Getting a hold of Shippo was no easy feat these days. As the unofficial lead of the movement for kitsunes' presence in modern society, and despite not being the oldest, nor the most powerful kitsune, he represented them in a number of daiyokai Councils. He was a busy, busy man, much to his own annoyance, pulled in every direction, both by people who relied on him and by people who wished nothing more than to see him fall.

Getting a hold of Shippo was no easy feat these days — unless, of course, you were Kagome Higurashi.

Because Kagome, well, all she ever had to do was ask. She would set a date, and there was nothing that would stop Shippo from showing up.

Even she had no way of knowing the exact time when he would appear, or the form he would assume. He had jumped out of jars before, had disguised himself as yokai, humans, kitchen appliances, and, on one occasion, her own grandfather. The fact that, every single time, she had spotted his energy ahead of time and had not been surprised one bit did not seem to deter him at all.

So when Kagome noticed, in the early hours of the morning, the little old lady climbing the stairs to the Higurashi shrine, hands clasped behind her back, she did not run down to offer her help. Instead, she smiled, and got to preparing the tea.

"Hello, young lady," a quavering voice called out to her as she poured boiling water over tea leaves. "Could I trouble you for some water?"

"Hello Shippo," Kagome answered, glancing over her shoulder. "If you give it just a little while, the tea will be ready soon."

The old woman's eyes widened for a second, before they flashed with yellow and a wide, unnatural grin broke on her face. A cloud of smoke surrounded her as a loud popping sound echoed, and then Shippo appeared.

Kagome had gotten used to the changes in his appearance — after all, she had known this adult version of him much longer than the kid she had traveled with in the Feudal Era — but it always tugged at her heartstrings, thinking she hadn't gotten to see him grown up. Now, a redheaded man in his thirties was smiling at her, clad in a traditional kimono. Five tails swung lazily behind him.

"I can't believe you knew it was me the entire time and you didn't say anything," he said, childish pout appearing on his face. "I thought I'd finally gotten you!"

"I can't believe you'd think I would let an old lady climbing all the way up here without helping her!" Kagome protested, more offended than she should have been.

"Ah," Shippo said with a shrug, "whatever. I'll get you next time."

"Sure you will," Kagome grinned.

She would be able to pick his energy out of even a thousand other kitsunes. There was no way she would ever get it wrong.

"Should we go see everyone?" she asked after giving him the time to take a sip of tea.

He nodded right away, smoothing out his kimono with the back of his hand. This was half the reason why he always took such care of his appearance before coming up to the Higurashi shrine. He sometimes visited even in her absence, leaving behind small presents for her to find. She didn't think he knew that what she loved most about those days was the way his energy lingered around. In such moments, when she closed her eyes and sat by the Sacred Tree, she could almost believe she was back in the Feudal Era.

Almost.

They walked side by side towards the Tree. No matter how much he'd changed, comradery came easy to her when she was with him. His shoulder brushed against hers, and it all felt comfortable and safe, in a way very, very few people had ever made her feel.

Together, they knelt down in front of the Tree, paying homage to three of the other people who had made her feel that way. There were flowers there already, her entire family made sure of it. Still, Shippo materialized a bouquet in his hand, setting it down in front of it.

"Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango," he called, voice soft, "I'm doing well. Inuyasha, I've been wanting to tell you, the school has welcomed its first hanyo since its opening. She's a kitsune, and she's really young for now, but we're very happy about it."

Kagome kept quiet. She knew Inuyasha had fought for hanyo's rights after she'd left, until the very end, side by side with Shippo and everyone else. He'd died surrounded by people whose life he had helped change, when his human life span had caught up with him. It filled her with pride and joy — but she hadn't been there to witness any of it. It would feel like she was interfering, if she said anything.

Most of the time, she felt at peace with her farewell to the Feudal Era. She looked back at the year she'd spent there with fondness, knowing she'd left it a better place than it was before her, knowing her friends were well.

Sometimes, the bitterness of everything she had not been there to witness caught up with her.

"Miroku, Sango, the kids would drive you crazy," Shippo kept going, a smile forming on his face. "They're some of the worst troublemaking kitsunes I've ever met. They're amazing. I think you would have been great teachers for them."

He said that almost every time he came to visit, ever since he had managed to open the kitsune school — right in the middle of Tokyo, under the noses of humans who were none the wiser. It wasn't a big school by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the apple of his eye, his greatest pride, the most cherished of his treasures.

"Kagome would also make a great teacher, but she doesn't want to come work here," he added, shooting her a teasing grin, and she rolled her eyes.

"You have a very competent staff, I don't think that's where I'm the most needed."

Shippo let out a hearty chuckle. To a yokai as old as him, death was a part of existence. He could get a little choked up still, but it was no reason to be all grim.

"So," he said, shifting so he was sitting down with his back to the tree, "you had something you wanted to ask me?"

She did.

"That's right, but I'm— I'm not sure where to start," Kagome sighed. "Have you— Have you heard of exorcists? Or— sorcerers, I guess?"

Shippo looked thoughtful at first, but recognition flashed on his face when she used the word 'sorcerer'.

"Yeah," he answered as if it was obvious, "but we don't meddle with sorcerers."

She blinked. She had expected many answers, but this nonchalance had not been one of them.

"What— How come I've never heard of them? Were they around during the Feudal Era?"

Shippo scratched his head.

"They were," he said, dragging out the words and staring at the sky as if he was trying to recall something he hadn't thought of in ages, "but they were pretty weak back then. Plus, our village had a priestess, and like I said, we didn't meddle with them."

Kagome clicked her tongue, unable to contain her annoyance. So he knew about that entire world that was right under her nose, and he hadn't thought to say anything to her? Rude.

"Why not?"

Shippo frowned

"It's a long story, and that's not really my thing… Don't you want to ask Sesshomaru about it?"

As a matter of fact, she preferred not contacting Sesshomaru unless it was absolutely necessary. He had changed, too, over the last five centuries, and they were cordial, but she had never felt at ease in his company. So she lifted an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Fineee," Shippo groaned, "but there's a reason I'm not a history teacher." He folded his arms in front of his chest, looking thoughtful. "From what I know, they were really powerful during the Heian era. Not just the sorcerers, but also the… abominations, you know, the monsters they deal with?"

"Curses," Kagome recognized with a nod.

"I guess," Shippo said, scrunching up his nose in disgust. "They're things that shouldn't be around, is what I mean. They're not… natural. Anyway, the thing about sorcerers and abominations is that their energy doesn't mesh with demonic energy at all. Most of the time it just goes boom," he made a tiny explosion between his fingers to demonstrate, "others it changes people's appearances or nature, it could age someone in a moment… Basically, any effect you can imagine is an option. Only the most powerful of daiyokai can reign it in, but it doesn't come easy, and most of the time, no one knows what's going to happen before it happens."

Then he tightened his jaw, eyes turning stormy, his whole expression darkening.

"But really powerful abominations can channel our energy. Steal it from us, use it for their own gain. During the Heian era, many yokai were taken and used for that. So an alliance was made to take them back. I don't know much about the details — I'm pretty sure Inuyasha's dad was one of the yokai leading the charge. Anyway, after that, the daiyokais made sure to keep the abominations' numbers under control. That's why there weren't many of them around in the Feudal Era. There were probably little ones in the swarm Naraku threw at us, but the more powerful ones were in hiding, if they could even emerge at all."

"I see," Kagome said, thoughtful. "But there were still sorcerers back then?"

"Yeah," Shippo answered. "They dealt with the abominations most of the time, it was just that the daiyokai would step in if they thought it was warranted. Actually," a grin formed on his lips, one of his canines poking out of his mouth as it did, "they came to the village to ask us for help once."

"Oh," Kagome perked up, "did you fight with them then?"

"Nah," Shippo said, grin widening, "they only wanted Miroku's help. Didn't speak to Kaede, even though she was the resident priestess, and declined when Sango said she'd go with them."

"Oh," Kagome repeated, confused this time. "Why would they do that?"

"They were women," Shippo answered with a shrug.

"I mean—" Kagome knew the Feudal Era wasn't kind to women. She taught about it frequently, and she had experienced it herself. But— "Priestesses were rather well respected, though," she said, "and Sango— well, as a taijiya, she would have been a great asset, wouldn't she?"

"That's what we said," Shippo nodded with enthusiasm. "But they only wanted Miroku. Didn't want Inuyasha either, obviously. So we all threw them out of the village on their asses. Even the villagers helped out," he added with a genuine laugh.

Kagome echoed it. Warmth filled her at the thought of Inuyasha having everyone's support over something like that. Villagers had grown quite fond of him over the years, Shippo had told her, but hearing about it in such a direct way made her feel all fuzzy inside.

"Has something happened since then?"

"I'm not sure," Shippo admitted. "It wasn't my area. I know there were some negotiations at some point, because sorcerers wanted to have more control. When the yokai pulled away from regulating abominations and started to leave modern life, I think they agreed to… let us go, basically. Stop being involved with us completely. Not sure what that entailed though."

Well, Kagome had her idea now.

"You've heard of what happened in Shibuya, right?" she asked. Shippo's expression turned somber, and he nodded. "I was there."

This time he tensed up, sitting upright. His eyes moved up and down over her frame with alarm, as if it hadn't happened over a month prior.

"You never said anything," he mumbled. "Are you okay?"

Kagome smiled, and Shippo took a moment to take her in. She looked as she always had. Kind eyes, soft smile, long black hair flowing behind her. The green uniform had long been retired, but the long, professorial skirts felt familiar too, reminiscent of her priestess' outfit. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, even though the weather was always mild, under the tree.

She was Kagome. And sure, this version of her got in significantly lesser fights, didn't yell at people as much, didn't tell him when he needed to go to bed, but at her core, she was the Kagome she had always been.

"I'm fine," she said, and he believed her. "Everyone did their best there," she added, melancholy seeping through her expression. "If things had gone differently… I'm afraid something terrible could have happened."

Shippo blinked. Shibuya had traumatized the country as it was. How much worse could it have been?

"I met a sorcerer there," Kagome continued. "He had no idea yokai even existed."

"Is that so?" Shippo hummed. "Well, there hasn't been any direct contact that I'm aware of in…" Decades? Centuries? "…a long time. You know how humans are. A couple generations go by and…" He snapped his fingers. "It's like nothing ever happened."

Kagome bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to defend humans, but knowing that yokai used to be roaming around and now all of the humans thought they were nothing but legends didn't help her case.

"They do have an immortal in their ranks though," Shippo added. "Someone who's been around since the Heian era. Dunno how it's possible, but that person must remember us."

"I see. I'll ask about that."

"But I meant it earlier," Shippo said, meeting her eyes again. "I don't think getting involved with sorcerers is a good idea. If everyone keeps to themselves…"

He interrupted himself, watching her expression shift to one of soft disapproval. She would never agree with where he was going, and he sighed. This battle was already lost.

"Be careful. You know that yokai and humans can be unkind. Sorcerers aren't any different." Then, for good measure: "And many of them are assholes."

She laughed.

"Don't worry about me. I'll make it work."

Shippo trusted Kagome like he had never trusted anyone, before or since. If anyone could do it, he believed, with all the conviction that existed in his body, that it was her. The mere thought of her stepping back in the throws of danger still made him sick to his stomach. She'd given enough. They all had, during the Feudal Era. The world was already indebted to them. All they should have known afterwards was peace and quiet.

And also— she was the last one.

He couldn't lose her too.

"There was something else," Kagome said. "Someone who was there in Shibuya and who escaped. Long black hair, stitches on his forehead. He was wearing a traditional outfit. Does that… sound familiar?"

Shippo tilted his head. He didn't think he knew the man, but the stitches… that sounded like something he'd heard before.

"I'll look into it, if you want to," he said. He'd do anything for her.

"I would really appreciate it, Shippo. Thank you."

For a moment, there was quiet. Just the wind in the branches of the Sacred Tree, the noises of Tokyo far beneath them, and shared companionship.

"Oh, and, Shippo, I'd been thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"Yellow!" Gojo answered when Kagome dialed his number. She closed her eyes, a wave of fatigue hitting her at full force right away. Kami, give her strength.

"Gojo? This is Kagome."

"Ah, perfect! I'll take back the bounty I've put on your head then. Don't worry, I said I wanted you alive only, of course."

She chuckled, reigning herself in too late. The last thing she should be doing was encouraging him, and yet…

"Do you think you could stop by the shrine this afternoon? I have a present for Maki. As an apology for destroying her weapon."

"Aw, and here I was thinking you wanted to talk to me," he fake-whined. "Maki's fine, anyway. Or not. She's been pretty violent lately, but then again, she's always violent. Not sure if there's anything weird with that."

"I'm afraid I won't have time to discuss it today, but if you bring Maki, I could at least— Kami!"

Right outside the window, a tall silhouette with white hair appeared out of nowhere, holding Maki's shirt by the back, the girl's eyes wide with shock behind her glasses. Gojo shot her a wide grin through the window, phone still pressed against his ear.

"Boo," he said.

"What was the point of that?" Kagome hissed, glaring at him with fury in her eyes.

"What would be the point if I couldn't at least surprise you a little?" Gojo replied, voice light, not intimidated one bit.

"How about not giving me a cardiac arrest?" she muttered, rushing through the house to meet him outside.

By the time she got there, Maki had freed herself, and Gojo was hopping around on one foot, holding on to his shin with a pained expression. Had Kagome been pettier, she would have felt great satisfaction from it.

Since she was only somewhat petty, all she felt was mild satisfaction.

"What am I doing here?" Maki asked, directing her ire towards Kagome.

"Hi, Maki," Kagome smiled, not put off in the least by her glare. "I'm truly sorry about what happened last time, but I think I've got something to make up for it, if you'd like?"

She gestured towards the back of the shrine. Maki narrowed her eyes at her, then glanced at Gojo.

"Don't look at me," he protested, lifting up his hands in a sign of defense, "I have nothing to do with it! If it's bad, it's all on her."

"If you don't do your due diligence, that's your own fault," Maki growled through gritted teeth. "I'll check it out," she said, voice somewhat gentler, to Kagome.

"I'm glad to hear that," Kagome said.

As she walked the two of them behind the shrine, she couldn't help but steal a glance at Gojo. He was walking in short strides to stay by their side, fingers intertwined at the back of his head. Everything about him screamed indifference, and yet he'd just acted as a lightning rod for Maki's anger, directing it away from her. Not that she had needed it, but still. She wasn't sure how conscious it had been. Was it intentional, or was it just second nature for him?

When they reached the back of the shrine, there stood the Sacred Tree. Underneath it, amidst lit incense, was the Hiraikotsu.

Shippo had helped her take it out of the shed earlier, removing the protective layers around it. After he had left, Kagome had polished it, running purifying powers over it, just in case, even if it didn't feel needed. From what she could tell, the poison it was once capable of emitting had disappeared, some time over the course of the five centuries since she had last seen it used. Apart from that, Hiraikotsu, much like Kirara, did not seem to have aged one day since the Feudal Era.

Maki let out a discreet whistle, then disguised it as a cough, schooling her features to mask her surprise.

"And what would that be?" she scoffed, her wide eyes betraying the disinterest in her tone.

"That's the Hiraikotsu," Kagome answered, great reverence in her voice. "It belonged to a good friend of mine, a long time ago."

Maki hummed, walking closer to the weapon to examine it. It seemed refined, efficient, and she could tell its weight just from looking at it. This would pack one hell of a punch. She ran her fingers over its polished surface with great care.

"What's it made of?" she asked.

"Bone."

"Gross," she commented, not sounding deterred at all. There was something about it that called to her, and much to her frustration, she couldn't quite explain it. She'd heard people say they felt such things with cursed weapons, but that had never been the case for her, nor did she think it was possible, so this… was new. She had to chalk it up to how competently the weapon had been forged, to the many uses for it she could see in battle. And yet…

"Unless it's a cursed weapon, it's not going to be of great use to me," she sighed, removing her fingers from it with clear reluctance. "I don't generate my own cursed energy, so I need my weapon to do it for me."

She had long accepted this as a fact, didn't care about it most of the time. It still stung in moments such as these. Having to give up on such a formidable weapon because she just wasn't born with cursed energy… Shit. That sucked.

Kagome smiled, and while Maki didn't believe in kindness given with nothing in exchange, even she could feel the warmth coming from her.

"You know, I don't think this is going to be a problem. Hiraikotsu is purified. I suppose you'd have to test it out for yourself, but I suspect it shouldn't struggle with curses."

Maki stared at her for a few seconds, wondering if she'd lost her mind. She'd never heard about anything like that — not in her time with the Zen'in, nor since. But Miss Higurashi was… weird. So, instead of just telling her what she thought about her hypothesis right away, she turned to look at Gojo.

"Is that a thing?" she asked, not bothering to hide how incredulous she was.

Even then, the sliver of hope in her voice would have been hard to miss. Kagome followed her eyes to him. Hm. Underneath the jabs and the mocking tone, she did hold him in high regards, didn't she?

"Could be," Gojo replied with a shrug. "Why don't you send that my way so I can take a look?"

Maki grinned at him. Challenge accepted. She lifted the Hiraikotsu with one hand. It was as heavy as she had imagined, but perfectly balanced, the shape making it easy to gain momentum. It espoused her body as she wielded it back, and moved as a perfect extension of her arm until she released it. Not too shabby for a first try, she decided, brain already filing what she'd done wrong and how she could improve on it and how she could use it in battle if—

Fuck. She was going to be so disappointed if it turned out to be useless.

Gojo caught it without struggle, swinging it once before planting it in the ground to study it. He plastered a big grin on his face, one that he hoped would hide the fact that this was the second time in a very short while that something pushed through his Infinity. It had been nothing like what Kagome had done, though. It had been slow, and it would have taken ages for it to reach him, with no strength left at all by then. But still.

The thought of destroying it was the first that went through his mind, but he pushed it aside. If Maki was the one who had it, it shouldn't be a threat to him, and it would of great use to her. On top of that, as it was, there was no way it would do enough damage to him to injure him in a significant way/

Plus, it would upset Kagome, and he didn't want that now, did he?

Just like what he'd noticed about her, there was nothing much to be seen on the weapon. A glossy varnish, maybe, a faint, colorless sheen around it that didn't seem durable was all he spotted around it. That, he thought, came from her, and it might have been the reason why it had been able to penetrate the Infinity. Now that he had his hand on it though, he could feel a current of power, buried deep inside the bone, something ancient that bared its teeth at him when he tried to look closer, but did not bite.

He looked back at them, Kagome watching him with a knowing smile and Maki doing a poor job of hiding the hope bubbling inside her.

"Yeah, looks like it could do the job," he commented. "You sure your friend isn't going to mind?"

"I think she would be thrilled to see it being used again," Kagome replied, eyes creasing as fond memories washed over her.

"Don't you wanna ask her?" Maki asked, not wanting to have it ripped from her hands at the last minute.

"She passed away a long time ago," Kagome said, voice ever so patient and sweet.

"Oh," Maki said, with the formality sorcerers often had when it came to death. Expected, just a normal part of existence, regardless of age.

It came to a much greater surprise to Gojo — because, of course, Kagome was no sorcerer. Yet here she was, speaking about the passing of her friend with an ease he didn't recall encountering with normal humans. They all reacted to death with horror and anguish — and maybe they were the ones in the right, maybe it was the sorcerers who had it all backwards, so used to seeing their own fall in combat and not make it past thirty. Still, he hadn't expected this kind of tranquility in the face of death, coming from her.

"Sorry to hear that," he told her, a contrived note in his voice.

Kagome nodded. Now did not seem like the right time to explain that Sango had been dead for more than four centuries centuries. Seemed like it would raise a lot of questions she did not have time for, nor wanted to answer.

"Why don't you try it out a little more?" Gojo then asked, sending it back to Maki. "The grown-ups need to talk."

She rolled her eyes at him, but, for once, did not protest.

"Fine, I guess," she mumbled, before promptly walking away from the pair without so much as a glance in their direction, all of her attention already on her shiny new weapon.

"I don't think we have time for an in-depth conversation," Kagome let Gojo know when he approached her.

"Maybe I just like talking to you and don't have any ulterior motives, hm? Have you thought about that?" he teased.

"Well, that would be for the best, because I have papers to grade," Kagome replied, smile so warm he would almost not have caught she was making fun of him. "Tell Maki she can train here as long as she wants, will you? I'll be in my room."

"Wha— Hey—"

She brushed her fingers against his shoulder as she moved past him, patting it gently.

"I'll call you," she mouthed at him, eyes creased, before making it back into the house, a spring in her step.

Gojo was left there, staring, mouth open.

"Guess she only wanted to talk to a grown-up?" Maki called from somewhere behind him, balancing the Hiraikotsu on her back.

The next second, she was shrieking in protest as he teleported them both back to Jujutsu High.

The mind could play funny tricks on people, couldn't it? Because for a second, back there, he could have sworn he'd felt his heart jump when she'd walked by him.

RoseAmeliaSarahNoblePond: Thank you so much! There is still a little way to go before we get to see that, but it's coming for sure ;)

MoEmiLuna: I'm happy you enjoyed it! Action is a little out of my comfort zone, so I'm never too confident with it :') Hope you've enjoyed this chapter as well!

kitty2142: I'm so glad you liked it! This aspect of her is sooo fun to write, I really had a blast!

Project 2025: Oh I agree with you, I voted for a politician I can't stand here because I didn't have a choice in order to try to block the fascist candidate. I just hope enough people will feel that way in the US too. Good luck with that, I hope you'll have the same kind of surprise I did for our elections!

jujutsumiko: I'm considering it for sure! Though for now, I think Gojo would get jealous at the drop of a hat from a certain point on lol, without the need for a rival. I'm so happy you're enjoying my story and it's making you laugh, thank you so much for your sweet comment 3

Lobotomy Kaisen: LMAOOO pack it up boys then, the world is ending I'm afraid

Hi everyone! I'm really relieved to be able to tell you that last time's elections went better than I had feared, and for now things don't look terrible (they don't look great, but they're no longer "democracy on the verge of collapse" bad).

This chapter is a little more geared towards exposition, so I hope it wasn't too boring. I'm happy I'm able to have Shippo in this, and yeah, I don't subscribe to the movie lore according to which Inuyasha is hundreds of years old. I don't think it makes sense (I don't believe he would have been able to trust Kagome as fast as he did), and he is explicitly the same age/level of maturity as Kagome in the manga, so that's what I'm going with. But Sesshomaru is alive and he will appear in due time! I hope you enjoyed the little scene with Maki and Gojo too, I didn't want to have a chapter without Gojo and I've been thinking so much about the ways in which Maki and Sango are similar, so there you have it!

Thank you all so much for reading, as always, please consider commenting if you enjoyed it because your comments give me so much motivation, and I will see you all in the next one!