Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Chapter 3

"Hey, ma…Ma!" Souta shouted as they entered the house.

"Stop shouting, Souta! I'm coming, already." Mrs. Higurashi turned to Shippo, "Hello, dear, It's so nice to finally meet you. Kagome's told us all about you." Mrs. Higurashi embraced Shippo into a warm hug that made him more than a little uncomfortable.

"Um, nice to meet you too." Shippo muttered as he was being crushed under Kagome's moms embrace.

"Mama, stop it, you're crushing him!" Souta shouted, obviously embarrassed more than enough for both him and Shippo.

"Oh, stop it, Souta!" Mrs. Higurashi's face turned a violent color of red as she let go of Shippo.

"Oh, you must be so tired after you're journey, why don't you rest in the house. Souta can show you around after he gets back from school."

"Damn it, school!" Souta looked at his watch and discovered that he was already several minutes late.

"Well, I'm not really…well, um…" Shippo felt his head spinning, the income of information to his brain was too much for him to handle.

Shippo almost fell, Souta steadied him while Mrs. Higurashi got a chair.

"Shippo! Shippo, what's wrong?" Souta asked, Shippo was only vaguely aware of Souta's presence.

"Here, sit down, what is it, Shippo? Was it the trip? Souta, get him some water, quickly!"

Mrs. Higurashi held her hand up to Shippo's forehead. Feeling no temperature, she asked Shippo again what was wrong. The shouting of Kagome's mother brought the kitsune out of his stupor; he eagerly drank the water given to him.

"What happened, Shippo?" asked Kagome's mother.

"Too many smells in this time, how can you people live with so many scents around?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Shippo, we didn't realize it would be a problem, Inuyasha never had that problem, did he?" Mrs. Higurashi asked Souta, Souta shook his head in reply.

"Feh, probably did but would never admit it, stubborn baka." Shippo scoffed.

"Oh, the poor thing, he should have told us."

"Yeah, no wonder he always wanted to get back so bad." Souta said.

"I think I'm okay now." Shippo tried to stand but instead fell back into the chair.

"No, no, Shippo. You should rest until you get used to this time, Souta, why don't you let him rest in your room?"

Souta nodded to his mother and took Shippo's arm and placed it around his shoulders. Shippo, being led by Souta, made his way to Souta's room. Once inside, Souta let him sit on the bed as he dug in his drawers for a suitable pair of pajamas.

Souta held up a pair that might have fit him when he was younger, "Here, you can wear these for now, until we get you your own."

Souta turned around to close the dresser, when he faced Shippo again, the kitsune was already half-naked, and in the process of untying his pants. The pajamas lay on the bed.

"Yo, man, wait until I get out of the room!" Souta covered his eyes with his hands and made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Shippo looked up alarmed, how many times had it been that Kagome and Inuyasha had seen him naked? Perhaps he did something wrong? Shippo pulled on the pajamas that Souta had given him and slipped into the bed.

The last thing he could remember before he went to sleep was the fact that Souta's scent was all around him, in the bed, the clothes, even in the walls. Shippo remembered that it wasn't a bad small, not by far, actually it was a rather pleasant smell, it made Shippo comfortable. Shippo fell asleep with Souta's scent in his mind.

Outside, Souta leaned against the door, smiling once again. Though he hadn't seen much of Shippo, the kitsune's bare torso was enough to send his mind reeling. Souta frowned when he realized what he was thinking, wasn't this considered wrong? 'By who?' he asked himself.

'By everyone!' he answered.

'No, not by everyone, what if he feels the same way?'

'He doesn't'

'But what if he does?'

'He doesn't.'

Souta opened the door a crack, enough to see Shippo lying in bed, sleeping. The kitsune looked so peaceful…and beautiful to Souta. 'Kami, he hasn't been here an hour and already…'

Souta sighed and closed the door, all that day he couldn't focus on anything, his mind was too distracted. All Souta could think of was the first time Kagome had showed them a picture of her friends. That had to be even before his grandfather died.

Souta remembered the youkai child. Shippo looked cute to him even than, but than Shippo looked like someone he would want to be good friends with, not someone who he would want to…well…do something like that with.

"Well, the guy wanted an adventure, this will sure be some kind of adventure."