Disclaimer: Ok yeah, I don't own Inuyasha and I never will so let's get on with the story.
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To the Readers: Ugh… having a cold sucks... I'll try to keep up with the updating tho'…
-Japanime625
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CHAPTER FIVE: Out for a Walk
The family of five walked down the street gazing at all of the wonderful things. Noriko was asking questions the entire time. Kagome briefly explained how this era was much different from the feudal era which, of course, led to more questions.
"But Mommy, why does the air smell funny?" Noriko asked again.
"Because some people here are very messy and it makes the air smelly."
"……" Noriko thought this over for a little bit. "Why don't they take baths if they're so messy?"
Kagome laughed. "Not that kind of messy, silly. It's kind of like when you leave your toys out and then I say your room is messy."
"Oh I get it now."
"Mom, where are we goin' anyway?" Shirrow asked.
"No where special. We're just walking around."
"Oh…"
"... Huh?" Shirrow looked across a busy street and saw a group of boys a couple of years older than him. They were showing off doing fancy moves on skate boards and roller blades. Shirrow, who had never seen people move around on wheels before, was interested in seeing what they were doing.
He looked towards his family. They had continued walking. They were about two yards ahead of him. I'll just take a quick look… He thought to himself. Then he rushed across the street when the traffic cleared up enough for him to cross.
"Oww! Kotaro quit pullin' on my hair!" InuYasha snapped as he, for a fifth time, pried Kotaro's hands off his hair.
Kotaro was once again perched on his shoulders and had been squirming around for the past ten minutes. InuYasha sighed. Then he took Kotaro down from his shoulders and held him in one arm against his side.
"Daddy funny!" Kotaro squealed in delight.
"Feh..."
Kotaro giggled and climbed up InuYasha's side to once again sit on his shoulders. Kagome looked towards InuYasha who now had an annoyed look on his face. She chuckled at him and took Kotaro from his shoulders.
"Nooo! Mama! Want Daddy hold Kotawo!" Kotaro wailed as he reached towards his Daddy. ((A/N: aww))
Kagome sighed. "Alright, but don't squirm around so much ok, sweetie? Daddy doesn't like that." With that said she handed him back to InuYasha.
As soon as Kotaro was in his father's arms he started to climb back up on top of his shoulders but a shake of the head from Kagome told him to just stay where he was. He leaned against InuYasha's shoulder and closed his little eyes deciding to take a short nap.
Kagome smiled at the pair and continued walking along with Noriko showing her various places and things.
Meanwhile
Shirrow had been watching the older boys intently. He was hiding among some boxes watching from about 3 yards away. He was so interested in watching that he didn't notice one of the older boys look at him. "Hey guys, look!" the older boy said. "There's a little shrimp watchin' us."
"Hey kid!" another one of the boys yelled.
"Wha?" Shirrow looked around him to see who the boy was talking to. He didn't see any other kids around though so he looked back at the group of boys who had walked up to him.
"Umm... hey." Shirrow said.
"What're you watchin' us for?"
"Yeah, haven't you ever seen a skateboard?" a boy said mockingly.
"Well… no..."
"WHAT?" All four of the boys yelled at once.
"What d'ya mean you've never seen a skateboard before?"
"Aww, shut up Hiroshi... the kids prob'ly retarded or something...Never seen a skateboard... ha…"
"Hey! Shut up! I ain't retarded! I'm prob'ly a hell of a lot smarter than you, jackass!"
The older boys stepped back in shock.
"What the... whoa... never heard anyone your size swear before..."
"Heh... You're alright, kid"
"Yeah, come with us, you're pretty cool"
"Well... I dunno if I should... I should prob'ly get back to my family... I wasn't really s'posed ta go off on my own… Dad'll prob'ly be pretty mad at me and won't go easy on me when we train today…"
"Aww, who cares!" the boy called Hiroshi said. "What d'ya think, Toshi?"
"Yeah jus' leave 'em kid. You're better off here anyway." Toshi said.
"Well, we're out guys…" one of the other boys said.
"What for, Tachi?"
"Kenji and I gotta get home. Mom's makin' ramen, don't wanna miss that."
"Kay... well see ya later then."
Tachi and Kenji then ran in the direction of their home which left Toshi, Hiroshi, and Shirrow standing there.
"Well, come on guys," Hiroshi said. "Let's go find something fun to do."
"Yeah come on kid... hey what's your name anyway?"
"My name's Shirrow."
"Shirrow huh? Cool. Well let's go."
With that said they began running in the same direction Kagome, InuYasha, Noriko, and a sleeping Kotaro were going.
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InuYasha, Kagome, Noriko, and the sleeping Kotaro continued walking. They were passing by numerous large buildings, Noriko pointing all of them out and asking questions. A young couple walked by and the girl looked at InuYasha and little Kotaro ((A/N: because he's so ccuuuuute!)) and smiled.
"Ohhhhhh! What an adorable little scamp."
"Hey… can we get a hotdog?" The guy asked, bored.
"In a MINUTE!" the girl hissed at him. ((A/N: couch potato points to whoever knows where I got that from.))
The couple walked on and the family of five continued walking.
"Wow, Mommy! Look at that really big building!" Noriko exclaimed. She then turned around.
"Shirrow, did you see that REALLY big build… Shirrow? Mommy, where'd Shirrow go?"
Kagome looked down at Noriko in confusion. "What do you mean, sweetie? Shirrow's right…" Kagome looked behind her but Shirrow wasn't there.
"Shirrow?" Kagome looked around for him but she didn't see him anywhere. "Shirrow? Shirrow? SHIRROW? INUYASHA! SHIRROW'S MISSING!"
"Huh, what?"
"OUR SON'S MISSING!"
"What'dya mean he's missing?" InuYasha snapped as he turned around. "Damn it! Where the hell IS that little runt?"
InuYasha jumped on top of a pedestrian's cart they were pushing. "Hey! Get offa there!"
"SHIRROW!" He yelled. "I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, SO GET YOUR LITTLE A-- OWWWWWW! KAGOME! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"InuYasha! Calm down! You're scaring everyone! Besides, you're still holding Kotaro, REMEMBER? He's trying to sleep, so be quiet!" Kagome scolded.
InuYasha looked down at his sleeping son. He was on the verge of waking up and was rolling around in his father's arms. InuYasha scowled and jumped down from the cart.
"Here," InuYasha said as he handed Kotaro to Kagome. "You take these two and go back to your mom's place. I'll go look for Shirrow."
"Ok… don't do anything extreme, alright? I want you to bring him back alive." Kagome joked.
"Feh… When I find him he'll be lucky if he ever comes out of our house again! Didn't we tell him not to wander off? Didn't we?"
"Calm down! You're not going to be able to concentrate on finding him if you're all angry." Then Kagome took Noriko's hand. "I'll take them back to my Mom's house, ok? You find Shirrow and we'll work this whole thing out together."
"Yeah, yeah ok…" InuYasha said as he began to walk off.
Shirrow… Kagome thought. You better be alright…
Meanwhile
Shirrow continued running along with Toshi and Hiroshi, easily keeping up with them.
"You're pretty fast, kid." Hiroshi stated.
"Duh…" Shirrow mumbled
"What was that?"
"What was what?" Shirrow asked innocently.
"Nothing…"
loser Shirrow thought. "So where are we goin?"
"Dunno, just gonna go cause trouble, sound like fun don' it?"
"Heh... yeah…" Shirrow said reluctantly Man... Mom and Dad are gonna kill me! he added mentally.
The trio continued running never noticing InuYasha hopping on top of buildings looking for them.
"Hey, I here there used to be gangs all over this part of town. How bout we check it out?" Hiroshi asked.
"I'm good with that plan, man" Toshi said. ((A/N: hahaha! That rhymes!))
"I dunno… seems kindda stupid to go there… How 'bout we head back?" Shirrow asked. I need to get back to Mom and Dad…
"Aww what's da matter Shiwwo?" Hiroshi asked in a baby voice. "Ya' scared?"
"I'm NOT scared!" Shirrow snapped.
"Well then let's go!"
The three boys ran off into an alley, not noticing a shadow lurking in the shadows.