A/N: Inspiration for this set of drabbles and oneshots hit me while I was zoned out at work the other night. As often happens when an idea comes to me and a computer is not immediately available, I then put off writing it for several days. Initially, this was to be a oneshot, but I think I'll turn it into a series, not necessarily connected but all the same overall concept. Updates are not terribly likely to be regular, given my highly irregular schedule and a muse less reliable than the L85, but expect them eventually. On with the show!

Lesson the First: Outfoxed!

The sky was clear and the sun was bright in Feudal Japan, the heat sweltering and the ground parched from the weeks without rain. The farmers worried about their crops and the fishermen about the rivers and lakes, while the nobles, by extension, worried about taxes and their coffers. The adventurers coming into the small, nameless village, packs well-stocked with shelf-stable, calorie-dense, nutritious food and supplies from the future, had little to fear from the drought, but did still have their concerns regarding the Shikon Jewel. But, they had collectively decided- even the ever-impatient Inu-Yasha- that those concerns could wait a short while in light of the fact that Kagome needed to find more arrows and couldn't exactly pluck them, fletching, steel tips and all, straight out of the ground. Her marksmanship was lacking (though it had improved by no small amount since her adventure began), but the fact stood that her sacred arrows were probably one of the most potent weapons in their collective arsenal, not to mention her only means of defending herself without aid.

Inu-Yasha, petulant as ever, grumbled on, voicing his complaints about her capabilities as Miroku haggled with the fletcher, offering to "exorcise" his house in exchange for a small batch of a dozen arrows, which of course really just meant sticking a sutra to the door and pretending that the non-existent demon had vanished. Inu-Yasha grumbled for maybe a minute before Kagome snapped at him.

"Well what do you want from me, huh?!" Kagome half-asked, half-shouted. "So what, I'm not a perfect shot! Even with modern weapons it can take people months or even years to learn to hit targets like I'm shooting at consistently and you want me to do it with a bow and arrow?"

Sango- wondering how anyone could take years to learn to hit a man-sized or larger target with just about anything- kept her mouth shut except to sigh at Miroku's con artistry (and it really was becoming an art form these days). Inu-Yasha began to protest, but was almost immediately sat into oblivion.

Shippo, meanwhile, observed the adults (insofar as they could be called that, he often mused) for but a brief moment before deciding now would be a convenient time to slip away and find anything other than listening to them to do for the moment. People mostly ignored him, a few avoided him as they noticed his tail and legs, which gave away his heritage, but one in particular, sitting at a small, makeshift stall, waved him over. Enticed by the man's friendly face, the fox kit came to investigate.

"Hello there, young lad," the man said to him. "Came in with that group? Traveling?"

Shippo nodded enthusiastically. "We are. It'll be nice to sleep in an actual bed again tonight, since we've been on the road a while. I bet Miroku is already working his magic on some innkeeper or something."

"Aye," the man said, "I travel often myself. The road has a special charm, but so does sleeping under a proper roof!"

Shippo couldn't help but giggle. "You bet it does. So, why wave me over?"

"Because I know you're a traveler, and travelers are always interested in this," the merchant said, holding up a small bag. "A special blend of herbs and spices, guaranteed to make even the blandest of foods a delectable delight! All yours for just one hundred mon!"

"Well, I don't have any coins or money..." Shippo said, trailing off.

"I'll take barter, too, youngin! If you've got something about that value, I'll consider it."

Shippo put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment before snapping his fingers and beginning to dig in his bag for something thought might hold enough value, and found it. From his bag, he removed a small string of fine glass beads, enough to make a bracelet for a grown person. "How about these?" he asked. "I got 'em as part of a payment someone gave us for helping out with a demon once."

The merchant nodded and smiled approvingly. "Fine material and workmanship. I believe they'll do, lad. You have yourself a deal!"

"That's great," the child said, handing over his beads and taking the little bag of spices. "Thanks!"

"Think nothing of it, m'boy. Run along now! Your parents must be getting worried."

Too excited at having acquired something to help the group in some small way, Shippo did indeed run along to rejoin the group.

MUQFF

A day later, they were on the road again, well-rested and restocked with arrows and some much-needed clean clothes thanks to the town's nearby river, Kagome astride her bike while the others walked along, Sango puzzling at her friend's strange mount from the future, rapidly discerning how it worked but unsure how Kagome- who had always implied she was an ordinary person from an ordinary family- could afford an item made of that much metal. Surely such a thing was expensive! But no matter- her friend made good use of it.

That night, when they made camp and Kagome began to cook, Shippo produced for her the spices he had traded for, proudly smiling. "Guess what I got for us, Kagome!"

Kagome took a peek inside the bag. "Shippo? This is just a bag of dirt," she said, confused. Inu-Yasha sighed.

"I guess someone tricked you. Outfoxed the fox," the half-demon scoffed. "Gotta learn to use your nose."

"Be careful, Inu-Yasha," Miroku warned, "you're coming awfully close to a genuinely clever joke." Noticing the distraught look on Shippo's face, the monk knelt next to him as he grumbled.

"I can't believe I let someone fool me like that," the kit complained, cursing himself mentally for being so stupid.

"It's alright, Shippo," Miroku said. "It happens to everyone. Still, there's a lesson in it. You already learned far too young that not everyone in the world is a nice or even a good person, but what a lot of people don't learn until it's too late is that sometimes it's hard to tell who's a bad person at first," he went on. "Sometimes, even the worst villains look like ordinary men and women, or might even seem like they could be heroes. I'm just glad you didn't lose anything more valuable than what you traded for this to learn that."

Shippo nodded. "Thanks, Miroku. I guess I feel a little better now."

"Any time," Miroku said. "And there's a second part to the lesson. Good people don't always look like it, either. You can never really know what a person is like at first glance. It's best to learn about a person for yourself, as much as you can, before you make a judgement about them, because their appearance means very little, or nothing at all."

Kagome looked up from her cooking (really just some instant ramen). "Miroku is right, Shippo! We have sayings about that in my era. Don't judge a book by its cover. And not all that glitters is gold."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, and not all that glitters is gold," the monk quietly repeated to himself. "I rather like that."

MUQFF

A/N: There we are! The first in what I hope to be a rather large set of drabbles, starting with a lesson most of us learn quite young ourselves! I also wanted to address the often unmentioned reverse of the intended meaning of the phrase- not all that glitters is gold. These two expressions are two sides of the same coin and must be taught side by side, and neither taken too far. I hope you enjoyed. Review, please. I need reviews for my muse. FEED THE ALMIGHTY MUSE.