Hey readers! Man, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I really hope you all enjoy it. Well, let the reading begin!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! Now stop mocking me!
Chapter 4 Enter Shippo, the innocent bandit!
The next day, Inuyasha again awoke to the irritating blare of his new alarm clock. "Why the hell did I by another one of these?" he asked himself as he rubbed his eyes and crawled out of bed. He walked out of his room and saw Kagome, still asleep on the couch. He gazed down at here and his heart skipped a beat. 'Damn, she's even cuter when she's sleeping.' He thought. He looked at her lips and thought starting to creep into his head. 'Wait a second! No!' he thought. 'Don't give into temptation so easily Inuyasha! Just walk away, and let her sleep.' He told himself as he walked into the kitchen to get his breakfast. But when he opened the cabinet his eyes nearly flew out of his head. "NOOOO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Kagome instantly jumped out of the couch, successfully landing hard on the floor.
"What?" she asked as she ran towards the kitchen. Inuyasha just sat there on the floor, his ears drooping on his head. He slowly raised his arm and pointed at the cabinet. Kagome looked into the cabinet and saw that it was empty. "So you're out of ramen. So what?" she said.
"What do you mean 'so what'?" he asked. What am I supposed to eat now?" Kagome opened the refrigerator, revealing that it was full of food. "That food is just there so that people who come over here don't have to eat my ramen." He said. "I don't eat any of it." Kagome just stared at him with wide eyes.
"The fact that you haven't died from a heart attack by now is nothing short of a miracle." She said.
"I'm a demon, remember?" he said. "I'm different from you regular humans."
"Don't you mean you're a half demon?" she corrected. Inuyasha's eyes widened.
"How did you know I was a half demon?" He asked. Kagome walked over to him.
"For starters, I've never seen a full demon with cute little ears like these." She said as she bent down and started rubbing his ears. Inuyasha tensed up at her touch, but then relaxed. He always liked it when his ears were rubbed. Kikyo had done it for him, but somehow, Kagome's touch felt different. There was no warmth to Kikyo. She always felt so cold and lifeless. But Kagome's hands were so warm. Without even noticing, he purred deep in his throat. Kagome giggled lightly. "Did you just purr?" she asked.
"If I say no, are you going to stop?" he joked. Kagome laughed as she continued to rub his ears. Inuyasha let out another deep purr, making Kagome giggle again.
"Okay, that's enough." Kagome said after about another minute or so.
"Aw, that's it?" Inuyasha asked in a disappointed tone.
"Yup." She said as she got up.
"Fine." He said. 'Man that felt good.' He thought. "I gotta go anyway."
"Where?" she asked.
"Where do you think?" he said, pointing to the empty cabinet.
"Oh yeah." She said. "The ramen. Can I come?"
"Fine with me." He said. "But shouldn't you put on something a little more…appropriate?"
"Huh?" she said. She looked down at herself and saw that she was still only wearing a regular T-shirt and panties. "Aah!" she screamed as she tried to pull down her shirt, failing miserably. She quickly ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Inuyasha started laughing almost uncontrollably at her reaction. "Inuyasha you jerk!" she yelled from behind the door. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"Are you stupid?" he yelled back, still laughing a little. "Like I'd really ruin that perfect view!"
"Pervert!" she yelled. Inuyasha just started laughing again.
'Maybe Miroku is rubbing off on me after all these years.' He thought as he went into his room to get changed. 'Well, right now, that doesn't seem like such a bad thing.'
As they drove to the store, Kagome just sat there and enjoyed herself. She could tell that the truck was still relatively new, but it was already filled with Inuyasha's scent. She just sat there in the passenger's seat, breathing it in. 'God,' she thought. 'How anyone can smell that good is beyond me.' Inuyasha looked at her and saw the dazed look on her face.
"You okay?" he asked, snapping her out of her dream-like state.
"Huh?" she said. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Inuyasha just raised an eyebrow at her.
"Whatever you say." He said as they continued towards their destination.
When they arrived at the store, they both got out of the truck and headed for the entrance. But as they walked, a small pair of eyes watched their every move from a nearby tree. "Man, I'm starving." The little voice said. "I better get a big payday from these two."
When Kagome and Inuyasha entered the store, they both agreed that they'd go their separate ways, pick up only what they needed, and meet up at the first register. Kagome was waiting for about five minutes until she finally saw Inuyasha coming, with a cart filled to the brim with different flavored ramen. "Okay, I'm done." He said with a big smile on his face. Kagome just stood there for a moment, trying to find the words to describe this.
"You know what?" she said. "Forget it. That doesn't even deserve a response."
"Don't mock the ramen." He said.
As they exited the store and headed for Inuyasha's truck, Kagome saw a little boy sitting down near the side of the store. "Inuyasha look." She said, pointing to the boy. "What's that kid doing out here by himself?"
"He's probably waiting for his parents to come out of the store." He said. But Kagome wasn't convinced. She sat her bag on Inuyasha's head and started walking towards the boy. As Kagome got closer to him, she saw that he was a demon. He had turquoise eyes and reddish auburn hair. He had a fluffy ball of a tail sticking out from under him. She also saw that he was wearing some really worn and tattered clothes, like he'd been wearing them everyday. "Hello." She said when she reached him. The little demon's eyes turned her way.
"Oh, hello miss." He said in a weak voice.
"Um, where are your parents?" she asked. The little demon was silent for a moment.
"My parents…are dead." He said. "I'm all alone. I don't even have a home anymore."
"What?" she said. "But…what are you doing here all by yourself? Shouldn't you be in foster care or something?"
"I don't know where I should go…" he said in a disheartening tone. Kagome looked at him with sad eyes until she heard Inuyasha coming. Once he got there she explained the demon's situation to him.
"Well, that's sad but it's got nothing to do with us." He said. "Let's go Kagome."
"What? How can you say that?" she said. "Couldn't we take him home? Just for tonight? Then we could take him to a homeless shelter or something."
"Yeah right!" he yelled, almost laughing at the idea of him taking in a little stray demon.
"Aw, come on Inuyasha!" she said. "Please?"
"No." he said, as he turned around and headed back to his truck. "Now come on." Kagome suddenly got an idea.
"Inuyasha." She said in a sweet voice. "If you say yes, I'll rub your ears again when we get home." Inuyasha's ears perked up at her words.
"Really?" he asked, not turning around.
"Yup." She said. Inuyasha then had a mental debate with himself.
'Do it! Come on! You know you want that ear rub!' he thought. 'But I can't just give into her like that! What about my pride? What sounds better right now? Pride or pleasure? Pleasure. Okay then. Curse you primal instincts.' He remained silent for a moment. "Fine." He said.
"Yay!" Kagome squealed. "Thank you Inuyasha."
"Whatever." He said. "Just don't forget to hold up your end of the deal."
"I won't." she said. The little demon stood up and tugged on Kagome's shirt. Kagome looked down and noticed that he was barely two feet tall.
"Thank you, miss Kagome." He said.
"No problem." She said. "And just call me Kagome."
"And thank you, Inuyasha." He said.
"Forget it." He said. "What's your name anyway kid?"
"Shippo." He said. As they all walked back to the truck, a devious grin appeared on Shippo's face. 'By the looks of this truck,' he thought 'these two must be loaded. The idiots. They all ways fall for the lonely orphan act.'
When Kagome and Inuyasha got home, they mostly just sat around watching cartoons with Shippo for the rest of the day. Kagome, of course, kept her end of the bargain with Inuyasha, much to his enjoyment. But that night, once he was sure Inuyasha and Kagome were fast asleep, Shippo put his plan into action. 'Okay, let's see what they've got around here.' He thought as he hopped off of the chair. Because he was a demon, Shippo could see perfectly in the dark, making it easy for him to sneak around the house. 'Man!' he yelled in his head after searching most of the house. 'They've barely got anything worth anything! What a rip off!' But then he opened the cabinet containing Inuyasha's ramen supply and his eyes went wide. 'Jackpot!' he thought to himself. He took a large cloth, about the size of a bed sheet, out of his pocket, loaded up the ramen, and slung it over his tiny shoulder. He then took a pencil and a note pad out of his pocket and scribbled something down on it. He stuck the note on Kagome's forehead and said his silent farewells.
The next morning, Inuyasha awakened not by his alarm clock, but instead Kagome's scream. He instantly jumped out of bed and ran into the living room. "What?" he yelled.
"Shippo's gone!" she said.
"Um…what's that?" he asked, pointing to the note on Kagome's forehead.
"Huh?" Kagome said as she took the note from her forehead. "It's a note. It says: Dear Inuyasha and Kagome, sorry that I had to trick you guys like this, but hey, it's what I do. And I do it pretty darn good if I do say so my self. To put it simple, I'm a thief. A pretty well know thief actually. Some of the other crooks I've met call me 'Shippo the innocent bandit. Cool huh? But you guys don't have anything worth taking. Well, except for all that ramen." Inuyasha's eyes widened. Kagome continued reading. "Well anyway, don't bother trying to catch me. No one has, can, or ever will. Until we meet again. –Shippo." Kagome paused for a second. "We just got conned by a seven year old…" She looked around and noticed that Inuyasha was in the kitchen, staring at the empty cabinet, as if trying to process the fact that a little crook had stolen all his ramen.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome said. "You okay?"
"MY RAMEN!" he yelled as loud as he possibly could.
End of chapter 4
Man, I loved writing this chapter! I would have uploaded it a lot sooner but I've had a whole bunch of distractions. And before I forget, I'll say this about the next chapter, I haven't forgotten about Miroku and Sango. Well, until next time. C ya!
