Chapter Nine
Some youkai had the capability to kill with a look. Unfortunately for Shippou, he wasn't one of them. However, if he was, Miroku would have been slowly dying for the last half hour since they staged a strategic retreat to Kaede's hut. The hut's owner was currently looking through her scrolls for any information on the type of youkai who could turn a child into an adult.
Miroku, who had seen some pretty dark looks in his day and lived to tell about them, was actually getting rather uncomfortable under the kitsune's black stare. He sighed, fidgeted, then turned to face him, "You could have run, you know. You cannot blame me for this entire incident."
Wanna bet? "You abandoned me to those insane women."
"I fail to see the problem. Most men would appreciate being abandoned to those women," The monk attempted to justify, "In fact, I would have appreciated it." Miroku wouldn't have minded being with those women now, but Shippou refused to step foot outside the hut.
"You don't have a tail."
Miroku winced. "This is true. But really, no harm was done, so I fail to see why you are still nursing a grudge."
The kitsune lost his temper. Many youkai would have lost theirs sooner, but Shippou was attempting to hold on to his. No more. In a quick move, he grabbed Miroku by the front of his robes, baring his fangs. Miroku wasn't expecting it and as a result could only stare back at him. Despite his outward appearance of anger, Shippou spoke in a cool voice that would have made even Sesshoumaru proud, "You do realize they were trying to braid my tail." He paused, then reiterated as if Miroku had trouble grasping the concept. "Braid my tail. The tail is off limits. Kitsune do not like their tails braided." Towards the end of his words, a growl had found its way into Shippou's tone, lessening the cool, composed image. But it had been an extremely close call. Those lunatics were considering decorating each tiny braid with a ribbon once they were done. Perhaps he was most exasperated by the fact he couldn't even defend himself against the women, due to the fact that they were human and Kagome said to always be gentle with humans. "We do not sit around having tail braiding sessions as we consider who to trick next!"
Miroku hadn't thought they did. That would be extremely odd of them. But before he could even respond to the kitsune's statements, Kagome stepped into the hut. She halted in confusion when she saw the death grip Shippou seemed to have Miroku's robes, staring at them from the entrance. Usually, when people enter a place, they do not stop directly in the doorway. Considering this, Sango could hardly be blamed for not realizing that Kagome would be inclined to do so. She collided into Kagome's back, sending both of them to the floor in a heap. Kirara only barely managed to get out of the way, letting out an indignant squeak at the two humans that were almost responsible for crushing her. This was the scene Inuyasha arrived at. Finding it rather amusing, he started laughing. Unfortunately, he found it slightly less amusing when he became friendlier with the ground at Kagome's annoyed use of The Word. Oddly enough, Kagome didn't seem to appreciate being laughed at.
That, in itself, was really a shame, because now both the monk and the kitsune were laughing at the image the three of them presented, Shippou's grievance temporarily forgotten. He released Miroku's robes, moving to offer a hand to Kagome as Miroku offered to help Sango up.
Kagome accepted the help, giving the kitsune an uncertain look, "What was going on between you two when I came in?"
Shippou's tail -unbraided, thank you very much- twitched slightly as he offered Kagome a boyish grin of innocence, "We were having a disagreement."
"Yes," The monk joined in, "A disagreement. That's all." He had a feeling that Shippou didn't want the others to know about the tail braiding incident. Miroku didn't either, because Sango and Kagome would probably skin him alive for letting Shippou out of his sight. So, he offered an 'innocent' grin almost an exact replica of Shippou's.
Inuyasha, the poor neglected hanyou whom no one had thought to help up, entered the hut, ignoring Kagome entirely. Besides Kagome, Sango was the only one to notice it. It would have been impossible for the exterminator to miss, as both Kagome and Inuyasha had been pretending-to-ignore-that-the-other-one-was-ignoring-them all day as they traveled back to the village. For all his ignoring, however, the hanyou did see that Shippou was still holding Kagome's hands from when he helped her up. And he didn't like it. Inuyasha looked around the hut, finally spotting Kaede in the corner, who had not even glanced up when the kitsune and Miroku had their squabble. "So? How do we change Shippou back?"
The question sobered Shippou's grin immediately and he dropped Kagome's hands. The kitsune turned away wordlessly, moving to sit in the corner of the room, as far from the fire as he could get. Perhaps he did not wish for his features to be easily readable.
Kaede watched him move away silently before answering Inuyasha, "It would seem to me that the only way to cure Shippou would be to kill the youkai." She shrugged her shoulders, tending the fire as she continued, "But I cannot discern what sort of youkai is capable of doing such a thing."
Kaede could have said that the youkai was the magical flying pink monkey from Transylvania for all that Inuyasha would notice. His limited amount of attention was focussed on her first sentence. A smug grin curved his lips, "So I was right!" He looked triumphantly at the other members of the group. "Admit it! I knew it, and you all just wasted time by insisting we come here. Shippou could already be back to normal if you had listened to me."
Miroku stared blankly at Inuyasha. "Hm. Did you say something about killing the youkai? I don't recall that." He looked towards the others, dark eyes sparkling as he willed them to play along.
To save themselves from Inuyasha's gloating, they seemed inclined to do so. The hanyou's jubilant expression was met with blank stares all around. All, that is, except for Shippou, who was watching from the corner, an amused grin quirking his lips. "Did you say so, Inuyasha?" Kagome murmured in a placating tone as she pawed through her bag, "Well, that was very wise of you."
Sango offered a kind smile, the sort given when one was being patronizing, "If Inuyasha says he said so, then he must have." She refocused her attention on Kirara, who was purring contentedly in her lap.
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he barely resisted the impulse to stomp his foot, "I did say so." A sound suspiciously close to a growl came from deep within his throat, "You all remember too. You're just saying you don't to piss me off! Keh!" With that announcement, the hanyou stalked out of the hut, muttering curses all the while.
Miroku remained straight faced as Inuyasha left, mildly commenting, "He really should work on that temper." What started as a low, rumbling chuckle evolved into loud laughter.
Unable to help herself, Kagome joined in, though she did attempt to clear her conscience by stating, "That really was awful of us." Sango nodded in agreement, but that didn't stop her from laughing either.
In fact, the only one that wasn't laughing in the hut was Shippou. The fact remained that Inuyasha was right, and now the rest of them knew it. It couldn't be too long before they decided to hunt down the youkai and return the kitsune to useless child form. Then Inuyasha would be able to hit him again, and he would be unable to stop him. He would be back to being the tag along instead of the useful member of the team that he could be as he was now if only the opportunity would present itself. Surrounded by his friends in the cozy hut, the kitsune suddenly felt very alone.
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I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out as I'm having a serious writer's block on how to go about concluding the plot. So, I have to sit down and do some brainstorming before I can really write anything more. I mean, unless people don't mind another fluff-fairly-pointless-chapter that doesn't advance the main plot but is just fun. I could write another one of those, and would enjoy doing so, but I don't want to annoy people by having too many of them. A fluff chapter would of course be out sooner. Let me know what you all think and feel free to ask any questions (Who knows, maybe they'll help me to figure out how I want to go about this!) Thank you to everyone who has been reading so far and even more thanks goes to those who have left those encouraging reviews!
