Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Inuyasha
"Spoken"
-Thought-
Inu-tachi's Spring Break
The Inu-tachi's 'break-tivities'
It was a nice Saturday afternoon in the present time, there were few clouds but still it wasn't uncomfortably hot. One could really say it was a perfect spring day to spend relaxing. In fact the whole week had been a really nice week to have a relaxing spring break… or would have if you were anyone else than Higurashi Kagome. She was currently trudging behind her friends who were heading towards the Sunshine shrine and tried to keep from sighing out loud or barring that strangling her friends.
Sure she'd been happy that Inuyasha had relented on them having a break… even more that he'd let her go to her time without riling her up too badly, heck the baka didn't even need to be sat once. Of course when she got home the reality hit her. While the others were generally laying about and doing nothing, she was back home and up to her nose in books desperately trying to cram study so that she might miraculously pass her end term exams that were rapidly approaching.
And studied she had, she'd spent the entire week studying without distractions… which was a distraction in itself since Inuyasha had not come to badger her even once, the jerk. She'd gone as far as to visit the Sengoku Jidai (Warring states era… but you knew that right?) and had found out that, yes her friends were indeed lazing about and doing nothing, Miroku groping Sango and Sango beating Miroku being the exception. What really disturbed her was that Inuyasha was nowhere to be found… in fact the hanyou had been absent since day one as had Shippo. No one would believe the two of them spending time together willingly and it was more plausible that Shippo had followed Inuyasha as their scents both were headed to the same direction.
No search had been made since Shippo's scent vanished shortly outside the village and only Inuyasha's had remained so it appeared that the kitsune was in Inuyasha's company whether the hanyou liked it or not. This served to lighten Kagome's mood only slightly since she was certain that Shippo would be alright and that she would hear from the little boy that Inuyasha had indeed slinked away to a tryst with Kikyo… which was obviously the reason Inuyasha had left the others behind anyway… which naturally served to darken the miko's mood again.
She suppressed another sigh and cursed the weather Kami who obviously had chosen this fine weather to mock her. Not only that, she had to deal with her friends giving her the third degree on her 'Two-timing, rude, violent and jerk of a boyfriend' and if that wasn't enough they had started going on about how she should dump the guy and go out with Hojo-kun, who as if summoned by the mention of his name abruptly popped up. She sighed and tried to suppress a groan as she remembered the ever so happy and polite boy inquiring how her 'prostatis' (Inflammation of the prostate gland) was doing and happily offering her some herbal tea for it.
Kagome just gave a strained smile and assurances that she was now feeling much better while thinking about creative ways to kill her grandfather and also wondering how would someone believe that she had prostatis in the first place. She did manage to fend off the following request for a date by stating that she intended to catch up with her friends and that she simply had no time to date as she also had to study hard for the end term exams.
She sighed again. -Good thing that Hojo-kun is far too polite to impose… otherwise I might just have snapped on him… still why on earth did the girls have to?…- She snapped back from her reverie and tried to follow the latest piece of gossip about the boys' and girls' gym teachers. Yuka, Eri and Ayumi had taken her up on the whole 'catching up with the girls' thing, which was the reason she was now climbing the shrine steps after her happily chattering friends.
Few hours later the girls were sitting near the well house, idly gossiping on the comings and goings of their high-school and even Kagome had to admit that it had been a pretty good time. They had attacked their homework as a group and plowed through the assignments almost with the same speed that 'Kaze no Kizu' (Wind Scar) tore through a swarm of lesser youkai. After which the girls, much to the Miko's pleasure, had given her an impromptu math lesson.
All in all the young miko was currently enjoying herself while listening to her friends gossip about a girl from one grade higher who'd gotten herself pregnant… and with gang boy of rather dubious reputation even... -Now I'm not so convinced that the math teacher is actually a Martian who tries to teach us his weird language that follows no logic whatsoever… well he does still look a bit odd but maybe that's just me.- The thought brought a wry smile to her lips, a smile that was quickly wiped out by Yuka who dropped the bomb. "Say Kagome-chan… isn't that two-timing boyfriend of yours in a gang or something? I mean you really have been sick right? You are not pregnant are you?"
Kagome was shocked to say the least and it only got worse when Emi and Ayumi let out small scandalized noises. She tried to stammer out a denial until the shock turned to embarrassment and she finally managed a strangled "NonononoNONONO I'm not… I mean we… uh haven't… not like that." In her mind the young miko was seething with righteous anger. -Oohhh how can they even think that Inuyasha and me… that I'm… The dog-boy is going get so many 'Osuwaris' that he won't be able to walk for another week. I bet he knew this was coming… that's it… he knew I would be interrogated and threw me to the wolves.-
Of course her friends immediately tried to placate the now visibly upset Kagome, as the poor girls thought she was upset at them… and Kagome was really putting up a rather evil aura at the time. "Now, now Kagome-chan. We know you wouldn't be irresponsible like that so there, there…" Eri and Yuka nodded enthusiastically at Ayami's declaration, who then added. "But seriously… you never tell us anything about the guy, other than that he's a jerk…"
The silence stretched for a moment as Kagome sought to regain her calm. After taking a deep breath she muttered something that sounded like 'Baka' to the girls who decided to up the pressure. It was Eri's turn to put the ball rolling so she simply opted for an age old method of interrogation and demanded "Come on girl… spill!" in a voice similar to that used by the Spanish Inquisition.
Kagome tried to rake her brain for a way to wriggle free of this mess when suddenly the well house exploded….
-----
Sango was slowly boiling inside her head and ready to blow at a certain half demon, who was conveniently absent. It was bad enough that the stupid hanyou had vanished but Shippo had apparently tagged along leaving her alone with a lecherous houshi who didn't know how to keep his hands to himself. To top that the stupid Inu had the audacity to have his forest block all the wind from Kaede's village, leaving the place without a cooling breeze and quickly rising the taijiya's (Slayer… as in demon slayer) temperature… mental and otherwise.
She cast a sidelong glance at the houshi who was supposedly 'meditating' some distance from her, supposedly as he was more likely plotting on a way to grope her behind… or some other place. Sango snorted as she saw the calm expression on Miroku's face. -Looks can be so misleading… damn Inuyasha. If he were here I could take a swim without worrying about that lecher peeping. And Kaede said she's too busy to keep an eye on the lech.-
Sango sighed longingly at the thought of swimming in the cool water, she even had one of those swimsuit garments from Kagome's time but she wasn't about to expose a scandalous amount of flesh to the houshi. In actuality she was apprehensive about wearing the thing if Kagome wasn't there to give her moral support. She sighed again and quickly glanced at the monk to make sure he hadn't sneakily moved closer to her bottom, her hand instinctively going to the handle of the Hiraikotsu (Sango's boomerang) as she noticed the houshi watching her. She narrowed her eyes and said. "Is there anything you want houshi-sama?"
Miroku was looking at the taijiya and smiling, he was definitely winning the battle of attrition here. Looks really could deceive, one would not have guessed it by looking at them but his robes were very comfortable, especially in heat. As such he was much less affected by the heat than the beautiful young woman next to him, and if the weather held it would be only a matter of hours, a day tops, before Sango would be forced to retreat to the cool water. And that was something Miroku was definitely looking forward to as he had once caught a glimpse of Kagome-sama and Sango in those skimpy pieces of swimwear that Kagome had brought from her time…
His mood darkened as it had been too brief a glimpse before a certain jealous hanyou had knocked him unconscious and dragged him back to camp… Inuyasha certainly had no sense of fun even his taste in women was quite exquisite. Miroku was brought back from his musings by the sound of throat being cleared and blinked at the now stupefied looking Sango who tried to understand the sudden feeling of depression that had poured out from the monk.
Thinking quickly Miroku traced his thoughts back to the point where he'd been before he had allowed his mind to wander… ah yes. He flashed a charming smile at the woman, now mysteriously just next to him, while moving his hand to a better position to grab her behind… unobtrusively mind you, before commenting. "Ah my dearest Sango, I was simply wondering what made you sigh so deeply. I have said it before and I say it again… if there is absolutely anything on your heart you can come to me with it."
Sango was somewhat touched by the speech, or would have had she not been simultaneously touched by a wandering hand caressing her bottom. She twitched and began considering between simple, yet powerful, slap or outright beating the houshi to unconsciousness. -If I really, really beat him unconscious I might be able to take a swim without the fear of being molested or anything… hmm unconscious it is then.- Just as she was about to swing the Hiraikotsu a small furious bundle of blue and green that had a reddish brown hair and a fluffy tail landed in their midst…
-----
Inuyasha was thoroughly enjoying himself while lounging idly on the upper branches of the Goshimboku (The sacred tree to which Inuyasha was bound.) He lazily scanned the horizon that was clearly visible from his high perch and decided that, yes… the day was almost too nice. It was warm and there was a soft breeze that, along with the gentle shade of the upper branches, kept the warmth from coming uncomfortable. He yawned loudly and then tuned in on the incessant prattling of his little companion, then tuned it out again and lazily bopped the little kitsune on the head.
Shippo held his head, which surprisingly was not having a growing bump on it and continued to whine. "But I'm not tired and you promised." This earned him a glare from the hanyou who was in the tree with him and caused the kit to jump back a little. Inuyasha growled a little and then commented. "Maybe so runt, but I didn't see you running top speed for two days straight." Then almost as an afterthought he added. "Besides… it's too damn nice a day not to take a little nap. So stuff your whining and take a nap too, you've been up since dawn and I don't want you to drop too soon after we start."
The little youkai wanted to whine, plead or try whatever tricks available to convince the hanyou to start right away but seeing as Inuyasha was already half asleep, Shippo conceded his point. He had been up since before the dawn and had, in all reality, been too exited to sleep well for the past week. Throwing a last glare at the oblivious figure he curled on the inu-hanyou's lap and tried to will his little frame to sleep… he was asleep soon after, tightly clutching in his tiny hands the object that had been strapped into his back moments earlier.
Inuyasha on the other hand was already sleeping like a dog, that is to say he was keeping a keen eye, or rather nose and ears, to the surroundings while sleeping. Years of being hunted by human and youkai alike had taught him the useful trick of resting while remaining alert. While he was 'asleep' his thoughts were chasing their own tails like mad in his head.
His first thought was about Kagome but he shoved that one down because it was too complicated to tackle first… instead he turned to far simpler matters like his bastard of a half-brother, who apparently wasn't after the Tessaiga anymore since it was now 'tainted with worthless hanyou influence.'. Then he thought briefly about the human runt who was following the bastard around and chuckled slightly, could it be that the uptight Sesshoumaru was getting soft on a human brat.
Then his thoughts turned to Naraku and he growled instinctively. At least the bastard was still hurting since they had not even seen the Saimyoushou (the hell wasps) which was a sure indication that the bastard was still out of the picture. Inuyasha growled again… while this would be an opportune time to find and get rid of Naraku collecting the shards was more important. If they could obtain most of the jewel and then perhaps stash it in Kagome's time, behind a barrier or whatnot, it would certainly weaken the bastard who was their ultimate enemy.
The red-clad boy chuckled in his sleep. His thoughts had turned to the rest of the group now, and he was certain that Sango was steaming mad at him… a whole week in the best streak of weather they'd had in a long time and she wasn't even able to bathe because there was no one to stop the lecherous bouzu (priest), and he'd even taken the runt with him. He chuckled again while imagining the number of bumps and bruises Miroku had to be sporting by now, and how the lecher was probably happier than ever in his life.
He then briefly thought about Kagome, along with a brief thought of her in a skimpy swimsuit that she would probably be wearing while swimming with Sango in the river, but shoved the image back away again, focusing instead on the little kitsune brat that was curled in his lap. While Inuyasha would rather die than admit it, the fact was that he saw too much of himself in the little kit. They had both lost their parents at an early age and he would be damned if he'd let the runt go through the same that he'd been forced to suffer… and that was exactly why he was in the tree with Shippo curled in a ball on his lap.
Shippo had timidly approached the hanyou after they had first sent Naraku to retreat. The little kitsune had then begged that the older boy teach him how to fight. Inuyasha's question of "Feh… why should I bother with an annoying runt like yourself." was met with a determined. "I want to help in the fights…" which was met with a disbelieving snort, to which the kit continued "To protect Kagome better." This had piqued Inuyasha's interest, but still he was busy and didn't really want to give in all that easily.
The next attempt was made shortly before they left to find Naraku at Mt. Hakurei. Shippo had simply managed to find the hanyou alone and had dumped a bag of sweets to the surprised Inuyasha's feet. The little kitsune had reasoned that some bribery might get him the training he wanted and had thus hoarded all the pocky and other sweets Kagome brought for him from her time. This time Inuyasha was genuinely surprised at the runt's tenacity, not to mention the sheer amount of pocky that was offered to him.
And so he grabbed a pack of pocky and a lollipop from the bag and started to devour them while appearing to be deep in thought. Finally he 'Fehhed' and stated "Well… I'll do it. It's time a useless little runt like you starts to pull his weight anyway." Surprisingly he then left the bag of goodies to the ground while vanishing into the woods to think. It was a great day of victory for the little youkai.
Of course there was no time to talk about, let alone do, the training necessary until there was a break in the action. And Shippo had nearly blown it during the first minutes of his very first lesson as Inuyasha had asked him, again, why was did he want to learn. The answer he gave ended the lesson very quickly, nearly got him torn to shreds and then earned Inuyasha more than a few sits. It also confirmed that the inu-hanyou had no sense of humour and was quite jealous when it came to the subject of Kagome. Shippo had, jokingly of course, stated that he needed to learn to fight so that he could properly protect Kagome when they would be mated later.
For the following weeks there was absolutely no communication between the two, other than menacing growls from Inuyasha and soon the situation became unbearable. Shippo, knowing full well that the hanyou wasn't one to make the first move had finally decided to risk his wrath and had approached the red-clad half demon despite the warning growls that were directed at him. He soon found himself dangling in the hanyou's grasp and tried to placate the menacing boy who shook him like rag doll.
Finally he managed to plead his case so that the shaking stopped and managed to convince Inuyasha that it had been a bad joke and absolutely nothing more. The scowling boy then again asked the question of "Why do you want to train then?" to which the kit answered, again, with "To protect Kagome." Which earned him a small shake and a menacing growl of "So you can mate her you runt?"
Shippo just stared at Inuyasha and yelled. "BAKA, you think I could mate my okaa…" and was then promptly dropped from the limp grasp of the hanyou. Shippo himself was as stunned as the poor boy in front of him. He'd gone and blurted out his biggest secret, that he had began to think Kagome as a mother of sorts and not just some nice girl who took care of him. He was about to beg Inuyasha to keep silent about this when the stunned looking hanyou simply turned his head slightly and said. "Feh… like I care you runt. Now let me see those pathetic claws of yours."
That had been a pivotal point in their relationship, the hanyou letting his guard down slightly when alone with the kit and with Shippo toning down the teasing on the hanyou. There was only so much they could do though, seeing as Shippo was still too young to really do any real damage as he didn't have the necessary strength or ability to perform anything beyond the basic use of his tiny claws. Inuyasha had been somewhere around ten years old when he'd first time managed the Sankontessou (Soul-scattering Iron Claw). Thus they only worked on how to cut one's enemy with claws and other basic unarmed tactics…
-----
One of the reasons, and the only one he would willingly admit, Inuyasha was so quick to give in to the groups demands that they have a break was that he realized the kit needed a weapon and not just some crappy human piece of tin badly forged to resemble a weapon, but rather a real youkai blade and thus he'd taken the kit with him to Totosai's to get a good weapon for the runt. If anyone had asked why he'd gone out of his way to do this he would have just said that he'd done it to piss of Sango by leaving him alone with the lecher.
Inuyasha growled at the memory. The two arrived to Totosai's cave in less than a day after they'd left, since Inuyasha had really put his all in it as he wanted to be back as soon as possible. The old geezer had been home so they got right down to business… right after a few good whacks on the senile seeming weaponsmith's head to get him back on track. Inuyasha smirked sadistically when the old geezer pulled out a pair of tongs and told Shippo to open his mouth, his grin widened when a shrill scream of pain echoed in the surrounding… and then faltered when Totosai's voice began cursing. "Shit… I can't use these, why didn't you tell me you still have baby teeth."
The hanyou sweat dropped as he saw Totosai turn towards him, the tiny and rapidly disintegrating fang on his hand, tongs in the other hand and sporting a manic smile. "Now then pup… open wide and it'll sting only for a moment." A painful moment later the weaponsmith was proudly holding up a rather menacing looking fang that he'd pulled from the sulking Inuyasha who was glaring at him murderously. "Now then little kitsune… hmm yes I think I can work on this. Of course it's only a hanyou's fang… but I think it'll do… I'll have your weapon for you in say two days." The old youkai was secretly relishing at the fact. -This will make a good weapon indeed, only thing that would probably top this would be a fang from Inuyasha's father… or perhaps Sesshoumaru's… now what should I do from this then hmmm… Ah ha that's it.-
It was nearly three days since the pair had left Totosai's cave when suddenly a three-eyed cow dropped from the sky almost squashing them. While Shippo was trying to get his heartbeat under control Inuyasha was busy clobbering the old geezer for almost squishing them. Totosai, with a healthy amount of bumps on his head, turned to the irate hanyou. "Hmm what do you want?" Before Inuyasha could explode in a tirade against senile old bastards the elderly youkai suddenly remembered. "Ha that's right… The polite little kitsune ordered a weapon from me."
With that he was about to leave until Inuyasha restrained him and yelled. "Don't screw with me you old fuck… where's the fucking sword?" Again the weaponsmith had a revelation and exclaimed "Right… hmm here's the thing. A quite unique thing even if I say so myself. Never have I forged something from an inu's fang and hair from a kitsune's tail… should be interesting… well now bye." before taking his mount to the sky and tossing a small package to the now visibly infuriated hanyou.
Inuyasha grabbed the package, which was revealed to be a sheathed blade. He turned it over several times and sniffed the scabbard and the hilt a few times before scowling. -The fucking geezer pulled out my fang and some hair from the runt and only managed to make a fucking kitchen knife.- Shippo was naturally more than slightly excited and curious about his new weapon, which looked huge to him… nothing compared to Inuyasha's katana but still. Truth is that the weapon was about the size of a wakizashi (Japanese sword which is around 0.5meters in length) and as such almost as tall as Shippo himself.
Finally getting over his disdain at the 'knife' Inuyasha drew the sword from its scabbard, revealing a finely made blade. He then swung the blade around for a few times and tried to see if it would transform, and transform it did… while he didn't know what to expect he certainly didn't expect the handle to elongate to form a deadly looking naginata (Japanese pole arm, just imagine a wakizashi/katana on top of a 1.5-2meter pole and you get the idea.) Inuyasha simply snickered as he looked at the awed kitsune next to him before quipping. "At least you get some range with that huh runt?"
Without waiting for a reply the hanyou swung the pole arm and brought it down in a vertical arc to a nearby tree, cleanly splitting the poor tree into two. Snickering again he whirled the naginata around some more, as if to tease Shippo who was almost jumping up and down in excitement. Finally he relented and untransformed the naginata back to its original form and sheathed the blade. -Maybe the old geezer isn't that bad after all... got to make the runt to pester the houshi for lessons in staff fighting though.-
-----
Inuyasha yawned languidly again as he began to wake up from his nap, he snickered at the sight of the little runt clutching his new weapon while sleeping. His snickering escalated as he noticed the healing cut above the runt's ear. -Good thing he didn't cut his ear off… Kagome would have sat me until my back broke if that had happened.-
Shippo had been a menace after he'd received his weapon, not only did he transform and untransform it until Inuyasha was almost ready to kill him just to get some peace, but he continually sheathed and unsheathed the damn thing. And then, and not too soon in Inuyasha's opinion, the runt cut himself in his excitement and was after that rather receptive for his lessons.
It had been interesting to watch though, apparently the kitsune hairs that had been used in the creation of the blade responded to Shippo's kitsune youki (demonic energy) and wrapped the blade in some sort of illusion that made it extremely difficult to track. Inuyasha vowed that he'd squeeze old Totosai next time he crossed paths with him, the bastard had gone off somewhere before telling them what the weapon could do… hell he hadn't even given them its name.
The dog eared boy stretched and then poked the little sleeping ball that was in his lap, as Shippo blinked the sleep from his eyes the hanyou yawned again and stated. "Oi runt… the naptime is over, time to get serious with the training now." This statement drove the infant youkai from the hanyou's lap and down to the forest floor faster than usual earning him a few snickers from the older boy who scratched himself, in a very dog like manner, behind his ear with his own foot and then jumped down to join the little kitsune.
Inuyasha was just about to start a quick review of the most basic sword forms he wanted the kit to learn when he suddenly froze, only his nose and ears moved as he sniffed the air and scanned the surroundings with his keen ears. Without a word he transformed the Tessaiga and then turned to look at Shippo who had by now also caught scent of the reason the hanyou was acting up. There was a youkai approaching. Inuyasha pointed at the direction of the village and pushed the kit along. "That thing is heading for the village and I'm going to stop it… you head to Kaede-baba's and alert Sango and Miroku." Shippo tried to object but a rather hard shove and a growl of "GO!" were enough to convince him that it was better to run.
After the little kitsune was gone Inuyasha cracked his fingers in a menacing way and growled. "About fucking time I get to kill something, it was getting boring anyway." With that he bounded off towards the intruding youkai.
Moments later the yell of "Kaze no Kizu" echoed through the forest, accompanied by an inhuman roar of pain. Much to Inuyasha's delight the thing wasn't obliterated by the power of single "Kaze no Kizu"… in fact the youkai, it was some kind of an insect, seemed to regenerate its wounds faster than Inuyasha thought possible. Another swipe of the Tessaiga and the thing roared in pain again, still the hanyou couldn't but to curse at the situation… he was too close to the well and couldn't risk unleashing the Tessaiga's might at the damn pest.
With a tight smile the hanyou sheathed the sword and cracked his fingers again before muttering. "Now this is getting to be interesting." With a yell of "Sankontessou" he leaped forward and brought his claws down into the youkai's shoulder easily ripping through it and removing few of its 'forearms' and making the youkai reel back in pain. Deciding that it would be just easier to dump the dead corpse into the well to dispose of the body he lunged forward… this time tearing into its exposed belly forcing it back. To finish his opponent he jumped up to the air and came down to decapitate the thing and then in a feat of acrobatics kicked it in the chest the same time to send the headless corpse tumbling into the well.
Smirking at his handy work he wondered if he should go and warn Kagome about the carcass, maybe he could even convince her to ride on his back for some time until the corpse disappeared. That was until the removed parts of the youkai started to tremble and suddenly were sucked towards the well. It took Inuyasha only a split second to realize where he'd seen that before, the Shibugarasu (Corpse crow) that had swallowed the Shikon-no-tama had its pieces trying to gather no matter what. Cursing Inuyasha ran to the well and peered inside… there was nothing there.
Feeling a cold lump settling into his stomach the hanyou cursed once more and jumped into the well…
A/N: Prostatis is common ailment for guys… very uncommon, if not nonexistent, on girls or something…
Meh... there was a rather humorous spelling error there that I corrected. In the first version Totosai whipped out a pair of thongs... never knew he was like Happosai... namely into the underwear scene... :)