Chapter 19-The past of cute lil' kitsune Shippou.

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"Ok men, keep on your guard. There could be youkai scum lurking around here anywhere."

"Yes sir!"

"Oh My God! What the hell is that?!"

"In your positions! Hurry!"

"Ahahahahhaahahahhahaha!"

"Youkai!"

"What fun this will be! Shall we kill them instantly or let them die slowly?"

"Allow me brother, to make the first strike!"

"With pleasure!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

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"I'm sooooooo glad that the shop was completely deserted!" Inuyasha said with a mouth full of Ramen.

The gang had been travelling for at least a month now; they were at least five days away from Kyoto.

"Really?" Kagome said nonchantly. "I'm so glad for you."

They were all sitting a few feet away from what had been a human massacre. The bodies were of a whole bunch of army men. The only way the could actually tell that was because the uniforms were the only thing not shredded into a millions pieces.

"How can you EAT in a place like this?!" Shippou yelled at Inuyasha. He was half angry because Inuyasha had thumped him on the head when he had asked for some Ramen.

Sango was still pretty upset at the death of all her village. Miroku had been doing his best to cheer her up and he ended up being the only one she ever really noticed. There were definitely sparks flying.

As for Inuyasha and Kagome, Inuyasha refused straight out that he had ANY feelings for Kagome, whether they were good or bad, even though he was only telling himself that. No one really asked him if he liked Kagome apart from his head. So there was many a night where Inuyasha would lie awake in a tree and have long conversations with himself about why he shouldn't like Kagome.

Shippou had been acting very strangely since they had decided to stop at the sight with the dead guys. He became agitated and very impatient. Especially when Inuyasha had confirmed that lightening had shocked some of the men. Even Kirara stopped going near him. They had become good friends since Kirara had joined them.

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The group decided to rest near the place with the bodies for the night. They had to keep on moving until Kagome was satisfied that she couldn't see any of the bodies.

Half way through the night, a worried Shippou, shaking her almost violently, woke Kagome up.

"What is it Shippou?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I..I heard a sound in the bushes!" He whispered.

Kagome sat up; she too had just heard some sort of cracking noise. Quiet as a mouse, she crawled over to where Inuyasha was spread out over the ground.

"Inuyasha," She whispered, shaking him slightly. "Wake up."

Inuyasha scratched his belly and turned over a bit. "Lemme play with the ball..." He mumbled.

"Inuyasha." Kagome's voice was becoming desperate; the noise was slowly getting louder.

A grin formed over Inuyasha's face. "Sure Kagome, I'll give you a back rub..."

Before Kagome had time to react to this remark, a pair of hands flew silently out the bushes. One grabbed Kagome's mouth, stopping her from speaking; the other grabbed her waist and dragged her into the bushes.

Shippou watched all of this in horror. He had to do something! Leaping into the bushes, he was thrown out 2 seconds after, unconscious.

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Inuyasha woke up early, looked to his left and found that Kagome wasn't there.

He looked in the bushes, he looked in the trees. He even looked under the rest of the group, waking them all up.

"Have any of you seen Kagome?" He asked nonchantly as he searched around a tree for the third time. Suddenly, Shippou sprung up behind him, waving his arms and yelling.

"They took her! They took her!" He yelled in Inuyasha's already sensitive ears.

"Shutupshutupshutup!" Inuyasha shouted, covering his ears.

Sango walked over and took Shippou into her arms.

"Calm down Shippou," She said softly. "Now, what happened to Kagome?"

Shippou took a few big gulps of air and began too speak slower and calmer.

"The Thunder brothers took Kagome last night. I tried to do something but they knocked me out."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!!!!!!!" Inuyasha suddenly yelled, yanking his hands away from his ears and headed straight for Shippou's throat.

"You little twerp.....!"

Miroku managed to grab Inuyasha's robes just as he was about to grab Shippou's neck.

"Torturing Shippou won't help get Kagome back." He said sagely.

"Could it be that Inuyasha DOES care about Kagome?" Sango asked sweetly.

Inuyasha crossed his arms, an angry look on his face. "Of COURSE I don't, but she the Shikon No Tama, supposedly, so I need to know where she is at all times."

Sango and Miroku exchanged knowing looks and turned to Shippou again.

"Do you know what way they headed?" Miroku asked.

Shippou pointed West. Sango smiled at the little kitsune and they began to make their way to where Shippou had pointed. Inuyasha was trailing slowly behind.

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Kagome woke up and instantly realised that she was in danger. Sitting up, she saw that she was in a small, square room. A big black pot was bubbling in the corner next to her and an assortment of remedies and potions lay along the shelves that bordered the wall.

Standing up, Kagome ran straight to the first door she saw, but was cut off by a body slowly lumbering into the room. It was definitely a male, but what it was, she wasn't sure about. It had a round head with two hairs sticking up at the front, it had almost serpent-like eyes, with big sharp teeth. It looked like a cross between a dragon and a turtle.

"Aaaah, you're awake." It said, looking like it was trying to smile. It was clad in what looked like Samurai armour, with a fox's skin as a belt.

Kagome inched back into her corner slowly. She stared at it evilly.

"Are you planning to eat me?!" She asked.

"Oh, no no no no no!" It chuckled. "But it is said that new hair THRIVES on the flesh of young maidens...So I'll boil you down and rub you on my head."

Kagome stared at the huge creature, absolutely shocked. 'I think I'd rather be eaten!' She thought to herself.

"No WAY I'm staying here!" Kagome announced as she stood up. The creature's eye widened in horror. "Shhhhh! You must be quiet or my brother will hear you and you'll be eaten!"

In almost comical timing, the door to the room smashed open, leaving bits of wood all over the place.

A man who looked no more than twenty stood where the door was, his arm in the air as if he'd just punched something. A semi-naked lady with snakes winding around her neck hung off his other arm, smirking.

The man's hair was jet black, going into a long plait, his eyes were blood red with slits instead of pupils. He too, was wearing what appeared to be shredded Samurai armour with cloth twisting around his body.

"Manten brother!" He bellowed. "I did not expect you here!"

The lady next to him scoffed. "That's your brother huh? Little resemblance is there?"

"Hiten!" Manten, the creature's name, wheezed, trying to cover up Kagome. "Older brother! I...I..."

Hiten's red eyes immediately darted to Kagome, he raised his eyebrow. "A girl Manten?" He questioned.

"She....She is my prey!" Manten protested, getting in front of Kagome again.

"Fear not, dear brother, I will not claim her." He lay his arm back on the women affectionately. "I have my own prize." The woman smiled evilly, relishing in Hiten's compliments. He turned back to his brother.

"So, have you had any luck in finding the Shikon jewel dear brother?" He asked.

Manten looked scared and said nothing. Hiten's smile slowly became a frown, then a growl.

"You have not FOUND IT?!" He yelled, smashing his fist into the woman's face, pushing it straight through. Manten got onto his knees.

"You are such a WASTE!" Hiten scolded as Manten begged for forgiveness.

'He may look more human, but he's also worse!" Kagome thought as she watched the scene.

Suddenly, Hiten's anger subsided and he smiled again. "Ah, we shall find it brother. In the mean time, I do believe you have a girl to be boiling!"

As Manten lumbered towards Kagome, a sudden thought struck her.

"Wait!" She commanded, holding up her hand in front of the creature. "I know who has the jewel!"

Both brothers stopped, eyeing her suspiciously. "Who?" Hiten finally asked.

'Heh, I've got their attention.' Kagome thought.

"Have you heard of Inuyasha?" She asked coldly. The brothers looked at each other. "Him?" Hiten scoffed. "He is only half demon."

"But he IS powerful." Kagome corrected. "He's already had the jewel for more than 50 years, fighting off other demons for it."

"Child, if this should be a lie..." Manten warned. Kagome looked away. "Feh." She said.

"The thing is..." Kagome turned to look at them again, her eyes glinting.

"Inuyasha's in LOVE with me." She watched their reactions as their eyes widened and their mouths dropped.

"I'm sure he'll exchange the jewel for me."

Hiten grabbed Kagome forcefully by her shirt. "If you're deceiving us, you can expect to find a wind hole in that face of yours!" He threatened, his fangs showing.

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"We're almost there!" Shippou shouted as the group made their way towards a looming mountain.

"I didn't know there were so many looming mountains in Japan!" Miroku said to Sango, as they got closer.

"What gets me is why these demons HAVE to live in mountains. Why can't they just live in houses like NORMAL people?"

Miroku nodded his agreement. He and Sango had gotten very close since Sango's village all died, and he was intending to keep it that close.

Suddenly, a big black cloud came floating down from the very top of the mountain, while they were all staring dumbly at it, a huge bolt of lightning shot out from nowhere, Inuyasha dodged and it struck where he had previously been.

"So, you dodged it eh?" Hiten came flying down, a spear in his hand, smiling wickedly. "Are you the one called Inuyasha?" He asked rudely.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Inuyasha answered rudely back.

"I do believe we have something of yours." Manten came floating in to view, holding Kagome's arms tightly.

"Inuyasha!" She shouted, looking surprised and happy.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted back, sounding desperate and almost scared.

"So, the tale is true." Hiten chuckled. "Give me the Shikon no Tama and your love shall live!"

Inuyasha looked at Hiten with dots for eyes. Kagome closed her eyes, like she was stressed and sighed.

"W...what?" Inuyasha squeaked. Hiten and Manten turned to Kagome.

"So you lied eh?"

"Eep." Was Kagome reply.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Inuyasha said and lunged at Hiten, who dodged. In the sudden attack, Kagome leapt from the cloud.

"Who said I was in LOVE with you?!" Inuyasha shouted at Kagome, while fighting with Hiten.

"I had to say SOMETHING to keep myself alive!" Kagome shouted back as she began to run away from Manten.

"But why THAT?!"

"Why are you acting like a school boy?!"

"Who would give up the jewel for you?!!!!"

"So you were just gonna leave me to-"

"LEAVE?! How can I LEAVE when we've never been TOGETHER?!"

A blast from Manten stopped the argument, causing Kagome to roll along the ground. Miroku and Sango, who dragged her into a small hole where they were hiding, then grabbed her.

"Who ARE those guys?" Sango asked, checking Kagome for wounds.

"And what's gonna happen in the next episode of Kagome and Inuyasha's love affair?" Miroku asked himself. Kagome hit him on the head.

"They're the Thunder Brothers." Shippou said quietly, popping up from nowhere. "You see the kitsune skin around Manten? That's my papa. Manten blasted him." Shippou sniffed and Kagome cuddled him.

"Well, we can't just sit here! Inuyasha's alone!"

"But they're too powerful!" Shippou protested.

"Come on, we can do this!" Kagome looked at Miroku and Sango for support, they nodded.

"Let's go then!" Kagome yelled, jumping out the hole, the others followed, yelling and whooping.

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