Disclaimer - :sits and pouts:

#7 – 'Cuz I love her

"Inu Yasha no bakaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The hanyou in question merely grunted. Thanks to the youkai he had fought a few hours ago that had adamantly refused to give up its jewel shard everything on him hurt. Of course, he'd never admit to any discomfort, but in the meantime he was forced to endure the mind numbing pain caused by the number of scrapes and gashes adorning his back and side.

He was Inu Yasha; scratches like this were nothing. Some youkai had decided to use him as punching bag? So what? He could take it, no sweat. What with the youkai blood flowing through his own veins, he'd been fine in a day or so.

Although, the relentless pounding of tiny fists courtesy of one distraught kitsune was certainly not helping the recuperation process. He'd ignored it for the first twenty minutes or so – it wasn't like the damage could get any worse than what it already was. After a while, his patience started to wear thin and he moved away only to have Shippo follow and continue delivering his tiny blows in a windmill type fashion.

Keh, whatever.

And so, the small kit continued for another 15 minutes or so. However, when one applies pressure to the same spot continuously, never relenting, not only does it get annoying, it also starts to hurt.

Damn you, Shippou…

"You can't ignore me forever, you know!"

True enough, the hanyou grasped him by his collar and tossed him to the floor. Surprised by the sudden action, but not to be deterred, the kitsune bounced back onto his head growling as loudly as his little body would allow.

Inu Yasha would have been impressed by his boldness if not for his already pissy mood.

"You've wasted enough time as it is," Shippou exclaimed. "Go and bring Kagome back right now!"

The white haired hanyou scowled. It was bad enough he had gotten his ass handed to him by some nobody-youkai, but now this little kit was trying to boss him around, too? No one was allowed to get away with that, nobody but Kagome!

Wait…

Damn you, Shippou… Not only had the kit managed to piss him off even further, he'd also succeeded in reminding him of why he was so pissed in the first place. And of course, this only caused his spirits to sour even further.

"Get off," he grumbled, the pain from his injuries prevent him from pounding the little punk like he wanted to. "I'm not going after Kagome and she's not coming back here." I made sure of that. "So get used to it."

Shippou frowned; the old 'push the girl in the well and shove a tree in behind her' bit again, huh? If it hadn't worked the first time, why would he try it again? Sure they'd had a close call with that last fight – the extent of Inu Yasha's injuries proved it – but what purpose did chasing Kagome away serve? Didn't he see how important to their cause she was? What if another youkai with a shard came? What if someone else got hurt?

"Which is why I sent her away." Inu Yasha growled. They both blinked; neither realizing they had spoken their thoughts out loud. Nevertheless, to cover up his error, Inu Yasha continued with, "A weak girl like her was no business being in a place like this."

"Not true!" Shippou shrieked, tossing a small pebble at him, earning a surly glare. "She's the strongest person I know!"

Inu Yasha let out a 'keh'. "All she does is get in the way."

"Liar! Kagome's the reason you're able to fight so well and you know it!" He let out an 'eep' as the hanyou snatched him by the collar, giving him a good shake.

Inu Yasha's eyes were alight and anger and something else Shippou couldn't quite identify. "That's bullshit," he snarled. "I can fight just fine on my own! I don't need her and neither should you!"

Shippou blinked at him with wide, glassy eyes.

Inu Yasha released him with a frustrated sigh. Of course Shippou was upset, he missed Kagome. He would never admit it, of course, but he missed her terribly as well. Being in copious amounts of pain usually left Inu Yasha in a foul mood so rather than admit what was truly bothering him, the nastiest things he could think of came to mind.

"I don't see why you cling to her so much anyway," he said with sneer. "She's a human."

"So?" Shippo countered. "I don't care – I've never had anything against humans."

'Cuz you've never seen what they can do to you when you're alone, vulnerable, and outnumbered…

Forcing that thought out of his head, he continued, "You shouldn't fawn over her so much, you know. Even if she somehow managed to get back here, one day she's going to go down that well and stay in her world for good. After all, there'd be nothing keeping her here."

Shippou's expression gave Inu Yasha pause. It was one he had once sported after contemplating the same thought. One day the mission would be over. There would be nothing tying her to this world. She'd be gone forever."

"That's not true…" The young kit's voice was very small. "Kagome wouldn't do that… she cares about us too much to do that!"

Stamping down on the sliver of hope that rose in him, Inu Yasha turned to Shippou with a sneer. "Oh yeah? And what makes you so sure?"

"'Cuz I love her!"

End