Disclaimer ~ I do not own Inuyasha or it's characters. I'm Also not making any money from this silly fanfic. -Gypsyn

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It was a beautiful spring day in the feudal era. The flowers were blooming, the breeze was finally warming up with the south winds, the birds were singing...

And here Kagome was, hunting jewel shards again.

She sighed. Lately, it seemed like they never had time to sit and enjoy nice weather like this or to stop and smell the flowers along the way. Instead, they were always stuck walking.

'What a waste of such a nice day.'

"Hey, Kagome?" chimed a young voice from the basket of the bicycle she was currently pushing. The miko looked down to see Shippo staring back with an expression of boredom.

"Yes?" She asked politely.

"I was kind of wondering if you knew any stories."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know a lot of stories. Japanese, Chinese, western, you name it," she told the little fox casually.

"Really?" He asked with eyes widening in surprise. "Western stories?"

"I imagine such stories would have been included as part of your extensive education? " Miroku asked peering around Kagome's left shoulder and picking up his pace to be included in the conversation. Sango picked up her pace as well to walk on her right side.

"Yes, But really only the longer more difficult ones. The short easy stories get included in children's storybooks and movies so everyone knows them."

"And do you know any stories about foxes?" Hinted a certain fox tailed youth expectantly.

She nodded and smiled finally catching on. "I do, would you like to hear one?" Kagome asked the kit with a grin.

Instantly his face lit up with a wide smile. "Yeahyeahyeah!" He shouted rambunctiously jumping up and down in the basket.

"Quit makin so much racket!" Inuyasha snapped from the head of the group. He turned his head back and glared at the boy. "You're gonna attract a demon over here!" He growled.

"Oh relax Inuyasha, he's just excited." Kagome shot back evenly.

"Besides, even if he did attract a demon to us it might be a nice change of pace from all this walking." Sango pointed out. Kirara gave a soft mew of agreement from the slayer's shoulder.

The surly dog demon growled at the slayer's defense and turned back to the road ahead muttering loudly about everyone always taking the "runts" side.

Sango turned and gave Kagome a wink. The girl giggled in response.

"So let's hear that story Kagome-sama," Miroku said chipperly.

"Yeah! The one about a fox!" Shippo reminded her as he leaned his elbows on the rim of the basket to watch her more intently.

"Okay..." She replied thoughtfully. "Oh! I could tell you the story of 'The Raven and The Fox'. Have you ever heard of it?"

He shook his head. "I've never heard of that one." Then he looked to the others walking on either side of Kagome. "Have you guys?"

"I can not say that I have," Miroku remarked rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Sango shook her head as well. "Never."

"Well... It's one of the western ones so that's not too surprising."

"Ah, then please continue. I'm sure we would all like to hear it." Miroku replied giving a pointed look at Inuyasha's back.

The girl smiled and cleared her throat announcing "The story of the Raven and the Fox."

"Once upon a time, there was a Raven sitting in a tall tree with a bunch of delicious grapes in her beak. And under the tree was a cunning Fox who-"

"Cunning?! Him?" Inuyasha spat looking back to give a pointed look at the kitsune. Shippo just turned to look back at him smugly.

"Yes Inuyasha," Kagome replied patiently raising her eyebrow at his outburst. "The fox was very smart. Now back to the story."

"The Fox looked up at the Raven's grapes hungrily. And had an idea."

"Hello, Lady Raven." The Fox greeted the bird kindly. She looked down at him startled. As she had been just about to eat her lovely grapes before he called. But she said nothing holding onto her grapes firmly, And so he continued.

"Your feathers are beautiful as always. Such a lovely rich black that you can see all sorts of greens and blues…" Kagome practically purred in a smooth voice.

"The Raven looked at her clean black feathers then back at the fox proudly."

"But… Blackbirds aren't that nice looking Kagome." Shippo pointed out, looking a bit baffled.

"Well, the fox was just trying to be flattering." She explained.

"He sounds just like Miroku," Inuyasha muttered.

"I second that thought." Sango agreed under her breath in a chuckle.

The monk raised his eyebrow but did not seem to be offended. "Are you saying that I am smooth as a fox, my dear Sango?" He asked with a suggestive smile.

"Ew, No," Shippo remarked pulling away from Miroku's side of the basket in disgust. "You're definitely a rabbit or something."

Despite Sango's hand that shot up to cover her mouth, a smothered sound of laughter still made its presence known.

Kagome gave the little demon a confused look. "A rabbit?" She asked quizzically.

"Because rabbits only have one thing on their minds." The kitsune explained narrowing his eyes perceptively at the lecherous monk.

"Plus dogs and foxes eat them," Inuyasha remarked from the front without looking back. The girls both laughed aloud at that remark.

"I don't mind the danger so long as Sango can be a rabbit with me," Miroku replied without missing a beat smiling across the basket at his favorite demon slayer.

"Pervert." She shot back accusingly. "Shippo you'll let ME be a fox right?" She asked shooting the monk a terrible grin. Miroku grimaced leaning away from the basket and the demon slayer on the other side of it.

"Oh yeah." He assured her only too happily. "Kagome too if she wants."

Inuyasha uttered a growl glancing back at the kitsune with annoyance.

The miko giggled. "I thought I was a cat?" She replied.

The little fox gave a thoughtful look. "Yeah because you and Inuyasha fight like a cat and a dog. But I don't mind sharing with you if you want."

"She's either a cat or a dog!" Inuyasha growled. "You can't go makin her a fox just cuz you want to!"

"But she's too smart and pretty to be a dog, baka!"

"You wanna say that again?!" Inuyasha growled louder turning around completely and raising his fist as if to bop his little opponent.

Kagome shot him a glare that stilled the dog demon in his tracks and then looked down at shippo cheerfully

"Don't you want to hear the rest of the story Shippo-chan?" She asked sweetly.

This threw the little demon back on the right track. "Oh yeah! I forgot. Keep telling the story Kagome, The fox was saying all that nice stuff to the black bird and then what?"

Kagome smiled. "And then he said, "But I wonder, Is your voice as lovely as you are? Now, the Raven became so vain and so proud from the foxes' kind words that she had quite forgotten her food. So when she opened her mouth to sing for the fox, she was very surprised when they fell from her mouth."

The Fox immediately leapt up, snatched her grapes from the air, and ate every last one. When the Raven realized she'd been tricked she flew away angrily and the fox loped back into his home in the forest licking his lips and grinning."

"Cool!"

"Pft. The fox wasn't smart, the bird was dumb." Inuyasha pointed out crossly.

"Does nothing ever impress you?" Sango shot back at him before turning back to her friend. "I liked it Kagome-chan."

"Thanks, Sango."

"Feh." The half demon grumbled to himself begrudgingly.

"I know lots of other stories Inuyasha. Is there anything YOU would like to hear about?" Kagome asked trying to coax him into a better mood.

"Whatever… " He grumbled dispassionately.

"You should tell one about a dog now!" Shippo suggested fearlessly.

With this request the dog in the group whipped his head around and glared at the fox. Shippo only twitched his tail in response and turned to Kagome completely unconcerned by the threat.

"Uh... Well, I do know a couple with dogs in them. But there are wolves in those stories."

Or to be more accurate she could adapt some stories to have dogs in them. The only ones she actually knew off the top of her head about dogs always had them die at the end. Not really the kind of story she wanted if her goal was to put Inuyasha in a good mood.

"Tell the stories Kagome." Shippo encouraged smirking at Inuyasha who's glare only worsened.

"Okay... I'll just start with the story of the three p- um friends."

"Whatever." Inuyasha huffed and crossed his arms looking back at the road grumpily. However one ear swiveled in her direction as she started the story, so she took that to mean he was listening.

"Once upon a time, there were three animals that were just starting out in the world and leaving their parents, going on quests to find new homes. Now the first animal was a fox."

"Sweet! There's a fox in this story too."

"I thought this was supposed to be about a dog," Inuyasha grumbled.

Kagome ignored the two male demons, carrying on with her story as if she couldn't hear them.

"The second was A cat,"

"Hey! Kagome's in this one!" Shippo cheered bouncing happily in the basket.

"And the third was A Dog."

"Keh."

"One day during their travels, they all happened to meet and decided to settle down right where they were. Because there was, after all, a safety in numbers and they happened to get along very well."

The dog and fox of the group looked at each other skeptically with raised eyebrows but didn't comment further.

"They all made their own houses, but now this fox happened to be very fond of games and having fun and hated hard work. So to get the job done quickly he made his house of straw then slacked off while the other two worked."

Inuyasha's look of irritation eased.

"The cat saw the fox having so much fun and she wanted to join in too. So she just built her house of sticks and played with the fox while the dog worked.

Shippo pouted, he too could see that the story wasn't going to go well for the fox.

"But The dog was a very hard worker," Kagome continued. "and he wanted a safer home. So he made his house of stone. The fox made fun of the dog for working so hard and the cat tried to get him to play with them. But the dog ignored them and after a lot of hard work he had a fine stone house. Then One day, A big bad wolf came down from his mountain looking for something to eat."

Inuyasha gave a soft snort of laughter at Kagome's description of the wolf and the others smiled.

"So when he came across the three houses, he came up to the straw house first and tapped lightly on the door."

"Little fox, Little fox! Let me come in!" Kagome growled playfully leaning down to the basket and giving shippo a devious grin.

Shippo smiled back clearly amused.

Kagome had already decided to skip over the chinny-chin-chin bits and the huffing and puffing. Those parts had never really made much sense to her and she doubted the others would let them slide without a long awkward explanation.

"No!" Shouted the little fox. "Then I'll just knock your house down," Kagome growled. "And he did. It only took a small push and the straw walls fell down around the frightened little fox. And just when the big bad wolf was about to eat him, he escaped to the cat's house.

The wolf followed him to the stick house and knocked on the door.

"Little cat, little cat! Let me come in." he called."

"No!" Shouted the cat, thinking she was safe inside her stick house.

But the hungry wolf knocked that house down too. So the cat and the fox raced to the dog's house with the wolf right behind them. When they got there and asked for his help, the good-hearted dog didn't hesitate to let them in.

Inuyasha looked back shooting shippo a cocky grin. The little kitsune rolled his eyes.

"The solid door slammed in the wolf's face, and the big bad wolf howled angrily."

Despite their minor squabbles with each other, Shippo and Inuyasha both gave soft snickers at the wolf's plight.

"I guarantee if it had actually been Inuyasha at the door he would have made them apologize to him first." Miroku chuckled quietly to sango.

"I would not!" Inuyasha snapped looking clearly offended.

"Yes, you would." Kagome and Shippo shot back in perfect sync.

He pulled back in confusion at the sudden backlash.

"I can practically already hear you in my head." Kagome sighed closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

"And who was it that said I was wasting my time making a stone house huh? huh? I Bet you two wish you hadn't wasted your time on straw and sticks!" She mimicked warily.

Inuyasha snorted. "I wouldn't make you beg at the door with a wolf behind you." He assured Kagome evenly. The glance he shot Shippo, however, told another tale.

"Maybe you though."

"Hey!" The little demon snapped angrily.

"So, The wolf called to the dog this time." Kagome cut in intent on creating another distraction.

"little pup, little pup let me in." She growled again. "And The dog said-"

"Screw you, Dumbass."

There was another round of snickers, this time with Sango, Miroku and even Kirara joining in. Kagome laughed behind her hand and shrugged amiably.

"...Okay, sure." She permitted flashing the hanyou an amused grin. To her surprise, he flashed her one back before turning away.

"When the dog 'firmly' refused to let him in, the wolf tried to knock his house down as well. But it was strong. It held no matter how hard the wolf tried to get through it. And while the wolf was outside trying his hardest to get in, the three friends sat comfortably by the fireplace.

The wolf couldn't do anything to the house no matter how hard he tried. So he decided to go for a different tactic. The only opening in the house he could find other than the door was the chimney. So he lept onto the roof and without a second thought jumped down the chimney landing in the flames of the dog's fireplace. He was so surprised that he jumped back up the chimney and raced back to the mountain never to return."

The whole group burst out laughing at this, Even Inuyasha. And somewhere deep in the mountains, Kouga sneezed really, really hard.