"Speaking"
'Thoughts'

Chapter 15
Perky Lessons

As Naruto worked on closing camp the others sat back talking or observing the others. Sai whom was silent up until now, spent his time watching the interactions between Kagome and the others, he also made note of Gaara and his silent attention. Sai found all the different mating rituals being used to capture Kagome's attention interesting. He could plainly see the interest the other males had, but not one of them was being direct. They were pussy footing around the fact that they wanted to mate her. Looking at Kagome's body Sai decided that he would like to mate her too. "Good Morning Kagome," he said when he approached her.

Kagome was sitting on a log talking to Neji quietly. "Hello Sai, good morning to you as well," Kagome said with a pleasant smile as she looked up at the male who sat down on the other side of her.

"You are looking especially perky this morning." Sai said with his emotionless black eyes and a creepy smile. His hands moved toward the part of her that he thought was 'especially perky' and was distracted enough to not see her flying hand.

Kagome gasped in feminine outrage, "PERVERT!" she shouted as her hand flew towards his cheek.

The force of the slap sent him backwards off the log as a dark aura descended upon the camp. Sai realized too late that he might have come on a bit too strong.

Before Kagome could do any more than slap Sai another took to kicking him while he was down. "Teme, how dare you talk to Kagome like that?!" Naruto shouted in anger as he delivered another kick to the creepy ninja Sai.

"Naruto, thank you for..uh… protecting my honor, but I think that is enough." Kagome said moving to stand beside Naruto as he delivered his retribution for the slight.

Naruto stopped kicking Sai, "he always says inappropriate things; I don't think he can help himself." Naruto said with a sneer at the downed ninja. No one noticed the sand particles moving away from Sai as he was now able to get up.

"That was very disrespectful and not youthful at all." Lee said shaking his head with disappointment.

"I'm sure it won't happen again, besides Kakashi is our resident pervert and we do not need another; am I clear Sai." Kagome said crossing her arms over her chest as she glares at the now standing ninja.

"Hey!" Kakashi protests, his hands rose in the air innocently. "I would not have said anything like that!" he exclaims insulted.

Kagome smiles sweetly, "Of course not Kakashi, I meant only your proclivity towards dirty romance books. I'm just glad you're not toting around the Kama Sutra. Your perverseness would be a lot less tolerable if you were."

"Kama Sutra?" Kakashi asked his tone curious.

"Seriously?" Kagome was shocked. That book was even around in the feudal era. "Never mind," Kagome responded heat rising in her face at the idea of explaining that one.

Naruto, who had just finished closing down the camp; noticed Kagome flush. A mischievous smile graced his lips 'ah, a little payback' he thought with a twinkle in his eye. "Ne Kagome, What's the Kama Sutra?" he asked feigned innocence in his voice. He watched with satisfaction as she turned tomato red and her eyes widened dramatically.

Kagome spluttered with embarrassment, knowing his student Kakashi stayed silent while internally laughing with his mask covering the smile he was unable to hide otherwise. No way in hell was she going there. "Let's move out." She said turning her back on the questions and began walking again.

Neji caught up to her, wanting to keep his place beside her. "Don't mind Naruto, he likes to tease." He said softly as a way to start a conversation.

Kagome laughed, "No, I think he just likes making me blush as a revenge for this morning. It's a very kitsune thing to do." This line of thinking gave her an idea, a way to pass time as they traveled. Trusting Neji to warn her about walking into trees she turned towards the rest of her group. "Okay, we will call this type of lesson Demon 101. There are literally a demon version of every animal and element on this Earth. Each demon species has their own rules and codes. Instincts of each species can vary per topic, so if any of you have questions about a particular species of demon let hear them."

"I wouldn't mind hearing everything you know about dog demons." Kiba said starting the rounds of questions. Kagome went on to explain each strength and weakness a dog demon has and the best tactics to use when facing one.

Demon 101 continued throughout the day as they walked until they made camp. Without any instruction from her, everyone got to work setting up camp for the night. Once the food was cooked and eaten Kagome called Lee and Hinata to her for their special training.

Hinata followed Kagome into the forest without protest each excited to continue where they left off. Both Lee and Hinata had been practicing the exercise all day, hoping to be able to move on the next thing. Hinata and Lee both sat down knees only inches from touching and began to meditate. It only took 30 minutes of this before a blue light strongly surrounded Lee and a light pink energy surrounded Hinata.

"Remember this feeling," Kagome began once it was clear they had accomplished their task. "It is the feeling of your power surging through your system. Next you want to tame it. Next you want to image gathering your energy up into a ball, round, smooth, and perfectly symmetrical. Make sure you do this to all, but a small portion. This is your reserve, never use this energy or it will kill you. To drain your-self completely is to die. Once you completed gathering the energy, and leaving a reserve behind; turn your ball into something you can use like yarn, string, or wire. The next part is difficult, so do it carefully. You want to take this yarn, string or wire and connect it to your palm and imagine tacking it there. You want to make sure when you bring your object to your palm that use connect it in such a way that if you pulled on it, it moves. Take that object and connect it to your other palm, then legs and feet. You want your energy to pretty much look like a stick figure. If you do this correctly you should be able to expel small amounts of Ki from your palms. This is an exercise you should do every day; it keeps your energy under control. The more you use it, the more you make. Your Holy Ki is like a muscle the more you call on it the larger your reserve becomes. When you are both able to expel your energy from your palms we can begin on training how to use it as a weapon tomorrow. Practicing this technique will cause you to be tired, so go to bed after you achieved today's goal." Kagome erected a barrier before leaving her students to practice in privacy. She wanted a bath.

Because of Kagome's cleaning habits the group only makes camp near water, she liked to bath every day. She was excited for today's bath because they found a natural hot springs.