She Stands Alone against Society's Standards

Disclaimer: I don't own the Inuyasha characters, I only wish I did.

Summary: Kind hearted Kagome Higurashi takes in an orphaned kitsune kit and adopts him as her own. Humans and youkai hate each other; this is a story about her life as a human raising a youkai in a society that doesn't understand.

Pairing: Eventual Kagome/Sesshomaru

Rating: PG, Maybe PG-13 later on

Prologue: I'll Take Care of You

Normal POV

It was thundering and lightning and the rain was coming down in torrents making it nigh on impossible to see. There were wrecks everywhere and traffic was slow because everyone was having difficulty seeing. Kagome sighed,

'Just great here I am driving home, soaking wet, in my new car. Today is definitely not my day.'

By the time Kagome arrived at her apartment complex, the rain had begun letting up. The thunder and lightning were moving westward and the storm looked like it was going to blow over. After parking her car, Kagome grabbed her purse, hopped out, and locked her doors.

About to enter the apartment building, she noticed an orange tuft of what looked like matted fur in the bushes. Upon closer examination, Kagome saw that he orange tuft of fur belonged to a soaking wet and shivering, male kitsune kit.

Well this was a surprise; the youkai district was on the other side of town, nearly 5 miles away. What was he doing on this side of Tokyo? Only one way to find out, crouching down Kagome began talking,

"Oi, little one come here, I promise I won't hurt you."

The kit slowly uncurled from the little ball he'd been in and looked up. Two very sad and frightened green eyes looked back at her.

"Hi my name's Kagome, what's yours?"

"M-My n-name's S-Shippo," said the frightened kit as he shivered.

Kagome's mothering instinct kicked in. If she didn't get him to trust her enough to allow her to get him out of those wet clothes, Shippo could die from hypothermia.

"Where are your parents Shippo? They must be really worried about you."

"T-They're d-dead. T-The T-Thunder B-Brothers k-killed t-them, t-they w-were a-about t-to k-kill m-me t-too w-when t-they h-heard t-the p-police c-coming. I-I b-bit M-Manten o-on t-the h-hand s-so h-he'd d-drop m-me a-and t-then I-I t-took o-off. B-by t-the t-time i-it s-started r-raining, i-I w-was l-lost a-and t-this b-bush w-was t-he f-first t-thing I-I s-saw t-that I-I c-could h-hide u-under.

The Thunder Brothers?They were notorious for killing anyone who refused to give them what they wanted. Poor kit, he was parentless; well not for long.

"If you want, you can live with me. I'm human, but I promise I'll take good care of you and make sure that no one hurts you ever again," Kagome said holding her arms open toward Shippo's shivering form.

Shippo looked hesitantly toward her open arms. He was scared, really scared. What if she just wanted to pretend to be nice in order to catch him and give him to the Thunder Brothers or worse, kill him? Looking into her eyes though, he saw that they were filled with worry and concern, for him. Without a second thought, Shippo ran and through himself into Kagome's arms sobbing.

Holding his small body close to hers, Kagome rocked him back and forth until he fell asleep, before heading inside. Once inside, Kagome made her way to her apartment. Unlocking her door, Kagome flipped on her lights. Walking down the short hallway into her room, she stripped Shippo of his wet clothing and put him into an oversized tee-shirt and put him under the covers. Dashing into the bathroom, Kagome took a quick shower before dressing in boxers and a tank top. Turning off the lights, she crawled into bed and snuggled up against Shippo. Wrapping her arms around his smaller frame, Kagome kissed his forehead and softly whispered into his hair,

"I swear I'll never abandon you Shippo and I'll die before I'll let anyone take you away from me. You're my baby now and I'm not ever going to give you up."

Okay this is my first attempt at a story that is not first and foremost a romance type story, so please let me know what you think about it.

Terms to Know:

Kitsune Fox

Youkai Demon

Oi Hey

Thunder Brothers Hiden and Manten. Were responsible for killing Shippo's family in the series