DISCLAIMER:  I do not own Inuyasha or anything to do with it.

One Cold Starry Night

By:  Of Memories Past

Chapter 3: Youkai Blood

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Still soundly asleep on Kirara's back, Shippo's little nose started sniffing the night air. Something had changed. The sleeping form of the kitsune froze as the scent became recognizable. Youkai…

"Youkai!" Shippo screamed jumping up.

Kirara's head snapped up as the same scent reached her.

Sango and Miroku awoke to the kit's yells, sleepily rubbing at their eyes until Shippo bounded onto them, obviously panicked.

"There. Is. A. Youkai. Coming!" Each word was clearly enunciated and then stressed even more by roughly pulling the sleeping duo by their clothing each time he spoke. Shippo finally released their clothing and sat back on their laps. "Do you hear what I'm saying?!"

Now fully awake, Sango reached for Hiraikotsu as Miroku tried to calm the panicked fox-demon. Shippo struggled as the monk tried to hold him still and then bit down on the monk's hand when he found that he would not be released.

"Shippo!" Miroku exclaimed before reaching out to snatch the offender by his tail. What had possessed their small friend to do something like that?

And the spoke of offender squealed when he felt the monk's hand grasp his tail and then pull him back.

Decidedly planting Shippo in his lap, Miroku refused to let his grip go until he could get the young fox to speak. "Shippo calm down." Reluctantly, Shippo obeyed. Miroku nodded. "Good. Now can you explain a little more to us instead of panicking?"

"There's a youkai coming, and he's a lot closer than he was before!" Shippo scowled. He glanced at Kirara as she approached and lay down beside them. "She sensed it too!"

"How close is it, Shippo?" Sango asked kneeling down beside Miroku and cupping Shippo's cheek. Absently, she smacked away Miroku's wandering hand.

"It's…" Shippo began.

"It's where?" Sango prodded.

The demon-huntress' brow furrowed as she watched all of the color drain from their small friend's face. Fear filled the child's eyes as his gaze rested on the cave entrance. He subconsciously reached forward and clung to the front of Sango's clothing.

"There," he whispered.

Miroku and Sango set their sights to the entrance and visible tensed at what they saw there. Inuyasha stood, fully transformed, with an unconscious Kagome in his arms.

"This isn't good," Miroku whispered to Sango. He warily eyed their transformed friend as he brought Kagome over to a dark corner and gently placed her on the ground without breaking eye contact with any of them. He then proceeded to take off the fire-rat robe and spread it out on the ground before carefully picking the unconscious girl up and placing her on it.

"He's being gentle," Sango observed softly. But her eyesight did not move from Inuyasha.

"Don't let that fool you." Suddenly, he felt the kit tense in his lap and looked down to find the child clenching his fists together and growling.

"How could you?" Shippo growled furiously. He angrily looked toward Inuyasha and glared dangerously. "How could you?"

Sango and Miroku sat confused. They looked back and forth between the two demons trying to figure out the cause for the sudden tension.

"Shippo…" Sango's voice trailed as the kitsune's eyes began flashing. She jumped a bit when Inuyasha growled. His eyes were fixed on the kit.

"Leave it be, brat," Inuyasha warned, turning back to Kagome. He carefully wrapped the robe around her sleeping form and allowed one claw to trace her jaw line, leaving her unscathed.

Shippo growled. "How could you do that to Kagome!" He jumped from the safety of his friends, positioning himself between them and Inuyasha.

"I'm warning you, brat…" the harsh voice growled.

Shippo's eyes flashed a threatening green. "I've warned you!" Slowly, Shippo's body began to take on a new form. His torso elongated, forcing him to go down onto all fours. Next, the upper arms that had been that of a human before converted into those of a fox, and sharp fangs poked out from the long snout. The once jovial eyes of a child rested at a menacing green color.

Sango and Miroku watched with wide eyes.

"Shippo transformed," Sango whispered, astonished. She automatically moved closer to Miroku, who for once, kept his hands to himself.

Miroku nodded, still a bit dazed. All of a sudden his head cleared, and fear filled his being. "Sango, he's going to…"

Miroku spoke too late. The fox took full charge at Inuyasha.

"Shippo, no!" the humans cried together. But their words were of no use. Shippo attacked.

Tears sprung into Sango's eyes. "Kagome is the only one who can stop him, but she's unconscious!" Determination crossed the young woman's face. "I have to wake her!" As she moved to go forward, Miroku grabbed her and pulled her against him.

"You can't! You won't be able to get past Inuyasha!"

She sat back in defeat and watched as their brave, little friend rushed to what was certainly his death.

Shippo latched on to Inuyasha's arm as soon as he reached him, the sharp baby teeth easily piercing his flesh.

Inuyasha glared. "Fool!" He powerfully grasped the kitsune's leg and pulled it off of his arm, tearing the flesh in the process. Then, squeezing the leg in his hand, he snapped the bone.

Shippo yelped as the bone in his leg broke. The pain seared through and he whimpered more, as a baby would. He sorrowfully watched as Inuyasha raised his claws for a final attack.

Sango and Miroku sat back helplessly, watching what they thought would be the final blow.

But it never came. Inuyasha froze and looked at his hand before looking back at the whimpering kit. His eyes began to flash between red and amber until they finally rested at their familiar brilliant gold color. The claws and fangs slowly retracted back to their normal state.

"Shippo?" he asked, his voice normal once again. Inuyasha gently released the broken leg while supporting the rest of Shippo's transformed body. Tears filled his eyes. "What have I done?"

Shippo slowly transformed back to his humanoid state, the break in his leg even more obvious than it had been in his youkai form. Tears of pain and betrayal streamed down his cheeks as he shied from Inuyasha. He was scared.

Tears of his own welled up in Inuyasha's eyes. How could be have done this? "Shippo…"

"Don't hu...hurt m...mm…me," Shippo pleaded, crying.

Inuyasha's heart broke, and the tears he had been holding in freely coursed down his cheeks. "I'm not going to hurt you, Shippo." He cradled the crying child to his chest. "I'm so sorry."

Both demons sat crying with each other as the humans sat back and watched. The fear that they had had before hand vanished. They needed to help their friends.

Shippo remained crying into Inuyasha's chest with his small arms wrapped around the hanyou's neck. Inuyasha simply hugged him back, willing the pain he had caused to go away. His own tears fell freely.

"Inuyasha's crying," Sango said, slightly stunned.

Miroku nodded. "He feels horrible for what he did."

Inuyasha gently shifted the kit into his lap. "Miroku, get some of the bandages out of Kagome's bag." He turned his attention to Shippo. "I need to set your leg."

Shippo nodded and buried his face in Inuyasha's chest, waiting for the pain to come.

Inuyasha breathed deeply before taking a hold of Shippo's leg. He flinched at the sob as the bone snapped back into place. The tiny kitsune began crying violently, both from the pain and the night's unfortunate events.

"I'm so sorry, Shippo." He tenderly cradled the kit. "I'm so sorry."

Miroku silently crept up and splinted and bandaged the broken leg. Shippo continued to cry against Inuyasha. When he finished, he lightly laid a hand on the distraught hanyou's shoulder.

Inuyasha turned a tearful gaze to him and Miroku shook his head.

"We're staying with you," he said firmly. With that said, Miroku returned to Kirara along with Sango and went to sleep.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

Shippo's soft voice surprised him. What did the kit have to be sorry for? "Why are you sorry?" He absently stroked Shippo's back; something his mother would do for him when he was young.

"I'm sorry for coming after you." Shippo curled up to go to sleep. "But why did you do it?"

Inuyasha sighed. So the kit had noticed the change in her scent. "I wanted to," he whispered.

"She doesn't know…" Shippo drifted off into sleep.

Inuyasha carried Shippo over to Kagome and set him underneath his robe with her. Gazing fondly and ashamedly at them both, he crept into the darkest corner in the cave and drifted off to sleep, plagued by nightmares of what he had done…

A/N: I wanted to cry thinking of Shippo getting hurt. I'm planning the fourth to be out in the next day or so. Please read and review. It would be a great encouragement to keep writing. God Bless~ Of Memories Past.