I love Shippou and I want to show how Sesshoumaru is not as evil as I have made him out to be thus far, they do gain common ground – well they have – romance is to follow.

Return of the fox

"KAGOME!" Shouted a familiar voice and the teenage girl turned around just in time to catch a furry orange ball of fluff as it launched itself into her waiting arms. "I've missed you so much," Shippou whimpered, but with a smile as they rubbed noses like they always used to. "I have so much to tell you," he carried on, not letting her have a word in edgeways, but she decided she did not need to say anything at all. She wanted to ask him where he was and how he has been, what has happened and all the other questions a concerned mother would want to ask her newly returned pup after they had spent quite a while apart.

However seeming as Shippou had been her son for a while now she knew him inside out. If he was anything like he used to be, and hopefully he had no changed then he would answer all those questions in the torrent of speech about to pour forth. How he managed to speak so fast and hold so much breath never ceased to amaze her. She sat down and paced the little kit in her lap just as the talking spewed forth. It was comprehendible, just, with the speed in which he spoke it proved a challenge of course. But that was how Shippou always was and she never wanted him to change, because he was her kit, her Shippou.

"I have been in the neutral village because Sesshoumaru said it would be safe for me there, I should not be in a warzone because I am just a kit, and he did not want me to get hurt," Shippou began at a million words a minute. "Then I went so see Keade and she gave me some soup and let me stay with her and then I showed her all of my fox magic and she told me I was really, really good! Then all of a sudden I heard about Sesshoumaru getting his Lands back so I thought it was safe for me to come back so I started to come back to you."

Shippou had to stop quite suddenly to catch his breath seeming as he had all of a sudden run out of puff. He took several long deep breaths to chase the blue out of his face and then started up again at the same speed. "I didn't go about trying to alert you of my arrival because I wanted it to be a surprise but I came across Sesshoumaru before I came across you. I was in the form of a rabbit and this big man grabbed me by the ears and he wanted to cook me and I was so scared but then suddenly Sesshoumaru came out of nowhere and cut the man's wrist off so he could carry me to safety I was so frozen in fear."

The way he could talk so fast without stumbling over his words was nothing short of awe inspiring to the girl. "I was not even sure how Sesshoumaru recognized me at first, but I guess he could still smell me and he must have done from quite far off too because I was not exactly right next to here. I showed him my fox magic too, and he told me I was really good for my age too, practically a warrior already, and in a few years he is going to start tutoring me in fighting himself so I will be as good as he is! Then he brought me to you!"

He jumped onto her shoulder from her lap and started nattering in her ear on and on about his adventures without her, or anybody really. Kagome was distracted and not really interested in what else he had to say, she did love him, but it was what he had said before. Sesshoumaru had saved his life, not only that, but had gone out of his way to save his life too, because he was pack. And he had not killed the man who threatened him either, cut his hand off, but he would probably survive it if he reacted to the wound and dealt with it quickly enough.

He did not have to save him, but he had done so anyway, because he wanted to, because he truly cared a little for the kit. Inuyasha had been a silent observer the entire time, he was still a very quiet boy and Shippou had not even noticed him yet. Sesshoumaru came into the room they were sitting in and Kagome looked up at him with a smile. He did have care in him after all; she was being shown yet another, softer, side of this conundrum of a Daiyoukai. He had brought Shippou to her without asking for anything in return. He did not gloat about how she should be thankful for saving him, he just did it... he did not even say.

"Shut up," Inuyasha ordered, lightly hitting his orange head as he left the room for another one of his 'secret' training bouts. "You talk too fucking much," and Kagome agreed, although not out loud, and it must grate on the nerves of someone like Inuyasha even more than her. She loved Shippou, knew what he was like and was glad to see him and hear from him again. But Inuyasha was a stranger and he was normally so silent, maybe he had been punished for speaking by the humans and still did not say all that much. So many words being thrown around, most of all them not even needed must have really got on his nerves.

Her thoughts once more turned back to Sesshoumaru. He didn't even say...