Disclaimer: —shows off new red 'I don't own Inuyasha' jacket— Thank you, medlii! Red is my favorite color!

A/N: Mm, candy… —snarf— Cookies for medlii! And yes, that movie quote was from Shrek 2. Everyone must see it, if only for the big adorable Puss-in-Boots eyes. And now, our feature presentation.

4

(Un)Solved Mysteries

Kagome looked away from her target practice, startled, at a familiar siren wail.

"Kaaagooooooooomeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Shippou—oomph!" She managed to catch the little ballistic missile without being knocked onto her back. Barely. "What's wrong?"

"He's trying to kill me!" the kitsune pleaded. "Save me!"

"It's okay, Shippou-chan," she soothed. She gave up trying to keep a grip on her bow in favor of the clinging, shaking little furball, then swept a glare worthy of any outraged mother toward a hanyou who was rapidly approaching Doom.

...Why is he covered in… She covered her nose, spoiling the glare. ...cowpies?

"Oh, no you don't, you fur-faced little asshole! Wench, let go of him, he's got it coming this time!"

"Inuyasha, don't even start!"

"Waaaaah! Kagomeeeeeee!"

"Inuyasha, don't make me say it!" Kagome threatened.

"He deserves it this time!" Inuyasha barked. "He dumped—"

"You deserved it, baka!" The kitsune seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to be cowering in helpless, adorable fear. "You do enough crap to everybody else!"

Inuyasha snarled and snatched at Shippou's tail. Kagome dodged him and barked, "Osuwari!"

"Dammit!" The hanyou found his face being driven six inches into the soft turf.

"I don't care what Shippou did, Inuyasha, he's a child!" Kagome was ranting. "You can't try to kill him for every little thing! What did he ever do to you?"

"This, for one," Inuyasha growled, struggling futilely under the rosary's spell.

"I did not!" Shippou shrilled. "Kagome sits you 'cause you're mean and rude and violent—and you chase everybody away!"

"If you're referring to yourself and your shrimpy little friend, runt, then hell, yes, I chase everything away! You threw cow shit at my head!"

Kagome stopped at that one. She frowned at Shippou. "You did what?"

Shippou fidgeted. "He was swearing at you."

"As if that's anything new," Kagome and Inuyasha muttered simultaneously. The girl glared at Inuyasha on principle, then gave Shippou a Stern Look.

"That isn't nice, Shippou-chan."

"But he was being mean!" the kitsune pleaded, mustering the biggest Shiny-Puppy-Eyes in his arsenal. "An' he chased Miroku and Sango and Kirara away—"

"What?"

Shippou cringed at their simultaneous exclamations, and at the memory of a certain taijiya promising him candy if he didn't do exactly what he'd just done. "I—er, um…"

"All right, runt, 'fess up." The spell had worn off, and Kagome didn't seem inclined to 'sit' Inuyasha again as the hanyou levered himself to his feet.

"Ah… um… eh…"

"Shippou-chan, this is important," Kagome told him, her blue-grey eyes serious. "Where did Miroku-sama and Sango-chan go?"

At least he had an answer to that one. "I dunno."

Inuyasha growled; Kagome quelled him with a raised hand. "Shippou."

"I don't know, they didn't say!" Shippou cried, cracking like cheap plastic. "They just said it'd save time if they went after Naraku by themselves—"

Kagome groaned and covered her eyes; Inuyasha muttered something unprintable under his breath.

"Which way did they go?" the girl asked wearily.

"Toward the forest." Shippou's tail drooped in reflection of its owner's thorough misery.

"Probably the bouzu," Inuyasha grumbled. "Of all the stupid baka yarou—"

"Why would they run off?" Kagome asked nobody in particular. "We've been searching for Naraku for Kami-sama knows how long…"

Inuyasha huffed through his nose. "I'll go after them. Morons…"

Kagome nodded, setting Shippou on the ground. "I'll get my backpack."

"No," Inuyasha corrected.

"Excuse me?"

Shippou winced at her tone. Inuyasha, unfortunately for him, didn't appear to notice that the air in her immediate vicinity had cooled several degrees by sole merit of her voice.

"I said no. I can find them quicker by myself."

"So what, I just stay home and keep house?"

"What else are you gonna do?"

"I'm coming with you!"

"No."

"Yes I am, oh Macho Man! What, you think there aren't things in there that can take even the Great and Powerful Inuyasha-sama down?"

To his credit, Inuyasha didn't waste time trying to puzzle out her terminology. "If you come with me, you'll be a target, and we won't get anything done!"

"I am not completely helpless, thank you very much!"

"Had me damn well fooled, then!"

"You—jerk!"

"Oh, brought out the heavy weaponry there."

"Osuwari! And I am so coming with you!" She left him spitting out dirt. Shippou wasn't so dejected that he didn't take the opportunity to gnaw on Inuyasha's head, but he fled when the hanyou's screams turned more dire. Gloom caught up with the kitsune once he'd reached the village. Sango's gonna kill me.

And she's not gonna give me candy, either.

………………………………………

Hyakunan felt a twinge of upset conscience at leaving Shippou behind for Inuyasha to beat on, but only a twinge. His attention was quickly distracted by the many new things the village had to offer. Who knew, for example, that hysterical muddy chickens could make such a mess in a clothesline?

What was really interesting, though, was that there appeared to be another youkai in the village.

Hyakunan frowned, testing the youki against his own… unique… senses. It wasn't Shippou, he was certain. Or Inuyasha, he surmised, even though he hadn't been able to sense the hanyou's youki and keep him from smelling their little scent bomb at the same time. Shippou hadn't mentioned any other youkai, had he?

Huh, he mused, flitting closer to the source of the youki. The miko's house? Is this thing crazy? He peeked inside, convincing the old miko's shields that they were mistaken, they didn't see a little green-haired pointy-eared boy there, as he did.

The old miko was sorting through some sort of herb storage. "—master is a strange one."

"It is not your place to question Sesshoumaru-sama, baba," the youkai snapped in a squat, nasal voice. Hyakunan wrinkled his nose; the youkai looked like something its mother should have drowned at birth, with wrinkled, wet green-brown skin, froggish yellow eyes, and a stink that rivaled the cowpat that had landed on Inuyasha's head less than an hour before. It was wearing a conical black hat, and brown robes that brought to mind something that had been digested a few times and rejected more often than not. The one thing that impressed Hyakunan about this disgusting specimen was the wooden staff bearing two miniature heads—a male oni and a female human—that it carried. It definitely had power.

The miko straightened laboriously, a tiny vial in her hand. "Maybe not, but I'll thank ye to show more respect for an old woman."

"How da—eeeep!" The toadish youkai squeaked and jumped several feet in the air, waving the lumpy appendages at the ends of his skinny legs. Hyakunan grinned; this miko knew her stuff. He'd personally always been fond of hotfoot spells.

"Here be your master's potion, Jaken," the miko continued calmly, ignoring the thing's whimpers. "And remember: for full effect, it must be applied to eyes, ears, and lips. 'Twill not be permanent else."

Jaken straightened himself stiffly to his full height and accepted the vial. "Sesshoumaru-sama may decide to spare your worthless life for this, Miko Kaede."

"How generous of him," Kaede replied drily.

The sarcasm made a slight shushing sound as it whizzed over Jaken's head. "Sesshoumaru-sama is not generous, miko."

"Of course not. Fare ye well."

Hyakunan's full attention was now on the little glass vial in Jaken's stubby fingers. He tailed the toad youkai into the forest, wondering what new fun this would lead to.

……………………………………

The sun had set several hours ago. Kagome had gone into Kaede's house to sleep, but not before making expressly clear that the house was a No-Hanyou Zone for that night, and possibly the next few too.

That was fine with Inuyasha. He wasn't planning on sleeping anyway. Sleep was overrated. He bit back a yawn as he glided silently past the miko's house.

Who cared if Kagome needed to sleep so often. Weak human. She looked so helpless when she slept; so gentle. Peaceful. And her fingers sometimes twitched in a familiar gesture, as if rubbing a pair of fuzzy—

His brain clamped down on itself at that point. He was not gonna finish that thought.

His ears twitched. He growled at the traitorous appendages, then winced, listening for footsteps.

Nope, nobody'd heard. He breathed out softly, then ran lightly toward the forest.

If he'd listened a little more carefully, he might have realized that one human wasn't quite asleep. If he'd stayed around a little longer, he might have seen a figure carrying a backpack, quiver, and bow quietly follow him.