Along Came a Kitsune

Chapter 8: Million-dollar Smile

The darkness was going to drive her insane.

She could feel it, pressing down on her, dissolving her last resolve as the pounding continued.

She wanted to fight back, but knew from previous experiences that it would be impossible. Her invisible assailants would continue this deluge until they grew weary of her.

Or if she gave up.

But she wasn't about to do anything like that.

They would destroy her if she did that.

And then she would face the humiliation of being an everyday, weak human.

Inuyasha wouldn't accept that.

She had to be strong.

For Inuyasha.

Yes, but…she felt as if she were giving birth to Athena.

The pounding went on and on…never ending…she couldn't handle it.

If only someone could…

"HELP!"

Kagome shot up, her head grazing someone's nose in the process.

She took a quick glance of the area around her. It wasn't her apartment. It wasn't her family's shrine.

"Ouch!" said someone to her right. "Kagome, what'd you do that for?"

She quickly turned to the speaker, trying to bring out her miko powers only to find they had already surfaced. Her eyes met those of a disheveled red-head with a burned nose.

"Who are you?" she asked him, glaring.

The man reached out to her. "Kagome, don't you remem—"

"Give me a straight answer or it won't just be your nose that's burned!" she said as she began to push energy into her hands.

He looked even more hurt now. He backed up a little. "Kagome, it's me…Shippou."

The shock of hearing his name made her miko energy disappear. Tears now threatened to spill from her eyes. "Shippou, it's really you?"

He smiled and nodded his head. In a puff of smoke, he was back to the apparent age he was when they traveled together. He allowed her to hug him, crying, for a few minutes before he carefully shrunk away from her grip and returned to his normal form.

Now, she lunged at him, crying sadly at first, then laughing.

When she had finally calmed down, memories of before she blacked out rushed back to her.

"So," she said with displeasure, "where is he?"

"You mean Kurama? His boss called him in a while ago. He didn't think he'd be gone very long, so he left you in my care."

Kagome stood up. "In that case," she said while rummaging for keys, "I'd better make my getaway." She found them and started walking toward the door.

"Wait!" She stopped. He was standing there awkwardly, something that just seemed wrong for someone of his image. "I want…I mean…I just."

Her eyes softened and she nodded. "I know Shippou. I need you too."

They both understood the invitation that was behind the short conversation and soon they were both in her mother's car.

Needing to fill the silence between them, Kagome asked the question that was most weighing on her mind. "Shippou, what happened after I left? Why are you with that playboy?"

Shippou took a few minutes to gather his thoughts.

"After you left…everything went pretty normal. We missed you, but were happy with the knowledge that you were safe in your time. For a while, people called on us to exterminate demons, and in between times Sango and Miroku helped to train me; Kirara too. But soon, Sango was too far into her pregnancy to fight, and Miroku didn't travel far after that. But that didn't really matter because there seemed to be fewer youkai to deal with. We assumed that it was because of Naraku's defeat. Also, you said before that in your time, there weren't any youkai, so we assumed this was the start of it.

"Anyways, I grew up being raised by Miroku and Sango. When I was old enough, I went out on my own to help people who still had youkai problems. These were few and far between. When Sango and Miroku died of old age, I looked after their kids and grandkids and so on. But somehow, as years went by, I kept feeling this strange pull, and I started spending less and less time with humans. I was attacked by another demon and when I awoke, I was in some strange land, injured, and with no way to survive. I won't bore you with the details, but let me just tell you that I stole from the wrong kitsune. Anyways, despite my age, Kurama and his partner Kuronue took me in like you and Inuyasha did so many years ago." He didn't fail to notice her wince when he spoke the name.

Kagome drove the car to its place behind the shrine grounds.

Shippou glanced at his watch, knowing that Kurama and Kuronue were home by now and knew he was missing. He would have to go soon.

"Kagome," he said quietly, hesitantly.

She turned to him, no clear emotion on her face.

"He…hasn't come back yet, has he?" Her silence answered for him.

It struck a chord in him that the fiery girl he knew could be so quiet, so unresponsive. He remembered her as the girl who "sat" Inuyasha when he said or did something stupid, the girl who with a single smile reminded the group that there was hope in defeating Naraku, the strange girl who held their atypical group together.

He knew this wasn't how it was supposed to be for her. She was supposed to live happily ever after surrounded by love. She wasn't supposed to be lost in heartbreak over the fact that the man she loved was not there, wondering if he'd ever return, or if he'd forgotten about her. Or worse, wondering if those words… Kagome. I love you… that promise…I will find you again someday…had been meaningless to the hanyou.

Inuyasha, don't worry, I'll bring back Kagome's smile.

Note: According to Greek mythology, the goddess Athena was born out of her father, Zeus's, head. While she was in there though, she was making her armor, and this gave Zeus really bad headaches.

AN: Well, it's shorter than the others, but I like how it turned out. Sorry if Kagome seems OOC. But…well…between Kurama hitting on her and her waking up in a strange place with some weird youkai by her, and then having to remember her past, and the stuff about Inu…I think it's justified.

Anyways, don't expect another chapter for at least two weeks because my schedule will be going something like this: wake up, eat, babysit for four hours (three of the little buggers), come home, eat, go to driver's ed, come home, read driver's ed manual (cuz I'm a procrastinator when it comes to boring things) and/or work on over-the-net health class, collapse from exhaustion. But I promise to get another chapter out before school starts.

Reviews:

foxcat: Shippou doesn't really have an alias; he's just older, and never told Kurama and Kuronue his name, so they call him whatever they want.

Shabopo: If he were reincarnated, it would be around the time Kag is born, give or take a few years. Thanks for your thoughts, but I already have this pretty much planned out; it's the writing it out that's going so slow. By the way, I practically worship your fic TSOTB, but my email won't let me review on A Single Spark (where I normally read). I completely forgot you had an account on