Disclaimer: Kikyo and Kagome are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi.

Lessons

Kagome stared disconsolately into the fire. It had been almost a week since her irrational demand to Kikyo that they went after Naraku- and excluding that, teach her to control her powers more.

God she could be stupid sometimes.

She looked over at Kikyo. The undead woman still had that odd smile on her face.

Make that she could be stupid all the time. Kikyo was laughing at her, in her odd fashion. Just because Kagome had finally come around to the long-drawn-out lesson that life was too short to spend finding more faults in herself than were actually there, the undead woman thought it was funny the way Kagome wanted to drop what they were doing immediately.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. As if Kikyo didn't think poorly enough of her as it was- broke the jewel Kikyo had guarded to her death, couldn't use her miko powers properly, was nice to youkai, had worse aim than a toddler, got Inu-Yasha and all of her friends killed for something that only brought misery.

She shook her head. 'Not my fault. We all make our own decisions, Kikyo said.'

When had Kikyo stopped hating her? She thought over their interaction, both before and after their deal to kill Naraku.

Kikyo looking confusedly over at her as the two staggered away from the cavern entrance. "Why are you helping me? Why don't you hate me?"

Kikyo had sounded that Kagome would help her, even though Kikyo had helped her- sort of.

Maybe Kikyo was just as confused about Kagome as she was about Kikyo. Maybe that coldness that Kagome always heard in Kikyo's voice was only there because she had forgotten any other way to speak. Only her hatred for Inu-Yasha kept her alive, she had often said. But without an Inu-Yasha to hate, Kikyo was at a loss of what to do, to feel.

Kikyo had been teaching her in her own fashion that death was essential to life. Maybe, just maybe, Kagome mused, she could teach the undead woman that life was essential to death.