A/N: Well, quickly on the heels of story one comes story two. Guess I just got inspired or something. I don't think this one is as good, though, so I'd really like some advice here.
Disclaimer: No, I still down own Inuyasha or any of the others. Takahashi-sensei probably wouldn't even give me that random monk that's always in danger in the Shichinintai story arc if I asked for him.
Well Watching
By Raven Reimiss
He looked down into the depths of the well, eyes wide and wondering. Many questions filled his young mind.
'When will Kagome come back?'
'How far down is the bottom of the well, anyway?'
'I wonder if it's scary to jump in and go through time…'
'Will Kagome bring me back more of those spinning treats?'
He sometimes wondered if the girl from the future would come back at all. There were plenty of reasons he could come up with that would make her decide to go home and never return. There were her "tests," whatever those were, as well as any possible obligations to her family and the shrine that she could have. She could decide she wasn't needed on his side of the well. After all, Kagome needed the quest completed least of all. Naraku's demise would only bring her peace of mind, not any sort of vengeance. But the green-eyed youth hardly thought she would stop coming back because of any of those things.
The biggest reason of all that she might have for leaving was sitting in a tree not far away from where he was, tapping his clawed toes on the bark of the branch he sat upon with his arms folded over his chest. Inuyasha pissed Kagome off worse than anything the kitsune had ever seen. Sometimes their arguments escalated to the point that the girl would jump into the well, threatening to never return if the hanyou followed her. Those were the times that Shippou feared the most. She had always come back so far, but there was always the possibility that she wouldn't come back after the anger had cleared from her mind. He had already lost his parents; he didn't want to lose Kagome, too.
He chanced a quick look at the silver-haired leader of their group. Inuyasha still looked mad as all hell, frustrated that she hadn't come back yet. The original agreement had been that she would stay in her time for three days to take more of her "tests" and to visit a relative who was dying. Then the young miko and the hanyou had gotten into another fight over her leaving just a little earlier than usual. The group had been left behind with what was quickly becoming a typical threat addressed to Inuyasha, "You'll be lucky if this Tama Detector comes back at all, you insensitive jerk!" That was just before she disappeared into the darkness of the well.
Shippou sighed and looked back down at the shaft dug into the earth below him. He took a deep whiff of the air inside, trying to sift out Kagome's scent from that of the dirt and decaying youkai bones that had been thrown in after the latest attack on the village. He found it, but it was very stale, preserved only by the lack of rain and the enclosed space of the well. She hadn't been there in almost four days. The kit could understand the older male's frustration; she was late and he was worried. But unlike him, Inuyasha could do something about it.
'Why doesn't he just go get her like he always does?' he wondered. He considered about asking the hanyou aloud, but thought better of it. Shippou was not in the mood for lumps on the head today, even if Kagome might come back and Inuyasha would get sat for it. 'Maybe they're taking this worse than normal. I don't remember Kagome telling him not to come get her. That's usually the only thing holding him back when she's this late, so what's wrong today?' He heard the gentle tinkling of the rings on Miroku's staff as the monk approached and got even more worried. If even he was coming to see where she was, something had to be wrong. Thoughts of Kagome never coming back and him being left all alone again began circling in his mind.
The kitsune jumped off the lip of the bone eater's well and scampered his way to Miroku for comfort when suddenly it activated and a familiar scent rose into the surrounding air. He stopped about halfway to the monk and shouted, "Kagome!" effectively grabbing the attention of both men near the edge of the clearing. Shippou quickly turned back and headed back towards his original place, ready to jump into the girl's arms as soon as she had cleared the top.
He watched eagerly as Kagome's head poked out from behind the wooden planks, gawking ever-so-slightly at the ridiculously large size her yellow backpack had grown to. Visions of candy and toys filled his head as the rest of her body emerged, the newly arrived hanyou lifting her up and out of the well. The kit took this as his signal to launch himself at her, a gleeful squeal her only warning before she had a chest full of furry kitsune. He wrapped his little arms around her body as far as they would go and nestled into her warmth and scent, idly acknowledging Kagome's arms around him and Inuyasha's voice as he tried to start up yet another argument, this time about her lack of punctuality. He didn't mind, though. Kagome was back now, and that's all that mattered to him. Shippou fell asleep under the warm summer sky, content in his adopted mother's arms.