AN: I just realized that I had put this in my documents folder over a year and a half ago... whoops?

Anywho, again, I understand that this isn't the update most of you have been waiting for. I did get my computer charger back, but now with school back in full swing AND me preparing to move to a completely different state at the end of the year, things have been a little tight. So, at the very least, I'm hoping to appease at least a few of you by updating with the chapters I have already finished... I have maybe about two or three more of these chapters before I have to get back to writing, but hopefully I'll get some more chapters out of both this and Protect me by then. Again and again and again, I thank you all for your patience. I haven't received a single flame due to my extremem tardiness, and for that, I feel most grateful.

I hope you at least enjoy this one.

Dedicated to Spice of Inu-yasha for the most random yet entertaining posts I have received yet.

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Soul

Chapter 7

What we're really going to do, now…

"Aaaaannnnd… You're done!" I announced proudly. I turned to Shippo, who was busy licking his fingers for any remaining bread crumbs. "So, whatcha think?"

He paused from cleaning his hands long enough to look at Kirara's bandaged forepaw, nodding in approval. I discovered the key to brightening his sour mood towards me- a full stomach.

"It looks pretty good," he agreed, but his tone indicated otherwise.

I frowned, giving Kirara's paw a quick check for flaws before returning my attention to the kitsune. "But…?"

He flashed me a sneaky grin, holding out a hand pleadingly. "It'll look even better if I can have another roll."Kirara mewed in somewhat of a motherly fashion. Shippo blinked, nodding. "Please?" he added as an afterthought.

I laughed, leaning forward to ruffle the boy's hair. "Anything to earn your approval," I told him as I reached for another roll, tossing it to him which he accepted with eager hands, taking a satisfying bite. I giggled. "Wow, either you're really hungry, or you have a weakness for bread," I teased.

Shippo swallowed, shaking his head. "Not really. I'm just tired of eating cheese, all the time," he explained as he took another big bite.

I nodded, suddenly understanding as I cast a curious glance down at Kirara. "Ah… that explains the missing cheese in the village. You two were the cheese thieves, then, huh?"

Kirara mewed what I assumed was an apology, and I promptly shook my head. "Don't worry about it. It really wasn't that big of a deal," I assured her.

Sango snorted her disagreement from her position away from us, leaning against the tree with its trunk between her and us. I rolled my eyes, looking back at Shippo and Kirara.

"Don't mind her," I whispered.

Kirara chirped an inquiry, and Shippo nodded, gulping down the last of the bread. "Yeah," he agreed, "why does she not like us?"

I sighed. "It's not that she doesn't like you, really," I explained. "She just doesn't like demons. A band of demons killed her parents, right after the human rebellion."

Shippo's mouth moved in an 'oh' of understanding, and he nodded. Kirara nodded as well, glancing back at where Sango's form was hidden behind the tree, chirping sympathetically.

I smiled, stroking her head. "It's not your fault. It's just…" I glanced up at my friend, sighing. "Back then, Sango and Souta were just really excited to have their parents back. Both her mom and dad were demon slayers. Not for all demons," I added at Shippo and Kirara's startled expressions. "They were more like demon exterminators, and only for demons who consistently attacked neighboring settlements of humans. They would travel around to where groups of families who lived outside the city and assist with demon infestation problems."

I smiled when both demons relaxed at that, waiting until they re-settled themselves before continuing. "After so many lives had been lost, Sango was thrilled when both her parents came back, badly beat up, but still alive. But it was because they were still so badly injured that they died in a demon raid a week later."

I smiled thinly as I felt Kirara lick my arm comfortingly. "It was just hard… just when she thought she had her parents back, to lose them like that. She's never forgiven all of demon kind for that."

Shippo nodded, sighing. "I suppose I could understand. My parents were killed by a pair of really mean demons a month ago, and so was Kirara's clan. If I weren't a demon myself, I'd probably hate demons, too."

I blinked back a tear as I watched Shippo stare at the ground after that confession, making small circles in the dirt with the claw of his big toe. I glanced down at Kirara. "So, is that how you and Shippo met?"

Kirara chirped a confirmation, jumping down from my lap to walk to the boy, licking his hand. Shippo offered her a small smile of gratitude before glancing up at me curiously. "What about you and Sango?"

I grinned, getting to my feet to move to where my bedroll still sat attached to my bike. "Us? I've known her since I was little. She's technically a year and nine months older than me, but since I was maybe about three years old, we've been best friends."

"Really?" Shippo repeated. "How old are you now?"

"Well, my fifteenth birthday was yesterday, and Sango'll be seventeen in three months, so I guess you could say we've been friends for, what, twelve years?"

Shippo nodded in understanding. "Wow, you've been friends that long?"

I chuckled as I spread my bedroll on the ground. "I can't imagine why. I'm sure I annoy her enough to make her want to look for someone else to hang out with… but she's always stuck with me, no matter what. Even now."

Shippo watched me move around the bedroll, prepping everything for when I would crawl inside. "Actually, I've been wondering- what are you and Sango doing out here? The big human city is miles away."

I sighed, pausing from my routine to glance back to see him gazing at me, curiously. "I'm… on a quest."

Wrong move. Shippo's eyes widened, and before I knew it, I was on my back, the little boy hopping up and down on my chest excitedly. "Oh! Oh! Can I come? Can I come?"

Before he could land on my quickly bruising fibs again, I caught him round the waist, holding him out of jumping distance, watching as he stared down at me with a look akin to child-like awe and a bubbly-eyed plea. I stared back at him like he had grown a third head. "What?"

"I wanna go with you," he explained impatiently, as if that one comment would reveal the answer to my blatant confusion.

I blinked. Nope, the answer wasn't there. "Um… okay. Why?"

"Because!" he exclaimed with the air of a five-year-old trying to explain to his clueless parent the logical reasoning behind eating dessert before dinner. "I've always wanted to go on a big quest or an important journey or something, but every time I'd ask Mom and Dad, they'd just laugh and say I can when I'm older. But I'm much older, now, so I can go with you, right?"

In my mind, I was struggling to understand his logic… or lack of, more like it. Yeah, sure, kid… a single month is much older…

I was about to say as much, too, but then he did something that completely blew all arguments away… he looked at me. Not just looked, but looked. And I thought Souta's puppy dog eyes were decent… dude, in comparison to this kid, Souta was a puppy-eyed bullfrog! Shippo's soulful face, coupled with his already overwhelmingly cute appearance and hopeful, wagging tail, was just more than my meager defenses could handle.

Suddenly, my hands were jerked back as I all but smothered him in my shirt into the embrace I've been holding back ever since I first saw Kirara, hugging him as close as I dared with the vague reminder that I wasn't to crush to poor boy. "Of course you can come with us! With that look, I'd feel like the wicked witch if I were to say no!"

Shippo, instead of pulling away, snuggled closer, surprising both himself and me with how much he enjoyed the attention. A tear prickled at the corner of my eye as I recalled his lack of parents to indulge him with such attention, and I hugged him with even greater ferocity. But the child merely seemed to revel in it, snuggling closer.

Suddenly, he pulled away long enough to stare down at me, a hint of fear in his tone as he asked, "Kirara, too?"

Before he had the chance to prepare a second dose of his puppy-dog gaze attack, I laughed, releasing him and twisting my head around to look at the kitten in question who watched us, a sparkle of amusement in her eyes. "Of course, Kirara too! If she wants to come, she's more than welcome to join us."

While she didn't tackle me like Shippo did, her chirp of pleasure assured me she was no less excited than the child was. But she did glance behind her at where Sango was seated, no doubt biting back a slew of arguments about demons to unleash on me with the news of our new companions. But I waved my hand in her direction, anyway.

"Sango, do you have a problem with it?" I asked sweetly.

A gruff snort/"hmph", followed by a curt "Do what you want," was her response.

Kirara seemed to frown, glancing back at me as if for an approval. I smiled at her as I moved the blanket to crawl into my bed. "Don't worry. Sango'll be just fine. She just needs to get used to you, that's all."

A loudly muttered "Yeah right" indicated said girl's opinion of that statement.

I grinned. "Good night, Sango!"

This time, she didn't even grace me with a response.

I sighed, moving Shippo away just enough to reach behind my head for Sango's bedroll. I knew she knew what I was doing, and when I sat up to hurl the roll in her direction, I grinned when her hand shot out from around the tree to snatch the projectile from the air. Shippo watched the entire procession with wide eyes and an appreciative whistle. A few minutes of crunching twigs and rustling leaves later, silence came from behind the tree.

I smiled down at the boy. "That's about as much as a 'Good night' as we can expect from her, tonight."

The child nodded, suddenly frowning. "Um… Kagome? … Can I… can I sleep with you?" he asked shyly.

I grinned, holding open a flap of blanket, and with an excited squeak that I could only assume was his acceptance of the invitation, the boy leapt into the opening, burrowing under the blanket like a mole. I laughed, reaching forward to tickle the child through the fabric. "What kind of demon are you? A fox or a gopher?"

A muffled giggle was his answer as his head popped out from under the covers. "Come on, Kirara! It's comfy down here!"

I turned my head to look at the kitten for her reply, but was surprised when she chirped softly and padded over toward the tree Sango was currently residing, stopping on the opposite side of the trunk, circling a few times before curling in a tight ball, both tails twitching at her nose as she drifted asleep.

I turned a quirked eyebrow on Shippo for a translation. The boy looked up at me with an equally surprised expression. "She said 'no thank you,'" he said in an awestruck tone. Although, while my thoughts revolved around her preference to be near my demon-hating best friend, I had a sneaking suspicion that Shippo's thought lay among the lines of 'why in the world would anyone not want to sleep in a fun burrow of blankets like this?'

With a shrug, I burrowed further into the blankets, laying my head on my pillow. "Well, I suppose it's her choice. We need to get up early tomorrow, so as long as we all get our rest, it doesn't really matter where it's done, does it?"

Shippo nodded, but it took a few more seconds before he took his eyes off of the dozing demon to lay his head next to mine. "Yeah… I guess so."

I offered him a comforting smile as I reached forward to ruffle his hair. "Good night, Shippo."

"Mm, g'night, Kagome," he murmured as he buried his head into the pillow.

I smiled as my eyes drifted closed, for the first time that day, letting my thoughts drift over the events of the rather hectic day. Reading Naraku's letter. The memories spurred from the items on my mother's dresser. My father's journal. The discovery of the true Shikon jewel and Midoriko's fate. The lady centipede. The cat and fox demons. Shippo and Sango's similar tragedy.

I sighed. The more the stars messed with my life, the more I started enjoying the few hours of sleep I got…. Although if I wanted to be really spoiled, I'd opt for the "dream star"-less sleep…

But that's just me.

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AN: Yeah, so... nice warm and fuzzy little chapter getting to know the characters better. Not much of a chapter, really, but it's there, so there. Inuyasha will be coming up in the chapter after this one, then Miroku after him. Then we'll finally have all the main characters in line for the big journey.

Next chapter: A New Direction

Kagome and the gang get going on their journey to... hang on, wait a minute... where are they going anyway? I mean, they know that they have to find the pieces of the Shikon jewel and all... but... uh... where?