Gods, I just had the worst shower in the history of every bad shower I've ever taken.  Okay, earlier this year, the hot water went out for a good four day period or somewhere thereabouts, so I had to take a shower in cold water.  That was bad.  This was worse.  See, for some reason I cannot begin to fathom, the water wasn't necessarily icy, but it wouldn't get hot, so it wasn't so cold that your body would be numb to the temperature, but it also wasn't warm by any means.  Now, this in itself wouldn't have been that bad, but then, every now and then, the shower would suddenly become hot.  This would have hurt, but I was so excited, I didn't care.  And then, it would stay hot for a good five seconds before reverting to a temperature even colder than before.  It was like the shower was teasing me, showing me that if it wanted to, it could be hot, but that wasn't all important enough to that damn shower.  Man, that was crappy.  Okay, enough of my whining…story time!  Oh, and Jade?  44 days, 13 hours, and 3 minutes!

*****

All I Needed Was You

Part 13

*****

When it's love you give

I'll be a man of good faith
Then in love you'll live

I'll make a stand I won't break
I'll be the rock you can build on

Be there when you're old
To have and to hold
When there's love inside

I swear I'll always be strong
Then there's a reason why

I'll prove to you we belong
I'll be the wall that protects you

From the wind and the rain
From the hurt and pain

Bryan Adams All For Love

"You're not gonna block anything like that!  Come on, Asako, what are you trying to do, fight me or dance with me?" Shippo shook his head at her sloppy defense.  "I'm not playing around here, you're gonna get knocked down!"  and just like that, Asako was down on the ground, wincing at the pain of a rock that hit her leg when she fell.

"Dammit, Shippo!  That hurts!" Asako rubbed her thigh tenderly.  He'd hit her in the side, but had been careful, so the only part of her that really hurt was where the rock hit.

"Asako…oh gods, I'm sorry." Shippo was immediately guilty, even though they'd both hit each other a thousand times in training.  Ever since their first job together almost four months ago, he'd had a very hard time thinking of Asako as a training partner.  She'd always been important to him, of course, but now… "Are you ready to stop?  You seem a bit distracted."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." She took his proffered hand to help pull herself up.  He smiled as she stood purposely close to him, his other arm snaking around her waist as he kissed her softly.

"Sure you're okay?" Shippo asked, trailing his fingers through her black hair.

"Yeah, I just wasn't paying attention." She admitted, resting her head against his chest and sighing softly.  "Shippo?"

"Yes?" he answered, still stroking her hair, simply enjoying standing together like this.

"When are we going to tell my parents about us?" she asked him hopefully.

"I don't…I don't know." He answered.

"But why do we have to keep sneaking around like this?  We love each other, we should be able to tell others about it!" she demanded, pulling away from him.

"Asako…it's just that…I don't know if we should tell them." He spoke hesitantly.  "If we do, then they'll want us to be married…"

"Well I don't see the problem with that." She huffed, crossing her arms angrily.  "Do you not want to marry me?"

"Asako, please try to understand me." Shippo grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him.  "I do want to marry you.  I want you to be my mate, my wife.  I love you, Asako.  But if we get married, every human who hates me for what I am will hate you twice as much for being with me.  To them…there's nothing worse than a human and a youkai together."

"But we're in love!  Doesn't that mean anything?" she wanted to know.

"To us, yes.  To them, no." Shippo kissed her forehead delicately.  "You've never really seen it, the way they look at me.  Sango's been careful about sharing the jobs so that I don't have to deal with that and you don't have to see it.  But the way they look at me…I don't want anyone to look at you that way.  I'm trying to protect you, Asako."

"I know it, Shippo." She cuddled her body closer to his.  "But I want for us to be together.  I don't care how they look at me or what they think.  I just want to be with you.  Don't you understand?"

"I do…it's just that I didn't want for this to happen if you didn't know what you were getting yourself in to.  It wouldn't be fair to you."  Shippo explained.

"Then can we tell my parents?" she asked, her arms going around his neck.  "Please?" she pouted.  Shippo shook his head ruefully and laughed.

"If you want it that much, I guess I can't stop you, can I?" he conceded.

"Nope, I have you under my control now!" she giggled maliciously.

"For some reason, that doesn't bother me." Shippo answered, leaning down for another kiss.

----------

It was at dinner that evening when Asako decided that without further warning, Shippo would be talking to her parents about their relationship.  She waited until there was a lull in the normal conversation to speak up.  "Mom, dad?"

"Yes, honey?" Sango replied as Miroku and her gave Asako their attention.

"Shippo has something to tell you." She told them.  Next to her, the kitsune froze in shock as all attention was turned to him.  His eyes went from Asako's apologetic smile to Sango and Miroku's expectant faces, and then back to Asako.

"I have to tell them?" he asked quietly.

"You said you would." She pouted.

"I said we would." He reminded her.  "We, including you, of course."

"Well, okay then."  She shrugged.  "I'll start."  She faced her parents, licking her lips nervously.  "As you both know, Shippo and I were raised together.  He's my best friend and I've always looked up to him, but there's something else about us.  We've been keeping something from you, something that happened on that first job you let me go on."  There she stopped and turned to Shippo.  "Okay, your turn!"

Shippo buried his face in his hands, wondering why he had thought he could depend on Asako to help him out with this delicate situation.  She hadn't told Miroku and Sango anything that they didn't already know, and was leaving all the difficult subject matter to him.  "Thanks a lot, Asako." He told her sarcastically.  Smiling sheepishly, she snuck her hand under the table to cover his own.  "Sango, Miroku…you two have always been there for me along with Inuyasha and Kagome.  It's hard being a youkai orphan since you aren't likely to get taken in by other youkai, and humans find you dangerous and often disgusting.  But you guys took me in and raised me as one of your own, and I think…somewhere along the line I hope that I've gained your trust."  Shippo looked at them unsurely.

"Of course you have, Shippo." Miroku confirmed, and Sango nodded before he continued.

"Well, the thing is…I always kind of looked at Asako as my little sister, but then…a while ago, I started to see…things about her that made me think…like she wasn't my sister.  You know, but something different."  Shippo told them, looking and sounding extremely flustered.  Asako slipped her fingers through his, squeezing his hand with her own.  Shippo turned to smile at her, and for a moment, he forgot his fears that Miroku would curse him or Sango would tell him to keep away from her daughter, that they wouldn't really trust him with something so dear to their hearts.  "I love Asako."

"And I love Shippo." Asako answered, staring straight at him, joy and love swirling in purple pools.  "When we went away for that first job, we admitted our feelings to each other, but we couldn't tell you right away."

"I was worried that if we got married…if you let us, that is…then people would look down on Asako as something disgusting and wrong, the way they look at me.  I couldn't bear to think that, so I just…I just…" Shippo faded away, drawing comfort from her hand in his, her presence so near to him.  She'd said that she didn't care about all that, and that as long as he loved her and they could be together, she didn't care what people thought about her.  "But I do love her.  And I want us to be together."

"So that's why they didn't say anything." Sango turned to Miroku.  Asako and Shippo exchanged puzzled looks.  "I knew you were right about things seeming less tense, but I didn't think of that being their reason."

"We should have known.  Shippo would give up any hope to keep her safe from harm." Miroku replied.

"Did…you guys…already know?" Asako finally asked, embarrassed.

"Of course we knew you were in love.  Have been for ages." Sango smiled at them.  "It was the cutest thing to watch Shippo pretend not to stare at you sometimes, almost like Inuyasha was with Kagome."

"Seems like it's been so long since those days." Miroku put an arm around his wife's waist.  "Remember the way I used to act?"

"Used to?  You say it as though things have changed."  Sango teased.

"Um…I hate to interrupt your guys' memories…but we're still here." Shippo reminded them.

"What's wrong?  Oh, that's right, you wanted permission to marry her." Miroku shook his head, surprised at how easily he was distracted.  "You have it, of course.  She's the right age for it, and I once told Sango that there's no one I'd rather entrust Asako too than you.  That still holds true."

"And Shippo, you shouldn't worry what other's think." Sango reassured him.  "I know it's hard when it has to do with Asako.  You really do care about her, and you don't want her to be hurt by others.  But you should know that she can take care of herself."

"I know that." Shippo admitted.  "but that doesn't mean I won't protect her when I can."

"I understand." Sango smiled at him warmly.  "Now then, why don't we finish our dinner before we discuss this engagement in more detail."

----------

Everyone was there.  Sango, smiling through her tears, Miroku, holding her close and whispering calming words into her ear.  Kagome, also crying happily and also accepting the attention of her own husband.  Aiko, beaming at the couple and sighing in admiration of Asako's kimono.  Kaede, helping lead them through the ceremony, but obviously happy that she was seeing that the young couple were finally united as one.  All the villagers who had come to accept Shippo and care about him as well as Asako.

Kaede had just finished the main ceremony, and now the two were exchanging vows they had come up with on their own.  Shippo hoped his would be good enough, as he'd never been the best at words, and he doubted he could use them to fully convey how he felt about the woman before him.

"Asako," he began, smiling at her as she beamed back at him.  He was happy that this was happening, of course, but he never imagined that she could be as happy as he was.  "Sometimes I feel like fate has brought us here, standing together in front of everyone we've known and giving our hearts to each other.  It's strange, the way things happen.  The way a young youkai can lose his parents only to find that there are others who will care for him as well as teach him to care for himself, even though he is different from them.  The way he can come to live with two of these people as though he was their own child.  The way that he unknowingly earns their trust as they allow him to care for their only child as the sister that he never had.  The way that lives can change and end, and the grief can bring us all closer together.  The way that he can wake up one day and realize that without even looking for it, he's found something so precious and so invaluable that other people spend their whole lives looking for it and never find it." Shippo paused, trying to ignore the loud sounds of Kagome and Sango sobbing.  "Asako, when I look at you, I feel like nothing else matters.  I could never leave you, because it would hurt too much.  I've always protected you, and I always will, even when you say you don't need it.  I can't help it because I love you.  I never expected you to love me the way that I love you, but you do.  And that makes me feel like nothing can ever hurt us."  There was a long pause after he finished where the only sound was the two women sobbing.

"Shippo," she began, smiling almost shyly, "I always knew I could depend on you.  You always protected me and stood up for me, even when I was wrong.  How could I help but fall in love with you?  Every time I was in trouble, you were there.  Every time things went wrong, you comforted me.  Everything I ever asked of you, you gave willingly.  When we were young, we lost someone close to us, and it left a hole in me that I thought I could fill if I learned to protect those I cared about.  I wanted to be strong like you, but in the end I learned that no matter how hard I trained, no matter how many people I saved, no matter how many fights I won, there was something missing.  The hole was still there.  And that's when I realized that in the end, all I needed was you.  I could save a thousand lives and never meet someone quite like you.  I could win a thousand fights, but when the youkai were gone, all the money I'd make wouldn't buy you.  And I know that you worry for me, that you wonder if I really know how hard it is, being judged not for who you are, but what you are.  And I want you to remember what I told you.  I don't care what other people think as long as you're beside me through it all.  And when I wake up years from now, and I'm old and I've lost my beauty, it won't matter as long as I wake up beside you.  Because I love you, Shippo.  You're all I need and all I want."

"Now, kiss to seal the end of the ceremony." Kaede instructed them quietly.  The young couple happily obliged, love filling their hearts to overflowing as their friends and family cheered.  As they broke, the two smiled at each other.

"Now I'm home."  Shippo told her.  "I've been an orphan, but now I have you.  Anywhere we are, that's home to me."

"Welcome home then." She hugged him.  "I'm glad you're here."

*****

THE END!!!!

Yay, it ended!  Whew.  Oh, actually, that's kinda sad.  But yeah, it had to happen.  I will now write my thank you's!  First of all, I thank Jade because this story was dedicated to her.  The whole reason I wrote it was because she wrote a story for me, so really, without her, this story might not have happened.  And I have to thank the other Agents as well, Kodama and Willow for their own contributions.  Agent Kodama stayed off my case to give me room to breathe (and write) and Agent Willow helped me work some kinks out of the story.  Also, no one's reviews will ever be as long and silly as hers.  I want to thank everyone who's read this even though it's NOT centralized around Inuyasha and Kagome.  It seems like that's all anyone reads…sigh.  Anyway, and to everyone who reviewed, I extend a special thanks to all my reviewers like Jezunya, Demon-wolf, and Inuyasha-kun.  It really helps me to write, knowing that my work is appreciated.  Thanks to all of you!