By: Lady Tiger LiLy
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha. I own what I own.
Chapter 7: In Hot Water
It's a quiet evening in modern Japan as Inu-Yasha perches himself on the roof of the well house. He listens to the chirping of crickets as the sun finally disappears for the night.
'I hope she has found him…' He thought.
"Stupid kitsune brat! He better not disappoint me!" He grumbled threateningly as he clenched his fists. "The one time I need him!"
"That's all I know."
"I see." Miroku mused as he contemplated over Shippo's story.
"Junko's blood does have traces of youkai blood making her hanyou, but she has no physical traits of a demon. All she has seem to inherit from Inu-Yasha is his nasty attitude! Aside from Junko's blood, she is completely human."
"It would seem. And if what Kaede says is true, then that would explain it."
"But why would Kagome and Inu-Yasha not tell her?"
"That was their decision and it is not our place to decide so other wise."
Shippo nodded.
"Is there something else?" Miroku asked.
"Yes. The reason I came here is because Junko wishes to seek out Sesshomaru."
"I see." He nodded. "Then you know what to do?"
Shippo nodded.
"If you are anything like Kagome, a hot bath should do you a world of good." Sango smiled to Junko as she handed Junko and Rin some towels and a change of clothes.
"Thank you, Sango." Junko replied.
"Yes, thank you." Rin bowed politely.
"Now the springs are just out in that direction." She pointed. "And when you get back, I'll have a nice hot meal waiting!"
Junko and Rin nodded and left for the hot springs.
"I've never bathed in a hot spring before." Junko spoke.
"It's really nice. I wish there was one near Lady Kaede's village." Rin replied.
When they got to the hot spring, the girls found a rock to lay their towels and clothes on. They then striped themselves of their clothes and put them aside to be cleaned later. Rin walked into the hot spring while Junko tiptoed her way in while she covered her chest with her arms.
"Wow! This really is warm!" Junko stated as she sat next to Rin who was leaning on a rock in the spring.
"Yes, it's wonderful." She sighed.
The two were silent for a moment.
"My mother knew lots of people here, didn't she?"
"It would appear that she has."
"Hmm…" Junko responded. She sighed and sunk down into the water so that it reached her chin. 'To know so many people, my mother must have done a lot of traveling here in the feudal era…' She thought. 'How long was this a part of my mother's life? Why would she keep such an important part of her life a secret? Her and daddy… This is how they met. Why would they hide this from me?'
Junko's thoughts were interrupted when Rin stood up out of the water. "I think I'll dress now."
"I'll get out in a minute." Junko sighed with contentment of being in the hot spring.
Rin was just finished dressing when Junko decided to get out. She stood up out of the water when they heard something coming towards them. Before they knew it, a flash of peach skin and yellow fluff jumped out from the bushes and into the hot spring.
Junko shrieked.
"WOW! This water feels great!"
"SHIPPO!" Junko screeched as she covered her chest with her arms and ducked down into the water.
"Shippo!" Rin gasped in surprise as well.
"What?" He blinked innocently.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING! GET OUT! GET OUT, YOU HENTAI!" Junko fumed as she splashed water at him.
"Hey!" He shouted as he tried to block the water.
"Please leave, Shippo! Junko needs her privacy!" Rin pleaded.
"Ok! Ok! Sorry!" He apologized as he walked up and out of the spring.
Junko's face turned a bright red when he did so. He seemed to have no shame or was very unmindful of his current state. She quickly averted her eyes until he was gone. "What on earth did he think he was doing!"
"I don't know, but I'm sure he had pure intentions. Shippo isn't like Miroku." Rin tried to explain.
Junko placed her hand on her cheek and could still feel the heat on her face from when she saw Shippo; all of Shippo. Her face felt like it was becoming hotter as she thought about it. She decided to quickly get out of the water and dried herself off and get dressed so her and Rin could walk back together.
When they got back, the girls found Sango cutting up vegetables.
"Sango, do you know where Shippo is?" Junko asked still pink in the face.
She looked at them knowingly. "Miroku went to have a talk with Shippo." She replied.
"Shippo, I have looked over you as a father, have I not?"
"Yes, Miroku." Shippo nodded.
"Tell me, Shippo… what do you think of Junko?"
"I think she's an ill-tempered, loud mouth, bull-headed girl." He said with annoyance.
"Ah, but that is where you are wrong. She is not a girl. She is a young woman. And you are a young man, are you not?"
"Yes." Shippo agreed.
Miroku sighed inwardly. He thought Shippo would have known everything by now. How was he to go about this with poor innocent minded Shippo? Miroku never had a chance to have 'the talk' with Shippo for, as he got older, he started to go off on his own more and more and soon decided to go live in Kaede's village. Why he decided to do this, no one knows. Miroku also thought that maybe it would just… come naturally for him. That maybe he would just follow his youkai instincts and they would reveal all to him. But it would seem either they haven't or Shippo isn't a good listener… Miroku may be able to tell him about how it's done, but there was one thing he didn't have the knowledge in that Shippo would have to find out on his own; how to find a mate. And that varies among different kinds of demons. Miroku knew nothing of kitsune mating rituals; he only knew how humans go about it. But Shippo was a male, as was he, and that should provide some common ground on the subject.
"Shippo is how old and he still doesn't know about…?" Junko trailed off.
"I think Shippo does know he's just naïve, bless his heart." Sango smiled.
"Oh! You're trying to talk about that?"
"Yes." Miroku sighed. "So, then you know?"
"For as long as I've been with you, I should!" Shippo replied, giving Miroku an accusing look.
Miroku gave a guilty smile. He then turned the tables onto Shippo. "So why did you go to the hot springs with Junko and Rin there?"
"Because I needed a bath." He said as if plain as day. "Kagome and Sango used to let me bathe with them."
"Your intentions may have been honest but the women may not know that. You simply cannot do things like that, Shippo. You aren't a child anymore; you are a young man. And as a man, you cannot invade women's privacy. Trust me, I learned the hard way."
"I don't see what's the big deal. Unlike you, I wasn't going to touch them!" He defended. "Besides, I don't see how touching a woman would do any harm except when she smacks you for it." He shrugged.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Miroku asked in confusion.
"You know, when you get smacked for groping a woman without her invite?"
Miroku sweatdropped. 'He thinks I'm talking about groping women? That's quite far from what I was talking about… Shippo is much more naïve than I thought…' He groaned. "Let us start over, Shippo…" He told the kitsune.
Junko sat outside on the deck of the house. The sun had just dipped down behind the mountains and the stars began to take over the night sky. 'It's so beautiful here…' She thought.
"Hey."
Junko turned to her left to find Shippo taking a seat next to her. "Shippo?"
"I wanted to apologize for what I did today. I swear I didn't mean anything by it."
She blushed when she remembered. "I-It's ok. I know you didn't…" She turned away from him.
"It's just that you remind me of Kagome." He began to explain. "You see, you're mother was like a mother to me."
Junko turned to him as he continued.
"I didn't meet Kagome until shortly after my family was murdered by these two demons. Since then, I traveled with her and Inu-Yasha. Kagome use to let me sleep in her sleeping bag with her and, well…" Shippo let his sentence hang.
"I see." Junko replied. 'So that's why he was asleep next to me that morning.'
"I didn't mean too! I don't know, I guess for a while it felt like how it was years back…" He looked down at his feet, trying to avoid her gaze.
Junko nodded. "And the hot springs…?"
"I use to bathe with Kagome and Sango because Inu-Yasha would always scare me into believing there were monsters in the water. Kagome 'sat' him and said I could come with her and Sango. I didn't mean to be a hentai! I wasn't trying to pull a Miroku or anything! Promise!"
Junko couldn't help but laugh at that.
"I'm really sorry, Junko. You do remind me of Kagome, but I know you're not. You're not her." He said solemnly.
"You're right. I'm not. And I find it strange when people say I remind them of her. I'm nothing like her, really. I argue with her a lot. She doesn't understand me…" Junko said with a sound of sadness in her voice. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "I'm sorry, Shippo."
"For what?" He puzzled.
"For taking my anger out on you. It was wrong, and I'm sorry."
He smiled. "It's ok."
"No it's not." She said sadly. Shippo's smile faded as watched her. "I'm so confused about everything. I don't understand, and I'm upset, and I…" Junko buried her face in her hands as she tried to choke back her tears.
Shippo looked at her sadly. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him to comfort her. She leaned on him as he held her to him. "I wish I could help. Please don't be sad." He replied.
Junko pulled away from Shippo. She removed her hands from her face and wiped the silent tears that moistened her dark lashes. "I'm not sad. I'm just confused… And having someone to talk to helps. Especially if they listen too. Thank you."
He smiled again. "Sure."
The two sat silently.
Shippo's thoughts went back to his conversation with Miroku. 'So what if I saw Junko naked?' He said to himself as he thought about what Miroku tried to tell him. 'I didn't mean anything by it… She's not much different then Kagome. For one, they both have pretty eyes.' He thought as he looked over at Junko. 'Her eyes look pretty when she's happy, sad, or even angry.' He realized. He turned and looked up at the night sky. 'They both have soft, pretty black hair that shines in the light of sun or moon.' He then thought about today at the hot spring again. 'Well, I guess physically they are a bit different… Junko's breasts are smaller than Kagome's were, I think…' His thoughts started to wonder on that topic. When he was younger, he never really thought about a woman's breasts before. They were just a part of a woman's body. Now, the more he thought about it, the more he found himself becoming curious about that part of the female body. He thought about Junko in the hot spring again. He found himself with a curious desire to… to feel them. '… I wonder if they're soft…' Shippo's thoughts trailed. Before he knew it, he was picturing himself acting on his curiosity… with Junko… That's when Shippo snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at Junko.
Junko turned to meet his gaze. "What is it?"
Shippo's face flushed red. "Uh, nothing!" He smiled nervously, almost guiltily, thought Junko didn't know why.
"Oh." She replied before silence took over again. "I'm going to go to bed now." She informed as she got up.
"Ok. Good-night, Junko." He said as she began to leave.
"Good night, Shippo." She replied back.
She took one last glance at him as she left. 'Until now, the only person I could ever really talk to was my father.' She thought as she walked to her room. She looked up at the moon in the sky. The moon always reminded her of her dad and the nights that they would sit on the roof together under the moon. But this time, she sat with Shippo under the moon, and it was just as comforting.
Shippo watched Junko leave and swallowed the lump in his throat. 'She is not Kagome. She is Junko. She is… different…'
He looked up at the sky as a small smile pulled at his lips. His face was still tinted with red from his blush. "I think I understand, Miroku…"
Rin was walking to her room when she heard something moving nearby. She carefully came down the deck of the house and walked out near an old house. She walked around it to find a clearing in the village. Suddenly, someone bumped into her.
"Oh!" Rin startled as she lost her footing momentarily.
"Oh my! Are you alright?"
Rin felt a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up, her eyes fell upon the face of a young man.
"I'm so sorry!" Rin blushed.
"It is I who should be apologizing! I should be more careful! Especially at night!" He smiled.
Some clouds had covered the light of the moon but when they passed, Rin could see his handsome smile on his kind face. He removed his hand from her shoulder now, but kept his smile. "Where are my manners! I am Mamoru. Are you staying here with my family and I?"
"You're family?"
"Yes, I am the son of Miroku and Sango."
"Oh! I had not realized they had a son. Yes, me and my friend have traveled with Shippo."
"Ah, I see!"
"My name is Rin. If I may ask, what is it you were doing out here?"
"Oh, I was just training."
"Training? For what?"
He swung something from off his shoulder. Rin saw what it was and recognized it.
"My mother is training me and my sister to be demon exterminators." He replied as he held up his large boomerang like that of his mother's.
Rin looked pale. "Oh." She said meekly.
He looked concerned. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She gave a weak smile. "I'm just tired. I must be going to bed now."
"Oh, alright. Good-night."
"Good-night." She replied as she left.
Wow! What a chapter! Shippo and Junko see each other naked! Miroku tries to tell Shippo about 'the birds and the bees'. Miroku and Sango have a son too? And he didn't grope Rin once? Are you sure this is Miroku's son? Possible Rin and Mamoru romance? I'm not sure about that though because there is a bit of an age gape between the two… Rin is somewhere between twenty-six to twenty nine years old while Mamoru is about twenty. Please don't hurt me! I like Sesshomaru and Rin but I think I would like to try something different. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter and what you think of the story so far! Thanks!
Lady Tiger LiLy