"So, Shippou, I hear that you have been missing your diet of meat."
Kagome had made a vegetable stir-fry in her wok, with the left over veggies from the last of her harvest. They were now kneeling down at the table, about to eat their rice and veggies, and Kagome just could not resist the urge to poke him with the jibe at her cooking. "If you want meet in your diet, I suppose that I could cook it for you, if you caught it."
"No, your cooking is fine. I like vegetables." Shippou mumbled.
Shippou never said anything above the volume of a whisper. He never complained, and he never disobeyed. He was terrified that she would kick him out of her home and he would be on his own again. But what he didn't realize was that if Kagome did that, then she would also be alone again.
"So Shippou, how was your day off. Did you meet any of the other town boys? Some nicer ones perhaps? Or did you stick to the woods again?"
Kagome had not been pleased when she had found out that, on the first day after the snows had melted enough to allow free travel from village to village, a small group of the local boys had accosted Shippou, and beat him into the ground. Kaede had spread the news of his arrival from house to house as soon as he had been found, so every house had known of the new arrival, there would be no knowing of who the boys had been. Shippou claimed to not have seen who attacked him.
"I explored the woods. If I'm going to be here for a while then I should get to know where to go. I explored as far into the woods as I dared and didn't turn around until it was turning dark. I don't see how you can travel out in the deeper forest, in the middle of the snow season, and still be able to find your way home. I almost got lost if it wasn't for the stream at the back of your field." Shippou set his chopsticks down on the table with a 'click,' and continued in a whisper. "If I had have gotten lost, you would not have found me."
There was a quiver in his voice that Kagome didn't like.
"What are you talking about? If you had gotten lost I would have known by suppertime. I would have gone to the woods and called your name, and wandering into the woods, until I heard your little voice. Then I would have found you. You already know that I am capable of finding my own way out again.
"Now, about your little voice. You know, I can hear how small you are, just from your voice? You are still recovering from being sick, also. You kneed to eat more. Give me your bowl."
Kagome reached for his bowl over the table with her right hand, while her left hand groped for the rice bowl. That would be her solution for everything, food.
"No, I'm fine Kagome. I wasn't really hungry to begin with. And you gave me a lot earlier. Besides I don't want to…"
Kagome interrupted his refusal with a snap of her fingers that were still waiting for him to hand her his rice bowl. Kagome had found the rice bowl with her left hand and was lightly fluffing the rice, to un-stick it from itself in preparation of being served.
"I don't want to hear it. You are week and growing. You need more food." Kagome told the boy as he handed her his bowl and she started to serve him some rice. After two medium scoops Shippou interrupted her with a stuttered, 'Th-That is fine, that's good.' Kagome 'huffed,' about to scoop a third scoop into the bowl, but handed it back to him.
"Thank you. You know, that ring that you ware on your ring finger? Where did it come from?" Shippou asked to change the subject.
"Why do you ask?" Kagome asked guardedly.
Kagome had been on her own, with no one to talk to for so long that she usually didn't talk. At first Shippou had thought that it was because she resented having to take care of him, and then one night, when he had had a nightmare and woken himself up with his own screaming, he had calmed himself, hoping that he had not woken his caretaker.
Kagome had stumbled into his room, in the dead of night, panting. She had come in to his room, and knelt by his bed. He had pretended to be asleep, trying to not be a bother to her, and he had heard her kneel down at his bed side. She had whispered his name and when he didn't answer, she sighed. She had stayed by his bed for the rest of the night.
When Shippou had questioned her about it the next day, Kagome had laughed and said that he had been dreaming. But he knew. He had seen the way that her nose had squinched up and how she couldn't even dine to look in his direction. She had lied.
Kagome was uncomfortable in potentially emotional situations.
"What made you think of my ring Shippou?"
"I don't know, I saw it glint when you reached for the bowl…" Shippou mumbled so quietly that Kagome missed the last part of his statement.
"What was that, I couldn't catch it?" Kagome asked.
"I said," sigh. "I said that the same image in your ring appears all over the forest. It is carved on regular trees, rocks, in cliff walls, and they are all at eye level. I was looking up at one of the huge trees that are farther out in the woods and I noticed something strange in the bark higher up, so I backed up, 'cause I was standing right under it, so I backed up and got a better look at it. Up close it just looks like a smudge in the bark of the tree in a couple places, but I backed up and then I noticed that they sort of made a familiar pattern. And then I backed up more and I looked at a couple of the trees right next to each other, and I saw that it was a whole bunch of trees that made a whole picture, and it is the same design as the one on your ring. So where did your ring come from?"
That had got to be the longest thing that that boy has ever said to me. Kagome thought. He didn't raise his voice or get faster, or sound nervous, so I have no idea what to make of it other than genuine curiosity. This must be almost what he was like before.
ok, enjoy. i have only gotten 2 reviews, i am sad, i think that i might cry. but i have a whole bunch of hits. this next chapter will have kagomes hidden secret... well the one that i have been hiding from you.
it might be in your best interists if you were to look up what a Koto was and all of the parts to it. i will have a translation at the beginning of the chapter, but it will go better if you understand what you are reading before you read it.