Return of the Hanyou

By: Lady Tiger LiLy

Chapter 6: Heated Moment

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"OW!" the fox youkai yelped as he pulled off the band-aid from his arm.

"Baby…" the young female hanyou spoke aloud to herself.

"I heard that!" Shippou snapped before pealing off the last band-aid, suppressing another shout of pain.

"Seriously, you act like removing a few band-aids is causing you worse pain than how you got the injuries to begin with." She sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Men…"

Shippou, Junko, and Rin were still sitting in Kaede's hut after eating breakfast with the others who had now departed for various reasons. Kaede had to go tend to her herb garden, and Mamoru went with his sister, Kohana, to help her get in some practice for the day. Sango had her children exercise and practice with their weapons almost ever day for a few hours. Though Mamoru was no longer following the path of a demon slayer, he honored his sister's request to come with her. Besides, he could use the exercise.

But before Kohana had left with Mamoru, she approached Shippou and asked him if he would go take a walk with her later… alone.

The thought of Kohana alone with Shippou just made Junko so… Jealous? What the hell are you talking about? She is not jealous! You don't know anything! Why on earth would she feel jealous about Kohana and Shippou being alone together? It's obvious that Shippou doesn't return Kohana's affection. Junko just doesn't like the thought of Kohana flirting and throwing herself at Shippou, which she would do if they were alone…

Junko recalled the pointed glare Kohana had given her after she had asked Shippou. She met Kohana's glare with her own. An odd feeling had quickly swelled up inside Junko like anger but it wasn't just anger… it had a touch of fear in it though she didn't know why… It was… so NOT jealousy!

Well, luckily Shippou managed to avoid answering her question by claiming that nature was calling and proceeded to hurry out of the hut. He came back after Kohana left and found only Rin and Junko in the hut eating breakfast. He too went back to eating his breakfast, noting aloud how that was a close call. Junko asked if he meant about Kohana or the call of nature. He rolled his eyes at her smart remark.

After he had finished eating, Shippou had started at the task of removing his bandages and gauzes from his now healed injuries.

"You could have just told her 'no' you know," Junko commented to Shippou with a hint of annoyance as she put away her empty bowl. "Unless you want to go with her…"

"Are you kidding? I don't want to be alone with her!" Shippou replied. "You see what she does when there are people around, I don't want to think what she might try when no one is around!"

Coincidentally, neither did Junko.

"And I know I could have just said 'no'," he continued. "But it's not like I had a good reason to turn her down."

"You mean besides the fact that you don't share her feelings and that she constantly harasses you?" Junko spoke dryly.

"I also didn't want to hurt her feelings," Shippou pointed out. He then gave her a confused look. "What is your problem today?"

"Nothing, I just think you should have told her 'yes' or 'no'. And obviously you don't want to go with her so you should have said 'no', else, you are just leading her on," she reasoned, sounding a little too casual than normal.

"I am not leading her on! I've never returned her affection and she still keeps at it! She doesn't take 'no' for an answer, you know that."

"Hm, you have a point," Junko agreed as she went to sit back down in her spot. She then let herself tumble backwards onto her back from where she sat. "I'm so incredibly bored," she sighed.

Rin took a sip of her tea. "The day has only just begun, Junko-chan."

"And if I'm already bored, than that can't be a good sign, can it?" she said with another sigh.

"Quit sighing, it's not good for you," Shippou replied dryly to the hanyou.

Junko ignored him. "You know, maybe it wasn't such a good idea coming to live in the Feudal era and leaving behind my TV and video games…" she spoke idly.

Shippou seemed unnerved by that comment as he began to unravel his wrapped right arm and snagged his claw in the fabric. "Damn it…" he muttered as he began trying to tug his claw free.

"Don't pull it like that or you'll rip it! And as reckless as you are, we'll probably need to reuse that." Junko got up from the floor and moved over to Shippou's side. "Here, hold still," she said as she took his left hand and began to try to carefully free his claw.

Shippou blushed when she took his hand with her own. He glanced over at Rin who was idly sipping her tea, seemingly uninterested.

In no time at all, Junko had successfully freed Shippou. "There. See? That wasn't so hard," she spoke. She then took his arm and began to unravel the bandage wrapped around it.

Shippou gulped, his blush deepening some. "W-What are you doing that for?" he asked timidly.

"My claws are shorter and duller than yours so no snagging for me," she explained. "Besides, I'm bored. So I figure the sooner we get all these bandages off you, the sooner we can go out and do something."

"O-Oh, right," Shippou replied as he watched her gently unwrapping the bandage with ease. Junko didn't show this side of her a lot. She was being so kind and gentle right now opposed to how she usually behaves; tough and short-tempered. He wished he could see her softer side more often.

Actually, now that he thought about it, she is much different now compared to when they first met. Though she still acts tougher than she really is, she seems more at ease with him, more able to drop that defensive shield when she needs too, like when she was upset with her mother and was going to cry right there in front of him. Maybe, in time, she will come to let down that shield more and show her softer side more.

"Hold still, stupid, or you'll get your claws snagged again!"

Then again… one can only hope…

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"Hiraikotsu!" And with a mighty swing, Sango threw her boomerang bone at the large bear demon, successfully knocking it down to the ground.

Inu-Yasha then took over. With a mighty cry, he swung the transformed Tetsusaiga, slicing the bear demon to ribbons, thus, destroying the youkai. Once this was accomplished, he turned to his wife. "Kagome! Are you ok?" he asked in urgency.

"I'm ok," she replied from her spot on the ground from where she had fallen. She had gone to get water from the river that morning when the bear demon showed up. She was unarmed so she did the only thing she could do which was to run, but she didn't get far until she tripped and fell. Just then, Sango and Inu-Yasha came running out of the foliage at the sound of her distress and came to her rescue.

Miroku reached Kagome's side and helped her to her feet. "It would seem that the demons in this forest have discovered you possess the sacred jewel, Kagome-sama."

Upon hearing this, Kagome reached up and placed her hand where the jewel was hidden under her shirt collar. "I think you're right, Miroku-sama."

"What should we do?" asked Sango. "If these weaker demons have discovered it so easily, won't Naraku be able to as well?"

"If he can, he'll discover us coming after him before we can find out where he's hiding," Inu-Yasha said as he sheathed Tetsusaiga. "We'll loose the only advantage we have right now and we can't do that."

"I suggest that one of us takes it back to the village to be left in the protection of Kaede-sama," Miroku suggested. "Though as old as she is, she should be able to erect a safe housing for the jewel while we are away. I can leave her some of my most powerful demon wards and sutras."

"I'll take Kirara and go back to the village," Kagome volunteered.

It was decided. Miroku gave Kagome some demon wards and sutras to take back with her. Little Kirara transformed into her larger form and Kagome climbed up onto her back, taking her bow and arrows with her, but leaving her backpack behind with the others. "You guys go on ahead and we'll catch up."

"Hurry back," Inu-Yasha told her. After that little scare from this morning with the bear demon, Inu-Yasha was beginning to remember all the times Kagome was nearly killed by some youkai or another and was feeling uneasy about her going off on her own.

"It won't take me long with Kirara," she smiled as she patted the cat demon on the head. Kirara gave a purr that sounded more like a growl and off they took to the sky.

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"Are you sure all your wounds are healed completely already?" Junko asked warily.

"Like I said, we demons are fast healers," Shippou smiled to her.

Junko turned away as she felt herself blush. He had such a nice, sincere smile…

After Junko had helped Shippou remove his bandages, they went out for a walk in the forest. Junko had asked if Rin wanted to come along, but she smiled sweetly and declined the invitation.

"Well, maybe you should still take it easy just incase," Junko suggested.

Shippou scoffed. "You don't believe me do you? Here, I'll prove it!" He then took off a couple of feet ahead of her. "Watch this!" He bent over, placing his hands on the ground, and kicked his feet up over his head. "Tah dah!" he shouted triumphantly after he was able to establish his balance. He then took it a step farther and removed his left hand so that his whole body was now balancing only on his right hand and arm, the one that was previously injured.

"Shippou!" Junko spoke worriedly as he did this. She was sure he was going to hurt himself.

Shippou could only stand like that for so long before he started to loose his balance. He began to wobble before his feet came completely over his hand, resulting in him landing on the ground on his back. "Ow…" he groaned.

Junko grimaced as she witnessed this. She then walked over to the kitsune, leaning over him slightly, looking down at him with an unimpressed look. "Show off," she stated flatly.

He looked up at her and gave her a boyish grin. "So what does it take to impress you? You know, besides saving your life because that's gotta be getting tiring by now."

Junko rolled her eyes at that last comment. She then knelt down by his side, letting out a sigh and put her finger to her chin to show she was thinking of an answer. "Hm, getting a perfect score on the hardest DDR level would be impressive to me. I can only play as high as standard," she replied.

He blinked up at her. "Dee-dee-awr?"

Forgetting that he wouldn't know what she was talking about, she waved her hand nonchalantly to signal he wouldn't understand. "It's a game from my time."

"Can you teach me how to play?" he asked, sounding a little enthused.

"Well, er, no I can't. It's… complicated. It's a game you play with a… device. And you don't have anything like that here so yeah…" she weakly tried to explain.

"You just don't want to teach me," he replied.

"No, it's just… you wouldn't understand."

He sat up from the ground and looked eye level with her. "Try me," he said with a hint of determination.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Junko asked, giving him a quizzical look.

"I just… want to know," he answered weakly.

Junko tapped her chin with her finger as she thought about how to explain DDR. "Ok, DDR is just the initials for the real name of the game," she began. "It's really called Dance Dance Revolution; it's a dancing game."

A dancing game. Shippou could comprehend that. What was so difficult about that?

Junko continued. "There's this machine… a giant metal… box," she tried to simplify. "And when it's powered up, it shows you… moving pictures."

Shippou was starting to look lost. "Moving pictures?"

"Oh yeah, it's nothing new in my time. Now, this metal box has a platform that you stand on. And what you do is watch the moving pictures on the screen."

"Skuh-reen?"

"Er, um, like…like a magic scroll!" she tried once more to simplify. "Er, anyway, on the screen, there are four arrows."

Oh! Shippou knew what arrows looked like!

"And the arrows point up, down, left, and right. You watch the arrows and when the timing is right, you match the arrows on the screen to the arrows on the platform you are standing on by stepping on it with your feet."

"… Why?" he asked after trying to contemplate the information she just told him.

"Because that's how you play! It's a game of skill and accuracy! The metal box plays music and you just step on the arrows that match the ones on the screen, see?"

"Wouldn't you cut your feet doing that?"

"No no! These aren't real arrows! Just pictures of arrows," Junko amended.

This was more difficult that he thought it would be…

"Look," she told him as she got up. She walked over to the nearest tree and pointed to it. "Pretend this tree is the metal box." She then took a stick and drew in the dirt a square and four arrows point north, east, south, and west. "This is what the platform would look like." She stepped onto the 'platform' and put her hand on the trunk of the tree. "And the moving pictures would be shown right about here. I would look at that and follow the arrows that the moving pictures show me. Like if it shows I should step on the up arrow, I would step on that." She did so. "Same with the other arrows. And the arrows go faster and sometimes you have to step on more than one at a time." She started to step on the arrows again in demonstration, though the dirt was beginning to shift and the arrows were vanishing. "Left, right, up, down, left, up, left, down, right, down, left and right, up, down, le-!" Junko finally tripped on her own two feet and fell over on her bottom.

Shippou winced as he watched her fall. Junko groaned and rubbed her bottom as she got up. She then proceeded to dust off her kimono to rid it of the dirt she collected on it from her fall.

Shippou walked over to her. "So if I just flail around like an idiot, you'll be impressed?" he asked with an arch of a brow.

Junko, blushing with embarrassment, crossed her arms and turned away from him. "I said you wouldn't understand," she muttered.

Shippou really didn't understand so, with a defeated sigh, he left it at that. Though, he could see why someone would be impressed with the ability to play this game. It was so damn complicated! "Come on, let's head back," he spoke to her. "It's getting close to lunch time."

"Ok," she replied, turning around to walk back with him.

As they walked, Junko's hand bumped against Shippou's given their proximity. He turned to her thinking she was trying to get his attention.

"Sorry," she apologized nonchalantly. "Didn't mean to do that."

Shippou said nothing but still looked at her for a moment. Her hand… He was remembering what it felt like being touched by her hand earlier that day. He had liked that simple contact. It had felt so soft and warm against his own hand.

Junko blinked quizzically when she felt something nudge her hand. She looked down at her hand and her eyes then grew huge when she saw that what she felt was Shippou's hand slipping into her own. Her breath caught in her throat, and without thinking, she looked up at him in wonder. He just smiled back at her with that smile again; sweet and sincere.

Junko felt her face grow warm which meant she was probably blushing once again so she turned away to hide it. She then felt him gently squeeze her hand to hold it more firmly. His hand felt so warm and strong. Without realizing it, she complied and gently squeezed back. Then it hit her…

This is the first time she had ever held hands with a boy.

Though she felt awkward doing so, something about holding Shippou's hand made her feel warm inside.

"Is that Kagome?" she heard Shippou say.

She looked up, just now realizing that they were just entering the village. Panic and embarrassment struck her at the thought of being seen holding Shippou's hand so she quickly let go and pulled away. She then looked over to where Shippou was looking and saw her mother talking to Rin. Kagome then mounted Kirara who was standing next to her. Before they took off, Kagome looked up and just so happened to see the two off in the distance. Kagome only looked at her daughter before signaling to Kirara and off they took to the sky.

Once Junko realized her mother was gone, she ran to where Rin stood, Shippou following close behind her. "Rin-chan! What was my mother doing here?"

"Kagome-sama came to leave the sacred jewel here in the village with Kaede-sama so that they won't be detected by the demon, Naraku. They decided it was the best thing to do," she explained, holding out the necklace that the jewel was on. "Your mother was attacked this morning by a bear demon who knew she had the jewel."

Junko's eyes went wide with fear. "Is she ok?"

"Yes, she is unharmed thanks to Sango-sama and your father."

Junko was relieved. She may not get along with her mother, and still hold some resentment towards her, but she was still her mother and she wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her…

"I must go find Kaede-sama now so she can show me the proper way to set up these wards and sutras from Miroku-sama." Rin gave a slight bow to her friends before leaving them.

Junko nodded to her friend.

Shippou stretched his arms up over his head before lazily clasping them behind his head. "It probably is best that they leave the jewel here. I mean I know it's Kagome's job to guard it being she has the spiritual powers of a priestess and all, but carrying it with them while trying to find a demon as dangerous as Naraku isn't such a good idea. After all, he was after it last time as well."

"Why not me?"

"Huh?" Shippou puzzled as he looked to Junko.

"Why did she leave it with Rin-chan and Kaede-sama and not me?" Junko spoke, the rage in her words intensifying as she spoke. "I mean, she 'gave' it to me before!" she said with heavy sarcasm. "She kept the stupid thing in my body for fifteen years!"

"How are you going to put up wards and sutras when you are part demon yourself? Listen, Junko, you are part demon. And any demon that lays their hands on the jewel may become corrupt by it whether they want to or not! It almost happened to your father a long time ago but Kagome was able to purify the shard he was using and saved him! It's very powerful! It is the job of a priestess to protect it and keep if purified."

"Then how come I was able to have the damned thing in my body without it going corrupt?" she retorted.

Shippou was stumped for a moment. "I dunno!" he sputtered out. "All I know is that taking care of the jewel is a job for a priestess and not a demon!"

"What was that look she gave me?" Junko asked suddenly.

Shippou wasn't sure if she heard anything of what he just said. "What?"

"That look she gave me before she left? What was that all about?"

Why did she think he had all the answers? "I dunno, maybe she's still hurt that you told her you hate her," Shippou replied somewhat accusingly. "Why are you getting so angry at your mom for?" he asked, sounding annoyed and frustrated. "Look, Junko, she probably didn't want you to have it because you possessing it can put you in great danger!" Shippou took a deep, frustrated sounding breath. "I just don't get it! You were mad at your mom when she 'gave' you the jewel before, and now you're complaining because your mom didn't give it to you to guard?"

"I don't want to guard the stupid jewel!" Junko shouted at him.

"Then what are you getting so upset about?" he shouted back purely confused. "Why are you trying to find reasons to be mad at your mom?"

"I just still resent her for putting the damned thing in my body and making the decision for me to make me human! She had no right! It is my decision and no one else's!"

"Junko, she was probably just doing what she thought was best for you! Mother's do that you know!" he replied, heavy sarcasm in the last reply.

"But she kept it a secret from me! I grew up knowing I was different! Knowing but not understanding why; why I felt that way when I looked just like everyone else! Just like a regular schoolgirl in the same stupid school uniform as all the other girls! I never felt I belonged there! Never felt I fit in! And because I didn't have a reason to feel that way, I thought something was wrong with me! My mother's decision caused this! She should have told me! Instead she kept it a secret from me! She kept my true self a secret from me! And I hate her for it! I hate my mother!" she shouted out to no one in particular.

"Well at least you have one!" Shippou shouted back.

That shut Junko up.

Shippou turned from her and quickly stalked off in anger, leaving Junko alone and speechless. Well, not so alone because for the first time Junko looked around her and saw several villagers gawking at the heated argument that had just taken place right there. Junko blushed with embarrassment and turned to follow after Shippou. She was no longer interesting in lunch after what just happened.

She had never seen Shippou so mad at her.

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AN: This chapter was going to end up must longer than I thought it would be, so I ended up cutting here. But do not fear, for AFTER you review THIS chapter (hint, hint) just click on the little arrow to read what happens next! Yes, I thought it wouldn't be fair to post only this much after such a long absence so I'm posting two chapters at once! YAY! I hope this makes up for taking so long with the update. That, and the fact that these two chapters are full of fluffy Shippou+Junko-ness!

Fear not, my loyal readers, this story WILL continue! I will continue to battle that horrible writer's block until this story is finished! I think you'll all find the story will get much more interesting as it progresses further. Oh yes, I have interesting ideas for the future chapters. Actually, sometimes stuff pops up into the chapters as I go! Like the part with Junko and Shippou: "And I hate her for it! I hate my mother!" "Well at least you have one!" That just came out of nowhere! I guess I just got really into what I was writing and what was going on between the characters.

Oh, and I hope I didn't throw you all off with the title of this chapter. I mean, there were heated moments but not that kind of heated moment… not yet anyway… Oops! I think I've said too much!

Oh, sorry! I'm keeping you from reviewing and reading! I'll stop this author's note now! Now go! Review and continue on with the next chapter!