oOo
Shippo fancied himself a genius as he tied boards of wood together. Maybe InuYasha and Kagome were too busy to hang out with him, but -if this worked- he didn't need either of them to have fun.
"Where are you headed?" Sango was holding Kirara, watching him intently as he dragged his masterpiece towards the forest. There was a nice hill there that would do nicely for his test run.
"To test my board!" He realized that he may be able to use Sango to test its strength before he went through the trouble of dragging it up the hill, "get on! I'll pull you up." No need for her to know she was his test subject.
She peered at it cautiously, "I'd hate to break it."
"No worries, you're really light." Besides, if she broke it she'd certainly help him fix it. He wasn't stupid. Anything Sango made would be much better than his compilation of logs and twigs.
She tried again, clearly not keen to cooperate with him or his games in any way. Unfortunately, she was too kind to make that much known.
"I don't think you could pull me up a hill, Shippo. Why don't you let me pull you instead?" Nice try, but no chance.
"Sango! Have you forgotten I'm a demon? I can definitely pull you! Don't you trust me?"
Her defeat was instant and she climbed onto the wooden mass with a bit of a grimace, "alright, let's go… I suppose."
He set to dragging, proud to admit that Sango's weight wasn't nearly as bad as he feared it may be. Demon or not, he wasn't quite as big as InuYasha yet and so he wasn't able to carry as much.
Which made sense. InuYasha was always bullying him for being small, but everyone started off small- even the biggest, meanest demons.
Even Sesshomaru.
The eerie sound of a flute began to wash over them and Shippo was entranced by the sound. It seemed as if the instrumentalist was offended by mortality, refusing to stop and fill their lungs until the very last moment. Yet each note still hung in the frozen air like a chill.
"This is how women and children are taken."
Shippo let the rope fall into the snow and leapt into Sango arms, shaking like a leaf as he realized much too late that he'd walked them into a heavy fog of a familiar demonic energy.
No matter how he scanned the trees, the owner never showed himself.
"Shippo, you aren't likely to find the man in white amongst all the snow in those trees." She pointed to the single footprint nearest to the base of a wide reaching oak, "not unless you follow the clues." Her steady finger guided his eyes along the trunk and -eventually- aimed itself at a terrifying bit of white and silver.
He watched them, as unsettling as he always was.
"Why don't you leave us alone! Big bully! InuYasha's going to kick your butt if you bother us!"
Usually, Shippo was pretty confident about using their resident half demon as a threat, but when it was his elder brother that was being pitted against him that confidence was shaky.
"You found me." Then the flute music continued and Sango stood to pull him upon his own sled. They passed the ominous presence amongst the branches of the Oak and left his flute music behind, but Shippo found himself still so uneasy.
As if he were following them, but that made no sense. Sesshomaru may not have been their friend, but he was no longer their enemy.
He had no reason to stalk them.
"Aren't you a bit old to spend your time scaring children?" Sango seemed completely unphased by Sesshomaru's overwhelming youki. She watched the trees, tracking something he could not see, "or is it that Rin is in this direction and you still don't trust me with her?"
When no answer came she turned back to Shippo, "where's this hill you were searching for?"
"How do you know he isn't going to attack us," the hill be darned. Testing his board was hardly important in the face of the loss of his life. Enemy or not, being stalked by a daiyoukai with an attitude problem was not going to bode well for him.
She rolled her eyes, "the hill?"
Reluctantly, he pointed deeper into the forest and she continued to drag him along.
"Maybe," Sango murmured, "he's trying to watch out for us."
Shippo stared at her as if she'd sprouted a tentacle, "are you nuts, Sango! All he ever does is try and kill InuYasha!"
She shrugged a bit, watching the trees again, "but that's not true is it? I can think of several times he's saved us." At this point it just seemed like she was antagonizing him. She pulled every string and twisted every dial, agitating the murderous daiyoukai in the trees.
"Don't be stupid, human. I did not save you, you are not worth my energy."
Shippo didn't know why Sango seemed to have a death wish, but as she continued to find a way to speed along their certain demise -Shippo realized that she was smiling.
As if she weren't afraid.
"So when we fought Magatsuhi and you led us through the horde of demons, would you not consider that to be saving us?"
The hill was coming into view and he could hear Rin giggling about something or another with Jaken. Maybe he would be able to convince them to go on a test ride with him.
It would seem there was no reason to worry about Sesshomaru, not when he didn't seem to care about too much of anything.
He wondered how one person could be so violent, but so mellow.
Then he decided he didn't care. Shippo hopped off the board and rushed over to the hill so he could properly inspect it. He was happy to find that it was heavy with fresh snow, "Sango, you are about to witness greatness!" He cried happily, "I'm going to slide down this hill on this board and I'm to create a new sport called," he was happy to see he had her full attention, "boarding!"
"You idiot!" Jaken was ruining his presentation! He considered throwing him down the perfect, snowy slope, but quickly decided he didn't deserve such a fun time, "it's already a thing! It's called sledding and your sled is pitiful!"
"Then why don't you help him fix it, Jaken?" Sango was always so kind, but everyone knew that the unpleasant, little imp was never very accepting of 'kindness', "I'm sure he could use your expertise."
A rock came from overhead before Jaken could compile each of his nasty little thoughts into one.
"First we need wood that's all the same size! You should at least know that!" And so they set off to find bits of wood that were a similar size and thickness. There was a large crash back at their home base, but Shippo found himself unconcerned.
Sango's confidence in Sesshomaru had soaked into him. So he collected as many logs as he could carry before turning back to see what Jaken and Rin had managed to collect.
He found his guardian perched upon a massive branch, comfortable enough amongst the twigless limb, "where'd you get that?"
"Well, the tree says that 'even he does not command gravity'." She shrugged as a 'keh' came from the branches, "but, judging by the charred edges," she directed his attention to the blackened bits at the very end of her throne, "I'd say there was a little more than gravity at work."
She leaned forward with a conspiratorial whisper, "I think he didn't want my butt to get wet."
Shippo didn't know if Sango could hear the agitated whispering that floated around them in a little flurry, 'no one cares about your butt, woman' and 'infuriating creature'.
"You're irritating him." Shippo warned her. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason Sango lost her head. It just wasn't worth it.
But she'd beamed at him and laughed, "I know."
Sango always had been brave and he left to find more wood, realizing that Rin and Jaken were still out looking.
The next time he returned, the branch Sango sat upon was much shorter.
And there was a perfect pile of wood waiting to be used.
"The tree is tired of my company. It believes that I will stop my 'assault upon its sanity' if it helps you along." She seemed to be having a grand time, "it is very wrong."
'Damned if I do. Damned if I don't.'
Jaken popped up sooner than later, Rin in tow, "oh wow!" The girl whirled around, searching for her Lord amongst the many places he could be hiding, before settling on tipping her head to stare into the snow laden clouds, "Thank you Lord Sesshomaru!"
He didn't answer.
"Second!" Jaken began laying the logs upon the flat side, "we've got to tie everything together nice and tight." Which proved more difficult than they thought. The logs wobbled and the rope was difficult to manipulate.
"Lord Sesshomaru, Miss. Sango!" Rin called, "won't you please help us? It would seem that we're too small."
This hadn't been so difficult when Shippo used twigs and thin boards. If nothing else, this proved that Jaken had no idea what he was talking about.
Sango came without much trouble, happy to help them without much coaxing, "what do you need from the Tree Kami and I?" A rock pelted her in the butt and she said, "I thought you weren't concerned with my butt."
'I'm going to flip myself -neck first- out of this tree'.
Shippo could see why she was doing this. Even if they died, he could not say that these muttered comments weren't worth his life.
She set to helping them, throwing amusing barbs behind her until the pompous ball of white came landing upon all their hard work.
"How rude. You'd think a Lord would have better manners."
His frustration was plain as day at this point and Jaken's squawking about insolent women only seemed to make it all worse, "be silent, Jaken."
He stepped into the snow, "I will tighten your knots, you will go down the hill, and you will take this bothersome human away from here." Shippo nodded twice.
"Alright!"
Any board made by Sesshomaru would likely survive the end of the world and Shippo was excited to crash it into things. He could hardly wait to see InuYasha's face when he showed up with such a sturdy board.
When all was finished and Jaken was done praising the ground Sesshomaru walked upon, it was time to go, "Sango, aren't you going to come with us?" Shippo asked once he realized she stood off to the side.
There was no point if she didn't ride along! He wanted to show everyone how cool his idea was and he couldn't do that if she didn't get on the board.
"If I went with you all, who would keep the Tree Kami company?" She asked jovially. He watched Sesshomaru place her -gently- upon the board, "you shouldn't manhandle a woman," but regardless of her words she settled down behind him and took hold of the rope
"You are no woman. You are a tanuki- at best."
That black clad foot shoved against the heavy wood and they went speeding down the snowy hill, each of them cheering as the cold wind bit into their cheeks.
"What a wonderful invention, Shippo." Sango brushed the snow from his hair, "you'll have to show InuYasha and Miroku once we find our way back. Although," the sun had begun to dip beneath the horizon, "I think we may need to stick with Sesshomaru until morning. I seem to have forgotten my weapons at home."
Now he was sure she was doing this on purpose. Sango never forgot her weapons.
'Not on your life, Tanuki'.
Sesshomaru landed before them, all but snatching the rope from their hands, "you will return home as agreed upon." Despite the weight of the board, Sesshomaru didn't falter. He led them along a smooth enough path and Shippo realized that this area had been all but blocked off when he'd come by this morning looking for wood.
Only someone powerful could have cleared it so quickly and -as he took in the scenery- he realized that the ground was littered with charred bits of wood and stone.
"Hey, Sesshomaru?" He managed to catch one of the chunks of rock as they passed by, "why are we going this way?"
"Stupid child!" Jaken seemed incapable of starting a conversation if he did not find someone to insult first, "this is the closest path between your puny village and our camp."
"You'd have to hang out around here a lot if you know all of that." Shippo muttered. Jaken began clearing his throat, finding the imaginary bug in his esophagus to be far more entertaining than paying Shippo the attention he deserved.
But he didn't need Jaken's help anyways. He turned to Sango, "these are the same burn marks as the branch, right?"
"They are. What a good eye you have Shippo." So that meant that Sesshomaru had been the one to clear the path, but why?
Only one way to find out, "Sesshomaru, why'd you get rid of all the fallen trees and rocks and stuff?" No answer. He turned the rock over in his hand. It wasn't like Sesshomaru had bothered to venture into the village recently. And! He could fly.
"Did you plan to take us home?"
The resulting death stare caused Shippo to launch the rock into the trees, "or maybe it was an oni or something." He muttered, deciding that being alive was marginally better than being right.
He just barely made out the grumbled, "yeah, maybe an oni."
They couldn't get home fast enough. Sesshomaru released the rope, giving Jaken and Rin a chance to climb off the board and into the snow.
"Kick us into the village, oh powerful Tree Kami?" Sango really did have no boundaries.
"You are insufferable," but he obliged her and the board slid through the village with reckless ease and slowed at InuYasha's hut.
"I smell that inconsiderate moron- no, I will not calm down!"
InuYasha came staggering out of his hut with his sword in hand and gazed down at them, as confused as he always was. If it wasn't ramen or jewel shards it would seem that InuYasha could not be bothered to think about it.
"Do you like my board?" Shippo asked happily, "Sango got Sesshomaru to help me make it. He was my servant- of course- and he followed my blueprints exactly."
He launched into a detailed explanation of Sango's superpower, basking in the warmth that radiated from InuYasha's shoulder. It had been a very busy day for someone so small and he found himself curling beneath the curtain of silver hair.
"So you expect me to believe that Sango annoyed my brother into submission?" InuYasha scoffed at him, "yeah right."
Annoyed -but not annoyed enough to open his eyes- he muttered, "it is true. She annoys him and then he says funny things under his breath."
"Sesshomaru?" Kagome said from inside, "funny? You must be more exhausted than you look." Once he was in her arms he decided that tomorrow would be the day he proved himself.
Sesshomaru was funny and Shippo had a sneaking suspicion that his tolerance of Sango went beyond a respect for women, but tonight was not the time to prove this. No. He'd prove it tomorrow, when he wasn't so sleepy.
oOo
A.N./ I didn't want to do the entire Let it Snow 2020 challenge so here I am. On the twenty second. :)