Chapter 8

"Are we there yet?" Kagome asked for what had to be the fifteenth time.

"Kagome," Inuyasha groaned from the back seat. "If you ask that one more time, I'm going to knock you out. Didn't we bring your overnight bag? Where's your DS?"

"DS?" Sesshoumaru asked, pronouncing each letter like he'd never heard it before.

"Yeah, her Nintendo Ds, kagome is like a three year old, she has to be entertained in car rides longer than five minutes or she gets antsy."

"Hey!" Kagome protested, "We've been in the car for at least ten hours, I think being antsy is normal."

"Yes, but I don't hear Inuyasha asking if we're there every ten minutes."

"That's because Yasha has the patience of a saint, whereas I," Kagome pointed dramatically to herself. "I have no patience."

"Obviously," the boys sigh in unison. "So if I get you one of these portable gaming machines, you'll shut up for a few hours?" Sesshoumaru asked hopefully.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." kagome huffed.

"Which means yes," Inuyasha pointed out helpfully.

"We're going to stop for the night soon, I'll find a game store and buy you one."

Kagome squealed in delight, doing what was most likely a happy dance. "If," Aiden pointed at her. "You hush for an hour. No asking where we are of if we're where we're going. We're not. Not even close." Kagome nodded excitedly.

"No problem."

Only fifteen minutes went by before Kagome asked a question. Luckily for her, it was not that question.

"So when does this training start? I admit I'm a bit excited."

"You shouldn't be. It's not going to be fun."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Well aren't you a ball of sunshine."

"it's true. I'm going to push you until I think that you can take whatever these guys have to throw at you. You're a cheerleader, right?"

Kagome was startled by what seemed like a dramatic change in subject. "Yes."

"That's good. You'll be flexible and fast on your feet, which will work to your advantage. Walking on your hands can only be an asset too, and being able to balance well is great. All of these things combined with what I'll teach you will help you become lethal to a sorcerer."

"Like a ninja assassin?" Inuyasha asked from the back. "Because I've heard her say that she would love to be a real life ninja assassin. So she shouldn't complain during your lessons."

"Oh I'm going to complain. I'm a humongous complainer over here."

"No shit?" Sesshoumaru asked sarcastically, "I never would have guessed."

"But I'll still do it all." Kagome finished with a glare.

Inuyasha went to sleep shortly after, and Kagome turned to Sesshoumaru with a flirty grin.

"So am I forgiven now?"

"For what?"

"The debit card fiasco."

Sesshoumaru chuckled quietly. "You're forgiven. But come on, I know you watch tv."

"Not much actually. Between cheer, school, my friends, and preparing for college I really don't have a lot of time for it. Although I guess I'll have time to catch up on that now."

"Not so much. You can replace school with training, you still have your friends, and you should get to know the community when we get there."

"You can help with that, right?"

Sesshoumaru was silent. Truth was that he hadn't planned on staying with the shifters. There were too many questions there. Too much loneliness. But he didn't want to tell that to Kagome. He didn't want to tell her that the other shifters were wary of him because his best and only friend was a sorcerer. He didn't want her to know that the other shifters avoided the two of them and at times, refused even to speak to him when he was around. She was like light, everyone would be drawn to her, and despite his impressive lineage, and he was like a bad smell.

Everyone wanted to be rid of him.

Sango hit her back again and rolled up onto her shoulders, hopping to her feet quickly.

"Better. Much better." The queen stated from her spot on the throne. Sango fought not to roll her eyes. Elizabeth insisted on watching Sango's training sessions. She also insisted on Souta and Miroku watching as well. It wasn't her idea of a good day, a guy who was practically her brother and a guy who was definitely not her brother watching her get her ass kicked.

"You're doing great Sango. Kick her ass!"

That was laughable. Sango hadn't even managed to land a single punch or kick on this woman. It was like she was a battle robot or something. So weird. She didn't even talk. She just kicked Sango ass.

After getting knocked on her back for a seventh time, something inside of Sango snapped and from deep inside of her something shifted. A moment later, a huge black lion, larger even than the queen, tackled the woman and growled in her face.

"And that's exactly what I was looking for," Elizabeth gloated with a smirk.

And as Sango climbed off of her trainer, Miroku swore that he saw a wolfy smirk. He was grinning hugely.

"Magnificent isn't she?" he asked out loud to nobody in particular. Unfortunately for him, Souta was in earshot and looked at him quizzically.

"Sango?" He looked at her, tilting his head to the side. He tried to see what Miroku was obviously seeing, but all he saw was his sister's best friend, a girl he'd known since her first pair of high heels when they were six. She was practically his sister herself. "I guess," was all he could say in response.

Miroku didn't seem to hear him, so caught up in watching Sango. Even in her wolf form she was beautiful. Her coat, thick and as dark as her hair, like the midnight sky. He wanted to run his fingers through it. He could see her muscles flexing and relaxing with every movement and he envied the very breeze that wafted around her. She made him want to stop flirting, made him want to recite bad poetry with metaphors about night skies and he was well and truly screwed.

"You know that she and Inuyasha went to prom together, right?" Souta asked, interrupting Miroku's musings.

"Yes," he responded through clenched teeth. "Your point?"

"Well, I don't know if Sango likes Inuyasha that way, but I do know that he really likes her, and if you're just messing with her head, he'll be in line right behind me to kick your ass."

Miroku laughed hoarsely. If only things were that simple. "You sure she couldn't do it herself?" He asked instead of voicing his thoughts.

Souta stared at him with a hard look in his eyes until Miroku sighed. "Look, this is really embarrassing for me, so all I'm going to tell you is that she makes me want to write poetry." He looked Souta in the eyes and Souta could see the panic in his eyes as he said, "I don't write poetry. Don't even read it. But just looking at her makes me want to do both. Take that as you will." And he stood up, headed back to his rooms. Souta watched after him with a tilt to his head, a curious look on his face, wondering if anyone would ever make him feel that way.