"Namir..." Kagome gasped, her eyes widening as she brought her hands to her open mouth. Miroku just stared and whispered "Now way..." over and over like no one could hear him, while Inuyasha closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and snorted indignantly.

I, however, stood by myself, like a new exhibit in a museum and stretched my wings, muttering, "Well, there you have it. Now you know." With a heavy sigh, I folded my wings again and sat down on the ground, staring at my claws. No sooner than I had gotten comfortable, the small child, who had been hiding behind Miroku, came scampering over to sit in my lap. My eyes widened in surprise, while his childish brown eyes met mine without fear.

"Hey!" he exclaimed happily. "You've got ears like Inuyasha. So maybe you aren't as different as Inuyasha thinks." He reached up and gave my ear an affectionate tug.

"I HEARD THAT!" Inuyasha hollered from the other side of the field. The boy just rolled his eyes. As pulled an about-face in my lap to make some sort off irritating face in the dog-prince's direction, I caught sight of something that had escaped me before. The little one had a fluffy, orange tail! I mentally slapped myself. Way to be observant. He's a fox child! No wonder he's hanging out with Kagome and her entourage. I should have realized that his scent was different than that of a human. But then again, I probably would have noticed if Inuyasha hadn't been trying to kill me. Without thinking, I reached out and picked up the creature in my lap and sniffed at him. Obviously to the child's surprise because he made a panicky squeal of alarm and began struggling.

"W-what are you d-d-doing?" he stammered nervously. "You aren't gunna eat me are you? I swear I didnt mean anything about you and Inuyasha being alike if that's what this is all about..."

I laughed, again to the surprise of everyone watching, and set the cub down again.

"So why do you compare me to your companion, kitsune? And when did you plan on telling me your name, for I don't think that calling you 'fox kit' would be appropriate." He grinned and I smiled gently in return. I liked this cub... he was much like my own kit...

I was snapped out of my semi-maternal trance by the scrambling of the cub from my lab, up my arm, onto my shoulder, and finally onto my head where he nestled between my ears. With a slight yawn, he spoke.

"See, you and Inuyasha are structurally similar and... well..." he paused to rearrange himself. "Inuyasha really liked Kagome for a while, but then he realized that she wanted to be Miroku's mate because she was afraid that she couldnt love Inuyasha the way he needed to be. That and he cant stay with her in your era... the whole Grandfather not liking demons thing."

"Mmhmm... so what do I have to do with it?"

He sighed, almost contemplatively. "Well," he whispered. "No matter what Inuyasha says to you, I think he really does like you, probably because your a 'demon' like himself." I could feel the kitsune's breathing begin to steady.

"Thank you for the explanation...." I trailed off, still not knowing his name.

"Shippo. My name's Shippo..." and with that he drifted off to sleep.



*~ all right. this isnt the end of chapter three but i figured that since i had it done i might as well get it up here. hehe. its all good.~*