"Shippo, what's your full name?" asked Kagome, seemingly out of the blue. The other members of the group kept walking along, but they listened to the conversation taking place between mother and kit. Inuyasha even kept one of his ears turned back in their direction. They were all curious, but didn't know quite how to ask without upsetting the child.

Shippo was oblivious to the feelings of his pack. "Shippo no Yoko Kurama no Kyuubi no Kitsune," he rattled off, shrugging. While saying his name, he had closed his eyes, so it came as no surprise when he missed the astonished looks he was now receiving. He did, however, notice when everyone stopped moving, just like he could smell the disbelief rolling off of his adopted family. He opened his eyes with a sigh, and took in their stares. His kitsune nature quickly kicked in, and he decided to have a little fun feigning innocent ignorance. "What are you all staring at me like that for? Do I have chocolate on my face?" He blinked, adding to the effect.

Sango would have none of it. "Shippo, it's not yet the afternoon. You know full well that you haven't had any chocolate yet, so there couldn't be any on your face. Why? Why didn't you go to your clan when the Thunder Brothers killed your father?" Kilala 'mewed' in agreement with her mistress.

The fire kit looked at the group, his family, and let his 'innocent' smile drop. Inuyasha had paled, Kagome's eyes were wide with shock, and Sango and Miroku looked a tad apprehensive. "I…I couldn't," he sighed, tears forming in his eyes. "Papa and I were already pretty low in favor with the clan. See, Papa had refused to mate with someone who wouldn't raise me as their own. After that, we nearly left their good graces completely when Papa started thieving and hanging out with Kuronue, the bat. Uncle Kuronue died about forty years before the Thunder Brothers killed Papa."

Kagome squeaked in her surprise. "Shippo, just how old are you?!"

Shippo let out a humorless chuckle. "Well, you have to remember that kitsune age slower than most other tailed demons. I have the body and mentality of a human eight year old, but in all actuality, I'm 89."

Miroku blinked. "So, in 11 years, you will grow another tail? Are you going to hide it with an illusion?"

Instead of an answer, the Kyuubi member glanced around nervously and shifted on his perch, Kagome's shoulder. "Hey, Inuyasha, can we keep moving please? I really don't feel comfortable talking about this out in the open."

The inu-hanyou 'feh'ed, turned around, and began walking once more. Sango and Miroku just followed him, curiosity flooding their minds. Kagome asked more questions, filling the silence and learning more about her son. The whole time, only one thought ran through her mind: 'I hope Shiori is enjoying these last few days with her son, because when I back, I am so doing to kill him!'

IN THE FUTURE, WITH THE SPIRIT DETECTIVES

Kurama sniffed again, causing everyone to look at him, just as a shudder ran up and down his back. His friends shot him amused glances, or annoyed glares, depending on who you were looking at. Botan placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kurama, are you feeling all right? It sounds like you're coming down with a cold."

"No, Botan, I'm fine. Yoko kept sneezing. I guess someone was talking about him," he explained with a smile.

Yusuke raised a dubious eyebrow. "That only explains the sniffling. What the hell could have caused that spectacular shudder?"

Kurama frowned at the sarcastic question, but answered anyway. "Death threats against my life and his, simultaneously."

Hiei rolled his eyes. *Who'd you piss off this time, Fox?*

The redhead chuckled, shaking his head. *I have no idea, Hiei.*

Kuwabara ignored them and turned to the ever cheerful Grim Reaper. "Hey, Botan, what's up? Do we have another mission?"

"Hey…yeah! Why are you here Botan?" queried Yusuke. "I'm on vacation. I swear, if that brat thinks I'm going on another mission, I'm shoving that pacifier right up his-!"

"Actually," cut in Botan, "it's a solo mission for Kurama."

Hiei raised an eyebrow while Yusuke and Kuwabara cheered. Kurama pointedly ignored them and walked through the portal Lady Death had opened for him.

Hey everyone, it's me again. This has been sitting on my jump-drive for about 3 years now. I really don't have anything planned for it. A plot bunny jumped into my head one day and said "What if Shippo was the son of Youko Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho? And what if Youko Kurama was the son of the Kyuubi from Naruto? How awesome would that be?!" Obviously, this was before I knew that Kyuubi's name was Kurama, so bear with what I've got here.

Anyway, just thought I'd put this out here and see what people thought about it, if anyone reviews that is. . .