Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, Kagome, or the darling Shippo. As much as I have tried to bribe with pocky.. they still belong to Rumiko Takahashi

Written as part of deviantART's Inuyasha FanArt Bonanza. Taken from the prompt: "Bliss" provided by seversflame.

Character: Shippo

Parings: None

Rating: K

Sweet Bliss

Shippo sat perched on the fence, staring intently at the gapping hole that was the mouth of a well. It seemed like a silly thing to do, to a casual passer-by. But to Shippo, it made all the sense in the world. He had a purpose for being there, and nothing would convince him to move.

Which was precisely what the rest of his group had been trying to get him to do for the past half-hour. Crossing his little arms over his chest, he jutted his chin out, shaking his furry little tail in disagreement.

"She said she would be back by sunset. The sun has set and she's not here. Why is she not here?" he asked, looking up with worried eyes.

"She'll be here," Sango said reassuringly. Miroku nodded. Their comrade could be a little late at times, but they all knew she would come.

InuYasha hopped down from his place on the fence with a huff. "She'd damn well better be here soon. We are wasting time. I don't see what was so important she had to be gone for three days." He cast a glare at the wooden well, as if by his look alone, she would come straight through. Completely oblivious to the looks his friends were giving him, he paced over to the well, and then back again to the fence. Repeating this for several minutes, he sneered.

"Damnation."

Shippo rolled his eyes. He could see through the façade his friend was putting up, and chose that moment to give him a little push verbally. "Why don't you just go get her?" he asked innocently.

"Keh," was InuYasha's intelligent reply, smacking Shippo upside the head roughly. "What am I? Her babysitter?"

Shippo growled, launching his small body at the hanyou, only to be held off, fist swinging, by InuYasha's clawed hand. A collective sigh went up. Sango sent a meaningful look to the monk. He nodded, catching her drift.

"No." Miroku tried taking the calm approach, hoping to defuse the situation before Shippo ended up in a world of hurt. "We just have to get back on the road, you know. And we can't leave the village until Lady Kagome's return."

InuYasha seemed to ponder this for a moment before finally nodding and jumping over the edge of the well. With a brilliant flash of blue light, he was gone, traveling forward in time to Kagome.

Shippo heaved a sigh of relief while rubbing the aching bump on his head, only to have the remaining ones of his group circle around him. Peeking up through his red bangs, he saw the curious gazed pinned on him and blushed guiltily. Being the trickster of the group, the little fox demon knew how to work his friends. Although, when it came to the rather violent hanyou, he usually ended up on the wrong side of a smack.

"Why exactly are you intent on Kagome coming back tonight? I know we are all anxious to know she is okay, and yes, we do have work to do." Miroku paused, frowning at Shippo. "But you never push this far. What's up?"

Shippo shrugged, taking out his top and began to play with it. Sango snatched it from his paws, holding it in her hand. "Why, Shippo?" she asked him softly, bending down to look into his small face. Again, he refused to meet her eyes, his cheeks stained with a rosy blush.

"I know you miss her, Shippo. We all do." Shippo shook his head.

"That's not it," he finally said quietly, his voice holding a tiny sob. Sango gave Miroku a worried look. This was new.

"Then what is it?" she pressed once again. Reaching in to his vest, Shippo withdrew a long red box, shaking it tearfully. The empty rattle of plastic was overshadowed by the laughter erupting from the adults. Clutching their middles, they strove to control their joined mirth.

Pouting, Shippo sat down with a huff, looking at the red box with a sigh.

On the box, in bright letters, were the words "Pocky."

Through their dying giggles, the two heard the little fox whisper: "I ran out of Pocky, and she said she would bring some."

It was sometime afterwards that their peels of laughter died completely, much to Shippo's discomfort.

A/N Hey guys.. So DA held a 2 week character bonanza and I managed to write a bunch of one-shots during those days. Each day was different character, and we were allowed to write any kind of fict. So some of these will be A/U, some are cannon.

Any way, I hope you enjoy them. And for my darling readers of "Of Two Minds" I will be back with a new chapter around the first of December. NaNoWriMo is taking all my writing time right now. For those curious, I do have a LiveJournal account. You can find me under the name Innocent42nite.