Aside from a white-knuckled fist against her knees Kagome gave no outward sign of having heard her greatest fear put to voice. Really, she wanted to write it off, it simply wasn't possible. Right? Naraku had been purified with the jewel five-hundred years ago. Or two years ago, depending on if you took the short or the long way. She knew, though, that her fox kit, no matter how much time had changed him, would never lie to her. She had known in her heart of hearts that the spider hanyou had been back, but she hadn't wanted to give the knowledge power.
The attack against his lands made so much more sense when she factored in this knowledge. Naraku was up to his old tricks of trying to separate her from her protectors. He knew Sesshomaru would have to defend his land if it came under siege. Naraku had set it up, likely because he knew that with Sesshomaru by her side she was practically untouchable. The miko had to resist the urge to throw worried looks at Yoko and Hiei as she wondered what tricks he would have up his sleeve for those two.
Those two are big boys, they can take care of themselves. She tried to reassure herself. Shippo is a big boy, too, and look what happened to him. A treacherous voice whispered in the back of her mind.
"I know you don't want to believe it. I wouldn't either." Shippo's voice and warm touch on her arm broke her out of her thoughts and she moved to grip his calloused and scarred hand with a resigned smile.
"I believe you, Shippo." She had hoped otherwise, but the aura she had sensed while traveling with Yoko and Sesshomaru could have belonged to no other. She traced a point on the back of his hand where several thin scars converged into a thick blemish under his middle finger. "How long-" Her voice cracked and she had to begin again. "How long has he had you? How long do you think he's been back?"
"He came for the tribe almost two years ago." The kitsune noticed her attention sharpen at his words and his voice quailed under the foreboding look that crossed her face as well as the pink crackle of energy that sparked at her sudden agitation. He had missed her warm friendship so much that he had forgotten how scary Kagome could really be. "He...he took me and Koga that day." Her furious look died away at that.
"Koga...?" Her face paled as dread pooled in her stomach, "don't tell me."
"I know he has Koga. I don't know what's become of the tribe." Shippo shifted uneasily before he continued, "I need to go back to them. To see if they're still alive."
She felt a pang of sadness. She had hoped he'd jump right into the adventure with her as Sesshomaru had planned. She had hoped...but of course he would have other priorities, 500 years had passed. She should count herself lucky that he had remembered her at all, for she was there and gone in the blink of an eye for him. She steeled her aching heart and nodded with determination.
"I'll come with you."
Shippo was ecstatic to see Kagome again, though he did wish that the circumstances had been a little better. Still, they were together again and on a quest just like the old days. The five-tail pulled at Inuyasha's fire-rat haori that Kagome had given him after he'd bathed. It rode uncomfortably high on him now that he was roughly the same height Inuyasha had been and without the hakama he really felt like Jakotsu.
Kagome had laughed loudly when he voiced his feelings on the subject which had prompted him to smirk a bit at the humor of his situation. The smirk may have also had a bit to do with the envious golden gaze boring holes in the back of his head as well. Really, though he never thought he'd wear the material again when Kagome and Inuyasha had disappeared through the well together. While the kitusne had hoped that both the miko and the hanyou had survived whatever trials the jewel had put before them, the fact that Inuyasha hadn't returned through the well compounded with the sight of Tessaiga on Kagome's hip drove home the truth he had suspected these last few centuries.
Inuyasha hadn't made it afterall.
The thought saddened the Kitsune, but centuries of the hanyou's absence softened the blow quite a bit. He imagined it had been, and probably still was, pretty hard on Kagome. The five-tail observed her surreptitiously and noticed the small things, such as the way she would stroke Tessaiga absently while they walked. What particularly caught his interest was the fact that she tried very hard not to look at the silver kitsune. When she did catch sight of the other fox she would immediately look away, and she attempted to keep another body, his or Hiei's between her and Yoko at any time.
Shippo didn't think the other fox had hurt his friend, indeed he thought he caught the wisps of kitsune interest from the silver fox. No, his own intuition told him that something far more interesting than fear was going on in his miko friend's head. The red fox dropped back to where the other kept the slow pace.
"Sucks to be you, man. That problem is going to be hard to get over." Shippo grinned, amused.
"I don't have a problem." Yoko kept his voice aloof, there was no way that this little five-tail had seen through him and definitely not so quickly.
"I'll bet it's because you look so much like him." The younger kitsune continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Y'know, gold eyes, silver hair, fuzzy ears on your head. You look like a grownup, and prettier, Inuyasha." Shippo made sure that his voice was low enough that Kagome would not overhear the conversation. He wanted to mess with Yoko's head, not Kagome's.
The irony of the situation was hardly lost on Shippo. It was too similiar to Inuyasha's problem between Kikiyo and Kagome. Likely Kagome realized this, too, and distanced herself.
Shippo thought he understood what her mindset was. She did not want to let the feelings grow and only see Inuyasha in him, like she felt the half-dog had only seen Kikiyo in her for a long time. The grief of Inuyasha's death was obviously still fresh on the miko's mind, and the fact that the other fox possessed most of the same physical characteristics was obviously hard for her to get over.
"Inuyasha?" Yoko thought he'd heard the name somewhere before.
"He traveled with us back then." Shippo continued as his five-tails twitched when he saw mischief to be had. "He and Kagome sure were close." The slight tightening of the silver-fox's jaw brought a smirk to Shippo's face. "And when they were together things sure got loud, everyone knew exactly what they were up to for miles around." Shippo kept his giggling under control at the heat that entered his victims golden eyes. The red kitsune kept the fact that Inuyasha and Kagome were loud because they were arguing all the time to himself.
"She'd have him on the ground before you could blink an eye." Shippo continued after a beat, referring to her infamous 'sit.' And nearly lost his shit laughing as the elder fox's lip lifted in what looked to be the beginnings of a snarl.
That ought to bring Yoko Kurama down a peg. Shippo grinned to himself.
-.-.-
Kagome wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly hadn't been a village razed to the ground and still smoking. The priestess was reminded now more than ever of her shard hunting adventures. She couldn't help but wonder if it was an every day occurrence, or if it was Naraku to blame for the destruction.
Shippo cursed under his breath as his face drained of color. His reaction was all the answer she needed. This had, indeed, been the wolf's village. The red fox tipped his head back and let out a series of yips that rose into a high pitched howl which drew a raised eyebrow from the silver fox at his side. Several lower pitched howls answered somewhere in the distance.
"That's Koharu." Shippo said with relief. "I wonder why Ayame didn't respond..."
Several four-legged wolf demons leapt over what remained of a wall that had bordered the woods and a small girl clung to the back of a large black wolf. She wore a white pelt much like Ayame's and had her green eyes, but those emerald eyes blinked out of Koga's face and his black hair tufted around her head.
"Kawaii..." Kagome gasped as she pressed her hands to her mouth to keep from squealing and seizing the tiny demon, only a little larger than Shippo had been when she left him on the other side of the well.
"Oniisan." The youngster ignored the strangers in their midst, "you came back!" She stumbled off the back of the large wolf and threw herself into Shippo's waiting arms. "Those bad demons that took you and dad came back and they...they..." She sniffled and hiccuped "they took mom!"
"They took Ayame?" The red fox pulled away to look into the youngster's eyes. "What of Kota?"
"He's here, but there's no nursing females to put him to." A man's voice cut in and Ginta stepped through looking worse for the wear. His arm and both legs were wrapped tightly and several new scars decorated his face that looked at least ten years older. "Kagome-nee." A somber smile greeted her, "I thought I smelled something familiar. I only wish we could greet you under better circumstances. Come on, you and your companions can lodge in the caverns with us for the night."
Kagome hung back with Yoko and Hiei to give Shippo a chance to get caught up with the pack business. She watched how the youngster clung to one of the red kitsune's tails, she noticed the lost and haunted look in her eyes so similar to the children of the feudal era left in the wake of Naraku's cruelty and guilt wracked her body.
This only happened because Naraku is after me. She thought bitterly to herself. Why else would he have been completely non-existant until two years ago? Why else target my old traveling companions? What She really wanted to know was what exactly the spider hanyou wanted with her now.
A/N:
Thank you so much for all the feedback! We passed 100 Reviews! I love the questions you all ask you have no idea how much your questions and feedback have changed the direction of this story and I think it's so much better than the original concept I had.
