Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Chapter 4

School that day was a nightmare for Souta, it seemed as if his teachers could sense that he was not paying attention and were asking him questions on purpose. Souta sighed heavily on his way home.

'It's a miracle I survived.' He thought. 'Wonder what Shippo's doing?' Souta climbed the steps leading to the shrine where he lived.

Shippo was found in the same place Souta had left him. Souta's mother wasn't due home from work for another few hours, so he let the kitsune rest.

Shippo had been awake to hear Souta come home, had heard him climb the stairs. He tensed as Souta opened the door to his room and placed his backpack on the floor. Shippo listened to Souta's slightly heavy breathing as Souta watched the kitsune sleep.

Later that evening Shippo made his way down the stairs to where Souta was watching television. Mrs. Higurashi was not home yet.

"Hey, you're finally awake. How are you feeling?" Souta looked over his shoulder at Shippo when he heard the fox youkai descend the stairs.

"Better, I suppose." Shippo delicately sat on the floor in front of the couch facing Souta.

Everything Shippo did was delicate, on purpose. Every move was fluid and precise. Souta was amused by the way Shippo sat, as if he was sitting on a hard surface.

"You can sit on the couch if you want." Souta said.

Shippo got up and slowly sank into the couch. When he began to sink further into it he tried to stand but failed, he reached out for something to grab onto and yelped as the couch engulfed him.

Shippo sat, exasperated. A look of shock was on his face. Souta laughed at Shippo's reaction. The sofa was very soft and you sat low to the ground; it often felt as if you were going to fall when you sank into it.

"You all right?" Souta was still laughing.

"I guess so…" Shippo was still breathing erratically.

After a short while of watching television, Shippo began to fidget in his seat. The kitsune was very restless, watching television was not the sort of thing he expected to be doing in Kagome's time.

Souta sighed and turned off the television, "You want to go somewhere?" The last thing Souta wanted to do after a rough day at school was take a fox youkai on a tour of Tokyo.

"Yeah, ok!" Souta tried to jump out of the sofa but was unable to lift himself from the cushions.

Souta stifled another laugh at Shippo's exerted expression. Shippo shot Souta a glare when a laugh escaped him. "Do you need help?"

"No…I got it…I'll get it…" Shippo struggled for another minute with the couch.

"Here, give me your hands." Souta grabbed his hands and pulled Shippo from the couch with more force than was necessary.

The fox youkai fell up into Souta's chest, Shippo's head rested against Souta's shoulder. A bombardment of scents hit the kitsune again, however these were pleasant ones. Souta's smell was all around Shippo.

Shippo wrapped his arms around Souta when they crashed together, he didn't remove them for a few seconds. Although the contact lasted for a short while, that is all Souta needed to become completely enthralled with every last fascinating detail about Shippo.

Souta pushed on the kitsune's shoulders, effectively detaching them from his body. Souta's rapt gaze caught Shippo's breath. They stared mesmerized for minutes into each others face, each reading in the other an indescribable merging of emotions.

So much has never been said in that short amount of time between two people, yet no words ever crossed their lips.

Both stood for a while, not sure what to do. Souta was the first to move away from the kitsune. "Well…shall we go?"

"Yeah…ok than."

"So where?" Souta asked as they were descending the stairs in front of the Higurashi shrine.

"Where what?" Shippo looked at Souta, confused.

"Where do you want to go?" Souta said.

Shippo thought for a minute, he wasn't aware that it was his choice where to go. Shippo thought back to all the information he had about Kagome's era. He remembered the best thing Kagome had ever brought from her time, the one thing Shippo looked foreword to more than Kagome.

"Let's go to the place Kagome gets her candy."

"You want to go to the candy store?" Shippo nodded eagerly. "All right than, it's pretty close, I think we can make it before mom gets home."

On the way to the candy store Shippo stayed close to Souta. People jostled the kitsune as they walked past, frightening him. But the scariest thing for the kitsune was the car. When the first one went past, Shippo adopted a fighting stance, ready to defend himself and Souta against a foreign attack.

People on the street stopped to look at the fox youkai, most had a slightly amused expression on their faces. Souta's face glowed red as he continued to walk, dragging Shippo behind him.

Souta pulled on Shippo's arm, his face glowing red. "Did you see that, Souta? Did you?" Shippo asked fervently.

"Yes Shippo, that's called a car, the store's just up the street." Souta said with an air of impatience.

Shippo heard Souta's growing annoyance and kept his discoveries to himself, that is until the reach the candy store. Shippo stopped just inside the door, marveling at the rows and rows of assorted candies.

"Look, Souta, look, its candy! It's so much candy!" Shippo whispered in Souta's ear.

The hot breath in his ear made Souta shiver; the quiet tingling feeling that ran up and down his spine sent a small wave of pleasure to Souta's brain. All of a sudden Souta could wish for nothing more than to have Shippo closer to him.

The kitsune didn't move either; his mouth hovered near Souta's ear. Souta could hear the deep, ragged breaths, could feel Shippo's chest heave on his arm. Shippo was clearly just as captivated by their close proximity as Souta was.

Shippo slowly backed off and moved away from Souta, heading for the nearest shelf full of his beloved sweets. He picked one up and ran over to show Souta but Souta backed away and refused to look Shippo in the eye, as if he was scared of the kitsune.

"Jeez! It's only candy! Act your own age, will you?" Souta said.

"But Souta, look at this! Kagome would only allow me to have one at a time, there has to be one…two…three…at least five here!" Souta looked down at the thirty pack of chocolates than back up at Shippo with a slightly bemused look.

"Shippo, where did you learn how to count?" Souta asked.

"I just picked it up from Kagome, no one had to teach me." The kitsune said proudly.

"I think you need a better teacher." Souta said sarcastically.

"Why?"

"Never mind, I'll tell you later."

"Than I think I'll get these, Souta"

Souta turned to see Shippo standing with his arms full of candy, "Are you going to eat all of this, Shippo? You'll get sick."

Shippo earnestly nodded his head. "I'm youkai, youkai don't get sick, Souta."

"Fine than, lets just pay for these." Souta grabbed the candy out of Shippo's hand perhaps rather roughly and proceeded to the cash register.

Shippo looked at Souta as he walked away, wondering if he had done something to annoy his new friend.

Shippo arrived home with bags full of his precious candy.

A/N

Breaking tradition that has held fast for three chapters so far I am about to post an note to my readers.

I would first like to thank all of those who have reviewed my story. The amount of interest in this story was quite unexpected. Unexpected, yet pleasant.

These chapters I have just redone are hopefully much more aesthetically pleasing.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone with my short and boring chapters. I have been very sick recently and not exactly at the height of my abilities.

A small side note to Wanting Memories (if they are reading):

Thank you for your reviews.

The song you mention in your biography, Wanting Memories, is an amazing song.

I must say, as embarressing as it is, I listened to it perhaps twenty times after I initially heard it. I just connected with so many things that were said in that song. I highly recommend it to everyone reading. You will not be dissappointed.

Only two other things have ever elicited a response from me as this song did, they are the book Where the Red Fern Grows and the movie Hair.

Thank you so very much for introducing me to it.

Well…I guess that's about it. Don't expect any more author's notes in the future.

I don't like writing them very much, only perhaps if I have something important to say.