Disclaimer: I neither own the intellectual property of the InuYasha universe, nor the rights to any of the affiliated merchandise or creative works thereof, nor do I profit from this work produced here.
Warnings: blood, cursing.
犬夜叉
The rice fields looked bare and empty in the dying light of the late autumn sun, glowing golden over the drained earth and on the pale peach face of the boy watching it. "Boy" was here used only in the most technical of terms; by human standards, the turquoise-clad youth standing at the edge of the fields would have been a teenager, on the threshold of manhood, by all appearances thirteen and not a day older.
Appearances, however, could be deceiving. Shippo, being a kitsune, knew all about deceiving appearances; for instance, his youthful face hid his ninety-one years well, and his quiet, contemplative posture hid a power that could be both wonderful and terrifying. Lately, he'd been using appearances to hide a lot of things; ever since the harvest feast two weeks back, he'd been hiding his own misery rather well– or so he thought.
"Something's wrong with him."
From the door of their hut, the village priestess and surrogate mother to the young kitsune glanced over her shoulder. Her husband, a silver-haired inuyoukai hanyou, glanced down at her, golden eyes gleaming in the sunlight. "It's not like him to be all moody like this."
"He was like this last fall, too. And right after he came back in the spring," the priestess sighed. "And on every visit home, too, now that I think about it."
"It's that damn Academy. He used to love going; now…" Her husband shook his head and didn't finish.
"Do you think something happened?"
He shrugged. "Dunno. Every time I ask he grins and says he loves it there, loves learning…damn if he doesn't do enough learning here, studying every night the way he does." He sighed irritably, crossing his arms. "But you know as well as I do how prejudiced demons can be, Kagome—'specially against those they think are weak."
"Surely, not because of…?" She trailed off. He shrugged again, eyes dark; she knew he was angry at feeling so helpless, but there was nothing they could do if Shippo kept pretending to be happy. Pushing it would only make it worse.
But Kagome was a mother at heart, as evidenced by the two little ones playing cheerfully with building blocks (about five hundred years too early) in the corner of the small hut behind them, and the rounding belly beneath the tie of her hakama. Maybe she couldn't convince Shippo to tell them what was wrong, but she could make sure he felt safe and loved when he was home. So she did what she knew best to do: cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Shippo! Come in for dinner!"
Across the distance (beyond a human's reach of hearing, certainly), the boy's head turned; she saw him crouch down in the golden light, and then, with a few blurred, bounding jumps, he landed in front of the door. "Yeah? What're we having?" he said, with a grin that was just a little too toothy to be real.
Kagome smiled back and pretended not to notice. "Ramen with turnips, your favorite."
"Really? Thanks, Kagome! You're the best!"
"Eh, wash up before you get your ma's floor all dirty," Inuyasha chided, clucking his tongue and nodding to the washbasin. Shippo nodded and smiled again, a real smile this time, and for just a moment, they knew he was happy.
犬夜叉
Gold morning sunlight beamed through the cracks in the mat curtain, and Shippo squinted a little in his sleep, mumbling as he tried to roll over.
"Mornin', kid. Don't you gotta get going?"
He opened his eyes to see Inuyasha looking down at him, and felt his belly do a flip-flop. He forced a grin and chirped, "Yeah! Don't wanna be late!"
The half-demon didn't buy it, and he certainly wasn't any more convinced as he watched Shippo move as slowly as possible and fuss over tedious things in his morning routine, but didn't mention it.
All too soon it was time for the kitsune to leave; the morning sun was climbing into the sky, turning it from pale yellow to an even paler blue, melting away the first frost of the season. Although a few golden leaves still clung to the trees, demons and humans alike could taste winter in the air. Shippo had come to hate that smell.
Everyone had come to see him off; Sango and Miroku with their brood; Inuyasha and Kagome with their own two little daughters chasing after, rubbing their eyes; even old Kaede-sama, hobbling out with her cane in the early dawn. And Rin, of course. Shippo couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad to see her; he was, after all, a teenage boy in love, and emotions at such an age can be difficult even in the best of circumstances.
"Promise you'll come back and visit for New Years'?" Kagome fussed, straightening his kosode and smoothing the rumpled fur of his vest. Shippo grinned up at her.
"I promise, Kagome."
"Make sure you keep good care of your sword," Inuyasha instructed him. "Oil it down every week—and I mean every week."
Shippo rolled his eyes in such a teenager-ish way that the women in the group had to bite their lips to keep from giggling. "I know, Inuyasha. I'm not an idiot."
"Yeah, well, any time you feel like being lazy, just remember all the effort I went to get the rust off the Tesusaiga."
"Like I said, I'm not an idiot."
Inuyasha growled. "Why you–" He pounced, making Shippo yelp and laugh as he caught the boy in a headlock and knuckled his hair. "Gimme lip one more time, kid, and I swear fox'll be on the menu!" Shippo laughed again, shoving the headlock off. The hanyou grinned at him and ruffled his hair, causing the kitsune to beam up at him; there was little in this world he craved more than the half-demon's praise.
Little, but not nothing. A soft giggle drew his attention, and he looked over, quickly flushing red. Rin—beautiful, sixteen, his best friend and maybe (he hoped, begged Inari-sama, just maybe) a little more—smiled back at him. "I, um, I made you something," she said, pinking at the cheeks herself and holding out what appeared to be a very small cloth parcel. "A going-away present. Kagome-sama helped me." Shippo accepted it, curious, and undid the tie to find it was a carved wooden locket. Rin smiled. "Promise you'll wear it?"
Shippo blushed even redder and nodded. "O-okay."
Rin beamed and flung her arms around him, causing him to freeze up in embarrassment. It wasn't that they'd never hugged before, of course—but, well, he could see the smirks Miroku and Inuyasha were giving him. Rin seemed to remember their audience just as abruptly, flushing and quickly pulling away, wringing her wrists.
Shippo strung the locket over his head and tucked it into his kosode, then looked up at them and bit his lip. "Well…I guess I should be going."
Kagome, predictably, sniffled and hugged him tightly. "Be good—eat plenty of food– come home safe, alright? Promise me!"
"Which one?"
"All of them!"
He promised, and she kissed the top of his head before pulling away. Inuyasha gripped his shoulder and gave him a gruff, "Good luck, kid," which he knew meant just as much, if not more, than his surrogate mother's tears. Sango and Miroku each wished him luck, the kids cried and hung onto his legs until their parents pried them off and then—Shippo always saved her for last—he turned back to Rin.
"Do your best, Shippo-kun," she said, with so much confidence in him that he vowed then and there to make her proud. He took one last look at their faces– proud, hopeful, happy, already missing him– and summoned his courage, willing himself to remember this moment in the difficult months ahead.
"I won't let you down," he vowed. "I'll make you all proud!" Then, before he could lose his nerve, he turned and took off running. Within a few moments, though he didn't dare look back, he knew that they were out of his sight.
犬夜叉
The kitsune ran long into the day, stopping only around noon to catch and cook some fish from a small stream. He tried not to worry too much as he ran and, being a teenage boy, actually found this rather easy. He could ignore his problems for several more hours yet and just enjoy the crisp autumn air and feel of the pounding earth against his bare feet.
All too soon, however, he landed before the red gatepostsof the Academy. Shippo himself was like a spot of blue in a sea of russets and scarlets; from the shrine-posts to the maple trees to his own strawberry-blonde hair, everything except his kosode and hakama had a reddish tint.
Taking a deep breath, the teenage kitsune climbed the steps to the academy and crossed under the gate; as he did so, he felt the air ripple around him, the foxfire-blue aura confirming him to be a kitsune and granting him admittance.
As a boy, the Academy had been Shippo's favorite place in the whole world, and with good reason. Settled in a grove of maples at the edge of the sea, from the beginning of autumn to the end of winter the temple-like school housed nearly a hundred kitsune, ranked by skill and, usually, by age. By night they slept in dormitories, all of the boys in dormitories one and two, young and old, and, Shippo presumed (he could only presume, since sneaking into the female dormitory was strictly forbidden) the girls separated similarly in the third and fourth. He was now in the top rank for the younger dormitory. By day, however, they were separated by class and (usually) by age, either learning history and theory in the main lecture hall or practicing their skills in the main temple under the watchful eye of the statue of Inari-sama.
At the thought, Shippo gulped and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. He had moved beyond trickster jokes and pranks several years previous, and now the real training had commenced: true fighting, day in and day out with each of his fellow ranking classmates, each struggling to best the others in competitions of skill and cunning—and to prove themselves to Headmaster Shizuei before the end of winter. For Shippo, those three months were always a hard-fought battle. Unlike the other kitsune, who would often take ten years to master a level, Shippo couldn't afford to waste his time, unless he wanted to be left behind with the comparably immature demons.
His mortality and relative inexperience, consequentially, made him usually among the worst students in his class at the beginning of the year. Already he was two classes behind where he, developmentally, should have been, having twice failed his end-of-year examinations. On top of that, his necessary history of one-upping his classmates and quick transition between classes made it nearly impossible for him to make friends. Truth be told, Shippo was probably the least popular kitsune at the Academy.
This fact showed itself the moment he walked into the dormitory. Everybody, from the thumb-sucker kits to his fellow top-junior students, stopped and turned to look at him. Shippo swallowed, ducked his head and headed for the first futon he saw; maybe if he claimed one as his own and settled in quick for the night, they'd all forget he was there.
No such luck. Fast as blinking, another kitsune leapt in front of him: Ritsuto-san, if Shippo remembered his name right. So this was his new bully for the year. "Nn-nn," the other fox said coldly, crossing his arms. "You sleep on that one by the door—the one Saichi-kun had last year."
Shippo bit his lip and glanced over, trying hard not to let his mouth curl in disgust as he spotted the stained futon. Saichi, one of the younger demons, was a notorious bed-wetter. He looked back and saw not just Ritsuto-san, but also Kenzo-san and Hougo-san, his adversaries from the previous two years, glaring back at him. The redhead swallowed and turned without a word. Inside, he was seething. I could tear you all apart if I wanted, he growled internally. My father was the headman of our village, the strongest kitsune ever! I'm as strong as he was and if I wanted I could pound you all into the ground! Then he felt bad for thinking such things and scolded himself. I wouldn't really. I won't let myself hate them; hatred makes you do bad things, and I know how much damage I can do…
犬夜叉
It was a bad night, for everyone really, but especially for Shippo. The younger kitsune were homesick, sniffling and sobbing all night, so nobody got a wink of rest. Moreover, every time Shippo finally got to sleep, he found himself kicked awake when somebody accidentally tripped over his futon on the way to the door in the yet-unfamiliar surroundings. Some of the kicks were so sharp he wondered if they were really accidental.
Nevertheless, when dawn broke, Shippo got up, washed his face and left, even as all the other boys mumbled and rolled over, intending to sleep until just before breakfast. The grounds of the school were quiet, filled with a gentle golden dawn and the red scattered maple leaves. Shippo stretched, breathed in the crisp fresh air, and headed off in the direction of the garden.
Although not many people were aware, Shippo was a very religious young man, and had been for nearly as long as he could remember. It was not a matter so much of study and understanding as it was a matter of love, the deep and cherishing love of a child to a parent, and the focus of this love was the goddess of his kind: the Lady Inari, kami of the kitsune. Shippo had never known his mother, who had died when a mistaken step had resulted in a fall, causing the expectant mother to go into labor months early. She had died from the delivery and the rest of the litter, born too soon, had perished, leaving only him behind without so much as a single memory of her. Shippo supposed that this was why he had bonded so closely to Kagome; while Inuyasha served often as a father-figure, he was not Father to Shippo, who had had a father and had lost him. But Kagome was Mother, very simply so, and so was Inari-sama, the beautiful lady he adored so deeply. He always preferred to think of her as a goddess despite the deity's ability to shapeshift into any form she pleased; she was as dear to him as his own natural dam.
Although the main temple held the great statue of Inari-sama, Shippo's favorite place in the Academy was the small secondary shrine, hardly big enough for one person, situated in the garden in the center of a small pond. He crossed over the bridge and was greeted by the appointed priestess of the academy, a sunny young kitsune of a hundred and ten years old by the name of Akiko, and one of the few friends Shippo had at the Academy. "Good morning, Shippo-chan!" she called cheerfully, pausing her sweeping. "Come to visit Inari-sama?"
"Good morning, Akiko-chan. Yeah, I thought I'd better say hello before I really start training! Can I go in?"
"Sure thing! You got everything you need?"
"Uh-huh! But thank you. I won't stay long."
The girl let him pass, and Shippo approached the shrine, washing his hands and face in the temizuya before entering.
The statue of Inari-sama greeted him, smiling gently as always, the key and jewel held in her hands. Shippo bowed twice deeply, and then set about preparing everything he'd brought. The kitsune had their own particular way of honoring their patroness: he set a cup of sake and a plate of daifuku before the statue and used his foxfire to light the sticks of sacred incense, their scent one unknown to the goddess's human devotees. He clapped his hands twice, and then bowed again.
Inari-sama, I know I ask for a lot; some people would probably say I'm greedy for it. But I'm confident that it makes you happy to answer me, because you're as good as a mother to me, and mothers like giving their children good things! Inari-sama, please help me to do well this year, and help everyone back home to be happy and safe while I'm away. Please, look out for Kagome-chan and Inuyasha-san, and Miroku-san and Sango-san too, and all of their kits. And Rin…take care of Rin for me, Inari-sama, won't you? She deserves to be happy…I promise, Mother, with your help I'm sure to make her proud of me! I'll do my very best!
Outside the shrine, Akiko paused in her sweeping and glanced through the entrance. For a moment she found herself utterly captivated by the expression of such profound love and trust on Shippo's face as he gazed up into the eyes of the goddess, like a child looking up into the eyes of his own mother.
犬夜叉
It had been a long day for Shippo. He'd spent the whole of his lecture classes furiously taking notes while the other students kicked back and relaxed, already well-versed in the first day's material and unworried about passing the section exam, unlike Shippo, who knew he'd have to repeat the whole first section again over and over until he passed, wasting time he didn't have. His ensuing mental exhaustion had not served him well in sparring, which was half dependent on wit, and had had the tar beaten out of him by one classmate after another.
At lunch he'd lost his meal to a prank he'd been too mentally exhausted to foresee, and, while he'd managed to be cleverer concerning his supper, he'd done so by taking his food out of the dining hall and eating in the surrounding maple wood. Twice he'd caught Headmaster Shizuei watching him with a guilty expression, but the old kitsune had quickly looked away each time. Shippo knew why, and found it hard not to be bitter. This is your fault, he thought resentfully. If you hadn't been such a coward, I wouldn't have had to go after Hideki myself…I might still be normal…
He finally returned to the dormitory just as the sun went down, the official curfew for his level. Thankfully, nobody bothered him any further aside from shooting him dirty looks, and he was allowed to get ready for bed and lay down on his stained mattress in peace. Misery kept him awake for another hour, before the last lamp in the room was blown out and even he drifted off to sleep.
His rest, unfortunately, was no more peaceful than his waking hours.
"Father! Father, wait up!"
It was a happier time, a more peaceful time. The sky was a beautiful sapphire blue, the grass green and springy, and the smell of distant storms was on the air. The little boy dashed through the grass with his treasure, eagerly seeking the scent of his father.
"You won't believe it! Look how many acorns I found!"
The grass parted in front of him, and he stopped dead. Terror momentarily deafened him; the acorns spilled out of his hands. Dimly somewhere he knew that this wasn't right—he'd come upon his father's corpse already skinned and tanned, hung around Monten's monstrous gut– but in his waking hours he'd been tormented so many times by the thoughts of what must have happened while he was blissfully gathering acorns that now his macabre imaginations were given full license to run free. His father's corpse, fox-form, lay dead upon the ground, and Monten was about ready to make his first cut.
"No!" The shift from kit to young man was as fluid as thought as Shippo drew his sword. "Get away from him!"
"Hn-hn-hn. Look who it is," Monten sneered, cocking his head but not rising. "The little fox kit."
"Give him back! Father!"
"He's already dead, you stupid boy," Hiten drawled, arms crossed. "But if you want him, come get him yourself."
Shippo let out a war-cry and charged forward, the Kaensaiga blazing with blue light—yet with one swift movement, Hiten disarmed him, spun him around and seized him by the shoulders. Shippo struggled, but to no avail. "Let me go! I'll kill you! I'll kill you for what you did to him!"
"Oh really?" Hiten let out a low chuckle. "Well, let's put you in a real rage for the fight! Go on, Monten."
"But of course, brother." The silver tanner's knife gleamed.
Blood sprayed, and Shippo screamed.
"FATHER!"
"Hn-hn!"
Blood, so much blood, oh Inari-sama, make them stop! "NO! FATHER!"
Silver. Red. And then– bone-white–
"FATHER!"
Real pain, physical pain, jolted him awake, still screaming. "Father! FATHER!"
"Shut up!"
Another solid kick to his gut choked him, forcing him to double over, even as his mind scrambled to put everything together. It was so dark; where was he? Where were– were–
"You stupid kit!" Thud!
This kick came from solidly behind him against his spine, and finally Shippo realized what had happened: he'd had a nightmare and awoken his classmates. Several of them, actually, if the moonlit glimpses of hair and eyes were anything to go by–
Wham! "Aghah!" Blindly he reached for his sword, but a foot kicked it away, sending it skittering across the room.
"I've had enough of you!" Crunch! Shippo cried out again, this time fully awake, as his nose shattered against somebody's foot. "Thinking– you can– one-up– us!" Each word was punctuated with a blow. "You– stupid– little–"
"Why do you even come here?!" another voice sneered; another kick caused a sickening crack from his side that left the kitsune dizzy with pain. "Just go home!"
"Eh, what's this?!"
He barely had time to interpret the question before the string holding the locket around his neck was yanked upwards and snapped. "No," Shippo gasped in panic. "Please–"
"A gift from those humans you live with?!" The vandal—Shippo now recognized him as Ritsuo-san—threw the locket down on the ground in disgust and made to stomp it.
"No!"
Flash!
A blinding shock of light burst out from the locket and sent Ritsuo flying backwards into a wall. Now everyone was awake; the other kitsune was cursing violently. "What the hell?!" he bellowed. "That thing's blessed?!"
"It didn't hurt him!" one of the others realized furiously. "He's been wearing it all day and didn't get burnt!"
"'Cuz he's got no youkai!" Ritsuo accused. "He's basically human already!"
This was in fact nearly true; shortly after returning, newly-mortal, from the evil Hideki's lair six years previous, Shippo had found that blessed objects and sacred ofudas no longer had any effect on him unless he was actively channeling his youkai to do magic, as none of it was actually operating within his skin or bones to prevent aging. He hadn't even noticed that the locket was blessed. Shippo was just about to growl out this explanation before somebody sent a swift kick to his diaphragm.
Somehow the fact of the blessed locket sent the other boys into a rage far beyond their mere anger before; the rain of blows inflicted on him caused the younger kitsune to curl up into a ball, trying to protect himself. At last they grew tired, their blows fading away into snickering laughter. Too battered and humiliated to move, Shippo simply lay there, seething, covered in tears and mucus mixed with blood. A hatred he hadn't felt since first setting eyes on the Thunder Brothers welled up inside him. I'll kill them, he vowed, trembling, I'll kill all of them, every last one of them! He could feel his hands shaking, knuckles cracking as his hands twisted into claws; needle-prickles of heat were sweeping through him, eyesight narrowing to a single red-tinged pinpoint, and all he had to do, all he had to do was give in, release the gates holding back the flood of raw power…
But there, among all the instincts screaming at him to seek vengeance, to assert his dominance, the strength of his blood and line over these people who hurt him and mocked him and hated him…there, deep inside, he heard a calm, reassuring voice:
"You're no different, Shippo, 'cept you're a full-blooded demon. That makes it even harder on you. But it ain't your fault, alright? The demons your dad was talkin' about, those are the ones who choose to lose control. Not you."
"So… so I'm not… going 'bad?'"
"'Course you're not. Nobody becomes evil unless they wanna. Y'understand me?"
His breath caught, and then slowed. Kill them? What was he thinking? Yeah, maybe they were jerks, maybe they hated him, maybe they deserved a punishment they were never gonna get…but they were still people. They didn't deserve to die, not for this, and more importantly, Shippo knew he didn't want to be the kind of person who could do that to someone else. Nobody becomes evil unless they wanna, he heard Inuyasha repeat firmly, y'understand me?
Eventually his tormenters grew tired of watching him cower and left him lying there, going back to their pallets. The room was silent, filled with tension. None of the other students had dared get in the way, reluctant to become the target of the older boys' sport. Sniffling to himself, the kitsune focused his magic on the sharp pains in his side and face. A soft blue aura appeared as the fractured bones knit themselves back together, and he paused in fear that his assailants would return, but nobody did. The darkness was alive with their fear and hatred.
From the depths of his heart, a deep loneliness welled within him. Eyes burning, he swept up his sword and the locket, and fled the room, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be followed.
Somehow, nobody bothered to go after him. Outside the dormitory the night was quiet, the moon gently illuminating the red maple leaves on the ground and clinging to the branches. Shippo sniffled, walking along. His hands trembled, and he wiped the blood from his mouth, spitting out metallic-stained saliva and grimacing with disgust.
"I hate it here," he said to no one in particular. And then, softer, after a long silence: "…I wanna go home."
The quiet, empty forest around him didn't answer.
Somehow, without really having a conscious aim or direction, his feet carried him to the shrine in the middle of the garden pond. He paused outside, looking up at the vermillion posts.
"He's basically human already!"
Maybe, he thought miserably, maybe Inari didn't want him anymore. He wasn't welcome with other kitsune; why should their goddess want him, either? He turned to go back, and then stopped, looking back over his shoulder.
But…I have nowhere else to go…
Hesitantly, sentiments of unworthiness swirling around his mind and settling like lead in his gut, the bruised young man crossed over the bridge to the shrine. He set his sword down outside, entered, bowed, and, having no offering of food, merely lit the sticks of incense. Feeling as if it were all a useless endeavor, he clapped twice and bowed again. Then he stood dumbly, looking up at the gentle face of the goddess.
Tears welled up in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks as a sob escaped him, and he crumpled to his knees, weeping. The whole weight of life crushed onto him. He thought about his mother, who had died just so that he could live. He thought about his father, the horrific injustice he'd suffered for such a trivial thing as an ugly man's vanity. He thought about all the hundreds of people, human and demon alike, that Naraku had killed, and he thought about old Hideki, the twisted madman who'd taken away so much from him. Most of all, he thought about himself, about what he could have done, would have done, if it hadn't been for that fundamental sense of right and wrong. It shook him to his core. What was the point, he wept aloud to the goddess, what was the point of trying to be good in a world of so much evil?
"But I did it," he sniffled, scrubbing at his eyes. "I did it, Inari-sama. I didn't give in. I just… just let them go… I was so pathetic… but I did it…"
"I know, Shippo."
He started and looked up. The shrine was still empty. He wondered if he'd imagined it.
"You've been good, so very, very good." His mouth fell open; he knew now that he definitely hadn't imagined it, evinced by the fact that the statue had begun to glow a faint but discernible blue– a combination of foxfire and holy aura which could only belong to one entity.
"I-Inari-sama…?"
"My brave young man, you've done so well," the voice came again, gentle, motherly. "You have asked a question to which there is no easy answer, but there is a true one, and it is this: there is much evil in this world, as you know too well, but there is also much good. And the good will win out over evil, I promise you that. There will always be justice in the end…"
Shippo gaped, stunned. His mind was spinning; surely, he, of all people—weak and mortal and pathetic—surely, he could not have merited the attention of a goddess…
"To prove this to you, I will reward you for your good heart. Shippo, you have achieved a great virtue: self-control…"
The boy's heart began to thunder. Every fox knew of the nine kitsune virtues, each relating to one of the Nine Tails: the first was simply the virtue of their nature, each kitsune thus being born with his first tail; the second, courage; the third, self-control; the fourth, cleverness; the fifth, honesty; the sixth, loyalty; the seventh, wisdom; the eighth, compassion; and the ninth, supreme piety to the goddess. Although he hid it from his classmates to avoid invoking further scorn, Shippo had the distinction of having achieved his second tail at a remarkably young age: the Tail of Courage, which he had been granted shortly after Naraku's defeat.
Though he'd experienced it before, it was no less strange and wonderful when the goddess's blue aura reached out and enveloped him like a mighty wind, calling his own aura to the surface. But something was different this time: the bright rushing feeling was electrifying, expanding his lungs like cold air and fizzing in his veins; foxfire flamed around him on all sides, and for a moment, the physical and the spiritual shifted into focus together as he lost his corporeal form, blue light flaring around and through him as his essence became a great cerulean fox, three tails flaring and flashing like tongues of fire and then–
And then suddenly the divine energy was drawn out of his lungs, leaving him weak and dizzy where he knelt, clutching at his racing heart with a gasp.
"You have done very well, my kit," the gentle and powerful voice rang out through his soul. "Continue to follow in my ways, and in time, I vow, you will become what you desire: a Nine-Tailed Fox."
The crackling sense of divine energy faded, and Shippo found himself suddenly and startlingly alone in the shrine, or so it seemed. The sounds of the night flooded back in, the solidity of the floor and the chill of the breeze…and the feeling of something small and round in his palm. Startled, he opened his hand and was surprised to realize he was still holding the locket. It dawned on him that he hadn't yet opened it.
Gently, he pried apart the two sides of the carved wood, and breathed in deeply as a strong aroma rushed out: Rin's scent. Inside one half of the locket was a tied lock of her hair; in the other, a tiny future-painting, what Kagome called a "photograph," of all his friends.
Smiling to himself, the teenager closed the locket and looked up into the face of the goddess. "I'll try, Inari-sama, I promise," he vowed. "No matter how hard it is, I'll fight to learn how to be the greatest kitsune ever!"
He stood, bowed, and left the shrine, taking up his sword as he left. The light over the red maple trees was beginning to pale. He realized, cheerfully, that all his bruises and scrapes were gone, which was sure to be a surprise to the others; in fact, he felt so rejuvenated, he decided that he may as well go train until sunrise. Looking down at the locket in his palm, he turned his hand over and back again. Even as he watched, his aura turned to foxfire, flickering along his fingers and then suppressing itself again, and he smiled. Something told him he wouldn't need to worry about the likes of Ritsuto-san or the others anymore; besides, even if they hated him, Shippo knew now he could withstand their scorn.
After all—his nimble fingers easily tied a knot in the broken string—people are counting on me. I'll become a great kitsune…no matter how hard it is, I'll do it. He looped the string over his head and lifted his head to the coming dawn. Far away, he knew, Rin would be waking up to the same sunrise.
I'll do it for the ones I love.
A/N: Please tell me what you thought!
As a note: if you're being bullied at school, PLEASE inform someone trustworthy like a principal or teacher, or preferably your parents. You do NOT deserve to be treated like that, and you are not being a weak by demanding the proper authorities do their job and make sure you can actually learn at school. Just like Kagome and Inuyasha, your parents and teachers really do want to help. (Provided, of course, your principal isn't a cowardly fox-demon.)
So again, please leave a review, and I hope you liked it! Thanks!