A Bread Crumb
Chapter 13: The Painful Spice of Jalapeño
By: Rachynn


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
The car reeked of fast food. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. All that fatty, greasy, meat made him nauseous nowadays.

"You're a fucking coward."

He had left them behind. A short, strained goodbye in the parking lot and he was gone from their life.

"Stop running away and face your problems."

Wasn't leaving them just like running away? No matter what he could have done, he was letting someone down either way.

"Friends are supposed to stick together, not desert each other when the going gets tough. You're nothing but a coward for what you did."

Miroku wasn't talking to him. He didn't expect him to do a lot of talking just yet though. The radio was on, playing some tune that he had never heard before. Redding city was close, only 20 more minutes until he would be 'home'.

It hadn't taken much to convince him to come back. When Inuyasha had initially refused to get in the car with Miroku, the man had gotten out. The shouting from the aggressive negotiations that came about brought Shippo and Kagome running from the store.

"Songo died."

A lot of people had died.

"Songo died and you left. We needed you two there and you both fucking left!"

Miroku, in his rage, couldn't understand the reasons Kikyo and he had for leaving. It was something between the two of them. They had no money in Redding, no family and a large amount of people who's deaths were blamed on them. They couldn't have stayed.

"Come home."

What did he have left in that small town? Kikyo was dead. Their adventure was over. The townspeople would never accept him if they ever found out he was just some hobo.

"You can't run away forever, Inuyasha."

So he said good bye, and left with Miroku. He was going to face his demons in Redding. Miroku told him that he was doing the right thing, but why did he feel so low? Why did he feel like scum for leaving that town?


Three Years Later

Kagome sunk into the cushions of her couch, flinging her arms out behind her. It had been a long and busy day. One of the other grocery stores had closed last year, so her own store had quickly gained a surprising amount of new customers. Shippo helped out around the store every day, but she was worried that she would have to hire someone else to help them cope. Maybe she would ask Erika to help out. As far as she knew, Erika was working part time at the service station half an hour down the highway.

"Kagome" came Shippo voice from his bedroom, once the room at he and Inuyasha had shared. Soon after he had left, Kagome had done some digging into Shippo's family life, revealing the gruesome truth. His parents were hardcore heroin addicts, both unemployed and deep in debt. They seemed to care more about where their next hit was coming from than the wellbeing of their own son. Thus, a few calls were made and a few months later, Kagome had legal guardianship over Shippo.

"What is it?" Kagome called back.

Shippo padded his way into the living room. He had grown taller in the past three years, and grew his hair out longer. "I think you might want to turn on the TV." He was a much older looking.

Kagome look at him with a strange look on her face. "Why?"

"Just turn it on." he said, plopping himself down on the couch next to her. She picked up the remote from the arm rest and flicked the TV on.

"What channel?"

"The news, channel 4."

The channels was turned, only to reveal the slur of commercials.

"Did you do your homework?" she asked him while waiting for the news to come on. She had enrolled him in school, a few year behind his age group of course. It had seemed that his parents had never bothered to enroll him themselves. Shippo nodded, he was a good student, which she was silently grateful for.

"Now for our top stories"

Both of their eyes revert to the TV screen simultaneously. A very fake looking lady sat behind a gigantic desk with white papers in her hand. Her makeup was too thick and her smile to pretty.

"We have a report coming to you live from Redding City, where a huge anti-poverty demonstration is underway. Police reports from the city say that the demonstration has remained peaceful so far, but they're not going to take any chances. Channel 4 News will be there when the leaders of the demonstration get ready to make a speech in less then 3 minutes. Now to our reporter in the field, Abi Smith."

The camera switched to a scene unlike Kagome had ever seen before. The streets of downtown Redding City were filled to the brim with people, banners waving in the air for as far as the eye could see.

"What is this Shippo?" Kagome asked, slightly amazed. She had never seen so many people in her life. Shippo didn't respond. A pretty, less fake looking reporter was talking, introducing someone who was standing behind her.

"Here we have one of the organizers of this demonstration, a man by the name of Inuyasha. Inuyasha.." the reporter said, holding the microphone up to his face. He still looked the same as three years ago, although more well groomed. "What is your motivation for launching this demonstration?"


A/N: AND CUT. Anywho.. this was going to be the last chapter (don't hate me) but I decided at the last minute to split the last chapter into two parts. Sadly... this fic is just dragging on and on, so I want to end it soon. VERY LITTLE happens in this chapter, but I will explain it all in the next chapter. Please review! Thank you for reading!