Alt Title: Lucky

Genre: Friendship/General

Characters: Shippo, Kagome, Inuyasha

Summary: Shippo truly was a lucky boy.

A/N I love drawing. I have an issue calling myself an artist, but I love art. This little piece was partially influence by my love of drawing, and also by just how innocent and cute Shippo is. He really is fun to write. Also, I couldn't resist having Kagome be an artist as well. The story was too short, otherwise. That, and I love me some vague Inukag XD

...

C

Crayons

Most little children made do with drawing in the dirt with a stick. If they were lucky or could afford it, they could use charcoal or even ink on linen scrolls or parchment.

But not Shippo.

Shippo was lucky. Luckier than any of those other children. Shippo had Kagome.

Oh, he was a lucky boy indeed! Not only did he have this wonderful, kind hearted girl who treated him like a precious little brother, if not almost like a son, he also had a wonderful, kind hearted girl who brought him foreign gifts from the future. Candies and sweets, toys and games, and some of the things which he cherished the most: crayons.

Oh yes, crayons. Shippo was a creative, curious boy, and drawing was one of his favorite pastimes. And oh, the colors the crayons gave him! There was a magic in these colors that ink or charcoal simply could never give him, something that truly allowed his imagination to come to life and run wild.

On top of that, he was quite the talented little artist as well. Despite being well over forty years old, he was about the human equivalent of a five year old boy. Considering this childlike frame of mind, it was quite amazing that he understood anatomy and movement as well as he did.

Granted, little Shippo's mind was full still of the rainbows of youth, despite the tragedies he had seen in his relatively short life. Most of his well made drawings were simply funny little "comics", as Kagome had shown him, or little stories to tell his fellow children while the rest of the inutachi was doing an exorcism or something of the sort to pay for a night under a roof. But they were impressive nonetheless. Kagome always commented on how absolutely beautiful they were every time they sat together and drew under the shade of a tree while they rested on the road. To this, he would turn to her with a wide, absolutely adoring grin and nod, his little fox heart swelling with pride before turning back to his artwork.

Sometimes, Shippo would look up from his own work and look at Kagome's. She herself enjoyed drawing almost as much as he did, and even kept what she called a "sketchbook", which she kept in the front pocket of her monstrous yellow backpack. Every time Shippo could see what she was drawing, he was impressed just as much as she was with his.

Shippo loved his crayons. He loved each color, each hue, each little stick of wax. He loved the excitement they brought to the stark white of Kagome's futuristic parchment (she called it "copy paper"), the life to his drawings. But there was something about Kagome's drawings as well, even if she didn't use his crayons, or indeed any color at all. Not usually at least. Occasionally, she would bring some little tin of hard color, to which she would add water and paint with, but usually she would use a pencil and simply sketch. She would sketch a flower, she would sketch a tree, she would draw the face of a villager as he wove a basket on his porch, she would draw a dilapidated hut. And though she tried to hide it, she would also more often than not draw a certain hanyou as he sat beside her, resting against a tree with his eyes closed, as he paced the path grumbling under his breath, as he smiled into the breeze, while he looked at her.

All the while, she could do it without color. Only in blacks and greys. And it was just as fascinating to Shippo to watch those drawings come to life as it was for her to watch him color. She was able to breathe life into her sketches with just a few strokes, he with just a story.

The little kitsune looked curiously at his crayon, and smiled brightly once again.

He really was a lucky boy.

Glossary:

Inutachi - the group consisting of Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo; often translated to "Inuyasha and co." in the manga

Hanyou - a half demon/youkai

Kitsune - a fox demon/youkai

Currently listening to: While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Regina Spektor (yes, I just watched Kubo and the Two Strings. Be quiet.)