Disclaimer: I do not own any of the plot or characters in InuYasha

I don't know when or how often I'll be updating. It's just a little story I'm doing in my free time. Please feel free to comment but constructive criticism only, please. If you don't like it then feel free to not read it.

6

The rest of the week went by quickly for Kagome. She would start her mornings early with Kaede, making progress with her spiritual side. By the third day she was able to hold any size barrier with no problem while Shippo, Sango and Miroku would test the strength of it with their own skills. The hanyou was scarce around the village, and Miroku speculated that he was probably somewhere in InuYasha's forest. Though the group had encountered no need to contain InuYasha while Kagome was training, the miko still put up a barrier for the duration of the lesson.

After her lessons with Kaede, Kagome would attend the self-defense lessons in her own era. The pace of the class was intense, as though Ai was trying to train soldiers instead of normal girls. They began learning actual defensive forms during the second class, but still spent a large amount of time strengthening their bodies. Ai's strict demeanor did not change, nor did she seem to have any reservations about scolding or barking orders at them. The most praise the girls received from their tough instructor was a nod of approval when they did a form correctly.

Strangely, Ai seemed to push Kagome the hardest. To her, Kagome never ran hard enough, never hit hard enough, and never moved fast enough. Despite Kagome's near perfect form, she never received more than a blink in her direction to indicate she was doing well. Kagome's frustrations grew throughout the week but she refused to let them show in front of the rest of the girls, or her instructor.

Her frustrations with Ai did not hinder her progress in her other tasks. After her self-defense class, Kagome would return home to shower and meditate. Now that she was practicing with her spiritual side, Kagome found that she had a much easier time of meditating. She would no longer get fidgety after short periods of time or feel the need to look around. In fact, she found that if she focused on her awareness of both her body and her surroundings that she could sense the energy in everything around her. She felt the slow, calm energy of the old Goshinboku tree in her yard, the high, excited energy levels of the mice and squirrels, and so much more.

The meditation also helped to calm and focus her thoughts for each task. Because of this, she was already caught up to where her classmates would be in their lessons by the fourth day. It helped that she would spend the majority of her day working on classwork after her morning exercises were complete. Her grandfather, the only other person home during the day and maybe the biggest supporter of her continued education, was careful not to disturb her. She found that without distractions such as her friends trying to get her to date Hojo all the time, she made very quick progress with her schoolwork. As much as she loved the girls, it was difficult to focus on more important things when they were in her face all the time. Kagome also liked the fact that she was able to see how much work she had left until the end of the semester, and work ahead if she finished before the time was up. In a classroom setting, she would have had to work at the pace of her classmates and teacher.

Before her mother and brother came home, Kagome would prepare dinner for the family. It was the least she could do after everything her mom had done for her. It also gave Kagome the opportunity to improve her cooking skills. With all the time she spent in the Feudal Era, she did not spend time learning those kinds of skills from her mom like other girls her age. While each dinner was far from gourmet, Kagome worked hard to make sure it was edible and learn from each mistake she made. Over just four days, she was able to master cooking rice and curry. Though it may seem like a simple meal to cook, Kagome's determination to teach herself made the task more difficult.

The young miko had made more progress than she could have hoped by the end of the week. Being able to focus on the tasks she desired and not being dragged back to the Feudal Era did wonders for her progress. She was able to create strong barriers and many shapes with her spiritual energy, fend off a surprise attack, cook not just an edible, but a tasty dinner, and meditate for hours without stopping. She was also ahead in her classes, which shocked her since she had started out so behind.

By the time Friday came along, Kagome was in high spirits. She was looking forward to the weekend, when she would allow herself a small break. She was sore in places she didn't know could get sore and exhausted in both mind and body. But that didn't stop her from throwing herself into her work.

Being that she was not a strong miko herself, and had no higher-level training, Kaede had taught the young miko almost everything she could. The majority of Friday's lesson was practicing what she had learned with distractions, such as facing multiple opponents in the form of her friends. During these sessions, she was not allowed to use a constant barrier. Kaede wanted her to practice making small, focused barriers so that she wouldn't need to expend too much energy keeping a constant barrier up during a battle. This also gave her an opportunity to practice some of her self-defense and combine it with using her barriers during battle.

Kaede clapped her hands to get everyone's attention as Kagome threw up a small barrier to her left and kicked out at Miroku in front of her. Panting lightly, she grinned at Miroku and turned toward the older woman as Shippo, Kirara, and Sango joined them. Kaede regarded the young miko with a pleased look.

"I have taught ye almost all that I can, child. This old woman is surprised and pleased with how quickly ye were able to master these skills." Kagome smiled and dipped her head in acknowledgement of the praise. "Do not mistake me, ye still have much to learn. Ye will have to look elsewhere to further your skills, these were just the basics. But ye are more than capable of defending yourself now, so long as ye do not happen upon a demon such as Naraku." Kaede looked upon the group affectionately. "I am proud of ye, all of ye. This has been a difficult week but ye have handled it well."

The group murmured their thanks to the older woman. A movement caught Kagome's attention and she glanced over to the trees. A flash of red was all she saw before it disappeared from sight. Frowning lightly, she returned her gaze to the older woman. He still doesn't have the guts to face me, huh? I guess I shouldn't complain, I don't really want to see him either. Clearing her throat, she turned to Sango. "Hey Sango, since we finished early today, will you spar with me? We haven't since we got back to Edo and I'd like to get back into that."

Sango didn't hesitate to agree and the others moved out of the way to give them space. Without giving Kagome time to prepare, Sango rushed at the girl. The miko was forced to react instinctually to block the slayer's blows, relying on both her previous lessons from Sango and her self-defense lessons. Though they were more defensive than offensive, Kagome was able to hold her own by merging the knowledge she had gained from both Ai and Sango.

The fight went on for a good fifteen minutes, with Kagome mostly on the defensive. She was able to get a couple of good jabs in at Sango, but would always be immediately forced back to defense. Miroku, Kaede, Shippo, and Kirara looked on with interest as the girls went at it. They were forced to keep moving back as the girls fought, since the girls kept coming closer and closer, not paying any mind to their spectators.

Kagome blocked a swipe to her side and whipped around to kick at Sango's knees when she found herself kicking empty air. Losing her balance, she crouched low to the ground and immediately found herself with an arm around her neck and Sango pressed against her back. Neither girl moved for a few heartbeats, panting heavily before Sango released Kagome and offered her a hand up. The girls grinned at each other as their companions clapped. "You've gotten better, Kagome! That's the longest you've lasted against me one on one." Kagome laughed breathlessly. "I've still got experience on you, but if you'd like we could continue our lessons after you're done with Kaede in the mornings?"

The young miko nodded and shook her sore arms out. "I'd like that, my self-defense lessons end today so I won't have to leave so soon starting next week."

"Is that where those moves came from? I would have had you much sooner but you kept catching me off guard with moves I didn't recognize."

"Probably. The class really only teaches defensive moves but my teacher has been such a slave driver and destroying our bodies." At her friends' confused looks, Kagome clarified. "She's been having us do a lot of strengthening exercises so my muscles are sore all the time."

Shippo jumped up onto Miroku's shoulder excitedly. "Hey Kaede, could we make some of that tea for Kagome? The one you said would help with soreness?" Kaede nodded thoughtfully.

"That is a good idea. Would ye mind going ahead to fetch the leaves? They should be in a basket in my hut." Kirara and Shippo bounded off in the direction of the village. The adults followed behind at a more leisurely pace, a comfortable silence falling among them. Kagome rolled her shoulders and winced, rubbing her bicep as they walked.

"Jeez Sango, I'm definitely going to have some bruises tomorrow, if I don't already." The girl griped good naturedly at her friend.

Raising her hands in an innocent gesture, Sango chuckled. "Hey, it's not like you didn't land some good hits either. I'm sure my side is going to be sore from that jab!" The two girls laughed together while Kaede and Miroku shared an amused smile.

"Kagome," The old miko caught the girl's attention, "ye also asked me to teach ye how to use thy powers for healing purposes." Kagome nodded, her full attention on Kaede. "Let us begin while we enjoy our tea."

"That sounds great, thank you Kaede." The young miko smiled happily at Kaede. Reaching the old woman's hut, they filed inside to find that Shippo had not only gathered the necessary leaves, he had started a fire to heat the water. The kit sat with Kirara by the fire, jumping up when he saw them walk in.

"Look Kaede, I started the tea!" He gestured proudly at the fire as he jumped into Kagome's arms. The old miko chuckled, moving to straighten the pot over the fire and inspect the tea.

"Indeed ye did child, well done. It should be ready soon." Kaede settled herself in her usual spot within tending distance of the fire and began speaking as the others settled themselves around her hut. Kagome sat across from the old woman, excited to learn about healing with her spiritual energy. Kaede gazed at the young miko for a moment before addressing her. "Tell me Kagome, what do ye think about when ye create thy barriers? Think about thy energy, how do ye feel when it is called upon?"

Kagome chewed her lip, thinking back to their lessons. "Well," she started, glancing at her companions. "I try to imagine what I would feel if my friends are in danger. I guess what I mean is that I want to protect them, and that's what I think about when I create them."

Kaede nodded. "Good. So what would ye would need to feel to use thy energy for healing purposes?"

"I would need to want to make them feel better, to heal them." Kagome murmured thoughtfully.

Nodding, Kaede gestured for Sango to sit beside them. "Indeed. Sango, did ye not cut thy hand gathering herbs the other day?"

"Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that." The slayer held up her left hand, showing a thin red line across the side of her palm. Kaede prompted Kagome to attempt to heal the scratch. The young miko gently held Sango's hand, inspecting the cut. It was thin and shallow, a good starting point for Kagome. Closing her eyes, Kagome thought about how she created her barriers, trying to mimic that feeling. Instead of the desire to protect her friend, she focused on wanting to heal her. Taking a deep breath, she began to call on her spiritual energy.

Her friends looked on as both Kagome and Sango's hands were engulfed in the soft pink glow that they recognized as Kagome's energy. My hand… it's warm. Is this normal? Sango looked in wonder at her hand, noting that the warmth seemed strongest around the area of the scratch. Kagome bit her lip in concentration, brows furrowing. She could feel her energy knitting Sango's skin back together and tried to memorize everything she was feeling throughout the process.

While it took only a few minutes, the process felt like hours to Kagome. When the glow faded from their hands and the scratch was gone, the young miko sat back, looking pale. As with every new skill she learned with her energy, it took a toll on her. Sango inspected her hand with wide eyes. In all her years as a demon slayer, she had never been healed by a miko like this. Her skin was perfectly smooth, as if the cut had never been there.

"Well done, child." Kaede smiled at the girl, pride swelling in her chest. Much like the other skills Kagome had learned, most mikos would not have been able to achieve healing even such a small scratch on the first try. "Ye should practice every day, on anything ye can find. Bruises and small aches will suffice as well."

Kagome smiled tiredly at the older woman and took a sip of the tea that Miroku offered her. "Thank you Kaede. I will try to find some anatomy books in my time as well, I assume healing more serious injuries will require at least some background knowledge?" Kaede nodded in affirmation.

"Thy energy will do most of the work, but a basic understanding of the human body is necessary, yes." The small group continued chatting until Kagome had finished her tea. Standing, she smiled at her friends and said her goodbyes before heading back to the well to finish the rest of her work for this week in her own time.

The final day of their self-defense lessons was equally, if not more intense than the rest of the week had been. The normal strength workout was twice as hard as before, and the girls were dripping with sweat by the end of their warm up. Ai taught them no more moves during this lesson, but was pushing them harder with what they had learned so far.

With an odd number of girls in the class, Ai took it upon herself to be Kagome's practice partner. When the older woman finally called for a short water break, Kagome bent over with her hands on her knees to try to catch her breath. Dang, I can barely keep up with her. Glancing up at the rest of the group as her instructor weaved her way through them, Kagome took a sip of her water. Also, why does it seem like every correction she makes to anyone is directed at me? She'd been noticing that whenever Ai barked out instructions to anyone to correct their form, she'd give Kagome a meaningful look, as if it were meant for her even though she wasn't making that particular mistake. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she tried to shake off her frustrations and mingle with the other fatigued girls. Unfortunately, their break did not last long and they were soon back at their lesson from hell.

If the girls were hoping to be let out early because it was their final lesson, they were sorely disappointed. By the end of their lesson, each girl was having a hard time standing from the workout their instructor had just put them through. Kagome leaned against the wall by her bag, willing the strength to return to her legs so she wouldn't fall over while bending to gather her things. Not one for needless words, Ai's only parting words were that this was their final lesson and wishing them good luck and she hoped they wouldn't have to use these skills.

As she was walking toward the door, Kagome heard her name being called. Turning, she found Ai walking toward her and Kagome's stomach clenched. What could she possibly want from me now? I wasn't exactly her favorite. Forcing a tired smile, she tilted her head at her instructor. "Did you need something?"

Reaching the girl, Ai held out a small business card. "If you ever need anything, you can reach me here." An astonished Kagome took the card from her, finding her phone number, address, and email on the card. Looking up at her instructor, she couldn't keep the surprised look off her face. "You… did well this week." Though it seemed like Ai struggled to get those words out, the slight smile and gleam in her eye was more praise than Kagome had gotten in all their lessons combined.

Stuttering her thank you, Kagome clutched the card in her hand as she watched the older girl head back to her office without another word. Dazedly, she tucked it into her bag and made her way home, a familiar burning in her legs with every turn of her bike pedals.