A/N: I wish to thank LogicalGoth and Inu'sgirl4ever for their reviews and to all those who have added this story to their favorites list. I currently have sixteen people waiting for this chapter alert to pop up in their e-mail, so without further ado, here it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Inuyasha characters, manga, anime, movies, etc. They belong by copyright laws to Rumiko Takahashi et al.

Her Knight

Ch. 9

It was a week before Kagome, and by extension Inuyasha, was allowed to return to the Feudal Era to visit their friends. Mama insisted Inuyasha bring bento lunches to Lady Kaede's before he escorted Kagome. When he came back wet from the showers on the other side of the well, the matriarch ordered him to change. Once again wearing modern clothes, the half demon carried an exasperated young miko to her mentor's hut. The other shard hunters were excited to see their friend again. Shippou would have jumped into Kagome's arms but was stopped short by Inuyasha's warning growl. The different timber in the growl told the kit one thing.

Inuyasha was now in charge of his punishment. "Kagome?" he questioned tentatively. Going to her once she'd sat down, he climbed to sit on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Shippou. You and I need to have a talk after lunch. Inuyasha will decide what your punishment should be for disobeying Sango and tricking Kirara." She softened the blow by bringing him gently into her lap. Kagome held him as Sango set out the bentos. Smiling at the ravenous look on Miroku's face, she couldn't help but giggle when he inhaled blissfully. "Mama made them."

"Your mother is a true angel, Kagome," the monk complimented.

"I'll be sure to tell her. Please, enjoy everyone." For several minutes they ate in silence. Kaede was the first to speak while the others consumed the meal.

"Inuyasha told us what happened to you, child. We were all quite concerned."

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Lady Kaede. I'm thankful that Inuyasha decided to check on me." The others exchanged a look Kagome missed. Neither the demons nor the humans were going to tell the miko that he had sensed that she'd needed him and gone to her. They weren't sure the half demon realized it himself. "He told you that he'd been hurt too, didn't he?"

"Aye, that he did. My, that was delicious," Kaede commented, finishing the fried rice in front of her.

"She's had a lot of practice and she loves to cook. Mama will certainly be pleased you enjoyed everything."

"Please tell her we're grateful for her generosity, Kagome." Sango set her chopsticks aside and drank the rest of her tea.

"I will," Kagome said, glancing down at her watch. "We have to return by two so I think it's time Inuyasha and I had a talk with Shippou. Will you excuse us?"

"Of course, Kagome. We'll clean up here and repack everything for you." Sango offered a sympathetic smile to her friend and started to gather the boxes.

"Thanks. Come on, Shippou." She got up gingerly and with the cub at her heels, left the hut. Inuyasha followed her progress with his ears and nose but otherwise let the two have what privacy he could. Turning, he found several interested faces studying him.

"What?"

"Have you and Kagome come to some sort of understanding?" Miroku grinned, his expression clearly stating what kind of "understanding" he meant.

"Not the kind of understanding you're thinking of, pervert." With that, Inuyasha got up to join his miko and pup.

Kagome wandered the village, her umbrella protecting her and the kitsune child on her shoulder from the rain. Shippou didn't chatter like he normally would have when his foster mother came back from her time. He let her order her thoughts and prepared himself for the lecture he could feel coming. "Shippou, I'm disappointed in you. Not that you were so worried that you wanted to wait at the well until we got back but that you left the others without telling them. Not even Kirara knew you'd left. You used your magic to trick her, didn't you?"

"Yes," he admitted. "She's still mad at me even though I apologized. I'm sorry for leaving without telling anyone. I won't do it again." Truly contrite, the fox cub hugged her around the neck. "I promise."

"I believe you, Shippou. I just never want to find out that we'd left some town without you. Or that we're being attacked and you're not where we can protect you." The little body hanging onto her neck trembled with guilt. He'd never thought of things that way. He'd been allowed to wander all over the forest near the home he'd shared with his parents. Until the Thunder Brothers had come, he'd never worried about danger. Seeing that her point had been made, Kagome kissed the downy russet head and changed directions back towards Kaede's.

Inuyasha was waiting to take his turn with the little boy. The hanyou took Shippou all the way to the Sacred Tree for his own "talk" with the kitsune. Once settled on his favorite branch out of the rain, he waited in silence. Once he was convinced the kit was squirming, he began. "You put yourself in danger, Shippou. Normally I wouldn't care where you went when we're here in the village but that's because I can sense you no matter how far you wander. Miroku could if he had to but he didn't know he had to use his abilities to find you. Sango can sense strong demonic auras but yours isn't mature enough to have given her even a clue as to where you went. Same goes for Kagome had she been here. Maybe in a couple of years when she gets a better handle on her powers it'll be a different story."

"I've apologized to everybody, Inuyasha. I won't do it again." The half demon smelled the truth in his claim.

"I know, pup. I'm proud that your magic is strong enough to fool someone as powerful as Kirara but you showed her disrespect. She's the eldest member of our odd pack and deserves your obedience. Not to mention that had anything happened to you, she would have been the only one to sense it with you way out here."

"Is my magic really that good?" Shippou wanted to know.

"Don't be smart," Inuyasha tapped his nose lightly in reprimand.

"Sorry."

"Aside from your little escape, your intent on eating candy before a meal is the other serious matter we have to talk about. Sango and Kagome never let you have lollipops before eating. What made you think you could get away with it surrounded by not one but three females?"

"She'd just threatened to take away my candy if I didn't listen to her. I wanted to have my last lollipop before Kagome was told about what I did. I knew she'd believe Sango."

"Ah, I figured it was something like that."

"Made sense at the time," the cub defended.

"Do you know what happened when I told Kagome about your actions? She thought she was a bad mother."

"No! She's the best, besides my birth mother. I couldn't have hoped for better." Real tears hovered in jewel toned eyes.

"Of course she is." Inuyasha jumped from the tree. "Listen, Shippou, she's my miko and I'll do anything to make sure she's safe. You're ours now and you never have to worry about being without family again. You're loved and you're safe."

"That's it? I'm not getting punished?" Staring in wonder at the normally hot-tempered half demon, Shippou was surprised by the mild scolding. In answer to his question, the kitsune was picked up by his tail and brought up to meet stern gold eyes.

"Oh, you're grounded all right. No candy or treats of any kind. None of that hand held video game that Kagome brought you. We're not leaving the village for several weeks so you're going to help Kaede-babaa do her chores and duties around the village. And if the others need your help, you'll offer it freely. As for Kirara, she'll set down her own judgment. If I was her I'd tan…" he cut himself off, remembering what had happened to Shippou's father. "I wouldn't be lenient. Understand?"

"Yes, Inuyasha."

"Good, now let's get back. I have to take Kagome home. We'll be back in about five days or so. The wench wants to try to go to school."

"Okay. Are you going with her?"

"I'll walk her there and walk her home but hell will freeze over before I willingly attend with her." Shippou grinned as a thought occurred to him. It would be fun to see "hell freeze over." After all, it was the nature of a kitsune to make mischief.

"Uncle, I have a wonderful idea," the voice of Sesshoumaru's eldest nephew sang out on the other end of the phone. "How would you like to help hell freeze over?"

"Explain yourself," he demanded, wanting to know what the kitsune had up his sleeve. Ignorance was never a good idea when the fox was involved.

"Well, we both know that currently Father won't let Mother out of his sight but he swore that while he would walk her to and from school, 'hell would freeze over' before he attended with her. I just thought it would be fun if…" Present day Shippou left the rest of the thought hanging.

The demon lord smiled briefly, making his nearby assistant shrink back in terror. It was never good when the inu taiyoukai smiled. It always meant trouble. "Do go on, nephew."

"Well, this is what I was thinking…"