before we are able to get anything done."

Kagome gritted her teeth as she threw herself over the rail. [When I break my leg, I’ll make sure that he never hears the end of it!] Then, much to her surprise, instinct took over control of the rest of her as she noticed that her legs and arms were moving—moving to land without injury. She landed, though on all fours, looking much like Inu Yasha does when he kneels on the ground to smell for something.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the girl before he turned around and continued into another hall, only saying, "Pathetic. I figured you could have done better."

Kagome jumped to her feet, enraged. She ran after Sesshoumaru, but noticed that the more quickly she moved to follow him, the more quickly he moved to get away. She understood, though, after a few moment’s chase that he was testing her once again when he glanced back at her, a taunting grin on his face. [That bastard… heh, he thinks this is fun! I’m dead-tired, and he’s pushing my strength!]

Sesshoumaru stopped as he pushed his way through a door. He waited patiently as Kagome caught up to him before saying, "Okay, now you have to try to hit me with one of those. When you can do that, you’ll be ready."

"But… won’t that hurt you?"

Sesshoumaru smirked, still surprised by her concern—especially that she didn’t want to hurt him. "Then watch where you aim."

Kagome nodded as she pulled the bow from over her shoulder and then knocked an arrow. She pulled back on the string, noting that the draw was much heavier on this bow than the one she was accustomed to using. She looked back to where Sesshoumaru had been and, seeing as he no longer stood there, moved steadily through the area searching for him. She finally caught sight of him, made aim and released the string. With a vibrant ~ ping ~, the arrow flew, landing faithfully where she had aimed, but still had missed Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru smirked as he looked at the arrow that was deep in the tree that had been behind him. "Is that really the best you can do? Really, I expected—"

Sesshoumaru leapt into the air as he heard the swish of a second arrow fly towards him. He narrowed his golden eyes as he looked back at the woman, her features illuminated by the soft moonlight. "You’re smarter than I thought you were, woman."

Kagome let a third arrow fly as she heard his words. "Call me Kagome, Kana, whatever—just DON’T call me ‘Woman’."

Sesshoumaru scoffed as he caught the arrow between his index and middle fingers. "You, hanyou though you are now, presume to tell I, Sesshoumaru, what to do?"

"Someone needs to. Though you do have the strength to back it up, you are far too arrogant for your own good."

Sesshoumaru snickered in the shadows as he heard Kagome’s words. [She doesn’t seem to realize how arrogant she is by saying that…]

Kagome squinted in a desperate attempt to see Sesshoumaru, wherever he was in the shadows. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated to aim, just a few feet above Sesshoumaru. She let the arrow fly, waiting to hear his mocking laugh at her pathetic attempt, but rather, she heard the sound of the arrow hitting flesh. Panicked, she ran to where Sesshoumaru was, only to find a rather annoyed taiyokai glaring at her.

Sesshoumaru growled as he worked the arrow out of what had been left of his left arm. "Woman… I don’t know what fluke it was that allowed this to happen, but you aren’t finished. I’m still sure that you need more practice… I was at too close of a range."

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Kikyo snickered as she watched Kagome and Sesshoumaru from a distance. [That man—he is Inu Yasha’s brother… He is the one to save Kagome, and now he is making her practice her archery… He’s smart, but he’s also playing with fire… he could be burned a lot more than he was tonight…]

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Sango slowly opened her eyes as she felt the morning sun warm her eyelids. She slowly pulled Miroku’s arm from around her shoulder and then stood to stretch her tired muscles. She stepped out of the hut and saw Inu Yasha walking back into the village from wherever he had slept that night. She noted that he did not look the least bit morose about what had transpired—almost like he did not know that it had happened. She felt a rage build in the back of her throat as she stared at him, her fists clenched. She looked away from him, determined not to allow her emotions to get the better of her common sense, her bangs shadowing her features.

Inu Yasha stared at Sango for a moment and then shook his head. He placed his hand on her shoulder and brought her chin up, to face him, with the other. "I know this is really hard, but I don’t like it any more than you do. Naraku is probably relying on us having a low morale—he will likely attack us sometime soon. We have to be ready for that, and moping around thinking about Kagome isn’t going to help."

Tears burned in Sango’s eyes as she looked into Inu Yasha’s amber depths. "How can you say that? She loved you! How can you be so blasé?"

Inu Yasha took in a deep breath as he looked at Sango. "Don’t say anything about this to anyone yet…" He hesitated, looking around for others as he lowered his voice to a whisper, "but she isn’t dead. It’ll be a while, but we’ll see her again."

Sango’s jaw dropped, agape. "Inu Yasha… this isn’t funny… this isn’t the time for games and lies."

"That’s what I said when I heard… but I found her scent last night… I know where she is, or at least I think I do, and I know she’s safe."

Sango nodded slowly, gladly accepting the news. "Thank you… for telling me, that is."

Inu Yasha grinned as he looked back to the hut. "Yes, but don’t say anything to anyone else… I think Miroku has managed not to think about it—he isn’t taking it as rough as you. Shippo’s just a kid, but I think he’ll be fine too. I’m wondering if we should leave him here, though, when we continue our search for the jewel."

Sango drew in a deep breath as she glanced back at the hut. "Yes… Usually Kagome protects him, and if she isn’t here, we might have a hard time fighting if we have to worry about him."

Inu Yasha chuckled as he looked back at Sango. "Yeah, and she wouldn’t forgive us if anything ever happened to that boy… I want to work through and get the rest of the jewel shards as quickly as possible… I want to see her again, the sooner, the better."

Sango smiled as she looked back towards Inu Yasha. "I’m just glad… that she’s safe."

Something sparkled in Inu Yasha’s eye as his amber gaze met Sango’s chocolate orbs. "Me too."

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. KYAA!!! That last line makes it look like I’m making an Inu/Sango out of this! ^_^;; That’s not my intention at all… nope, I’ve got plans for Inu-chan.