Flowers for Shippou by Cosmic Castaway

Chapter 2

Shippou bustled out of the forest as fast as he could, his head clouded with thoughts. Did she think I looked dumb? He shook his head a little. No, she was blushing! She liked me! Shippou's face cracked into a satisfied smirk, but that quickly disappeared to be replaced by an expression that looked as if he'd just stepped in something unpleasant. Or I said something to embarass her! BAKA!

The young kitsune could barely recall what had happened back in the woods. He had remembered Rin, of course: the cheerful little girl who had tagged behind Inuyasha's emotionless older brother way back when. He'd really had no interest in her at the time, despite Rin's resemblance to a scruffier Kagome. What was it about her now? He'd always get crushes on cute little girls as a cub, not to mention his attachment to Kagome and Sango. Why should his feelings be so different from before?

There was, of course, only one person Shippou knew who would be able to help him. That person, regrettably, was -

"MIROKU!" Shippou called towards the slight glow of firelight up past the modest temple gates. "MIROKU, IT'S ME!"

A blinking, somewhat tired-looking face peered from the main hall as Shippou drew closer. His black hair was tousled and his robes looked wrinkled and slightly dirty. "Whatissit?" He asked sleepily, lifting an arm to sheild his eyes from the last bit of sun that was blazing over the tops of the trees.

Shippou couldn't help but sigh as he approached, crossing his arms and refusing to look Miroku directly in the eye. "Fell asleep again, didn't you? In the middle of the day."

Miroku walked out of the building and plopped himself down on the outer patio, legs crossed indian-style. "We don't get many guests this time of year. And Sango is away on another exterminating job..."

Shippou approached and sat next to the monk, now at his shoulder in height.

"I get no excitement around here..." Miroku continued, hanging his head.

Shippou scoffed. "You don't seem too concerned. Sleeping all day in your robes and neglecting your duties..."

Miroku grinned. "Do not misunderstand me; I enjoy the peaceful life. I enjoy life in general, seeing as I nearly lost it." He gazed upwards, squinting in the dying sunshine. "Really, though. When one has lived a life such as we did, returning to a peaceful life is sometimes...difficult."

Shippou sucked in a deep breath and let it out loudly. "Yes. I understand."

"So," Miroku began again cheerily, "I'm sure you did not merely visit me to scold me about my bad habits," he paused, his smile waning. "Or did you?"

"Nope," Shippou replied, "Not this time. I needed to ask your...advice...on a thing that happened today."

Miroku nodded, somewhat surprised. "Tell me, then. I'll help as best as I can."

Shippou's reply was muttered so low and unclearly that it came out as a jumbled "Isawrintoday."

"Come again?" Miroku probed, raising an eybrow.

Shippou's cheeks flushed and he stared at the ground as if angry with it. "I said, I saw Rin today."

"Oh," Miroku replied, "The little girl that Inuyasha's brother takes care of?"

Shippou dangled his legs off the edge of the patio and kicked at the ground with his foot. "She's not that little anymore."

Miroku smiled knowingly down at the copper-haired fox boy, who peeked up at him for only a second before reverting his gaze back to the floor. "I see. And now you are confused about her?"

Shippou nodded. "I only just saw her out there in the woods and I thought she was lost. I did something stupid and then I found out who she was and that she lived there. Then...she thanked me for trying to help...and..."

"That's when it happened?" Miroku finished gently.

"Yeah. I used to...you know, like girls and all. I wanted to always impress them and make them happy. But lately...ugh, I feel like I've got no idea what I am doing anymore, and I just shut down and get stupid whenever I'm around a girl that matters."

"Yes, yes, things are changing for you, Shippou," Miroku explained, "And you are entering a time in your life when your body will begin to have certain...needs that it didn't have before."

Shippou blinked. "Are we on the same planet here? WHAT needs?"

"Well," Miroku leaned in as if to whisper, "You will start desiring...more than a woman's friendship."

"What are you getting at, perv?" Shippou asked, looking more than a little annoyed at Miroku's lack of seriousness at such a time.

Miroku placed up both hands defensively, grinning as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I'm being honest, I swear! At your time of life - though I admit, it's a bit earlier than if you were a human - you will have certain urges, Shippou, and it's nothing to be ashamed of!"

Shippou hung his head, still unsure of whether Miroku was being an idiot on purpose or if it was unintentional. "So what do I do about these urges then?"

Miroku lowered his hands, his face completely serious. "A bit of advice, Shippou, man-to-man." He leaned forward and whispered something low in Shippou's ear that made his face turn three shades redder.

"B-baka! I'm still a kid, I don't want to do those things with Rin!" Shippou scooted several feet away from the monk, highly disturbed at what he'd told him.

Miroku only sighed. "Of course."

"Pervert."

"I am a monk."

Shippou stood up in a huff. "I don't know why I thought you'd help me..."

"No, sit down. Please!" Miroku called back to him, clearly looking desperate. "I can help you."

"Fine." Shippou sat down angrily beside him again. "One more chance."

"Alright," Miroku began, "Clearly I was getting a bit ahead of myself."

"Clearly," Shippou agreed.

"See, you developed a strong crush on this girl. It is beyond what you felt when you were young," Miroku told him, gazing off in the distance.

"Why is it so different?" Shippou asked. "Makes no fricken' sense."

Miroku shrugged. "Emotions are never an easy thing to sort out. When we are young, things are simpler. We only feel one kind of love, a purer love. Many children may wish to marry a parent or a friend without realizing what it actually means. However, as we age, our feelings become more complex, and suddenly there are several different kinds of love."

Shippou stared at the ground again, embarassed by the subject. "Like what?"

"There is the love we save for family," Miroku continued, "There is a separate love for our friends. There is lust, which can be mistaken for love. And then, of course, there is romantic love. Usually, a crush is a premature version of these feelings. It is an interest to start a romantic love with that person."

"So I want to love Rin? As a sort of..." Shippou gulped, "Girlfriend?"

Miroku smiled down at him. "Yes, in a way. And that is why you are so self-concious around her. You want her to like you too. A crush like that is a beginning, Shippou. It is up to you to either finish the story or to put the book down."

The sun had set completely. A few lone stars flickered brilliantly in the velvet-colored sky.

"Miroku no Donna?"

Miroku and Shippou turned around at the voice. A familiar tanuki stood in the entryway.

"Yes, Hachi?" Miroku asked.

"There is a woman here who came through the East gates. She wishes to speak with you."

Miroku nodded. "Yes, I'll see her." He truned back to Shippou as he stood up. "You'll be okay?"

Shippou nodded. "Ya. I will."

"I'll see you, then. Stay out of trouble." Miroku walked away, disappearing into the main hall.

Shippou pushed himself off the patio and transformed into the cream-colored fox. If his mind had been swimming with questions before, Miroku's talk had only made even more of them come. Shippou bounded into the forest, still somewhat in shock to what he'd heard. Why had no one bothered to tell him this before?

I figured it was a crush, Shippou thought to himself, streaking past the trees. But what do I do now? The only clue I have is what I'm not supposed to act like...namely, Inuyasha's cluelessness and Miroku's sexual harassment. Shippou made a face, wondering why the only two males he could go to for advice were such idiots when it came to girls, especially the hanyou. Miroku, at least, had been semi-helpful.

My father would have known what to do, but he's dead. What would he say to me? Shippou thought hard to remember his father. The image was a bit distorted, but he could picture a handsome fox with clever eyes and a gentle, free spirit.

Shippou emerged on the other side of the woods into Kaede's village and took his human form again. Kagome and Inuyasha would be waiting for him there. "I will go and see Rin again tomorrow," Shippou whispered to himself. "That is what Dad would have said. To just go and see her. I'll figure it out from there."

- - - - -

"I'm home," Shippou announced, entering the small house he shared with Inuyasha and Kagome.

"Brat," Inuyasha called from inside. "You're late, you know."

Shippou stuck his tongue out at the hanyou, who replied by saying 'Ke' and turning around, refusing to look at him.

"Where's Kagome?" questioned Shippou.

Inuyasha turned around. "What were you doing at Miroku's, anyways?"

Shippou sighed. He should have known Inuyasha would have caught the monk's scent on him. He was lucky that Rin's scent had faded by then. "I only went to visit. And you didn't answer me. Where's Kagome?"

"Right here."

Shippou turned around. Directly behind him was a very stern-looking version of the girl that he had asked about. She looked slightly disheveled, with random twigs sticking out of her hair and a fairly ruined-looking set of clothing.

Inuyasha pretended to be interested in a fly that was buzzing around as Shippou gasped in horror.

"Augh! I'm sorry!" He cried to her, bowing several times. "It will never happen again!"

Kagome exhaled loudly. "Forget it. I'm too tired to yell at you today."

Shippou breathed in relief. "Thank gods. You went looking for me?"

"Yes," Kagome replied, "After you stormed off."

Shippou turned to Inuyasha, growling. "You dolt! You let Kagome go off to look for me in the woods by herself?!"

"Hey, leave me out of this." Inuyasha muttered in response.

"He helped, Shippou-chan, don't worry," Kagome reassured him, "I wasn't in the woods just now. I came from asking around the village if anyone had seen you."

"The brat went to Miroku and Sango's," Inuyasha explained, "Probably to cry all over them -"

Shippou shot the older boy a glare. "Shut up, I did not! And Kagome," he turned to her, "I'm sorry I worried you."

"Just stop running off," Kagome scolded, "I've told you that a million times. Youkai or not, you're still too young to be on your own in that forest."

Shippou nodded. "Yes, I know."

"I think you need a bath," Inuyasha suggested to Kagome. "I took mine, you know. The water should still be hot."

"Thanks," Kagome told him, sounding exhausted. She kissed his head as she passed him by. "You make dinner tonight, hmm?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, yeah, get out of here."

Kagome walked out of the back entrance, giggling at the hanyou's faked aloofness.

Well, I take it back, Shippou thought to himself, He must be doing something right. Maybe old dog ears can help me afterall.

"Hey, Inuyasha?"

"What?"

"Say you like this girl. You know, you have a crush on her. How do you know if she likes you back?"

"How should I know?" Inuyasha answered. "They tell you, or it's obvious. But girls are never obvious, so I dunno, I guess you're screwed."

"Be serious for once," Shippou growled. "I wanna know how you're sure, without her stating the obvious."

Inuyasha thought for a moment. "She brings you flowers."

"Flowers?" Shippou repeated.

"Uh-huh. Now I gotta attempt to make edible food, so go bother somebody else, will ya?" Inuyasha bounded off outside, obviously to hunt or to forage. Shippou fell backwards onto his unrolled futon, left alone to his thoughts again.

"Flowers..." He repeated again, thinking the concept over. "I'll see her again tomorrow. I doubt that anything significant will happen, but...maybe someday, there will finally be some flowers for me."

To be continued...

A/N: Sorry for the lack of Shippou/Rin cuteness in this chapter, but I figured that Shippou would ask a bit of advice before going to see her again. He seems more of the sensible type that would do that. As for any Sango fans...sorry I left her out, but she'll be sure to make appearance in a future chapter. And as always: Please review?