Grown Shippo + Mature Kagome

Dark circles formed under Kagome’s eyes, showing a fatigue that spoke of many nights of worry, and endless tears shed. Kagome sat next to the rain splattered window, and sipped silently at the tan mug she held in her hand. It was hot, burning even- and yet the slight sting tethered her to the earth. It was something real this hot pain. And in a world, she had often, over these years, thought was unbearable, and non-real…it was reassuring.

Ms. Hugurashi sat with her feet dangling off the edge of a tan leather couch, she was wrapped in a long light blue sweater, wearing only that and some comfortable black slacks. She had been dressed for work, as usual. The only thing that kept her sane half the time, was her job at the local daycare. She was a mentor to the little children there, and though there were times she wanted to lock some of them in the closet and conveniently forget about them, she always seemed to manage a smile for them.

Though when work was over, and the smiles were over, she would walk home, by herself- all alone. What she called home was a quaint and inexpensive house, which was so small it could barely be considered a house. It was a white house, with a lovely lavender trim, and a honeysuckle and lily garden in the front. It was on the corner of the block and was well suited to both her needs and budget.

Kagome sighed. It was so long since she needed more than air in her lungs, and the bittersweet memories she held so close to her heart. She had used these memories as a shield for her heart and affections for so long, she didn’t know or care for outside relationships, much. She had moved out of her mother’s house when she turned eighteen. Kagome never went to college. She had never really thought of it, and at that point in her life she was depressed enough to not want to do anything.

She had lost the fervor of life, for so long, and even now. Though she hardly cried any longer, the taste of food was bland, the colors she saw, neutral- bland. Everything had lost its charm. For a girl who once had it all. Now, she was only human. Only normal. And it was unfair. But then, Kagome had learned to accept the unfairness of life. Now that she was 28, Kagome Higurashi…had no more adventures.

She remembered the times she would go on death-defying raids on demonic palaces with her band of loyal friends. When all her sorrows in life were a woman named Kikyo, and a demon called Naraku. Nothing had prepared her for what would actually happen after the shard was gathered. No one told her what would happen if they won. In the back of her child’s mind, she thought everything would be peachy-great-ideal.

She knew better now. When she had shot that last arrow- the finalizing arrow, everything would be changed, forever…but she dared not recall these memories often. They often sent her to another round of Prozac from the doctor. Drugs- there is something she never thought she would need. How young she had been, all those long years ago. How naïve.

And what was she now? A woman who was almost 30, with no one and nothing in the world except for the children she saw everyday, and the occasional visit from her mother, and brother? Her family…her grandfather. Kagome’s grandfather had passed away a year after the end of her days in the Feudal Era ended. It had been a devastating blow to her psyche, only adding on to her depression. But like everything else she used to hold dear…it was, ancient history.

The reality was here, now…ringing? Kagome jumped, and coffee spilled down the front of her shirt.

“Damn”, she muttered softly, jumping up to retrieve the annoyingly loud phone. She set the coffee down, while liquid ran down the sides like melted candle wax. She wiped her hands on the already ruined blue sweater, and picked up the cordless.

“Hello?”, Kagome answered, awaiting an answer. An answer that surprised her.

“Kagome, hello sweetie, it’s me”, the airy voice of her mother drifted into her ear. But something was wrong, something was not quite right in the sad tone.

“Hi mom…what’s up”, Kagome waited patiently for her hesitant answer, and knowing nothing good would come of this phone call.

“Honey, I-I wanted you to come over tommorow. Sweetie, I haven’t been that honest with you lately…I don’t know any way to say this other than…Kagome, daughter, we’re moving. Souta, and I…”

The words came out. After they were said, Kagome heard her blood pump through her ears, and her heartbeat became something living like a hummingbird bird, beating its fragile wings against the the cage that was her ribs.

Those wings were torn, bleeding, and soon to give their last beat in rebellion. And all Kagome could do was sigh. At least…she would be able to see the well, one last time. Her room, which she spent many a night cramming for last minute exams. The kitchen that used to cook ramen. The window, her best friend in the whole world would sit in. The well, that once she jumped into…would carry her into a world…where her best friend in the world would be waiting for her on the other side. His nagging, cocky voice, saying…

Kagome.

“Kagome!”, the sharp and worried voice of her mother shattered her thoughts like a rock in a house of glass. She was slow to speak, but speak she did.

“Yes, mom, I’m here. It’s all right you kept it from me, I know why. I’m not upset”, she managed, in a stunned reverie. “Oh honey, I know…I just- with the death of…with the death of grandpa, and everything…Kagome, we just can’t afford to keep the shrine any longer. I’m sorry Kagome. We’re moving about twenty miles out of town. We won’t be far. You can reach us and-“

“Mom, that should be fine. Look, I had a rough day at work. I’ll stop by tomorrow. Promise. Do you need help packing or anything like that?” Kagome, had to wrap this up, already the cold feeling had crept up on her skin and enveloped her like a death blanket. Her mother felt terrible, that much was evident, but she was going to allow her daughter to grieve, how she would. “Alright…I’ll see you then Kagome. I love you”.

“I love you too mother”, Kagome answered, and hung up.


Kagome wanted to cry, she wanted to beat her fists into a wall, she wanted to scream, and whine that it wasn’t fair her childhood was gone at the age of sixteen, when the well that once held all her dreams, and hopes on the other side…wouldn’t work for her, any longer…




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Tomorrow was here already, and Kagome wasn’t sure if she was quite ready. But the little teen in her was beaten down.

In her stead was a woman of a medium height, a proportionate body, now more well rounded; more womanly. With the extra weight, she was no longer a gawky girl, with long, lean legs, and too narrow of a waist. Now there was curvature. There was the tale-tell signs of Kagome being thoroughly matured.

She was wearing a cream-colored dress shirt, a V-neck that was tight on top, and flowed at the ends. Modern, feminine, and beautiful. Kagome also sported a pair of comfortable black jeans, and black leather-strapped sandals. She had a matching cream knit satchel thrown nonchalantly over her back.

Kagome, walked up the stairs of her family’s shrine, with the uneasiest feeling in the pit of her stomach, like she swallowed sheer pain, and was forced to live with it. She was used to it. Wasn’t that sad?

As Kagome neared the top of the stairs, she saw the tree. That tree. When the well had rejected her, and sent her hurdling back to her own time, she often spent time under this tree. Trying to get a connection with the past…what she had hoped was her future.

But those times were long gone, and now all she faced was the house she had been born in, and had grown up in. Soon to no longer belong to the Higurashi family. Kagome wished she could muster feelings of sadness for her mother and brother no longer being a block or two away, but she just couldn’t. They wouldn’t be far, she thought to herself.

Boxes stood proud in all their cardboard glory, waiting to be picked up and delivered to a new home. Kagome saw no sign of her family, they must not yet be up. Oh, well, she would wait, she needed to see one thing in particular…for the last time.

Kagome, walked to the small covered building, with a pain in each step. The shackles she kept so close to her heart, materializing and bearing her down under their weight. When she laid her pale, dainty hands on the wood, she felt it.

Her eyes widened, and a sharp paining pleasure shot up her arms to the rest of her body, giving her a jolt...a pulse. She hadn’t felt a pulse like that in…

Years.

What if ?…No, she couldn’t give herself false hope. She was a grown woman now and, she couldn’t play these games with herself like she used to. Getting up in the middle of the night, to jump into the well, and feel nothing but the cold hard earth of modern day Japan under her…

But…what if? Damn ‘what ifs’…they always seemed to get the better of humans didn’t they? And Kagome Higurashi was no exception. She braced herself, and stared into the blackness of the well. Was she this pathetic? Did she have to do this? Is this all that consumed her life anymore?

…The answer was yes.

Without a second thought, Kagome launched her body over the side of the well, and shut her eyes tight, bracing her legs for the hard earth…

In a blinding flash of white fire, her eyes opened, and her body relaxed…because when she hit earth again…it was not the earth of the present. But the earth of a time, long ago.

Feudal Japan. Her home. Where she had wished herself everyday since they defeated Naraku, and she was thrust back. Back to a world she realized she didn’t belong in. And now…and now…she just knew…she was back!

Kagome hit the ground with a ‘thud’, and she lay there for a long time, not daring to believe anything at this point. She couldn’t hear for a long while, and then suddenly she heard it.

The sweet chirping of birds, and the rustling of bushes…a forest.

Kagome gave out a devastating cry. A cry for a soul that she once thought was lost. Now found. She lay there clutching the soil in her hands, tears dripping from her pale cheeks, and she sobbed. A full-bodied sob that shook her bones, and made her organs ache. She was home…

Then she looked up…the sky was dark. She had arrived at night. Kagome, sighed…and then jumped up with horror. ‘Oh my god I have to get out of this well! I won’t go back now! I won’t take the chance!’

Kagome, used vines to scramble up the entrance. She realized she had no more difficulty than she used to, when she was 16. But then again, fear this intense can startle a grandmother to pick a car up off her dying grandchild.

Once she was free, she gave a final heave, and found herself on sweet smelling grass. She hugged it to her body. She was home…

“K-Kagome?!?!”

Kagome’s eyes widened. She didn’t recognize the voice…but someone knew her! SOMEONE SHE KNEW WAS HERE!

Kagome moved so swiftly to her feet, she tripped, and almost went backwards over the edge, and into the well again. ‘NO!!!’

She heard a fierce growl, and then strong, hard arms grabbed at her waist and pulled her against the hard, warm body of her savior…

“You will not be leaving me yet again, Kagome”


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Kagome let out a small sound of surprise, shock, and a twinge of fear, spiced her scent. She looked up at the one who had rescued her from a fate, she considered worse than death itself.

She broke away from him, and fell to the ground. She shook a little as she looked up.

He was beauty incarnate.

He was tall, very tall, maybe over 6’4. His form was not willowy, or lithe in any way. He was taken from Greek alabaster sculptures, purely. Hard, but pliant-looking muscle rippled in the places she could see his lightly tanned skin. He wore a tan vest of sorts, and that was it for his torso, Kagome saw a dark nipple peak out from the vest, hard.

She gulped a little, as Kagome’s eyes traveled further down. He wore dark green flaring trousers, that were bound with black thread- to stop at his knee, in a baggy style. She looked further, and a little past his knee, she was surprised to see hind feet, a dark bronze color. Furred hind legs that had extremely high arches- his legs looked powerful- a deadly, deadly weapon.

“Kagome..”

Her name shook her, and she looked up to his face, and breathing became something like a trick to Kagome. His hair was long, a lush, and straight with natural body, tapering down to a little past his back. His hair was the color of spun bronze, copper, and dark brown highlights. Long, demonic ears peaked out from the soft-looking strands of his mane. And a long, bushy tail of the same color…It looked so inviting…

And his face…she wanted to weep from the beauty- and she was sure some women had. Many times. He had a strong jaw, but not too strong. With dangerously high cheekbones, and the most brilliant glacier blue eyes she had ever seen, shadowed by the only thing that saved him from being too masculine…feathery, and long, black eye lashes.

He was magnificent. It was like seeing a prize stallion, with it’s proud head, and sleek muscles...the sheer elegance blending with sheer masculinity.

“Kag-o-me”, his voice was deep, rumbly, and waiting for her to speak. And speak she would. “Who…are you, and how do you know me?”, she asked, and as soon as she snapped out of the trance his appearance had left her in, she realized she could be in serious trouble if this powerful demon wanted to harm her.

She scooted back some, and her look was now filled with caution, and nervousness. Anyone in their right mind would be cautious, of a demon like him. Kagome had long since learned that the most powerful demons usually had a semi-human appearance. And she would be damned if she got killed now! Not after all those years of dying inside! She was going to live, if she had to fist fight this demon. Though she was intelligent enough to realize that it would be bad for her medical insurance, if she got into a fight with him.

“Kagome…you don’t recognize me? Oh…I see…” he stopped and looked down at himself, and let out a deep bark of laughter. His eyes widened, and he looked fierce, joyous, and absolutely, 100% wild. “Of course…I was only a whelp back then…alive for no longer than 11 winters…”, his voice was airy, as if he was remembering something that was long, long ago.

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He gazed at the woman in front of him. And a woman she was. It had been 12 years…and they had been very good to his Kagome. She was only a little taller, and her body was that of a fully matured female. She was round in places, last he saw were only bony, and thin. She had a figure now, cut from the finest cloud- or so it looked. Her hips were wider, and her stomach, only a touch thicker…probably softer too. Her breasts were full, and heavy, and sat right were they should. Her legs were just as long, but with more substance to them, muscle and padding alike.

And her face! She was no longer the big-eyed girl with a tiny chin and awkward neck. Her neck was still long and delicate though- dainty. Her face was a tad more rounded but in no way too heavy. Her eyes where the same deep chocolate, almond-shape he remembered, but there was wisdom, and a jaded intelligence in them now- not the complete look of ignorance and innocence they once held.

Her hair was longer, but her bangs were gone, and now her hair shaped around her small face beautifully, and curled around her face in a layer- while other long layers draped to the back of her ass, curling up at the ends.

She was lovely-dainty-womanly.
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“What do you mean? Please explain” Kagome asked, and got to her feet slowly, attempting to keep the demon calm by her slow movements.
He shook himself mentally. He was so joyous to see her, and now he was scaring her. That was something he did not want to do. Not like this- not this fear.

“Kagome, do not be frightened…it’s me”…he said, spreading his hands wide, a universal sign of non-threatening intentions. Kagome stilled, and for a moment… a thought flashed across her mind, a memory.

“It’s me Kagome…It’s Shippo”

Kagome shook her head, when she heard this. Her small, weak little Shippo? No! Could it be?!

“But how?!”, she blurted, a perfect picture of shock. Another deep bark. Laughter.

“Kagome, I was eleven when you left, as you were 16…You have been gone 12 years…that makes you 28 now…and it makes me 22…” He said this, walking up to her, with a smile on his face. He stopped in front of her, and a hand traveled to his neck, to his chest, and further down, stopping at the waistband of his pants, and hooking his thumbs casually in his pockets.

“Kagome, you aren’t the only one who grew up”, he said, and those eyes, held a certain darkness, a maturity that she never thought she would see in them. It was like her eyes…

Kagome’s heart leapt! This was her Shippo…But wait. Kagome had learned certain things now that she was older and wiser. She had to test him, he could easily be a demon who knew the real Shippo, before he killed him.

“Tell me something- one thing and I’ll believe you…” she stated business-like- seriously. She couldn’t afford to get killed.

“Ask away, Kagome-chan”, he said, and her mental defenses wanted to drop, and embrace him with that memorable title, he had called her. She took a breath.

“What is Shippo’s signature attack?” she figured this was something that Shippo probably wouldn’t share, and also, if he was indeed a demon who killed him, Shippo would be dead before getting the chance to attack back.

His eyebrows quirked, and a seductive grin spread his face, wild, and untamed, but seductive in the way a Siberian tiger looks, from the boundaries of his metal cage. He let his head sag, and his arms flew out to his sides, reminiscent to a crucifixion. His entire being was infused with blue flame, when he spun around, and threw his arms out, in front of him.

The liquid-like fire spurt from them with a force reminiscent of a tsunami, enveloping the north side of the forest. Except what Kagome excepted to burn- instead the trees and bushes glowed with an unearthly light, not burning- just glowing. But something was definitely interesting in this. It was as if the forest that glowed… was frozen.

The kitsune whirled back to face her, his arms still burning bright with the same power the trees where infused with. His eyes were wide, and his fangs were bared in what Kagome supposed was a triumphant grin. He looked eerie, and a tad deranged. As if he wasn’t all there.

“W-What is that?”…She managed, trying not to let fear leak into her voice. Kagome had become more practical, and she figured if he was going to kill her then he would do it- tear & fears, wouldn’t help.

“Why Kagome-chan”, he began and his voice was a little like that of an escapee from the asylum, “It’s my fox-fire”. With that he made a motion with his arms, one in front of the other, like a plus sign. With that the entire forest’s glow receded back into him, drawing a moan of pleasure from his lips.

He breathed a little heavily for a minute, then approached his Kagome. Without her consent, not particularly caring if she was scared, he grabbed her hips, and back, and enveloped her in a hug. He was tired. Hwaswe didn’t want to perform tricks anymore. Not to mention, she was the only one in the world, he would perform for.

“Enough, Kagome-chan. I am Shippo. Only, I am Shippo, after you disappeared and left me…all those long years ago. I had to do something with my time waiting here for you…”, he whispered into the top of her head, with the sounds of deep pain leaking out.

Kagome’s hands embraced him as well, and she put her face against his strong chest. This was Shippo. Oh god. What had she done to him…he had awaited her…all this time…and she- him.

“Shippo…forgive me, I-“, he stopped her there with a gentle pressure on her hips. He withdrew, and cradled her face in his large hands. He neared her face, and right before touching her lips he stopped, and said, “Kagome…do not apologize…because it looks like you were dying on the other side as well”


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Kagome’s head rose from its place on Shippo’s chest. It would have been so nice to keep it there, but if 12 more years of living had taught her anything, it was she could not afford to indulge herself all the time, as she used to. She wished she could, because being in contact with her newly found Shippo, made her feel…well, safe.

“Shippo…”, she withdrew enough to catch glimpse of Shippo’s saddened face. She wanted so badly to relieve his pain, and this time, it was something more than a motherly feeling. Something like the protectiveness of a friend. Kagome realized that she no longer harbored any feelings of matronly duty. Only the extreme urge to wipe all sadness from his glassy eyes.

“I know, Kagome. And in time, both of our sadness’ will be taken from us”, he began, and he opened his mouth to say something else, and stopped, shutting his mouth with a ghost of a smile.

‘No, this would not be fair to Kagome. I will wait. Even if I die in the process’, Shippo thought, inwardly battling a demon…he knew he couldn’t win. For that demon was Time itself, and his days were numbered.

“Kagome, come with me, there is much that needs explaining, and many things you need to know”, Shippo said, taking the adult miko by the hand, and with a silent question, glistening in his eyes, Kagome followed him.

Kagome was fast becoming exhausted, but that wouldn’t stop her from getting the answers she desperately needed. What had happened to Sango, Miroku, Koga…Inuyasha? Inuyasha…that wasn’t a name she had thought of in quite some time. She had tried to suppress the memories of the hanyou, her bestfriend…when she was younger, she even wanted to be more to him. And now? Now, she didn’t know. She was in the dark about this whole affair.

‘I am no longer the same person. I don’t know how our relationship will be now…’, Kagome thought to herself.

“Kagome, my home is in the trees”, Shippo announced suddenly, the oddball comment threw her off.

Her train of thought was now de-railed.

He turned to her, “Allow me to pick you up”, he said, and it was more of a statement than a question, but nevertheless, Kagome nodded. Shippo put one hand, under her backside, purposely, holding tight to the soft roundness, and the other, on her back.

“Aren’t I a little heavy for you?”, Kagome asked hesitantly, Kagome knew she was about thirty pounds heavier than her nice 110 pounds at the age of sixteen. Shippo looked down at her, how small she was in his arms, and snorted at her.

“Kagome, you are feather-light. Besides, I can lift 1,000 pound trees. Come I will show you proof!”, Shippo said, with a laugh at her ridiculousness. He would show her his home, something he made with his own two hands, for her, and him, and…

‘No, I can’t think those thoughts, not when Kagome, is suffering’, Shippo looked down at the passive woman, ‘She is conflicting, on the inside…about Inuyasha. Does she still love him, and want to continue a relationship with him? Gods, I hope not…for her sake’

The tall kitsune leapt from bough to bough, tree to tree, with the grace of a jaguar. He was fast, so very fast, and yet as she sat there in his arms, Kagome could just sense, that he could go even faster, except he was holding back for the sake of her stomach. ‘Thank you Shippo’, she thought to herself. She was exhausted, and she could only surmise it was because of the emotional spiral she was spinning in.

The trees past them by like brilliant green blurs. “Shippo, what happened to your fox fire?”, Kagome asked sleepily. Shippo grunted, and frowned down at her, deep in thought.

“That wasn’t fox fire Kagome, that was my Death-Glow. You see, when the whole forest was glowing like that, it froze. If I had been so inclined, I could easily have lit the entirety of the forest aflame. Thankfully to many villages however, I didn’t. Death-Glow is merely a passive aggressive attack- with the potential of being fatal, and highly disastrous”, Shippo explained to the woman in his arms, who was gazing up at him with a new understanding and a new appreciation for his immense power.

‘That’s a nice change. Some respect. It usually isn’t until after I kill a human do they respect me…killing humans, I’ve got to keep that under wraps until she understand the situation fully…’ Shippo observed, mentally.

He dared an inquisitive look at the miko, and absent-mindedly wondered if she had matured enough to look at a situation logically; absent of the usual melodrama, Shippo remembered she bought into at times.

“Hold on tight Kagome, one more jump…and we’re there”, Shippo murmured and the woman in his secure embrace didn’t bother securing a grip on the fox- he wouldn’t let her fall. There was no need to be silly and afraid- or squeal. But there was a time, when she would have done all of those needless motions.

The powerful arches of his animalistic hind legs, poised themselves on the bough of a huge oak, and with one upward thrust, they were launched higher in the air then she ever remembered being. She wasn’t going to say it felt like flying, but it did feel like she was riding an amusement park ride. It was exhilarating, why the last time she did this was…

‘Best not to remember those things’, Kagome thought. She would keep them close to her still, but no longer where they shackles of pain, only memos; weights of obligation hung about her neck, only to be removed by one, single, hanyou.

She needed closure. If it meant true closure, it meant an end to a chapter in her life…but then, closure could also mean only an end to a chapter, and a beginning to a new one.

Kagome wasn’t sure which was best, only that she needed closure of some sort.

As the silhouette of the fox, with a miko, began a descending, a tree could be seen, rising above the white cloud-mist of the atmosphere.

The tree was huge, enormous even. A mammoth, sequoia look-a-like, with giant outreaching arms, that resembled trees themselves. In truth, it was the largest tree Kagome had ever seen. As they got closer and closer to it, she began to see warm lighting, and an outline of a house! In the very tree itself!

Shippo landed with a powerful ‘thump!’ his hind legs absorbing the impact. Kagome looked anxiously at him, making sure he wasn’t injured from the blow- he wasn’t. Good.

Kagome was eased out of Shippo’s reluctant arms, as she came to stand on her own two feet.

Before her was a house! This house was three times bigger than her home in the present. She was standing on long, stained wood planks that stretched out at least a couple yards from the built-in house, on all sides.

The house was beautifully made, and huge, two-stories. There were large windows showcasing the brilliantly made spiral staircase, visible from the outside. There was another outer-house staircase, wrapping around the front of the building and the back, leading up into the brambles of the tree- disappearing into a sea of green.

It looked exactly, like the house in a foreign film she once watched, Swiss Family Robinson! It was marvelous!

Shippo was not one to miss the delighted smile of the miko as she observed the home he had made. And she hadn’t even seen the hand carved doorways, or furniture, yet.

‘Yes My Miko, all of this…and all of this for you. For us. I live for the day that you, I, and In-‘

“Shippo! Your house is beautiful!”, Kagome said with wonderment, looking up at the tall fox, she wondered how long this took him…and another question had been begged an answer, for quite some time.

“Shippo, why where you by the well, when I returned…are the others here?”, Kagome asked, finally. Though these numerous thoughts had danced in her mind like wildfire, she had no yet wanted an answer; she wasn’t sure she was ready.

“Kagome…I have been waiting near the well since you left all those years ago. Just awaiting the day I knew you would return to us…to me. I built this house to live in…and wait for you…all my life if I had to” Shippo trailed off, and something that was akin to resentment crossed his features, along with the pain that can only come of complete loyalty…disappointed.

Kagome put a warm hand on Shippo’s arm. Something like an electrical current passed through his body, and his eyes lowered in eased pleasure, looking at the woman with low-lidded eyes of azure blue, fringed with shadow-black eyelashes. She would have fallen into that look…if she had been 12 years younger, but now she was not.

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting…” she said, choking back something resembling desire in her voice. Making it a harsh whisper.

Shippo’s voice was also harsh, gruff, a deep treble that made the hair on her neck stand on end, and goosebumps trail her arms, in aroused, excited bumps.

“I told you once, and I will tell you again- then no more…do not apologize Kagome”, he fairly purred, like the fox he was. She was still standing so close to him…all she had to do was raise her face, and she knew he could be counted on to-

“DADDY!”



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TBC!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Coninued Chapter 2~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Shippo’s eyes widened in a sudden horror. The light breeze that had a second ago been filled with Kagome’s scent, was now filled with the light, and musky smell of a dog demon…a little one, at that.

Kagome’s head rose, and she watched in awe as a tiny boy approached Shippo. He was young, five, maybe six years old. Tottering along with a small wooden play-sword, he was wearing a deep ocean, blue haori. With small dog-shaped ears that were a shade dark. Gray- almost silver, but more like a dark chrome color- and just as vibrant and glossy. His eyes…They were…gold. He lacked demon claws-but there was no mstaking demonic blood manifesting itself in this child.

Deep dpwn Kagome knew what demon was manifesting itself…She watched silently, like a black-and-white silent horror film- too afraid to speak. Afraid her voice and words would betray her before she got an explanation.

But god…it was a mini Inuyasha…but his hair was darker…almost as if…as if Inuyasha’s silver was mixed with…black.

‘Oh…Inuyasha how could you’ the silent small, whimper Kagome uttered, made the smiling boy, take notice of her fully. His little mouth made an “o”, and he looked to Shippo with a confused, but all the same happy smile. Innoccent- so innocent. Kagome found herself a little jealous of his innocence…

Didn’t he know that he was hurting her, merely by standing here? Didn’t he know that she was in pain at the sight of him, as well as the fact that Inuyasha had bred with another, symbolized him?!

Kagome shook herself bodily, and steadied herself. She was scaring the little Inu…he could smell her raw emotions on her and he didn’t understand the feelings she had and why. She didn’t want to scare a child…not when he didn’t deserve it- not when he had no fault, not when the only thing that kept her going in the human world was the smile of little children.

She tilted her head and smiled at him and winked. The small boy quirked his head at her, confused with her conflicting scents and actions.

“Hey there, now what’s your name?”, she said, and lowered herself to a kneeling position. It help them understand that you mean no harm- for children it helped them to feel not so timid- like equals instead. She wanted very much for him to like her. It was simply natural her.

“My name is Inukiba, Miss, what’s yours?” the Inu didn’t falter in his words, and the fact that he was so polite and well-spoken pleased and shocked her. Leave it to demon children to learn faster than human kids. “My name is Kagome, and I would like to say I like your ears very much”, Kagome smiled a genuine smile- no matter how much it cost her or how painful it was.

The little dog ears perched utop his head twitched and a little blush spread his small face. She continued smiling, and without request she reached up and rubbed his ears gently. He mumbled something and he smiled up at her.

“What was that, Inukiba?” Kagome’s voice was low and patient, as she desperately tried to ignore the faltering kitsune not a couple feet from her. The child needn’t be frightened or upset over something that could be explained to her in time. But soon. She must know soon.

“I said, you are very pretty, Miss Kagome”, the little boy mumbled again. His ears still enjoying the lavish attention they received. Kagome smiled at him once more and rose form her kneeling position, turning to Shippo, who had picked his jaw up off the floor, and was regaining the cool composer he typically had. Good- they both needed to be adults about this.

Without looking at Inukiba, she spoke, looking full on- the handsome face of Shippo. “Thank you Inukiba, I think your ears are terribly cute. But right now, I think it would be good for us all to go inside- you see I am a friend of Shippo’s and-”, Kagome stopped short as the boy looked confused.

His little ears twitched as he contemplated this and suddenly he asked, “Who is Shippo, Miss Kagome?”

Kagome smacked herself mentally, trying to cement it that the young one thought Shippo to be his father, and knew him by no other name. Oh how young,

“Inukiba, MY name is Shippo…only you call me father, or daddy, while other people who are not my young call me by the name MY mother gave me”, SHippo explained with a delicate smile. Such a frail smile, Kagome knew by the look he was giving her, he was begging.

‘Kagome, please do not tear my son from me’, his eyes said. She couldn’t not if she wanted it had been a slip of the tongue. Damnit. But, the Inu seemed to buy it. He looked like he was focusing, testing the name through his mind. Rolling it arnd to get the feel of it.

“Okay, well, Shippo I-”, the haughty boy began, and Shippo glared. “Inukiba! It is a dishonor to me as a father for you to call me by my name until you are much older. Do you wish to disgrace me?”, Shippo squashed the glory in the mischievous little grin in an instant.

“No! No father”, he said and Shippo quickly placed a hand on his hand in comfort. “Good son, thank you. But now we must go inside. Please, Inukiba, go play upstairs, while Miss Kagome and I talk”, Shippo said the last in the voice that spoke of weariness. Kagome was tired too, but she needed answers and answers she would get.

They all walked into the front door of his home, and Kagome settled down into a high backed chair, without due notice to his home. She was too exhausted- later, she thought. If she still liked Shippo by the end of this…

The boy tromped up stairs and they were alone in the room aside from the noisily cracking fire. Shippo stood, not sat, by the fire, looking into the flames for answers- for words that would not come to him.

“Kagome, the boy you saw, indeed was Inuyasha’s child”, he said this in a voice devoid of emotions, cold, hard, matter-of-fact. He could put no gentle ease to the words he must spill this night. He would treat her like the mature and intelligent woman she had become- not the silly child she had been.

Kagome reserved her words, and thoughts, and emotions, until after Shippo spoke all he would, and could. She willed herself not to feel a thing until she knew it all. So she listened.

“After you left…we were all devastated for a long time, Kagome”, the pain in his blue eyes was icy- no matter how long he stared into the fire it was as if they would never thaw. “We stayed by the well for a year, when one night, Inuyasha just…left. He didn’t come back, as Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and I waited for another three years”.

Pain that had formerly been etched in his face, faded as began to relate the other bits with unfeeling coldness. Coldness she could see he wrapped around his heart, mind, and body as a frigid defense.

“After the three years, Miroku, and Sango left. They moved to the villgae by the well, next door to Kaede. Though, Kaede died only 6 months after they moved in- they had something to be joyous in their life. Sango was pregnant. Today she has seven children, her and Miroku, together”

Something that resembled warmness spread to his eyes but only for a moment, before the darkness swallowed it up, like a greedy monster.

“Only, Kirara and I stayed. Kirara lives with me still. She seems to have endless patience in waiting for you…Almost as if, she was waiting for a miracle- a patient follower”

Kagome fought hard against the tears threatening to spill, but she could hold back the flood gates no longer. She let the teas flow freely, as she listened.

“And only a year more, and Inuyasha came to the well. We were there, waiting. He was bloody, and without much energy. His eyes were dying, and it was the worst thing I had to witness. He handed me a baby, folded up in bloody rags- unharmed. He said to me, “Shippo, keep him safe, keep my son Inukiba safe from her. The witch, she has tried to kill me, and this time she will succed. This is our son…I left, and was weak. I went to her…I wanted to believe she was Kagome, for the first time. I was weak, and in my moment of weakness, we conceived this child. Please, Shippo, if she ever comes back tell her…I love her”

Shippo faltered, and placed a hand on the mantle piece for balance, as he folded in aguish. But shed a tear he did not. He had shared enough tears for the courageous bastard. Kagome was in a stunned silence, the tears dripping like an IV from her glossy eyes, ripe with a pain of her own.

“He died, that night. Killed by her…by Kikyou. He killed her too, and they died together”, he chocked out the last, with something like hate and admiration straining through his voice.

Kagome was frozen, she felt like an ice sculpture, made form pain, and sorrow, and lost innocence. She was held in place by a coldness that enveloped her, so she would not fall and shatter into glacial pieces.

“Kagome…” , Shippo said the words, and looked at her fully now. He no longer was hiding behind the fire, no longer showing cowardice. He looked at her with a feirce determentation in his eyes she didn’t come close to understanding. He was almost ruthless as he said the last.

“Kagome…he is now YOUR son also…for your blood, is her blood…and it runs through the veins of that little boy. With Inuyasha’s dying breath he named you…his mother!”

~*~*~*TBC~*~*~*~*



Continued 5/16/07!



Kagome, had enough of being calm, and quiet, and resonable. Like a flame she came to life, sparking, with a burning negence against the unfairness of it all. She was not going to be docile anymore. With the tears of several emotions rolling down her cheeks, she stood, so abruptly, it knocked the chair she was sitting in over.

"How dare you?! How dare you tell me this?! How dare this happen to me, now?! Right, when I've got back to where I belong...all these years...all these years were for nothing..." Kagome yelled savagely at Shippo, though it was not Shippo she was battling.

Shippo stood impassive, stoic with an air of frigid coolness that set Kagome's teeth on edge. He just stood there! Saying absolutely nothing, with no look of emotion to betray his reserve. Her anger unfurled within her body. Who was she mad at...really? She didn't care at the moment. She just felt an overwhelming urge to do...something.

"WHY?! I DIDN'T SPEND ALL THOSE YEARS IN MISERY, TO COME BACK TO MISERY! WHY?! WHY?! WHY DID THEY ALL MOVE ON WITHOUT ME?! I DIDN'T MOVE ON WITHOUT YOU GUYS!!!WHY?! YOU WERE ALL MY LIFE AND YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!!...Why...Why did HE have to die?!" She screamed, and fumed, and panted, and cried.

All these years, only a sham. Kagome once thought that her heart's desire was to return to the feudal era...to her...home...but now? No, she had no home. It was as if she no longer belonged in the modern era, nor the feudal era. Where did she, Kagome, belong? WHERE?!

Kagome felt something deep within awaken with a terrorizing shudder. The same pulse she felt before she entered the well pounded against her skull, as if it was trying to break free of her. She held her head, and she sunk to the ground on her knees. It was agony, and pleasure. It was light and dark. Conflicting within the thin barriers of her tatttered mind.

Shippo had caught her the minute she swayed. He held her against him, kneeling, protective arms, locked around her back. He could only wait it out. He held her, he rocked her, he whispered sweet words in her deaf ears.

Kagome, whimpered once, and a splash of color bolted from her eyes, secreated out of her mouth, nose, and ears. Out of her very flesh. Energy rose from her like a red, pale ghost. Like steam from an overheated engine. Her back bowed, and Kagome felt nothing as a shadow passed out of her.

Shippo gasped.

'That shadow! It-It's...It's Kagome's soul'

Shippo held on to her, tight, not allowing the spirit of her soul to drag her with it. It pulled until Kagome screamed in agony. Shippo used every ounce of strength he could, without riping her body in two. Her muscles spasmed, and Shippo heard a rib bone crack.

With a final 'pop', the shadow that resembled Kagome so well, pulled free from the mortal body and ascended through the air. It hovered above her like a vulture. With a crystalline sound of a bell, the shadow swirled together. It twirled and twisted, and spiraled until it was in the perfect shape of a sphere.

'Oh...oh gods!', Shippo found he could not speak, but his mind raced frantically, like a caged thing. He had to stop this, but it was as if time itself froze, and he was paralyzed. Helpless to do anything to prevent this cataclysmic catastrophe.

The shadow seemed to glow...growing...more solid. Until finally with an earthshattering sound, equivalent to a sonic boom, ripped through the sound barriers, and it was if all the world could move and speak and hear once more.

The now, very solid, very real jewel crashed through the top of Shippo's house, revealing the velvety midnight sky, studded with diamond-like stars.

The brightest star was the small orb hovering high, high above them, barely visible. Kagome was unconcious, but she let out an involuntary scream, that was deafening in the silence of the awe-struck night.

Once the piteous, and dejected sound left the poor woman's mouth, the brilliantly shining jewel burst. Shippo watched it...though he had seen it once before. shippo watched it like every other creature in the world, raised their heads up from their life, and gazed at it.

It was the most beautiful thing they all had ever seen...

It was like light pink rain, fell from the sky. Shooting fireworks, falling stars. But very soon they had all disappeared, and left only the night sky- dull blue compared to the glorious display only a few seconds before.

Shippo fell with Kagome to the ground, and rocked her- rocked himself...

'Oh gods, what has happened?! NO!'

"Daddy!", Inukiba raced down stairs, and latched on to his father tightly. A scared child- unknowing of what had happened. Of how it would effect everything and everyone.

Shippo unconciously wrapped an arm around his son, and held him. Kagome's eyes soon refocused, and conciousness graced her once more. She felt so ...empty.

A frightening feeling. It was scaring Kagome out of her mind...It was as if....It was as if, her heart....IT WAS MISSING!

Shippo, rose- unfeeling. Numb with too many emotions. His mind shut down, as he carried Kagome to a sofa, as his little son held onto his sleeve.

Kagome looked up at Shippo in horror...for an explanation. He looked down at her with numb icy eyes.

"Kagome...that, was your heart....That was....your heart was the Shikon no Tama...and, Kagome...your heart just...broke..."

Kagome's eyes froze into a horrifying widened stare. She breathed heavily so as not to faint. She wouldn't faint. She whispered, because her voice knew no other tone at the moment.

"The Shikon Jewel...just...but...I thought we had, destroyed it...with Naraku" Kagome breathed.

Shippo fell short...he knew. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. He spoke, as if it was not himself speaking. Instead he was only a puppet, a mouthpiece for someone else.

"The Shikon no Tama, is also called the Jewel of the Four Souls....Tonight...you cursed yourself Kagome. You damned yourself, Shippo, Miroku, and Sango- what is left of the shard-gatherers. You could not damn Inuyasha and Kikyo, becuase the dead- are the danmed. However, you cursed not only them. Kagome, you cursed four...people. It is the Jewel of FOUR souls Kagome, and it rested within you- and in that moment of realization...you grew something unconquerable...self-hatred. The pure Jewel, could no longer reside in your body, becuase of the four souls you damned"

"So now Kagome...you must begin the Hunt anew"


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*