Kagome's Candy

Ancient trees stretched their sturdy limbs across the deepening azure of the evening sky. Summer meant longer days and shorter nights for the rag-tag group that made this place their camp.

The red clad figure stretched along a low hanging limb, crossing his clawed hands behind his head. Silver, hap-hazard tresses fell messily over his hands and over the limb like a waterfall frozen mid-fall. The hanyou had his eyes shut, allowing the lazy images of nothingness to carry him to the world of dreams once again.

The lavender-eyed monk was leaning against a tree opposite the silver-haired hanyou. The world of dreams was a tempting prospect. Unfortunately, Miroku had been left in charge of watching over the meal. No one wanted a repeat of the previous time that the two ladies had gone to bathe while the meal cooked… or rather burned.

A twig snapped nearby causing the lavender eyes of the monk to open. He scanned the area with a stoic expression on his face. Shippo would normally be quieter, but when among his friends, he relaxed a lot more. Miroku allowed his eyelids to fall half way as the little kitsune moved through the camp to Kagome's large yellow backpack.

Inuyasha's ear twitched and swiveled in the direction of the noise. Shippo froze in fear as he waited for blazing amber eyes to open followed by a pounding that would cause him to cry and run for Kagome. While an entertaining sitting would cause a fun distraction, the heat and exertion of the day seemed to make it all seem like too much effort.

When the silver-haired enemy began to breathe in even, heavy breaths, the kitsune let out a quiet breath before he went back to rummaging through the bag. His little fingers found one of the objects of his desire right away- the coloring pad.

Now all he had to do was find that box of crayons. His fingers began to touch and prod things out of the way, inadvertently causing the crayon box to fall under another pack of noodles. He poked around, unable to see inside the bag while keeping an eye on the sleeping hanyou. Finally his fingers found something box-shaped. As he inspected it with his fingers, his eyes opened wide. This box of crayons was even bigger than the one she normally brought.

Without giving a thought to what he was grabbing, the kitsune yanked the box, freeing it as well as Kagome's math book. He winced as the book hit the ground with a thud. He held his breath and became completely still as the hanyou's brow furrowed. With a grumble, Inuyasha rolled onto his side, facing away from the camp.

Shippo released a breath again and counted his lives before he took in the massive box in his hands. Excitement sparkled in his eyes as he slowly opened the lid, knowing already there would be a rainbow displayed before him- more colors than he could ever think, hope, or imagine. The look of wonderment and anticipation fell into a scowl as he took in rows and rows of only three colors- green, yellow, and lavender.

These were not crayons. What they were, he could not tell. Turning the box this way and that, he wondered what the scribbles on it meant. There were images of flowers all over the front of the box, but he didn't smell any flowers. He took a good sniff and found the box smelled like the medical supplies Kagome brought with her from the future. His eyes returned to the rows of the items, piquing his curiosity.

His fingers wrapped around one of the yellow ones and pulled it free from the others. It was long and tapered at both ends, but it came in this light yellow wrapper. Shippo's eyes opened wide as he recalled Kagome bringing candy that came in wrappers like this.

His fingers trailed along the length of the item. This was far larger than the one's Kagome normally brought. The prospect of a massive sweet treat caused Shippo's eyes to widen comically as a broad smile came to his face and a blob of drool dropped from his open mouth.

The Kitsune's eyes became glossy as he pictured himself floating down a river of sweet indulgence- candy as far as the eye could see. The wonderful treats she had named for him: chocolate, coconut, marshmallow, sugar... it was everywhere.

"Candy!"

The sound snapped him from his reverie. Shippo's hands went over his mouth as if to try to take back the one little word, but it was too late. His little body shaking in fear, the little face turned to the blazing golden eyes. Before Shippo could utter a word other than a shaky, "Uh," Inuyasha had lifted him upside down to eye level by the tail.

"This better be good," Inuyaha growled as he moved the little green-eyed kitsune closer. "I was having a really nice dream."

Before the poor boy could think to hold his tongue, the word slipped out, "Yeah, dreaming about Kikyo again."

With a painful, "Oomph!" the kitsune was dropped onto the ground roughly. Not one to miss an important detail like food, Inuyasha plucked the flower printed box from Sippo's hands.

With a scowl, he took in the brightly colored characters and small flowers. Normally he would drop the box and be on his way, but Shippo had said the word candy. He turned the box over, causing the lid to fall open and the oblong packages to fall to the ground in a puddle of lavender, yellow, and green.

Before thinking, Shippo blurted out an accusation, "Now look what you did! You spilled them on the ground, you big, clumsy dog!"

Inuyasha lifted the kitsune by the scruff and glared into his eyes. "Keep it down you little brat. If Kagome hears you, she'll come running and you were the one snooping through her stupid bag in the first place!"

"She told you to watch me," the smart-mouthed charge shot back. "She'll know it's your fault for not watching me!"

"We need to keep quiet," Miroku interrupted as he stepped between the two. "It really is already too hot as it is without the two of you upsetting Kagome and Sango." His lavender eyes turned in the direction the two had gone He sighed inwardly as, for once, his lecherous thoughts were more envious instead. "The first time on our travels that we come across a cold water onsen, and the ladies get to claim it first." His lids lowered slightly as he added, "I had better look in on them to make certain they didn't he..."

A clawed hand pulled the monk back by the sash of his robes as the kitsune hit the ground with a grunt. Inuyasha glowered in an exasperated voice, "Oh no you don't, bouzu. If you start sneaking around them, Kagome will sit me until there is nothing left but a giant crater."

"Still, I..." he tried again, but it was the kitsune that held him this time. "If you think Kagome will be mad, just wait until Sango sees you. Harikotsu already made a couple of dents in your head as it is."

At this, Miroku gave a small, sheepish grin as his hand went to the last bruise that still smarted now. "Good point," he agreed.

Inuyasha's ear twitched as his thoughts came back to the empty box in his hand. As Miroku regained his composure, the hanyou turned the box this way and that, trying to figure out what these small, strange-smelling packages were. "They don't smell like candy," Inuyasha observed as he tried to decipher the characters on the box, as well.

Miroku scowled as he turned to look at the box. He had learned how to read as a child, but these were not characters he knew. He took in the flowers on the box and his scowl deepened. They weren't any flower in particular, they looked like shadows of flowers done in a solid lavender. "Shippo," the monk commented as he tried to figure out the puzzle, "I am not sure those are candy."

Shippo, who had also been distracted by the box as well, had decided to go straight to the source. He had grabbed one with a yellow wrapper and nearly drooled as he ripped it open, but produced a light sounding, "Eh?" as he held up the object that was inside the wrapper. It was white... and didn't look very appetizing. They were two hard tubes, one stuck slightly inside the other, was smaller. One end had a small piece of string stuck to it.

He held up the tube by the string and watched as it dangled in front of him. By now, the curious kitsune had drawn the attention of the two older males. They all watched with curious gazes as the large tube slowly slid off, leaving the smaller tube on the string behind a strange looking object indeed.

Three pair of eyes followed the journey of the outer tube as it fell to the ground and rolled a short distance. One could literally hear the tube drop and roll away as the males were stunned into silence. What were these strange objects Kagome had brought with her?

Shippo's curiosity led his attention to the object in front of him, dangling by a string. He gave it a little shake, but nothing happened. He then looked up at Miroku and was about to speak when the other tube began to slowly descend from the string. Miroku's widened eyes led Shippo's green eyes back to the object in his hand.

Again, there was silence as the smaller tube dropped to the ground. Then the attention was on the object that remained. It was white and about the width and length of Inuyasha's thumb and the string seemed to be a part of it. Shippo observed that it almost looked like a tiny white mouse. He squeezed it lightly with his other hand, noticing that it was soft and somehow... hard.

Miroku folded his arms into his sleeves and his scowl deepened. This puzzle just got much more strange. He nodded as the kitsune agreed with him aloud, "You're right, Miroku, I don't think this is can..."

But the youngster was interrupted as a flash of red blew past him, knocking him over, the "candy" snatched from his hand. As Shippo righted himself, Miroku warned in a calm manner, "Inuyasha, I don't think you should."

"Keh!" he responded, "And what do you know? It was in her bag and it isn't crayons. The only thing she carries in there other than color stuff for the brat is food."

Shippo scowled hard at the insult and the fact that the half-dog-demon popped the white object into his mouth. "No fair!" he shouted, "I was the one that found it!"

Inuyasha munched down on the thing, finding the texture to be quite strange. It was soft and fuzzy, making his mouth very dry. It had no flavor, sweet or salty. He spit the thing to the ground in disgust and he then proceeded to rapidly wipe his tongue free of whatever that strange fuzziness was.

The sight had Shippo laughing so hard that he was rolling around on the ground, doubled over.

Miroku calmly spoke, "That is what happens when you do not pay attention to those wiser than you, Inuyasha."

But the warning was not heeded as Inuyahsa had dashed to the river, trying to rinse the fuzzy taste and feeling from his mouth.

Miroku turned his attention to the objects on the ground and the discarded box nearby. As he returned them, one by one, to the box they had fallen from, he noticed a small scrap of scroll inside. He carefully unfolded it to see if it might help them to decipher this mystery.

On the scroll were many more of these characters Miroku didn't understand. There were several of them all in neat rows, but it explained nothing to him as he did not understand it. His eyes perused the scrap until it came to an image. The monk blushed a deep crimson as he realized what the image was. He had seen scrolls like these when he was younger.

His father and Munshin, the monk that had raised him in his father's passing, had been known to look upon these things with red faces not made that way from too much sake.

By now, Inuyasha had returned from the river, still sputtering and spitting that very strange texture from his mouth. Noticing the monk seemed to have quite the look on his face, he decided to investigate that first. Miroku seemed to be engrossed by some scrap of scroll in his hand.

Inuyasha's return had brought the attention of the small kitsune, who had found a perching spot on the red clad shoulder. He too seemed to have noticed Miroku had become transfixed by something in his hand as well.

Inuyasha's eyes were faster and he had a better vantage of the scroll in Miroku's hands. Shippo voiced a complaint, "Hey! Move closer, I can't see a thing other than the back of Miro…."

The whiney protest was brought to a screeching halt as the kitsune was flung high into the forest, leaving behind to very red-faced males. Inuyasha knew he couldn't let the kitsune see this- Kagome would have his head for sure! Now he was faced with a real problem. The monk needed to be removed from that scrap of scroll before Sango found out… or other, more visible problems came up.

Inuysha could already feel the heat from his cheeks as his blood began to flow southward, but he couldn't tear his eyes from what he was looking at. There on the scroll, was what looked like a rough sketch of a female silhouette squatting down with her thighs parted and her hand inserting something into...

His mouth was suddenly very dry, but he knew it wasn't from that fuzzy thing he had munched on. A clawed right hand clenched and unclenched as he resisted this sudden urge. He rasped out, "Bouzu, you better lose that scroll before they get back."

The two were so engrossed in the image on the scroll and their own sudden predicament that they did not hear the whines of the kitsune as Kagome and Sango stormed back into camp, looking quite refreshed and irritated at the same time. Kagome's blue eyes went to the males immediately, burning with rage that caused her to not even noticed the two sporting two, very obvious, tents in their robes.

"How dare you!" she shouted as a dripping wet Shippo jumped down from her shoulder and put his hands on his hips, sporting his own angry expression. "Why would you throw him like that… and all the way to the onsen?! That's harsh even for you, Inuyasha!"

The two were startled from their perusal and stammered as they tried to hide their very obvious arousal. Miroku thrust the slip of scroll into his robes as Kagome continued to rant.

Sango began to take stock of the disarray that was the camp. She immediately moved to the cooking food and removed it from the open flame, taking the moment to stir it so the bottom wouldn't burn further than it had. As she stirred, she noticed the pile of objects next to a box. A few feet away was Kagome's backpack, opened and her math book laying on the ground near a coloring pad.

The slayer shook her head at the mess. What was wrong with these males? They just couldn't seem to clean up after themselves. Moving silently through the camp to the mess that needed to be picked up, she noticed what looked like wet fuzz on the ground near the mess of pastel packages. As she began to pick them up and put them back, she overheard Kagome growl, "Inuyasha…" Here it comes… again. "OSUWARI!"

The hanyou face planted in the dry dirt with a cloud of dust coming up around him.

Sango felt Kagome come up beside her as she caught up to what had happened. "Shippo?" she asked. "Didn't I tell you to wait until I got back to get the crayons out of my ba…"

The miko was stunned into silence as color rose to her cheeks. The slayer was picking up an item most women need in her time, but they certainly don't want men to touch, see, or even know about them.

Shippo proceeded to explain innocently, "I didn't think you'd mind if I colored for a little while. It was so quiet and boring." He gave her a pitiful expression, but Kagome's eyes were glued to the pile of objects that Sango was cleaning up. The miko's face was all red and her eye twitched a bit.

"Ummmm," he continued slowly, hoping she was not angry at him, "wellll… I found that box and thought… " he gulped, "thought it was candy."

"Candy?" Kagome uttered incredulously, her eye twitching more now.

The hanyou was now dusting himself off as he decided to voice his complaint. "Why do you have to sit me just because the stupid brat was digging in your stupid bag? And I don't know what that stuff is, but I do know it tastes terrible- worse than your cooking!"

Shippo laid his ears back and hid behind the farthest person from where the newest crater would soon be- Miroku. Kagome was about to explode!

But to everyone's surprise, she did not turn into a ball of rage. Her face had gone from bright red to an amazing shade of purple. Her eye twitched as she turned and gave a very embarrassed smile. Her voice was shaky as she asked, "You ate one?"

Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head. This was a trap, he knew it! There was an answer that would free him, but damned if he knew what it was. Amber eyes searched the bewildered faces of the camp, hoping against all hope that someone had an answer. Instead the faces were as bewildered as his. His eyes came back to the very angry miko. He visibly gulped and nodded, awaiting his fate.

"You ate a tampon?!" she asked and immediately flung her hand over her mouth. Her face burned with embarrassment as she realized none of them knew what she was talking about. In a mad rush she scooped up the rest of the packages and box, then grabbed Sango by the arm and ushered her into the forest, leaving behind three very bewildered males.

For all his lecherous nature, Miroku was surprisingly adept in his knowledge of the female body and after his ardor had cooled, he began to wonder about what was on that scroll and why it would be in with these objects.

He was certain of their use now, especially after the hanyou had tried one. It had a drying effect. And since women have a flow of blood every month, he was certain such an invention would make women everywhere quite happy and less stressed during that time.

Inuyasha felt that since he was not sat through the center of the earth, he must be off the hook. Breathing a sigh of relief, he went to the food and was about to get a bowl, when he heard a sharp call from the forest as the two females emerged, Sango now looking as red as Kagome had earlier. "Don't you eat those noodles until we are all in camp!"

Feeling bold once again, Inuyasha responded, "Keh!" He placed the bowl back into the place it had been and folded his arms in his sleeves.

Shippo then had to pipe up, "So Kagome, what it a tampon?"

Both Sango and Kagome felt the color heat in their cheeks. Sango turned her face downward and wished she could curl into a little ball and disappear.

Kagome's mouth opened and closed like a fish. How was she to answer this question?

A week later, a very embarrassed Kaede was enlightening two curious males- the youngest would need to wait a few years for this talk.