Chapter 33

It was really quite annoying that Kagome always managed to somehow rope him into agreeing with shit. Like one minute he's spitting and scowling and yelling 'hells no', the next minute he's suckered into something and she's all happy smiles.

This is exactly how he came to find himself barely jogging through the trees with Kagome on his back. Scampering beside him, breathing hard to keep up was the kitsune runt.

He didn't know what was worst, this snail's pace or just snatching up the little tyke. He certainly didn't want kitsune stench all over him though. It was bad enough that it's all over Kagome.

Inuyasha didn't know why it bothered him so much to have another youkai's smell on her, but it did.

He'd already done his fair share of compromising, letting Shippou tag along, so he wasn't budging on anything else. Surprisingly, Kagome didn't push the issue too far— like some bullshit about making a little kid work that hard.

You never know with youkai, the runt could be years older than him or fully-grown in disguise. Thing is, his youki was weak so regardless, not likely a threat.

When the sun was soon about to dip below the mountains, they still had barely travelled much distance from where they met the fox. He'd planned to make it all the way to the foot of the mountains by the end of the day today,

So much for that.

At least by tomorrow, if luck would have it, they'll be rid of the kid. He claimed his den was near the foothills and that he'd lost track of his parents when a hunting trip went awry. Stupid kid can go home and wait for his dang parents.

He was trudging back to camp with an armful of firewood like the tool he was when he heard the short gasp, followed by a peal of delighted giggles.

Inuyasha scowled.

"Shippou!" Kagome's stupid voice exclaimed with enthusiasm. "That's fascinating, I've never seen anything like this before!"

He came through the trees and saw the kitsune crouched near the teepee of wood Kagome had built, a tiny plume of fox fire erupting from his paws.

"So, what does it do? Is it hot?"

"Fox fire is really useful, Kagome!" The kit chattered, chest puffed up. "It can light up the dark and when I get older, like pa, I'll be able to make it into a strong shield."

"Keh. It doesn't cook worth shit though, huh?" He scoffed, barging into their conversation and dropped the wood carelessly with a clatter. "Now move over if ya wanna eat."

Kagome frowned at his bristly attitude but turned back to the kid.

"Thanks for showing me, Shippou-chan." She smiled at his proud happy look. "I haven't met many other youkai besides Inuyasha. I had no idea there're different kinds of special powers."

The fox gave him a snarky side-eye. "Well, you can't expect hanyou to have many powers."

"Shipp-"

Inuyasha had reached over to bop the kit a good one before Kagome could even finish her admonishment.

"Owwww!"

"Inuyasha! Don't hit him!" Kagome grabbed his arm just as he was about to go in for another round. "He's just a kid!"

He yanked his sleeve free. "He's a youkai, Kagome. That barely did anything, but I can always give him a real beating."

"Shippou, you're not helping." The girl plain ignored him—which pissed him off—instead fixing Shippou's with a stern look. "What did we discuss about not saying mean things to Inuyasha?"

The hanyou rolled his eyes. Like that was gonna do jack. Scoffing, he went about starting the fire instead of participating in this bullshit.

"He's very strong and helping me and now also you, travel safely across the wilderness." Kagome continued. "Now what do you say."

"Sorry." Came a half-hearted mutter.

"Keh."

She thinks he's strong, eh? So that settles that. The display of sankon tessou definitely did not scare her. That's good.

His stomach did a funny wobble when he repeated Kagome's compliment in his head again.

After that, there was thankfully less talk and more actually settling down for the night.

Kagome was all smiles after starting the fire in half the time she took the day before. Seeing as it was a survival skill and he wanted her to be well equipped, he was secretly proud of her.

It wasn't like she wouldn't have him around to help if need be. And…the casually certain way he just assumed he'd stick around her for the foreseeable future gave him pause.

Since when had there been a constant in his life? And Kagome... wasn't from here.

Luckily, the kitsune brat bursting back into view after pissing off for some time thoroughly distracting him from dwelling on said uncomfortable thoughts.

Shippou brandished around mushrooms he foraged as his contribution for dinner and of course, Kagome made a big deal out of it. Inuyasha would never admit that they were a tasty addition—it wasn't like Kagome didn't lavish praises enough for the two of them combined. The stupid little bugger.

After they ate, Inuyasha flopped into a comfortable depression in the roots of a tree and watched his two companions huddled near the fire chattering animatedly to each other.

Kagome had commissioned the tyke to find them a couple handfuls of fairly uniformly sized pebbles and then proceeded to teach him a game from her childhood. Though he pretended to close his eyes, really, he was sorta interested.

It seemed simple enough. They would take turns throwing one pebble in the air, then before it hits the ground, scoop up as many other pebbles as possible in one hand in time to catch the airbourne pebble. If the first pebble wasn't caught, no points; if it was, then the person gets as many points as rocks in their hand.

Funny enough, Kagome was very good at this. And she grinned widely at her little opponent, who pouted. Being youkai did not help when his paws were tiny.

It made him recall the games he used to watch human children play when he was young.

In the end Kagome caved and let Shippou use both hands to scoop up the rocks and so he caught up to her score soon enough.

This go around, when it came time for Kagome to sleep, he remained on the ground close to her bedroll to begin with, but he didn't know why he bothered. It wasn't like Kagome was lacking in company. Stupid kit was curled up at the foot of her mat, tucked up against her knees. Both were asleep in no time.

Inuyasha wondered if Kagome ever found it strange that she was sleeping in the company of two demons in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe the kami got sick and tired of him complaining incessantly in this mind about how in one and half days tops after leaving the village, they collect a straggler. In any case, his prayer was answered the next day.

Kagome had rambled on about wanting to take a break and stretch her legs—as if he wasn't the one doing all the hard work. He had an inkling it was because she wanted to give the kitsune a break.

This was the reason he was tailing his two chattering companions at an agonizingly slow pace. Shippou was darting in and out of Kagome's path, pointing out trees that gave tasty nuts in the autumn. Fascinated by the knowledge, the girl would ask follow-up questions on how to tell and the kid would then pick up leaves to show her. So, on top of them walking slow as fuck already, Kagome would stop every so often and squat down, both their heads bent to inspect something.

In truth, he actually didn't mind how chill they were taking things. It wasn't like he had anywhere to rush off to after this stint. If Kagome didn't care about being quick to return to the village, he sure gave no shits.

He just kept an eye on their general direction, so he could course correct if the other two veered off.

Then with the shift of the wind, came a whiff of new scents. Inuyasha sharpened his eyes ahead.

Though they were walking now in terrain that was less densely forested, it was far from an established human route. So, a pair of humans, traveling without any sort of luggage, looking like they're just going for a stroll around the village seemed suspicious.

"Oh! Good morning!" Kagome called, hurry forward to meet the oncoming travelers.

Inuyasha smacked his forehead. That idiot!

Since she'd beat him to any warning he might've raised, he decided to watch and see. From what he could sense, the pair did not seem hostile.

He had an inkling about how things might pan out.

Physically they looked like any human couple, maybe a decade or two older than Kagome and dressed in the plain garb of common folk.

"So, what brings you two out here?" Kagome chattered, all friendly like.

Interestingly, it was Shippou who hung back, wide-eyed and vibrating with something.

"Oh, my husband and I was just out for a walk." The woman smiled.

"Does that mean there's a village nearby?"

The lady blinked and the man chimed in, changing the subject very obviously. "Oh, who's the cute little fella behind you."

At that, Kagome actually backed up, eyes narrowing slightly.

Oh good, so she wasn't a complete dummy.

"Sorry to be so blunt, but I haven't met many humans from here that's that unfazed by someone with demon blood." Kagome supplied evenly, while placing herself squarely in front of Shippou, blocking him from view.

At that, he'd had about enough and closed the distance between them.

"Give it up." He drawled as he walked up to the clearly surprised pair, not having noticed there was a dog-demon trailing behind. "Ya illusions can't fool my nose."

With a poof and a little cloud of smoke, the human features disappeared, replaced by pointy ears, tufted tails and a single green leaf on the crown of their heads.

A sharp cry came from the kit. "Ma! Pa!"

And a tiny blur of motion hurled through the air at the youkai couple.

Kagome gaped, looking back and forth from a bawling Shippou who was nestled against the woman with chestnut hair and green eyes. The man was stroking the top of the kit's hair soothingly, with one arm circling his wife.

"Wait... Shippou-chan, why didn't you say anything!"

Sniffling, he lifted his watery eyes from his mama's chest. "S-sorry Kagome. Y-you're not allowed to reveal other kitsune's illusions."

Kagome smiled and her shoulders relaxed again, after finally putting together what had just happened.

"Will you introduce us, then?"

Shippou sniffed again and nodded. "Ma, Pa, this is Kagome and Inuyasha. We met in the forest a while back."

"Keh. Almost got his ass kicked, that's what."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome elbowed him, then forcefully took over the conversation. "We're so glad to have met your son and even happier you guys are reunited."

"Thank you so much for taking care of our Shippou." The female kitsune bowed low at them. "I do hope he wasn't too much trouble."

"He's a frickin' pain-in-the-a—"

"Not at all! He's a darling."

"We will be taking our leave now." The man also bowed. "Thank you looking after Shippou."

Said kit bounded out of his mother's arms and jumped up to Kagome's shoulder to hug her around the neck in an unexpected move.

"I'll miss you, Kagome!"

The girl's eyes grew shiny, but she beamed and patted him gently. "Me too. I hope we meet again, Shippou-chan."

At that, the kid nodded and rejoined his parents.

True to their nature, within minutes the three were lost amongst the vegetation.

Inuyasha watched Kagome from the corner of his eye. He could hear the little sniffles she was trying to hide and smell the faint hint of salt.

"Ya ok?" He gruffed.

"Ah-huh. 'M fine." She dabbed the corners of her eyes with her fingertips. "Just... I'm so happy Shippou found his family. I-I miss mine."

He grunted, then hesitated, before reaching out anyway to lay a hand awkwardly on the shoulder.

She looked up at him in mild surprise before smiling.

He turned his back to her and bent down.

"C'mon. Let's actually make some ground today, huh?"

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A/N: Hello, hi! Sorry for the radio silence lately _ combo of real life and other obsessions ^^; Please enjoy this chapter and let me know if there's not enough dialogue? I sat on it for a while cuz I wasn't sure if Inuyasha was narrating too much.

I want to let you know that I appreciate you reading this little story. I read each and every one of the comments and it makes me super happy (I'm just crap at replying promptly…)

Have a restful time with your loved ones! Merry Christmas if you celebrate it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, this plot, the exact sequence of words and any original characters described therein, I reserve all rights to.